Over the past three decades, I have been fortunate enough to watch and guide startups as they grow from bright ideas to leading global companies.
I have worked directly with once-in-a-lifetime Canadian talent Michael Katchen of Wealthsimple. To this day, it gives me great pride to invest in our great Canadian talent.
Over time, though, I’ve seen a shift, from folks raising their hands to proceeding with caution.
As a country, our instinct is now completely tied to acting with skepticism. It concerns me, and it should concern all Canadians.
We know Canada faces a productivity gap, especially compared to the U.S. Surprisingly, Canada’s business sector labour productivity grew by 1.1 per cent in 2025, but compared to the country’s 25-year productivity crisis, we have a long way to go to change our garden of seeds into a forest of trees — blossoming businesses, instead of bold ideas that sit idle and don’t turn into company creation.
The lack of company creation has pushed Canadians to move a record amount of money into foreign assets. Money is leaving the country instead of being invested here.
The barriers to accessing capital are forcing entrepreneurs to take their talent elsewhere, and not just some. A majority — nearly 70 per cent — of founders are launching their companies outside Canada. The result? Instead of doubling down on homegrown pride, ambitious Canadians are taking their innovation, investment, jobs and future tax revenue with them to other countries.
Why? We have failed to create a tax code that rewards ambitious thinking, and as a result, our country does not have a clear economic direction for the future. Ambition has become something to apologize for rather than aspire to.
We need to stop apologizing. It’s what Canadians are known for, but it’s costing us our future.
We need to stop being polite. Prudence is not getting our economy anywhere.
Finally, we need to stop punishing Canadian businesses for growing. Right now, the tax code shockingly penalizes small businesses when they succeed. In Ontario, for example, when a company crosses the $500,000 milestone in taxable income, its corporate tax rate skyrockets up from 12.2 per cent to 26.5 per cent. Why would small businesses try to scale if what they get in return is a higher tax rate?
The missing piece here is confidence to act boldly. But how can Canadians have confidence when they are not being incentivized for their ambition?
The answer: a new tax code for the next generation of builders.
Let’s create a tax policy called the “Bold Incentive” that encourages companies to invest here. The tax code will enable companies to claim 100 per cent capital cost allowance deduction in the first year for major investments.
That’s right, 100 per cent. Let’s use taxation to reward entrepreneurship and investment in our economy.
The “Bold Incentive” would incentivize investment in Canada’s next big start-ups and scale-ups.
This tax code would eliminate punishment for bold moves. If we want more companies to scale from early stage to mid-size, and to even larger enterprises like Capintel and Koho, the tax system needs to be designed to reward that progress.
The “Bold Incentive” would also expedite tax benefits, an idea already being referred to as “Productivity Super Deduction” to accelerate recycling money back into the business through tax benefits.
Let’s also encourage Canadians to bet on and invest in startups by reducing capital gains tax to zero. This would lead to more new companies, more innovation, more productivity, more growth, more jobs, more success, higher self-esteem for Canadians, and more prosperity for our country. Our government and the people of Canada would benefit significantly from the massive increase in revenue generated by these thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
My career has been shaped around supporting the brightest minds to create wealth and prosperity for all Canadians. Financial literacy can educate graduates. Mentorship can advise on how to build a cap table. But when it comes to young minds actually making the next move, the thing that will get them there is actually quite simple — it’s wealth itself.
That future is entirely possible. The countries that win in the coming decades will be the ones bold enough to embrace ambition, innovation and growth.
That is the “New Canadian Dream.” It is still within reach, but only if we create it with intention.
