Putting the Investor First

I recently had the pleasure of holding discussions in Ottawa with colleagues at all levels of government and from across the country. Our focus of discussion was about the challenge we all face in attracting investment to our country, provinces and cities. Here are a few common threads that wove their way through our conversations.

1.      The only person who matters in any investment outreach is the investor. It is their concerns, aspirations and questions that matter, as they are the ones who will be making the decision where to make their investment. All of our efforts must be directed at ensuring the investor’s needs are addressed.

2.      The investor should never need to know or understand how three levels of government in Canada work together. While we might find the Canadian constitution and the division of powers fascinating or important, the investor likely doesn’t care, nor should they.

3.      We structure our operating models to ensure that a unified and cohesive front is presented to the investor. This relies on an admirable spirit of open communication and magnanimity between the various agencies engaged in investment attraction work in Canada.

4.      While we compete amongst ourselves to land investments, we collaborate in the international market place to bring investment to our shores. We celebrate each other’s successes and look for more.

5.      The pool of potential investment worldwide is vast and deep and sticking to our collaborative approach will be sure to generate more wins.

We are delighted that our discussions with our colleagues across the country embrace these concepts. We look forward to working with everyone to ensure that we all land our fair share of international companies looking to grow and create jobs.