Roese on Canadian ICT leadership

John Roese had an OpEd in Monday’s Globe and Mail that you may have missed because of the holiday.

The piece claims that Canada’s ICT industry needs help to regain its edge, citing the various international rankings that show Canada slipping in broadband, ICT readiness, etc. Frequent readers of this blog know that I find those studies to be flawed, but the call for a national ICT strategy is sound.

How can governments help? In many ways. By making ICT a policy priority. By showcasing the abundant Canadian capabilities in next-generation technologies and applications through purchasing initiatives, especially when they are comparable in deployment and competitive in price. By moving faster to implement the next generation of wireless technologies and to make high-speed broadband connectivity available to all communities across the country. By ensuring a competitive tax environment for research and development, which will also help offset the reality that today Canada, with its strong dollar, is considered a “high-cost” place to do business. And, by getting very serious about promoting science and technology in grade schools and high schools to address the rapidly declining enrolment across the country in these disciplines at the same time that large parts of our aging work force are heading into retirement years.

OK, so you can see some self-serving calls for Canada to “buy Canadian” and provide an improved tax structure for Nortel’s R&D; department but I encourage you to read the piece deeper.

As I have asked before, how will political parties deal with telecom policy and ICT strategies as we prepare for a possible fall election?

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