Canada’s close integration with the United States created extraordinary prosperity — but perhaps also dependency and a narrower field of vision. As the world becomes more transactional, resilience requires options. Canada’s opportunity is not to retreat from the U.S., but to diversify, build strategic capacity and rediscover the ambition to see the world as its market.

Canada has spent decades investing in innovation, R&D and productivity — and many individual programs can demonstrate success. Yet the national productivity outcome remains stubbornly weak. Perhaps the issue isn’t whether programs work, but whether the system converts research, IP and investment into adoption, scale and economic value. It may be time to measure further down the value-creation chain.