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Working with our membership, ITAC establishes and sets targets for where Canada's knowledge economy should be compared to key peer/competitor nations. Where we fall short, ITAC determines what we need to do to get there and ensure we do what is needed in areas such as: skills, capital, tax, science & technology, and collaboration.
ITAC believes Canadian businesses should be leaders in the use of ICT for competitive advantage, productivity and growth. Use of ICT by small and medium enterprises should increase towards that of our US counterparts. By partnering with other associations, as well as with Government, we work to ensure public policy supports these goals.
ITAC strives to ensure Federal, Ontario and other Canadian Governments are leaders in ICT use. ITAC positions itself as a trusted advisor to Government. We gather industry leaders and Government together and work to make it easier for our industry to sell to government.
ITAC believes the Canadian healthcare system should be a world-leading user of ICT to achieve superior patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness, as well as fostering development of a world-leading Canadian health ICT industry. ITAC works to correct chronic under-spend on ICT.
ITAC’s view is Canada’s laws should promote leadership in development and use of advanced technology. We want to ensure efficient and cost-effective measures to protect privacy and instill confidence in the e-economy.
ITAC believes that in order for Canada to continue to compete worldwide, we need to promote policies that will ensure a steady supply of talented men and women for our local ICT industry. We work with industry as well as with Federal, Provincial and local governments to establish initiatives to support this goal.
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Minister Tony Clement speaks at ITAC Board of Governors dinner
Posted February 10, 2010
According to the Honourable Tony Clement, there are three things we need to understand about ICT.
First, every sector of our economy needs to realize that while ICT only represents about 5 per cent of Canada’s GDP, it drives the other 95 per cent, by providing the digital infrastructure needed to remain competitive in this global economy – and a digital advantage is becoming increasingly important to all nations worldwide. Minister Clement noted that Canada’s adoption of ICT in business is, relatively speaking, “fair to middling,” and that we lag behind our American neighbours by nearly 40 per cent in terms of ICT investment per worker.
Second, Canada needs to invest in digital infrastructure – namely, broadband. A crucial aspect to a digital advantage is the availability of data everywhere, at a cheap price. With transmission speeds rising around the world, Canada needs to invest to keep up and to lead.
Finally, Canada needs to elevate the 5 per cent of GDP generated by the ICT sector. The Minister quoted a variety of other countries for whom ICT is a much greater part of the economy (Finland – 14.8 per cent, Korea – 13.7 per cent, Ireland – 12.1 per cent). The Minister argued that Canada can strive to grow significantly in ICT, building on low corporate taxes and a highly-educated workforce.
To all these ends, Mr. Clement declared that it must be a combination of government vision and corporate resolve – government guidelines, and corporate decision making and actions – that will help Canada achieve its economic targets. ITAC and its members have long been advocating for the establishment of a National Digital Economy Strategy, and Minister Clement said he is committed to having such a strategy in place.
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