A Starting Point

Throughout history there have been many key moments. These moments can shape the future of a country. January 20th, 2026 was a key moment for Canada. On that date, Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It was, arguably, the greatest speech given by a Canadian Prime Minister in our country's history — not just in tone and clarity, but in substance. It was brave and earned a rare standing ovation, putting it in a category of those delivered by Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was a proud moment for Canada and, for many, a starting point. It framed the problem clearly, named it honestly, and suggested that the path forward for middle powers like Canada requires something more than nostalgia for systems that no longer function as designed.

To be clear, the path to future prosperity — even survival — is a challenge. It requires solutions. Before we get to those, it's first necessary to understand the problem and where it came from. Without that, we're just choosing a direction at random, swimming hard without knowing where land actually is. That instinct to start with first principles is something I've carried with me throughout my career in business, particularly in the startup ecosystem. My own portfolio is heavily weighted toward early-stage companies, which is less a financial strategy than a reflection of how I see the world: more progress comes from building new things, as opposed to merely optimizing old ones.

Over the years, I've tried to contribute to the ecosystem locally here in Nova Scotia — serving on boards like Life Sciences Nova Scotia, and co-founding an investment club, now in its 10th year, with my longtime friend Dr. Neil Smith, a successful entrepreneur and a cornerstone in the province's startup community. My experiences and friendships have shaped how I think about risk, innovation, and systems, and ultimately, they've led me to believe that the same principles could apply at the level of countries as they do at the level of companies. I'm not naïve. I recognize politics is a different animal. However, when a system stops working, the answer isn't to defend it harder. It's to understand why it's failing, and then have the courage to build something better. That door is now open.

This newsletter is an attempt to walk through that door.

Every few weeks, or as my schedule allows, I'll take one part of Canada's economic reality and break it down in a practical way:

This is not meant to be theoretical. It's meant to be useful.

I'll draw from my own experience, from conversations with founders, investors, and operators across the country, and from the growing set of interviews I'm conducting as part of a broader project. The goal is not to criticize for the sake of it, nor to celebrate what we're already comfortable celebrating. It's to understand what is real, and what we can actually do about it.

Because if we're being honest, Canada is in a moment where clarity matters more than comfort.

For decades, Canada benefited from a global system that was stable, predictable, and broadly aligned with our interests. We didn't need to be the largest economy or the most powerful country. We just needed to be a reliable participant in a rules-based system that rewarded cooperation, trade, and alignment.

That system is changing.

Not slowly, and not temporarily.

The assumptions that underpinned it — that trade would always be mutually beneficial, that capital would always be globally available, that alliances would always provide security — are being tested in real time. In some cases, they're being quietly abandoned.

Carney said it directly: this is not a transition. It's a rupture.

And for a country like Canada, that matters.

We don't have the luxury of ignoring it. We don't have the scale to dictate outcomes. What we do have is a set of real assets, and a narrowing window to decide how we use them.

Over the coming months, I'll be breaking this down one area at a time.

The focus will be practical and grounded in reality, not theory.

We'll start with the startup ecosystem, because it sits at the intersection of innovation, capital, and ambition — and because it reflects something deeper about how we allocate resources and take risk as a country.

From there, we'll move through:

In each case, the goal will be the same: to understand not just what we have, but whether we are actually positioned to use it.

One of the things that made Carney's speech so powerful was not just the content, but the clarity. He said the quiet part out loud. He named what many people already understood but were reluctant to say publicly.

That standard matters.

This newsletter will aim to do the same.

Where things are working, we'll say so. Where they're not, we'll say that too. And importantly, we'll track how this moment evolves.

Carney has laid out a direction — one that suggests Canada must become more deliberate, more self-aware, and more capable of acting in its own long-term interest. That's not a single decision. It's a series of choices, made over time, under pressure.

I hope to explore the ideas that make that possible.

This isn't about short-term wins or politics.

It's about building something that lasts.

In many ways, this work is about planting trees whose shade we won't be here to sit under. That's uncomfortable in a system that rewards immediacy and short-term results. But it's necessary.

Countries, like companies, don't fail because they lack potential.

They fail because they misunderstand their position, and act too late.

The opportunity in front of Canada is real. But so is the risk of continuing as we have.

This is an attempt to understand the difference.