Pulse Check: Tariffs and Election

Canada is in the midst of a trade war, and a pivotal federal election campaign, and we’ve been seeing a flurry of events on both files recently. To take stock, CCI hosted a live Canadian Tech Sector Pulse Check with leading CEOs from across the country.

Moderated by CCI President Benjamin Bergen, the national roundtable featured insights from:

• Sean O’Connor, CEO of 4AG Robotics
• Nic Beique, CEO of Helcim
• Sana Remekie, CEO of Conscia
• Craig McLellan, CEO of ThinkOn
• Hélène Moore, CEO of PharmBD
• Gina Pecore, CEO of Genoa Design International Ltd.

Together, the panel discussed how rising tariffs and  the federal election are impacting their businesses—and what’s needed to support growth, resilience, and economic sovereignty.

From securing supply chains to navigating geopolitical uncertainty, these CEOs shared candid perspectives on the challenges and opportunities ahead for Canadian tech firms scaling in a global market.

About the Council of Canadian Innovators

The Council of Canadian Innovators is a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. Established in 2015, CCI represents and works with over 150 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies. Our members are the CEOs, founders, and top senior executives behind some of Canada’s most successful ‘scale-up’ companies. All our members are job and wealth creators, investors, philanthropists, and experts in their fields of health tech, cleantech, fintech, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation. Companies in our portfolio are market leaders in their verticals, commercialize their technologies in over 190countries, and generate between $10M-$750M in annual recurring revenue. We advocate on their behalf for government strategies that increase their access to skilled talent, strategic capital, and new customers, as well as expanded freedom to operate for their global pursuits of scale.