“Canada is a nation of small businesses, and the importance of helping them scale and become more active on the global stage cannot be overstated in terms of Canadian prosperity and jobs”
Duncan Munn, Elevate Co-Founder and Chair.
Elevate Export Finance led a series of meetings on Parliament Hill this week joined by senior leaders in from the private sector for discussions and dialogue as to the issues surrounding SME exports. Joining Elevate for its “Hike the Hill” were representatives from business from across Canada representing sectors as diverse as Clean-Tech, Advanced Manufacturing to materials handling. Over the course of the day, the delegation met with Senior Officials at EDC, Science Innovation and Global affairs, Ministerial Staff as well as heard from thought leaders including Mike Horgan, Advisor to Elevate and former Deputy Minister of Finance for Canada.
Despite the incredible diversity in the room, a common theme quickly emerged: Canada has a great brand, but we need the risk appetite within our programs to match our ambitions. Canada has set some ambitious goals with respect to trade. The Fall economic update released this week by the Trudeau Government has set the goal of increasing exports by 50% by 2025. SME’s are going to be a critical part of achieving this national ambition and international bench marking of our programs would reveal some room for improvement.
We are blessed to have outstanding public services in Canada, and great institutions like EDC. Certainly, our time in Ottawa confirmed that. I was blown away by the quality of our private sector leaders and the sense of collaboration in the room. "Working together, I have no doubt we are up for the challenge of helping Canadians succeed on the global stage" said Duncan Munn, the delegation leader.
Elevate would like to acknowledge the following people and organizations for participating in Hike the Hill:
- Denis L’Heureux, Manager Corporate Loan Structuring- Diversified (Export Development Canada)
- Matthew Devine, Financing Manager (Export Development Canada)
- Alexandre Richard, Associate, Corporate and Asset Backed Lending (Export Development Canada)
- Frances McRae, Assistant Deputy Minister, Small Business, Tourism and Marketplace Services Innovation, Science and Economic Development
- Joanne Khouryati, Director General at Innovation Canada
- Sheryl Groeneweg, Director General at Innovation, Science and Economic Development
- Glenn Hodgson, International Economist and Financial Consultant
- Mike Horgan, Former Deputy Minister of Finance
- Jason Easton, Chief of Staff to Minister Mary NG, Small Business and Export Promotion
- Simon Robertson, Director of Policy Small Business and Export Promotion
- Loc Pham, Deputy Director & CanExport Program Manager
- Nathaniel Erkskine-Smith, MP Government of Canada
- John Gamble, CEO EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies Inc.
- Antonio Tomecich, VP Sales & Co-Founder Levek Turbines
- Max Liszkowski, CFO iPlayCo Corp
- Anne Lussier, Asia Sales Director Palmex International Inc
- Brian Gooding, MD Saeplast Americas Inc
- Kurt Sorschak, CEO Xebec Adsorption Inc
- Sean Fleming, Solar Global Solutions
- Stefan Lupke, President Corma Inc.
- Rob Brown, COO Viryl Technologies Corp.
- Chuck Cartmill, CEO LED Roadway Lighting
About Elevate
Elevate, a Canadian-based lender, has partnered with Export Development Canada (EDC) and financial institutions to provide the customers of Canadian small and medium sized businesses with structured finance solutions. We lend to foreign buyers of Canadian Exporters to help support Canadian Export Success.