Canadian companies have a major advantage on the world stage, since goods and services from Canada are perceived to be reliable, high-quality, and backed by superior customer service. That gives Canadian business owners an edge when it comes to the prospect of global expansion. However, successfully taking a brand to international markets beyond the U.S. requires an understanding of the complex global trade ecosystem, international best practices, a network of trustworthy connections, and a thorough export plan, to name a few.

That’s where the Trade Accelerator Program (TAP) can help. TAP Calgary, serving businesses in Calgary and southern Alberta, arms business owners with all of the above through a series of in-depth workshop sessions with trade and industry experts. As a division of TAP Canada, TAP Calgary was designed following the World Trade Centre Toronto’s trade accelerator curriculum.

The world needs more Canada

Bringing Canadian products and services to a global market isn’t just good for Canadian business owners — it’s good for the world. With Canada’s stringent quality assurance practices and reputation for being a force for social good, it’s time business owners in Calgary and beyond recognized how much they have to offer in the global marketplace.

TAP gives business owners the tools to expand both domestically and internationally, with a strong focus on overcoming export barriers. The proof is in the numbers — 70% of Canadian companies that have completed the TAP program are now exporting in international markets. They’ve also reported an average 33% growth in export sales a year after the course.

Goodlawyer, a digital platform that connects its customers to Canadian lawyers, graduated from TAP in December 2019 and enjoyed 100% growth month-over-month since then. During the pandemic, in a classic display of Canadian values, the company offered free 15-minute legal advice sessions to help businesses navigate new regulations around the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Ontopical — a platform that holds hundreds of thousands of documents concerning public policy and best practices — has opened to government employees for free in an effort to help inform policy decisions during the pandemic. Ontopical also graduated from TAP in December and has since locked down a deal with the Alberta Chamber of Commerce. It’s now looking to expand its business into California’s Bay Area.

Leaps in domestic and international sales are the norm for TAP grads

Canadian businesses excel across multiple sectors. Calgary-based Banded Peak Brewery was acquired by Labatt Breweries of Canada a month after graduating from TAP. The business and product line will remain the same, but now have the enormous benefit of Labatt’s multinational distribution network. Colin McLean, Banded Peak’s head of marketing, says that TAP prepared the business for its multinational success, and he’s already recommended the TAP program to several other local breweries.

The first step to international growth is often local expansion. Leaders at Bessie’s Box, a service specializing in local meat and seafood delivery, used the training they received at TAP to build a supply chain that connects producers, processors, and customers with just $45,000. They sold $25,000 worth of products to 160 customers in their first six months of business, and are now looking to increase sales and create new partnerships.

Looking to go global? Whether it’s your first look at global expansion or you’re forming a proactive plan for future growth, TAP can help your business reach its full potential. To learn more about how TAP Calgary can support your business in its export strategy and global expansion, visit Calgary Economic Development or email Shona Reilly.

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Kathryn Reilander

Professor & Coordinator in Electrical Engineering Technology, Algonquin College

• Website

Jessica Lynch

Professor in the Construction, Engineering Technician Program, Algonquin College

Algonquin College’s We Saved You a Seat initiative is changing the school’s culture and encouraging young women to enter historically male-dominated fields.

There are incredible opportunities available for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but many still shy away from these fields. Algonquin College is working hard to change that. The school is a leader in diversity through its unique program offerings and entrance awards, which help ensure it attracts and fosters an inclusive student community.

Algonquin College runs We Saved You a Seat, a project whose goal is to establish a diverse learning environment where all learners can succeed. Algonquin is actively recruiting women into STEM programs, creating programs where they can develop their talents, and creating space for more women in non-traditional careers.

Encouraging women in STEM

We Saved You a Seat was created by women, for women. “We were seeing so few female applications to our engineering programs year after year,” says Kathryn Reilander,Professor and Coordinator in Electrical Engineering Technology at Algonquin. “Often just 2–5% of the incoming class was female.”

One of the program’s primary goals is to increase the number of women in STEM, reserving up to 30% of classroom seats for qualified women. “Thirty percent has been shown to be a critical number,” says Reilander. “That’s where you get the best dynamics in terms of discussion, idea creation, and getting a different point of view.”

The program also addresses the challenges faced by women in STEM. “The big one is the need to do or be better than their male counterparts,” says Jessica Lynch, a professor in the Construction, Engineering Technician Program in Algonquin’s department of Electrical, Civil and Building Science. “Women feel they need to prove themselves constantly.”

We Saved You a Seat aims to change this dynamic by normalizing women in these spaces so they can simply do their best, and gives female students the necessary program support, including mentorship, financial incentives, and a safe space to learn.

Leading by example

Creating a safe space means ensuring that classrooms are inclusive and welcoming. “Subtle things in the classroom can make females feel alone,” says Reilander. To prevent women feeling marginalized, faculty at Algonquin take simple but effective steps like assigning mixed-gender groups, using female names in examples, and employing inclusive language.

Students at Algonquin can reach out to female mentors and also benefit from having female professors. “Teaching is an opportunity for me to show my students that women are just as capable, knowledgeable, able-bodied, and smart as our male counterparts,” says Lynch, who acts as a role model for her students.

The college’s gender-inclusive culture is the result of a school-wide, holistic approach. “We’re creating a dynamic, gender-inclusive environment at Algonquin and everyone is involved,” says Reilander. “We’re all part of this — the deans, the chairs, from the president down to the faculty to the student support specialists to the academic advisors, everyone is on board.”

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Canada is a vast country touching three oceans. What does this mean for people living and working by the changing tides?

I want Canadians to understand the incredible opportunities that lie within our oceans. The blue economy — the economy driven by sustainable, ocean resources — is worth more than $31 billion annually. That’s not just fishing — that’s marine transportation, ship building, tourism, and so much more.

The blue economy does not stop with our coastal communities, its benefits spin inland and lift up our rural communities.

Over 300,000 Canadians are currently employed by the blue economy and my goal is to keep that number growing. 

 That’s exactly why we are building a blue economy strategy, to ensure Canadians are positioned to take advantage of new opportunities. It really is an opportunity, because we have so much more to gain. Canada has the largest coastline in the world, and it’s time we have a sustainable approach to its development. We need to invest in this now and become real competitors on the world stage. It is imperative that Canadians can continue to make a living on, and from, the water. 

Water is a vital part of the environment. What are you doing to protect the oceans’ ecosystems?

In 2020, Canadians rightfully expect the government to protect our oceans, rivers, and lakes.

I grew up on the coast — the ocean is my backyard — so I take this mandate very seriously. For coastal communities, the ocean is not just an economic driver — it’s our food, our recreation, our aesthetic. It’s woven into every aspect of our being. 

I’m incredibly proud to be part of a government that turned a corner on how we treat the environment and that made it real priority. Canada had a goal to protect 10 percent of our oceans by 2020. Our government exceeded that target ahead of the deadline, reaching nearly 14 percent last August. Over 793,900 km² of Canada’s marine and coastal areas — an area nearly twice the size of Newfoundland and Labrador — are now conserved, so their ecosystems can continue to thrive.

Now we have a new target — protecting 25 percent by 2025, working toward 30 percent by 2030 — and we are going to reach that. Bit by bit, in collaboration with provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, and the will of Canadians. 

There is a constant push-pull that happens when discussing industry and environmental protections. How do you balance that in regards to Canada’s oceans and waterways?

 I don’t think it’s a question of balance anymore. You only have to balance things when they are in opposition to each other. The blue economy and the ocean’s ecosystems are dependent on one another for success. My job as Minister is to figure out how to best support this relationship so they can both thrive.

Recently, we introduced measures to protect the North Atlantic Right Whale. This included changes to fishing and marine transition practices. The United States is one of the biggest export markets for seafood, and they have been clear — they will not buy our product if we do not protect this endangered animal. These measures protect the environment and the economy at once. Even throughout this process, fish harvesters were fully engaged in the development of the new measures, and helped design practices that would keep these whales safe. Industry has become a real partner in our conservation goals, and we continue to work together to prevent further harm to these whales. 

Bureaucracy can be full of red tape and slow to react. How does a department that is tasked with protecting our vast waterways confront this challenge?

Canada has the longest coastline in the world, and in between those we have thousands of rivers and lakes that the government has to protect. We could never do this alone, and I am repeatedly astounded by the rapid, effective coordination our officials can lead when duty calls. 

 One of the most impressive response was to the Big Bar landslide on the Fraser river in British Columbia. On June 23, 2019 DFO was notified of a possible landslide in a very remote area of the river. We immediately investigated and discovered a serious landslide had occurred, creating a five-metre waterfall blocking millions of salmon from their spawning grounds. This was all hands on deck. Within 5 days a Unified Command Centre consisting of the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia, and First Nations was set up. Together, they worked around the clock, trapping and transporting fish, and re-establishing some natural passage for the salmon.

Work continues on this today, and we’re getting close to clearing the passage entirely. 

Around the world, people are worried about climate change and the impact of human activity on the environment. What’s your perspective on that?

I know that many Canadians are concerned for our environment. I empathize with that, but I am also very hopeful for the future of our oceans. 

One of the privileges of being the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is that I can see the progress on the ground. There are so many brilliant solutions at work right now that really are making a difference. 

Off the coast of Newfoundland, lobster and codfish have declined largely because their habitats have been destroyed. In 2017, we started funding scientists at Memorial University who are creating concrete reefs that effectively serve as healthy habitats. 

We just announced over $13 million dollars to fund 24 more projects like this one. We’re supporting the Haida Nation, as they work to restore marine areas damaged by past forestry practices, and the Kivalliq Inuit Association as they revitalize the Arctic char populations in the North, and The St. Mary’s River Association as they continue to help the Atlantic salmon recover in the St. Mary’s River.

There is no doubt that our oceans are facing real challenges. But if Canadians could witness the work on the ground, I genuinely believe we would all be optimists.

The post The Honourable Bernadette Jordan on Canada’s Blue Economy appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Jobber provides business management software for small home service professionals such as plumbers, electricians, and landscapers, allowing them to run their entire operations on a single platform. It all started when Pillar met fellow co-founder Forrest Zeisler in a coffee shop. Together, they developed a software solution for a local painting business called Painters Enterprise, which would become the company’s first-ever customer. 

Ten years later, Painters Enterprise is still with Jobber, and the latter has attracted industry attention for its rapid growth — it was ranked the seventh-fastest growing company in the country this year. Pillar credits much of that success to strong momentum in the company’s early stages, and that, he says, is largely due to the favourable conditions for startups in Edmonton. 

Why Pillar chose to found his business in Edmonton — and stay there

Thanks to its high standard of living, the city is an attractive place for workers looking for a work/life balance, or to start a family. But that’s far from its only advantage. “In other major tech hubs, talent is expensive and retention is really difficult. It’s a frustrating environment for fledgling companies. I think it would have been a lot more difficult to get the momentum we developed early on if we weren’t in Edmonton,” says Pillar. “Today, Edmonton is a city of over a million people, with a really big university and a couple of colleges. The quality of the talent that comes out of these institutions is high.”

There are also competitive benefits to starting a business in a smaller pond. “In Edmonton, we’re in a position where we’re pretty unique,” There are no other companies like us here. Our ambition is to build a Shopify-sized company, and we have a presence here that would be very difficult to build in a place like San Francisco.” 

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Mediaplanet: What’s the role that infrastructure plays in developing Canada’s economic competitiveness?

Ryan Greer: Infrastructure is the circulatory system of our economy. Moving people, goods, and services around our country is crucial to our economic success, particularly when you consider the large and disparate nature of Canada’s geography. We need to continue to strengthen these systems of export and this infrastructure to ensure that we can improve productivity and competitiveness.

Where do the main opportunities for growth and progress lie in this environment?

Over the last decade plus, governments at all levels of Canada have reinvigorated investment in public infrastructure which is useful and helpful, especially considering the significant amount of private sector investment that’s been going on. While we’re tremendously encouraged by governments refocusing on the need for infrastructure investment, we do see that the real opportunity now is in optimizing these investments to ensure that we get the most value from where our governments are spending those infrastructure dollars.

How can Canadian decision-makers take advantage of these opportunities to provide a competitive edge and to improve productivity and economic growth?

They can make more infrastructure investments merit-based. For the most part, infrastructure investment in this country is done based on broad criteria that are driven by needs that are identified by local and provincial levels of government. There are obviously a lot of political considerations fro; the federal to the provincial level, but government do get involved, which is fine for identifying. But if you want to get the projects that have the biggest economic impact a more merit-based program as opposed to an exact equal fair share of the pie would accomplish that.

For example, at the federal level there’s the National Trade Corridors Fund which is a merit-based program that doesn’t select or dole out money based on the region of the country that a project is in, but instead allocates funds specifically based on where a project will have the biggest bang for buck and where it’ll have the greatest impact on Canada’s ability to export. But it only accounts for a very small percentage of Canada’s overall federal infrastructure spend, so we would argue that using more approaches like the National Trade Corridors Fund to make more of the spend merit-based will give Canada an even bigger advantage when it comes to its infrastructure spend.

It’s our genuine belief that we should be investing in the most productive assets possible, because those are going to have the greatest return which will create more revenue for governments, which allows us to balance budgets. We want to continue these high levels of infrastructure investment and encourage that all levels of government continue to do so. We would just stress that it’s important to put money into the most productive assets possible, that will give the biggest return and make our business community as competitive as possible, and trade-enabling infrastructure is the category that does that. Where the public policy benefits are big, that’s where we want our governments to focus more of their attention.

It’s our genuine belief that we should be investing in the most productive assets possible, because those are going to have the greatest return which will create more revenue for governments, which allows us to balance budgets.

What role do innovation and long-term planning play in developing Canada’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness?

Both are crucial for infrastructure assets and our long-term assets, whether public or private. These are assets that Canadians and Canadian companies will use for decades. The planning of these assets needs to be done in a way that tries to account not only just for what our economic and societal needs are today, but for what they might be 10 or 15 or 20 years from now.

This is closely linked to the issue of innovation. We need to ensure that our infrastructure can adapt to the level of technological development that we’ll see across Canada in the coming decades. When we’re designing highway systems or bridges, we need to think about how mass transit may evolve and we may need to think about what that’ll will mean for autonomous vehicles that may one day be using that infrastructure.

To consider, think about how people may move differently or how our systems of work may change and how the types of products that Canada may export, or import will change. 

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