Seen & Heard: Mooseworks Live – A Mandate to Innovate

Canada’s competitiveness is slipping. Innovation is stalling. And global conditions are shifting fast. That was the backdrop for Mooseworks Live – A Mandate to Innovate, a policy-focused panel hosted in Ottawa by the Council of Canadian Innovators.

The event centred on the Council’s new signature report, A Mandate to Innovate, which outlines 34 policy recommendations for how the federal government can drive growth, attract investment, and build long-term economic resilience.

The conversation brought together a range of perspectives, including:

• Karim Bardeesy, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry; 
• David Ross, CEO of Ross Video, and 
• Pamela Heneault, Vice-President of Cerio. 

The conversation was moderated by Laurent Carbonneau, CCI’s Director of Policy and Research.

Laurent Carbonneau, the lead author of A Mandate To Innovate, opened the panel with a clear message: ‍

“We need to stop pretending that our current approach is working. Canada spends billions on innovation programs every year, and yet we’re losing ground in global competitiveness. If we want different results, we need a different playbook. That means moving beyond tax credits and subsidies to actually backing our best innovators and helping them scale. That’s what this report is about—a whole-of-government plan to get serious about Canadian innovation.”

Karim Bardeesy, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, updated innovators on the current priorities of the government:

“There are a number of initiatives—both led by government and in partnership with government—focused on addressing issues like helping Crown corporations to derisk investment, and unlocking institutional capital. Similar efforts are underway at the provincial level. What’s encouraging is that this work is bipartisan and multi partisan, with a shared understanding of the need for a national venture capital strategy. Attracting top-tier research talent is a big part of that. There’s a clear correlation between world-class academic talent and the growth of globally competitive companies. That’s why, in our platform, we committed to recruiting the most promising academics to Canada—people who can drive research excellence and help anchor the emerging tech ecosystem.”

David Ross, CEO of Ross Video, brought the perspective of a Canadian tech leader with firsthand experience navigating government programs and international markets:

“At Ross Video we build high-value, mission-critical broadcast technology right here in Canada,” Ross said. “We’re competing with global giants every day—and winning. I hear that Canada needs more successfully scaling companies like Ross Video, and there are many opportunities for the government to make that happen. We need to help Canadian tech companies market their innovative products to the world in an investment climate that preserves Canadian ownership."

Pamela Heneault, Vice President of Public Affairs at Cerio, spoke to the missed opportunities in the current system:

“There are so many Canadian firms building world-class technology. But we continue to see policies that are disconnected from how scaling companies actually grow. Governments can be excellent partners to Canadian firms, but the pace at which government processes operate is incompatible with the momentum we need. The challenge for government is to integrate internal agility and service standards with an accountability regime that enables both firms, and Canadian taxpayers to benefit from a partnership between public and private sectors.”

The panel discussion underlined a core theme of the report: innovation isn’t a niche issue. It’s an economic and national security imperative, and must be treated as such.

As the Carney government settles in, A Mandate to Innovate offers a comprehensive blueprint for how to reverse Canada’s decline in productivity and build an economy that is more dynamic, more sovereign, and more competitive.

This policy discussion on how the federal government and Canadian innovators can work together to build a stronger, more sovereign economy was made possible thanks to the commitment of our partners.

Special thanks to Torstar Corporation for sponsoring this important conversation and supporting CCI’s work to advance bold economic policy for Canada’s innovation economy.

For more information about CCI and how we advocate for Canadian scale-ups, contact Sara Psenicka, Director of Member Success.