The Digital Revolution is Leaving Canada Behind

Overregulation and antiquated border laws are quashing the Canadian capacity for innovation and stifling our economic growth.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone. They do not reflect that of his employer.

Our country is falling behind. It's as simple as that.

The internets, as some of us like to call them, are quickly and surely changing the world. Disruption of old business models, the creation of new wealth, the eschewing of old ways of communicating, the dramatic shift to mobile computing, the ubiquitous availability of rich digital content, the rise of a people-powered web, the spectre of infinite bandwidth and storage: everything is new, and old rules just no longer apply. There is, quite literally, invention everywhere. People around the world are inventing new rules, trying new things. This includes some Canadians, to be sure, but the vast majority of these creative types (including some Canadians) operate outside our borders. Most of this inventing is going on outside of Canada, under conditions that are more favourable than those within our borders. And there is little to no incentive -- and, to hint at the problem, often negative incentive -- to bring the fruit of that invention back to, or just into, our country for the benefit of all Canadians.

What the hell am I talking about? I'm saying that Canadians are by and large missing out on the dramatic economic and cultural shift that is changing the world. Europeans and Americans have created and applied technologies that, taken together, are revolutionizing, or will soon revolutionize, their economies. Yet many of these fail to reach Canadians. Examples? Off the top of my head:

• Pandora (streaming personalized radio)? Nope.
• Hulu (rich, on-demand web video)? Nope.
• Amazon Cloud Drive (online storage)? Nope.
• Spotify (unlimited streaming music)? Nope.
• Apple Cloud Music (sync'ed online music)? Nope.
• Netflix (online streaming video)? Only recently launched in Canada, and with a terrible content library.
• Google Music (sync'ed online music)? Nope.
• Rdio (unlimited online streaming music)? Nope.
• iPhone (smartphone that changed the industry)? Slow to appear in Canada.
• Android (smartphone OS that let everyone else catch up)? Slow to appear in Canada.
• I'm sure this list could go on, and on, and on.

Check out The Mark's series on the future of innovation here.

Why does this even matter? Isn't this just a random sample of new web and gadget tech that is largely only of interest or relevance to geeks?

Not at all. These services represent the forces and raw materials of the digital economy at work and in flux. Consider that no Canadian is going to invent the wagon without first having been exposed to the wheel: seeing it, using it, understanding it. It is through the use and enjoyment of technology that new technology is inspired and created. Lacking exposure to the new hotness, those living in Canada are bound to become immune to inspiration.

The question is: Why do Canadians end up on the short end of this stick so often? Why do technology companies and digital content producers fail to "export" their wares north? And when they do, why does it happen so slowly? Actually, this question might best be answered in reverse: Why would content producers or tech companies be inclined to come to Canada? The problem is that we have too few good answers to that question.