This month’s 16^th annual Executive Forum on Microelectronics certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the premier gatherings of Canada’s microelectronics and microsystems community – and what a better a way to kick it off than with the CMC/ITAC Banquet, “Celebrating Excellence.”

What made this evening so special was the transition from the brightest up-and-comers in the Canadian industry to the true legends that have helped lead the industry to where it is today.  The CMC Awards celebrate the bleeding edge of innovation coming out of our nation’s universities – what an impressive group of innovators this represents.  They also served as a tremendous segue into the ITAC/SMC Outstanding Services Awards, which celebrate the current microelectronics industry leaders and all they’ve done technically and non-technically, to advance the Canadian industry.  Winners of these awards were the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Adel Sedra, and retired professor and esteemed author, Kenneth Carless Smith.

The forum itself began with some insightful presentations that set the context for the day, including an overview and key trends in the microsystems marketplace, as well as a presentation by ITAC President and CEO, Bernard Courtois, on how this sector fits into Canada’s Digital Economy Strategy.

Our afternoon sessions shifted the focus toward discussing and addressing the key challenges companies in this industry face.  Appropriately, the day wrapped-up with a discussion around the opportunity to develop a world-leading Canadian microsystems ecosystem.

Thanks to all the day’s presenters; the conference hit the mark in terms of what participants were expecting.  The forum was described as intelligent, insightful, provocative, interactive, fun and everything in between.  We would also like to thank our organizing committee and sponsors for helping to make this event possible. 

One of the important things we’ll take away from this forum is the participants’ resounding enthusiasm for the idea that the dialogue around how to build a world-leading microelectronics ecosystem in Canada must continue, and ITAC looks forward to playing its role in moving this forward.

Last week, Bill C-32 was tabled in the House of Commons. It contained a variety of amendments to our copyright legislation and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Currently in the midst of the federal government’s Digital Economy Strategy consultations, many within industry, the media, and the public had noted that modern copyright legislation was one major item Canada was missing. While privacy, spam, malware, identity theft, online child abuse, and other legal issues are being addressed, a Canadian copyright law that pertained to the internet age had not – until last Tuesday.

Good copyright legislation is, in essence, a balancing act between the interests of consumers and the creators of intellectual property (from software publishers to musicians and everyone in between). And the legislation tabled last week appears to take the right approach – a common sense, balanced approach.

At ITAC, we approach this from the standpoint of leadership in the global digital economy. While we may not lead by being the first to draft 21st century copyright law, we can show leadership by learning from the experience of others and striking a more appropriate balance.

This new copyright bill will not go all the way for one group at the expense of another, and ITAC supports this approach. For example, while we believe in protecting the rights of creators, we do not want customers to be knocked off the internet by a commercial enterprise because their child or grandchild has been illegally downloading music, so we support the notice-and-notice regime in the bill.

The law contains much needed updating and clarification of consumers’ rights: the right to transpose content on a more convenient platform; the right to time shifting; the right to create a backup copy. It allows technology to be used to better serve customers including replication on a network, caching, hosting and the provision of information location services without incurring additional payment obligations for something already paid for. And the bill identifies no difference between the PVR in your house and the PVR your network provider provides for you.

Arguably the most controversial issue within Bill C-32 is digital locks. Some argue that digital locks are not strictly a copyright matter, and as such, should not form part of this legislation. Fundamentally though, we must ask ourselves: is this the right thing to do? My view on this is best illustrated by looking at the Canadian gaming industry. Canada is recognized as a worldwide as leader in this market, and our performance within it represents some of our clearest competitive advantages in the digital economy, period. The entire gaming market is predicated on a digital locks model and consumers love the product. It would seem strange, if not absurd, if the Canadian government wanted to undermine the business model of one of its most successful industry vectors.

Note that if there are people who refuse to learn the lessons of the past (e.g., the Sony Rootkit debacle), this new legislation gives government the authority to wade in and remove legal protection by regulation. The legislation even sets out what will be taken into account if government ever had to perform such a regulatory intervention. For example, government will assess whether a lock is needed to make the product viable, whether the value is being taken away from the consumer in the process, whether criticism or research is being impeded, and so on.

The legislation correctly distinguishes significantly in terms of remedies between infringement for commercial and non-commercial or personal purposes, and sets out a proportionality standard in determining penalties. We don’t want to see an ordinary consumer sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars because their computer is being used by a peer-to-peer service to redistribute music or videos. The bill allows software to be modified or digital locks to be circumvented for purposes of interoperability with other software. It addresses the situation of teachers and libraries, as well as that of security and encryption researchers, which is another area of Canadian strength. Bill C-32 is a complex piece of legislation that we will be studying in depth over the coming weeks. But at this point, the overall picture looks quite positive.

The formulation of a digital economy strategy for Canada is a task much larger than the creation of industrial policy. It is nothing less than the creation of foundation for the kind of nation we will build in the 21^st century.

Digital tools and content are pervasive. The tremendous growth of texting, for example, illustrates this. Canadians send about 174 million text messages per day. And to give you a sense of how quickly these tools are being deployed in 2002, it took us a year to produce that volume. Not a bad growth curve for a communications innovation that is only about 10 years old. We’ve seen similar sharp adoption curves for other services and forget that it took the telephone and the automobile roughly 50 years to achieve the same market penetration as the Internet and cell phones did in ten.

These tools affect everything about the way we conduct our lives from the way we conduct business to the way we connect with our friends and family. For example, we are in the midst of a revolution in publishing with implications as historic and far reaching as the introduction of the Gutenberg press. (Chances are now better than fifty-fifty that you are reading this article online.) A growing cadre of children owe their existence to their parents’ use of online social connection sites. Our engagement with our governing institutions has been streamlined in ways that we’ve already begun to take for granted – can you remember when you waited eight weeks for a routine tax return cheque to arrive in the mail? Can you remember doing your return with a pencil? And digital tools are already having a huge impact on the quality of our healthcare as records, scans and tests can all be digitized and transmitted at the speed of light and, for patients in a critical care setting, that’s just about fast enough.

The process that Industry Minister Tony Clement (along with Heritage Minister James Moore and Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley) announced today calls for a broad public consultation on what a digital Canada should look like. It presents a superb opportunity for all of us to stop and measure the ways technology has changed our lives and to be thoughtful about the opportunities and challenges technology presents.

The challenges are significant. For example, there is a serious potential that these tools, designed to bring us together can actually forge deep divisions. With our strong national characteristic of inclusion, we surely cannot countenance a nation divided between those who have technology and those who have not. Our key task must be to extend the benefits of digital tools and networks to all.

Equally we must be mindful that the rapid pace of technology does not blur our attention to the important values that have shaped Canadian society – values like security and privacy.

The information and communications technology industry obviously welcomes the announcement of an imminent digital economy strategy for Canada. The opportunities to return Canada to a leadership position globally in the production and use of digital tools is exciting to us. And we believe that the task of encouraging Canadian business across all sectors to be more inventive in their use of technology is one we have postponed for too long. We are most anxious to get underway on that to help ensure Canada’s productivity and competitiveness.

But if this consultation process occurs exclusively between our industry and policy makers, it will be a hollow exercise. Canadians of all ages in all walks of life have a vital stake in defining how our nation will function, what opportunities it will create and what checks and balances it will put in place to guarantee a robust digital future. All Canadians should engage in this discussion.

This op-ed was published on May 12 in The Waterloo Region Record, The Guelph Mercury, and the Wire Report online.

This is not a new story. The good news is the Auditor General’s report has brought these issues to the forefront and there seems to be general agreement that it’s time to take action. What’s more, the private sector is willing and able to lend its support.

The challenge is that this is only part of a larger and more complex issue – one that includes the masses of federal government ICT workers due to retire over the next five years.

According to the 17th Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada, the average age of public servants in Canada is 43.9 years old and 50.3 years for executives. What’s more, the retirement rate in the public service has risen from about 2.4 percent in 2004 to between 3.3 percent and 3.6 percent. That adds up to roughly 9,000 to 10,000 public servants retiring each year for the next four to five years.

Finding skilled IT people is challenging enough. And it will become more difficult as boomers begin heading for the exits. With respect to the federal government, the task of finding replacements is exacerbated by the fact that we will be losing people with an intimate understanding of the government’s legacy systems and processes. These are the very individuals we should be relying on now to facilitate the transition to a new government IT strategy.

It is essential we find a new sense of urgency to drive transformational change before we lack the human capital to do so. The time has come for a comprehensive plan – one that addresses the short-term issues of so called systems ‘rust-out’ as well as the coming shortage of government ICT workers.

At the core, this is ultimately about productivity. Compared to our U.S. counterparts, as a country, we have consistently lagged in this area, and the so called ‘productivity gap’ has continued to widen. In many ways the challenge before government is also an opportunity to show leadership and to demonstrate to all Canadians the economic and environmental benefits of modernizing our technology infrastructure.

The issues and, more importantly, the solutions are well known. According to the Department of Public Works and Government Services, there are significant opportunities to make better use of existing resources. For example, there is something in the order of 124 separate networks government-wide. On top this there are 120 unique helpdesks in addition to 144 data centers. All told there are 120,000 servers supporting federal government operations today.

Beyond making the investments to replace aging systems, the government must focus on increasing the proportion of shared services it uses to manage its operations. Departments and agencies must embrace opportunities to use common approaches to address common needs.

With greater focus on sharing resources – including networks, helpdesks and data centers – there are opportunities to achieve dramatic economies of scale. Through consolidation it becomes possible to increase service levels while using fewer human resources to do so. In particular, clustering resources makes it possible to eliminate redundant infrastructure as well as the costs associated with maintenance and support.

This of course is only part of the answer. What is ultimately required are transformational projects that improve efficiency while enhancing the way services are delivered to Canadians.  Cloud computing, for example, is allowing organizations to pool and then rapidly deploy computing power when and where it is needed most. Cloud computing is also enabling the delivery of sophisticated services entirely over the web. This is far more cost-effective than doing so using the traditional bricks and mortar approach.

There is no shortage of solutions to the issues the Auditor General has highlighted in her report. Nonetheless, meeting the dual challenge of an aging workforce and systems infrastructure won’t be easy. It will require vision and, more importantly, the wherewithal to take aggressive action. Urgent investment and increased collaboration between government and the private sector are essential if we are to address both immediate deficiencies as well as the need to prepare for a future where skilled ICT workers may become increasingly scarce.

We can no longer neglect what is ultimately a pillar in our democracy. As we embrace the opportunities of a knowledge-based economy, the Canadian government’s focus on improving productivity through innovation should be source of pride and inspiration for all Canadians.
David MacDonald is the President and CEO of Softchoice Corporation and the former Chair of the Information Technology Association of Canada board of governors.

First is the challenge of getting our own house in order. We have benefited from the acquisition of a relatively benign environmental reputation. We’re not seen as a “smokestack” industry and that has bought us some grace. Let’s hope our halo holds up until we can fully address the reality of our situation… which is that we are a serious emissions contributor (some servers can pump out carbon like an SUV). Fortunately we prize our green reputation and hold our reputation for non-complacency even higher. So there has already been a major effort across the whole industry to shrink this footprint as quickly as we can. Sustainability and energy efficiency feature prominently in the R&D programs and market engagements of virtually all major and many smaller ICT firms.

A second challenge lies in the proliferation and increasing superannuation and disposability of the tools and devices we use to connect our wired world. The alchemy of computing has involved some pretty nasty ingredients (like lead and cadmium). We can’t be dumping that into landfills here or anywhere else. So once again we return to the lab to discover new ways to weave our magic with friendlier (and fewer) materials.

A third challenge lies in firmly establishing our place in the ranks of environmental technologies. With controversy swirling (yes, that was a pun) around the negative impacts of wind farming or around the actual yield from solar technology, it seems to me that ICT is the only environmental technology with a proven track record… producing greater efficiencies in power generation and distribution, conserving energy through sensor networks in smart buildings and by displacing the need for carbon-spewing commuting and business travel. As the OECD’s Environmental Technologies Action Plan has observed… “the (ICT) industry can provide the tools to contribute to energy savings both within its own sector and in other areas. Even at a very basic level the energy management, monitoring and awareness-raising potential of ICTs mean they can offer huge savings across almost every industry.”

The environmental issues confronting our industry are weighty and complex enough to fill days of discourse. So we thought we’d hold at least one. On April 27 we will hold the first ITAC Executive Forum on Green ICT. Hope to see you there!

First it was Minister Flaherty Tweeting the budget on March 4. Then on March 11, Prime Minister Harper streamed his reply to the Speech from the Throne on YouTube. And last night, YouTube broadcasted an interview with the Prime Minister, a moderator fielding questions from Canadian YouTube users.

With the private sector exploring how best to use social media more and more, it’s clear the Canadian government wants in on the fun.

So what sort of implications will this have in regards to how government communicates with the Canadian public?

During a broadcast of CBC’s “The National,” Allan Gregg of the program’s At Issue panel argued that while the use of this technology (YouTube) in this way is new, the strategy is not. The Globe and Mail agreed: “Political leaders have always searched for ways to get their message directly to voters, unfiltered by journalists.”

The question then becomes, how effective is this “circumventing” of the mass media? According to the Globe, perhaps not overly: “While politicians use YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media to circumvent the inconvenient filter of journalists, these new media are primarily used by the young, who show little interest in politics in general, and Conservatives in particular.”

But the government is optimistic. While the numbers of Canadians that tuned in for this most recent YouTube broadcast paled in comparison to the viewers that watched President Obama’s post-State of the Union address YouTube broadcast (5,129 Canadians asked the PM 1,794 questions, while Obama’s broadcast has garnered 870,000 views to date), the government is embracing social media nonetheless, and doing all it can to use these communication tools to its advantage.

“Mr. Flaherty says the Conservative government wants to “reach out to inform Canadians of actions” his government’s taking to support the economy. The minister says social media will bring the government message to Canadians in a “new, cost-effective and convenient way,”” the Globe and Mail reported after the Tweeting of the Budget.

And on the Prime Minister’s website, web surfers find an equally positive tone:

“The Government is also ensuring that it uses new and innovative ways to get in touch with Canadians. Canadians are no longer getting their news solely from traditional media. They are turning to new media in increasing numbers. YouTube and other forms of social media allow Canadians unfiltered and immediate access to Government information – like today’s speech. The use of YouTube livestreaming complements the Government’s current use of social media.”

Yet, the full impact of these social media – on enhancing government communication with the Canadian public – is yet to be determined. Many believe that honest, ethical, and comprehensive journalism is the backbone of democracy. Then what is to be said of social media as an integral part of eDemocracy, or in this case, what some have coined “YouTube-ocracy”?

It is extremely encouraging when we can look to government as an early adopter of technology, and aware of the latest technological trends. This is what is needed if Canada is going to establish itself as a global economic leader emerging from the recession. The onus is, therefore, on traditional media organizations to adjust…

“As legacy media – the new past-tense-laden term for newspapers, magazines and network television – struggle to retain readers and viewers, the role of social media in politics becomes increasingly intriguing,” the Globe reported.

That it does.

So while the specifics on what impact the use of social media will have on government operations (and how this impact is measured) may still be unknown, you can bet that the most successful governmental leaders of the twenty-first century will be well-versed in Tweeting, Facebook posting, and appearing in the odd YouTube video.

Every time I get the chance to visit the XRCC – Xerox Research Centre Canada the question mark shaped building on the western edge of Mississauga – I take it, and I always come away inspired and wiser. My latest visit was no exception. On March 9 about 130 of us showed up for a breakfast conversation with Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, Fulbright Fellow, Fellow of the IEEE, Xerox Corporation’s Chief Technology Officer, and one of the most influential executives in technology.

Her appearance marked the first in a new series of events co-presented by ITAC and CWC (Canadian Women in Communications) and designed to showcase the careers and achievements of prominent women in the information and communications technology industry. We couldn’t have asked for a more auspicious beginning.

She talked about her career path, describing her earliest fascination with science – memorably fueled by being roused out of bed in the middle of the night (she was raised in Belgium) to watch the moon landing with her family on a neighbour’s TV. From that moment she wanted to be an astronaut. That ambition lead to studies in engineering in Europe and the United States.

After completing her PhD at Cornell, Sophie applied for work at two major upstate New York employers. One recruiter was at pains to make her aware that by granting her an interview he was fulfilling a corporate gender quota requirement. Fortunately the other employer offered Sophie a job which she accepted.

Sophie is both an advocate and an exemplar of the progressive and inclusive professional development practices she encountered throughout her career at Xerox. She described the flexibility the company showed as her career advanced and her family life became more demanding (she raised her children single-handedly following the death of her husband). Today she is responsible for the corporation’s R&D effectiveness and oversees six major labs around the world. When she announced her plans to remarry, the only concern this provoked in her bosses (Xerox CEO Ursula Burns and Chair Anne Mulcahey) was the possibility that she might be thinking about leaving her job, a concern easily resolved by simply relocating Sophie to Boston.

The breakfast was a great opportunity for young women in tech (and old girls like me) to hear from a woman who has accomplished a great deal while balancing a rich home life and broad array of other interests. She advised that high aspirations can be an excellent survival strategy, admitting that the toughest job she had was her first supervisory assignment where others kept putting meetings in her calendar. She pointed out that work life gets a lot easier when you control your calendar.

The conversation passed too quickly. At one point Sophie acknowledged her challenges when she assumed the leadership role at the XRCC over a decade ago. A corporate coach was called in to assist her. The coach did some research, talked to colleagues, and reported that people at the lab felt Sophie was aloof. “As a non-English speaker I didn’t even know what “aloof” meant,” she said. Well that must have been some coach! The Sophie we met was funny, warm, and graciously generous with her insights and her story… in fact the very opposite of aloof.

As a topic for public policy debate, productivity has no charisma. It’s a political conversation killer combining arcane economics with uncomfortable preconceptions about working harder.

In spite of this, in recent weeks two respected voices in Canadian public policy have bravely stepped forward to shine a spotlight on this issue which is about nothing less than the standard of living that we will bequeath to future generations of Canadians. ITAC believes that, in spite of its drab appearance, improving productivity in Canada is an issue of vital importance to all Canadians.

In his roles as Deputy Minister of Industry, of Finance and latterly as Clerk of the Privy Council, Kevin Lynch has always been outspoken about the importance of this problem. It is encouraging to see that while he has retired from the public service, he still continues to champion the need to address our lagging productivity. In a thoughtful Globe and Mail essay on January 30, he delivered this call to arms.

“Canadians have been collectively incarcerated in a beguiling productivity trap for almost a generation. We work harder and harder, and use up our natural resources faster and faster, while the trap keeps us less rich, less able to provide public goods and less competitive. Canadians see more people working, and goods being produced as proof that productivity is not a problem. Yet this is the beauty of the productivity trap:  while the illness worsens, the patients believe they are feeling better.”

Among the qualities that characterized Kevin’s tenure in government was his superb capacity to make complex economic ideas accessible to lay people. This is a tremendous asset in the discourse on productivity. For example, his argument beautifully illuminates the role that ICT can play in driving productivity and as a pre-condition for a better performance in innovation:

“A key source of the U.S. productivity growth has been the development and production of information and communications-related goods, and subsequently the broad application of these throughout the U.S. economy particularly in the service sector… Unfortunately the intensity of usage of information technology by Canadian business is only half of the U.S.

“International comparisons again demonstrate the research gap between Canadian business and their competitors. In 2007 Canadian business ranked 14^th among OECD countries in research and development… This suggests that Canadian business has less capacity to be receptive to innovation, and less of a focus on innovation as part of an integrated business strategy in Canada.”

Then last Friday, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney drew a very clear picture of why Canadians need to care about productivity. Speaking to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, he said:

“While the Bank does not entirely understand why productivity growth has been as slow as it has been, we do understand the consequences. Slower productivity growth means that the rate of potential growth – the speed limit, if you will – of the Canadian economy has fallen. This has implications for both the growth of Canadian living standards and the conduct of monetary policy… The combination of slower productivity growth and demographics could mean the rate of potential growth for the Canadian economy will be closer to 2 percent going forward than the more than 3 percent average rate we enjoyed in the first half of the past decade and the latter half of the 1990s. If this differential were to persist over a decade, the cumulative loss of income would be almost $30,000 for every Canadian.”

This is an excellent way of personalizing a complex notion by a highly credible economic thought leader.  Slowing our economic growth rate by a third and picking our pockets of $3 thousand per year… this exposes our poor productivity for the truly malevolent force that it is.

The ICT industry by its very nature is committed to improved productivity – at the enterprise level, through our interaction with customers and at the economic level in important discourse like this. Sometimes the conversation can get pretty lonely. But the engagement of some of the best and brightest of our economic thought leaders certainly makes it as interesting as it is important.

One of ITAC’s goals in 2010 is to monitor Parliament Hill and Queen’s Park on behalf of our members, keeping an eye on the bills and key characters that will affect the way ICT companies operate in the near future. It might seem ironic, then, that we start this when Parliament has been prorogued, essentially halting all progress on the passing of bills through the House of Commons and the Senate until March. 

On March 3, we will see the reopening of Parliament and a Speech from the Throne, meaning Parliament is back in session. Then on March 4, Prime Minister Harper will unveil a new budget. Like Bernard and many others in the ICT industry, I hope that in and around all this we see a clear commitment to a Canadian digital economy action plan. Until then, though, all committees have been dissolved and all bills have died on the order paper – this means the process of having each individual bill passed will start from scratch in March, regardless of how close to passing the bill had come. 

As one might hope, some bills will be fast tracked once Parliament is back in session in March and can be reinserted exactly where they were in the process, provided the Opposition consents. Here are a few of those bills which are particularly relevant to ICT:
C-27 (a.k.a. “the spam bill”): An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian industry by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act (Electronic Commerce Protection Act).

Bill C-27 was introduced last April, and is designed to prevent the installation of any computer program that could potentially send an electronic message without the owner/user’s consent. It also forbids any Canadian from sending a commercial message to an electronic address without the receiver’s consent, unless a business transaction between the sender and receiver has occurred in the previous year and a half. The financial penalties for violation of this bill are set to range from up to $1-million for individuals, to up to $10-million for organizations.

 
C-47: An Act regulating telecommunications facilities to support investigations (Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement in the 21st Century Act)

Bill C-47 was introduced in June, and was called the “Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement in the 21st Century Act.” It is designed to allow public telecommunications providers to share intercepted communications with authorized personnel under order from the Minister of Public Safety. If the provider had encoded the communications (and with the exception of digital signatures), the bill would require these communications to be decrypted as well.
C-46:  An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Competition Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act)

Bill C-46 was also introduced in June, at that time called the “Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act.” It is aimed at preventing computer-related crimes by giving judges the power to issue orders to preserve electronic evidence, and to compel providers to produce data relating to certain communications (such as where they were sent from, and who sent them).

 
C-58:  An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service (Child Protection Act (Online Sexual Exploitation))

Bill C-58 was introduced in November, and is designed to force Internet Service Providers to notify police of any Internet address that is known to contain publicly-available child pornography. Under this act, ISPs would also have to notify police if they have reasonable grounds to believe that their own Internet service is being used, or has been used, to commit any offence related to child pornography.

 
Even though the House is not sitting, ITAC will continue to communicate with Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament to discuss what the ICT industry can expect from the government once Parliament resumes. Stay tuned to the ITAC blog for more.

Another new year is upon us; and while some will take this time to focus on setting goals and new beginnings, others will seize the opportunity to reflect on the past year to contemplate lessons learned and how one’s life, and world, have changed. In this seasonal spirit, I thought I would discuss the most pertinent issues and occurrences to affect the ICT industry in 2009, and what I think the industry can expect from 2010 and beyond.

Inevitably, the most notable impact on the ICT industry this year had to be that of the recession driven by the financial crisis. About a year ago, things looked bleak, and governments around the world were driven to stimulate the global economy. Governments became acutely aware of the need to find where economic growth would come from, and as a result, much of their attention was turned toward ICT.

In Canada, this meant that governments turned to ITAC to pursue this. We were active in numerous consultations around the turn of the year and we were very happy to see that January’s Federal Budget devoted nearly $1.5-billion to ICT and knowledge economy related initiatives. In May, we set up a meeting of 15 ICT industry leaders with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Industry Minister Tony Clement to discuss how to maximize the contribution ICT can make to help Canada recover economically. Minister Clement indicated that he wanted to develop a “whole of government” digital economy action plan and would be convening a conference in Ottawa on this topic. We were glad to see that both the Prime Minister and Minister Clement understood the importance of ICT and the digital economy to the future of Canada and the need to be a leader in this area.

In the months that followed, we met with a broad range of Federal Cabinet ministers to discuss this “whole of government” strategy and were very heartened at the positive feedback we received in terms of support for the overall strategy and of the roles many of them had to play.

In the early months of 2009, many provincial budgets also included significant investments to support the financing of tech ventures, notably in Québec. In Ontario and in British Columbia, the governments undertook to harmonize the provinces’ sales taxes with the GST. While this involves some degree of disruption and controversy it is an extremely positive measure in terms of attracting and growing investment and something that we in the ICT industry had been advocating for some time.

I would also add that while ITAC typically partners with provincial associations across Canada, it also serves as the provincial ICT association in Ontario. We have been working with Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello to update the ICT strategy for Ontario that we worked on with her in 2007 in order to maximize investment and job growth. We helped Minister Pupatello host a first roundtable of ICT industry leaders in Toronto in November. Further roundtables will take place in Waterloo and Ottawa. Minister Pupatello is a strong and effective champion for our industry. Premier McGuinty and the Ontario Government generally recognize the fundamental importance of ICT and of the knowledge economy for the future of Ontario.

In terms of the private sector, a major lesson from this past year is that even though people had to postpone spending on everything, including ICT, the role of ICT was still cemented as essential infrastructure. Companies could not hold off long on ICT spending, as they realized it would cost more not to spend on ICT than it would to start investing again. Many companies learned that strategic reorganization through better use of ICT could both save money, and create improved business models. In the ICT industry itself, many firms maintained, or even grew, their profits during this recession by altering their business models, creating what we can call a ‘lower cost engine,’ with which they can now build more profitable growth.

We also plan on continuing to work hand in hand with the Canadian ICT Federation in 2010, to help do whatever we can to build a strong foundation in Canada upon which ICT SMEs can grow. I believe SMEs are extremely important to the ITC industry, and we will be working on our own plans and with the Federation to support their growth.

Finally, a reflection on 2009 would not be complete without a discussion of eHealth. As such, I would like to point out two key lessons to be learned from the challenges, successes, and controversies associated with eHealth.

First, the difficulties with eHealth this year had nothing to do with eHealth itself, but rather the basic blocking and tackling in managing procurement and staffing practices. But this did cast a pall over the whole notion of eHealth, and it stalled the progress of eHealth. Not only is this not good for patients or for the sustainability of our healthcare system, it has also meant that some firms in our sector, especially SMEs, suffered greatly as a result.

Nonetheless, successful eHealth projects improved the responsiveness and cost effectiveness of our healthcare system in 2009. The Ontario Auditor General and the Auditor General of Canada strongly re-affirmed the importance of implementing eHealth. And the associations representing doctors, nurses and pharmacists publicly emphasized how important it is for the future of our healthcare system to get on with the job of eHealth.

Now, with a fresh decade upon us, it is time to turn our heads 180 degrees, shifting our focus onto what lessons we have learned from this past year, and how these lessons will educate how the industry thinks and operates.

Looking ahead, I see a variety of countries placing the digital economy at the heart of economic and social strategies, and I am glad that our federal government has agreed that Canada should do so as well. I am looking forward to those strategies, and hope to hear more about them during both the Speech from the Throne and the Budget Speech, this coming March.

Finally, I would like to note that Canada will be hosting the G8 and the G20 in June of this year, and we expect a number of countries to come to the table with this notion, that ICT and the digital economy is core to the future of the global economy. Notably, Europe had their i2010 strategy, which will be updated to i2015, so I would expect Europe to promote the concept of ICT as foundational to a strong global economy, and I am certainly counting on our Canadian government to do the same.