CCI Reaction to the 2021 Federal Election

With news outlets declaring that the Liberal Party will form government, Benjamin Bergen, executive director of the Council of Canadian Innovators, issued the following statement:

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On behalf of our membership of more than 140 Canadian innovation companies employing over 52,000 highly-skilled workers from coast to coast, I’d like to congratulate Justin Trudeau on being re-elected as Prime Minister of Canada tonight.

The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) welcomes tonight’s result because it means that our political leaders can get back to what really matters: running the government, getting Canada through the pandemic, and implementing a long-term economic prosperity strategy that helps fuel the growth of our country’s homegrown companies. During the campaign, more than 300 Canadian business leaders called on all parties to champion plans that address climate change, COVID-19, and the digital revolution in our economy. We hope the Liberal government quickly gets to work on these important matters in the House of Commons.

During the campaign, the Liberal Party promised to reform the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit and improve the Global Talent Stream, two federal programs that are central to Canada’s innovation ecosystem. The Liberal platform also indicated that they intend to re-introduce their major legislative push to overhaul Canada’s data privacy rules. While our members support efforts to strengthen privacy regulations and bring our laws up to date, the previous Bill C-11 contained some concerning measures, and technology companies hope that the Liberal government engages in substantial dialogue and consultation to produce a piece of legislation which protects citizen privacy while also giving business the certainty needed.

Our members look forward to working with Prime Minister Trudeau’s cabinet and all members of Canada’s 44th parliament to achieve sustained economic growth and prosperity in the global innovation economy.

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Media Contact:

James McLeod

jmcleod@canadianinnovators.org

416.910.3496

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