A busy start to fall

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Dear Friends,

Over the past few weeks students have returned to classrooms across the country, looking forward to a year of uninterrupted in-person learning after two years of pandemic disruptions.

We have all been through a challenging few years. Yes, COVID-19 remains in our midst and we must continue to follow public health guidelines, but I’m starting to see a change in the way we are living our lives. There are more people on the streets of downtown Ottawa, and hard-hit small businesses are finally seeing a slow increase in customers. We have in no way returned to the way things were pre-pandemic, but after months of isolation, I’m encouraged that more people are recognizing the value of in-person interactions. Teamwork, co-creation, brainstorming and mentorship all benefit from people being together in an office – it’s pretty hard to schedule creativity in a 45-minute video call!

Next week the streets of Ottawa will get even busier as MPs return to Parliament for the fall sitting. At a time of great economic uncertainty and global volatility, Canadians are looking to their representatives in Ottawa to work together and cooperate with other levels of government to address the many challenges we face, including inflation, labour shortages and climate change.

Through ambition, partnership and strong and determined leadership, we can build a better future for our children and grandchildren.

Yours truly,

Goldy Hyder
President and CEO
Business Council of Canada

On Monday – the day Americans marked the 60^th anniversary of President Kennedy’s historic “moonshot” speech – our Senior Vice President Robert Asselin published his latest contribution to the Public Policy Forum. The paper looks at Canada’s lacklustre track record on research and development compared to the United States. Robert calls on Canada to take a new, more ambitious approach to science and innovation, one that better encourages the commercialization of ideas and technologies.

Access to clean and reliable electricity has given Canada a competitive advantage when it comes to attracting investment. But some of the best estimates suggest that we will need to at least double our electricity capacity to fulfill the country’s net-zero ambitions. In a joint op-ed with the Canadian Climate Institute’s Dale Beugin, our Vice President Michael Gullo explores why public policy needs to focus on expanding grid capacity to unlock clean growth in Canada.

Amid the fallout from Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing fight against climate change, countries around the world are eagerly looking for reliable, sustainable and ethical sources of food, critical minerals and energy. Earlier this summer, I wrote in the Toronto Star about the importance for Canada to share its resources with global partners. This was a dominant theme during German Chancellor Scholz’s visit to Canada, which laid the foundation for a joint statement by the Business Council and other major industry associations in Canada and Germany calling for greater economic partnership.