Members of Waterloo Region's tech community gathered at the Communitech Hub Thursday as Canada's Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, described the region as "an area that marks the kind of Canada we want to have."
(From left): Kitchener Centre MP Raj Saini, Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau,
Minister of Small Business and Tourism & Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger,
and Cambridge MP Bryan May. (Communitech photo: Phil Froklage)
Morneau visited Waterloo Region to tout his government's proposed innovation agenda, saying it will "reinvest in our country in a way that's going to be historic," and explaining that his first budget – released just weeks ago – "is really about defining a new vision for Canada."
"We want Canada to be known as a centre of global innovation," said Morneau. "A place where science, technology, creative and entrepreneurial citizens work to make a really important difference for our country, for the future."
Morneau called Waterloo Region "instrumental" to achieving that goal, and called out the region's combination of educational institutions, science-based institutes, and research-based companies as key to its success. He highlighted his budget's emphasis on innovation infrastructure, including a commitment to invest $800 million over four years to support science, research, and innovation.
Communitech CEO Iain Klugman and Federal Finance
Minister Bill Morneau take in Communitech’s
new space. (Communitech photo: Phil Froklage)
News sat down with Minister Morneau to find out how he sees the region, and its place in Canada's future. The transcript that follows has been edited and condensed.
Q – What brings you to Waterloo Region?
A – The reason I'm in Waterloo is because this is a place that has had such enormous success in building and nurturing creative, innovative companies. Communitech's at the hub of that, and having met today with a number of entrepreneurs, I can understand why.
Q – The announcement today: what will it allow Canadians to do that they couldn't before?
A – What I'm really here to do is to talk about our investments in infrastructure and innovation, and identifying the fact that we need more networks and clusters like Kitchener-Waterloo. The combination of universities and research institutes and enterprising companies that can really have a positive network impact on improving our capacities as a country.
Q – What's the most surprising thing you've seen today?
A – I'm not surprised, but constantly energized by what I see here. People excited about growth, excited about the opportunities that we have, which is inspirational for what we can do as a country if we can replicate this model in other places.
Q – How is this government approaching Canada's innovation file?
Nadia Hamilton, Founder and CEO of Magnusmode, tells
Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau what’s difficult
about running a social enterprise in Canada
during a roundtable at Communitech.
(Communitech photo: Phil Froklage)
A – What we want to do is we want to think about, first, the people who are going to be innovators. So focus on students. Second, think about creating hubs that are really going to amplify our efforts. So think about the nexus of really great students, and really great universities, and companies that want to do research, and institutes that do fundamental research... How those things all come together to create potential in the new economy.
So, that's what we're trying to achieve. The model of Kitchener-Waterloo is a particularly good one, because it's a place where we've created this new digital infrastructure that's so successful. So it'll be about thinking "what are the sectors in the Canadian economy where we might be able to amplify our efforts using government efforts to help the private sector and the university sector be more successful?"
Maybe it will be in agricultural research, maybe it'll be in ocean science, maybe it'll be in biotechnology, certainly it'll be in clean energy. So the idea is thinking about how we focus those hubs to make us more successful, by bringing the right resources to bear in places where we already have the nucleus of strength.
Associate Director of University of Waterloo’s Velocity Nancy Heide
tells Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau about how Velocity
is accelerating Canadian entrepreneurship.(Communitech photo: Phil Froklage)
Q – Kitchener-Waterloo, that model you just described, is something Prime Minister Trudeau mentioned at Davos, he was at the opening of Google's Canadian Engineering Headquarters, and as you've mentioned today the region was singled out in the most recent budget. How will this approach impact the Waterloo Region in particular?
A – When you have something that's working well, when you have a strength, you need to double-down on the strength. So, our view is that when we've got something that's working really well, we should not only replicate that but make sure that we're continuing to emphasize that strength. It will mean that we'll continue to invest here.
In the budget, we committed to an additional $50 million dollars worth of funding for the Perimeter Institute. It's a recognition that that's an organization doing fundamental work that attracts great minds to Kitchener-Waterloo. Similarly, our investment in infrastructure around universities is something that can make an enormous difference, and that's going to be around research. So we will amplify the effectiveness of this cluster by continuing to invest.
Help with this reporting from Erin Anderson of 570 News.
