We all hear about this relentless red tape reduction. It never ends.
With regard to our tax policies, not just looking at less taxes for entrepreneurs but also tax incentives to invest in early-stage companies, there are so many ways that we can leverage the tax system, and best practices globally, where certain interventions with taxation actually lead to more Canadians getting involved in investing in early-stage companies so they're part of this ideas economy in really cool, new, and innovative ways. That also includes crowdfunding and how we look at the regulators, and how we open up crowdfunding and capital for entrepreneurs in Canada. There's all that capital stuff.
There's no more exciting policy tool than procurement, in terms of building entrepreneurs in early-stage companies into global supply chains in large RFPs, and how we innovate within the Government of Canada.
One of the biggest things we need to look at before, or even during.... It all has to happen in tandem. Good luck.
It's really the user interface. Canada has amazing support for entrepreneurs, but we need that one place where every entrepreneur can go. Concierge service tried to do it. The European Union has mandated that all of its member nations have a one-stop resource for small business owners.
Why isn't it that when an entrepreneur registers their company at Corporations Canada, they get an email from the Government of Canada saying thank you so much for starting a company? At that moment, why don't they say, “Thank you so much. You're in for a hell of a ride, but here's all the support of the Government of Canada. Here's all the support of the grassroots start-up community. We've got you. We want you to succeed.” That's part of the culture that we need to create. It isn't just that they register and fall off the face of the planet and one of our organizations picks them up when they're lonely, but that we, as a nation, are rallying around them.
I think it's the user interface, it's the citizen-centric service, and it's how we all come together.
It's very difficult for government. You're so large. When we work with entrepreneurs in the start-up community, perhaps the entrepreneurs can be part of the solution in helping to create that one-stop resource. I think if we get tax right, we get red tape reduction right, we get procurement, we get an incentive infrastructure.... SR and ED is awesome. There are certain things we have in Canada that the world just ogles at, but we're not coming together.
I think that's our opportunity, and if we miss it, it's ours to lose.