By Lawrence Zhang

 Lawrence Zhang is the Head of Policy for the Ottawa-based Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness, the Canadian affiliate of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

Canada has long embraced its identity as a “middle power,” respected on the world stage, yet not mighty enough to wield hegemonic influence.

As a middle power, we play a role in international peacekeeping missions, shape global accords, and occasionally earn a mention (alongside other countries) in The Economist or The Wall Street Journal for our strengths in industries like AI and agriculture.

But Canada has the potential to be more than just a supporting player. With greater ambition and the right vision, we can influence global markets and become a dominant force.

The Trump administration miscalculated when launching its trade war by assuming Canada would passively accept annexation through economic coercion.

By treating Canada as a “minor power” that might meekly submit to the pressure, Trump underestimated our self-perception as a middle power – a status that, when threatened, has fueled national outrage and united Canadians.

Trump’s delusional threats of annexation have inadvertently created an opportunity to change our national narratives. Do we remain a middle power, content with a seat at the corner of the “adult’s table,” or aspire to more?

Canada has the foundation to become an industrial powerhouse. The global political clout to match will follow, but only if we get ambitious enough. That said, we are currently failing to capitalize on our strengths.

Canada is the most educated country in the world, but we lack the anchor firms needed to keep top talent and R&D from leaving in search of better opportunities. Rather than incentivizing firms to remain small, we should focus on helping them scale up, giving talent a reason to stay.

Canada possesses abundant natural resources and critical minerals necessary to support a world-leading advanced manufacturing sector. However, we set up bureaucratic roadblocks that stall extraction and processing instead of developing these assets in-house in close collaboration with Indigenous communities. 

Our points-based immigration system was designed to attract talented human capital, yet it has largely been used to backfill low-wage positions. Instead, we should prioritize welcoming researchers and scientists displaced by the Trump administration’s cuts.

With the most coastline access in the world, we should be a shipping powerhouse. But we have neglected our aging and inefficient infrastructure, preventing Canadian factories and farms from efficiently getting goods onto cargo ships to reach international markets.

Canada’s stable institutions and rule of law make it an attractive destination for foreign investment. However, rather than embracing the support, we have been reluctant to leverage these advantages, with some even arguing that Canada should reduce the presence of foreign multinational companies.

Canada shares an official language with almost half of the countries in the world. Yet, out of convenience, we have relied too heavily on the United States rather than diversifying our global influence.

These are all ingredients for success, but simply having them isn’t enough. You can’t just leave cake ingredients on the counter and expect a cake to bake itself. Nor should we settle for store-brand flour when we have the means to access the best.

For example, while Canada has the highest postsecondary education rate in the world, we lag in the percentage of STEM degrees awarded, which holds back our potential in high-tech industries.

Canada is the world’s ninth-largest economy, yet we rank just 17^th in productivity. Closing this gap demands decisive action.

If our governments continue to spread support across every industry that comes knocking, an approach the United States and China can afford to do, our resources will be stretched too thin. Instead, we must be strategic and prioritize sectors where Canada has a real shot to compete on a global scale.

Crossing our fingers and hoping that innovations in the postsecondary sector make it from lab to market is not a strategy; it’s a missed opportunity. Avoiding the hard conversations about bridging this gap means leaving money on the table. We must ensure that the research emerging from Canadian universities translates into real-world economic gains.

Framing debates on new technologies around precaution, rather than embracing innovation and understanding technologies before regulating them, will prevent us from building the lead we need to succeed in growth industries like AI and genomics.

We should be pursuing ambitious and aggressive industrial strategies in key industries, detailing clear plans for tax policy, workforce training, incentives, regulation and trade.

The goal must not be merely to survive or preserve the status quo. It should be to win.

The time has come for Canadians to shed our comfortable middle power complacency and build the courage to rise to the occasion. Our prosperity depends on our ambition. Let’s stop leaving our potential on the table and start building the powerhouse we're meant to be.

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