What happens if we don't support Canadian companies?

Hello, Dr. Muzyka. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.

by Christina Varga 12/7/2012 5:54:20 PM
To begin, could I ask you a general question: How would you characterize Canada’s standing in the new global economy?

by Christina Varga 12/7/2012 6:02:45 PM
Our standing is reasonably strong. We are, however, declining in competitiveness.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:04:46 PM
Could you give some examples of what you mean by declining?

by Christina Varga 12/7/2012 6:05:33 PM
We are declining in our overall ranking according to the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness report...

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:06:22 PM
We are particularly declining in innovation and business sophistication.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:06:59 PM
Could you go into some more detail about business sophistication, first. Then we'll tackle innovation.

by Christina Varga 12/7/2012 6:08:29 PM
Our national focus on natural resource extraction with limited value added inhibits our competitive advantage. We need to do more in increasing value added and focusing on innovation-based industries, segments, and skills.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:08:49 PM
Business sophistication refers to the development of clusters of businesses in our major centres and the sophistication of our production processes and associated value chains.
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by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:10:16 PM
So back off the oil and gas, and look at high-value products. We just ran a piece about how we could learn from another resource-rich nation: Qatar. Is education one of the areas we should be concentrating on?

by Christina Varga 12/7/2012 6:12:55 PM
With regard to innovation, we need to focus on the transfer and commercialization of innovations in and around universities and post-secondary institutions in general.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:13:07 PM
Education is an export industry for us. We are increasingly attracting international students who access our educational system at all levels ...

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:13:55 PM
In addition, some of our colleges and universities are operating abroad (e.g., China)...

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:14:11 PM
This is all creating a high value added export opportunity for us as well.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:14:26 PM
Whether the students in these programs stay or return home, there is value added for Canada...

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:15:12 PM
If they stay, we add their skills, networks and abilities to ours...

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:15:25 PM
If they return, we build natural connections and new business opportunities and markets we need to be attuned to.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:15:46 PM
Difficult to change from 3rd world resource extraction to added value and innovation if the government is not interested

by Doug Taylor 12/7/2012 6:16:16 PM
That may not be totally fair ....

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:16:53 PM
Federal and Provincial Governments have put forth plans and investments to increase innovation, commercialization, diversification and international competitiveness.

by Daniel Muzyka 12/7/2012 6:17:35 PM

What happens if we don't support Canadian companies?

canada, competitiveness, global, business, canadian