Canada should embrace the online dating industry as both a money maker and a confirmation of our freedoms.

Gold, timber, oil, and Timbits – these have long been among Canada’s chief exports. But over the past decade a new resource has joined their ranks, a service of which Canada has become a powerhouse provider: digital dating! Lavalife, Plenty of Fish, and yes, Avid Life Media (the company behind Ashley Madison) have emerged as among the most significant players in what is, by some accounts, one of the web’s great innovations.

So why isn’t Canada proud of these initiatives?

Before the internet, you could meet people through friends, at work, or sometimes even in a bar, but absent those means, your bastion of last resort was the dreaded newspaper “personal ad” – a highly stigmatized, infrequently read, two-by-two text outlet for desperados and fringe dwellers (or so it seemed to many). But the web changed all of that.

With the advent of social media and online dating, there now exist unprecedented tools to pursue interpersonal relationships with an enormously large and diverse set of people. Canadians in particular have become avid adopters of these tools – in fact, we are the most connected people on earth. So it is no wonder that Canadian companies such as the ones listed above have been successful at exporting these world-class products – ones that bring joy to people’s lives, no less.

You would think then that Canada (and Canadians) would support the innovators behind these sites, and champion their exporting, technology, and marketing efforts. Sadly, this has not been the case.

Take Ashley Madison, a business I am intimately (no pun intended) familiar with. Despite having all of our TV commercials approved by the CRTC, and though we have created some of the most talked-about radio ads across America, there is no major Canadian broadcaster willing to air them. Of course, this is not surprising – the majority of stations are owned by a very small number of corporations, leaving few options for consumers and advertisers alike – but it does highlight the extent to which Canadian media discourse is limited by the delicate sensibilities of a few corporations.

Even city-run advertising venues would rather raise rates, terminate employees, and ignore Supreme Court of Canada rulings then let six simple words (carrying an admittedly not-so-simple message) be read by Canadians.

Should Canadians not be free to make their own choices? It is not be up to the state or a few media conglomerates to determine what consumers should want.

Ultimately, all of this has implications far beyond its impact on our company. It’s about whether Canada truly embodies a few central qualities of a great society: freedom of choice, fairness, and tolerance. If we allow this sheltering censorship to continue, what kind of message are we sending the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs, immigrants and philosophers?

Because online dating in general, and the service provided by Ashley Madison in particular, is uncharacteristically edgy for a Canadian innovation – because it is morally complex – the country has failed to recognize its importance. But the world is changing, and we cannot rely solely on safe commodities like gold and oil forever. If we forget that, we will not be a land of opportunity for much longer, and I fear then that my service will be more in demand than ever…