The year we get our story straight.

As a country, we are terrible storytellers.

We can't articulate who we are or what we’re about. We do not have a shared ideal of what we want to be known for, or why. We cannot define our national ambition or our role in the world.?

When I was growing up, I was taught that Canada was a nation of peace keepers, of bountiful resources and a mosaic of individual identities that formed a beautiful and distinctive whole. Since then, our international reputation has diminished, and our standing as a land of opportunity has been strained.

We rightfully acknowledge our problems but can’t seem to identify our purpose.

The lack of a clear and compelling Canadian narrative is a massive risk factor, and has the potential to undermine everything from our societal unity to our talent retention and economic growth.

An Angus Reid poll released last month demonstrated a major decline in national pride, with the proportion of Canadians who say they are either proud or very proud of their nationality dropping from 79 per cent to 58 per cent over the past eight years.

To address this problem, we need to get our story straight.

We need to plant a flag and declare some bold objectives for who we want to be. We need to figure out the throughline that explains Canada's strengths and what we plan to do with them.

We need an ambition that motivates us individually, unites us collectively and defines us to the wider world.

The narrative for Canadian tech

There has never been a strong narrative around Canadian technology.

Despite a long record of invention and impact, innovation just isn’t part of how we define ourselves as Canadians.?

It should be.

Technology has become the foundation of our lives and our industries, and should be seen as central to our national ambitions.

Right now, the global order is reasserting itself, and the success of nations and economies will be decided on three things: the ability to defend, sustain and compete.

If Canada hopes to care for its citizens and reemerge as a dynamic force in the world, it must embrace technology and innovation as an essential tool.

The ability to defend will not just be about managing physical borders and retaining control over the Canadian Arctic. It will require us to address the lack of digital borders in our lives and guard against increasingly serious attacks. Technology and innovation will be foundational to safeguarding our infrastructure, our water supplies, our communications networks, and how we protect ourselves from emerging threats like forest fires, propaganda, espionage, and climate threats.

Our ability to sustain our people will require innovative approaches to energy production, housing, agriculture, and how we localize our supply chains and onshore manufacturing.

Our ability to compete will be about asserting ourselves in the industries that will define the coming decades. What products are we inventing? What industries are we defining? What is happening here that isn’t happening elsewhere, creating jobs and intellectual capital that will enrich us for years.

The US and China get it. Public investment in industrial strategy is “urgent business” for countries who understand the implications of supply chain weakness, climate change and semiconductor production.

For years, Canada has timidly told technologists and entrepreneurs that they can build their careers here if they want to. But telling people they don’t have to leave is not a compelling narrative. Our country should loudly align itself with dreamers and inventors, actively conscripting them in a new national agenda.

"Set a goal and experiment like hell"

This is the advice that Clio founder Jack Newton offered the Canadian government last year.

The country should declare its intention to be a global technology leader, he said, and then create the conditions to succeed.

At BetaKit , our goal is to be the storytellers of Canadian tech and innovation.

Storytelling can make stars, myths and legends. It can educate, identifying shared challenges and emerging opportunities. It can ground us in history and propel us into the future.

This is about more than just news. It’s about chronicling our history, our accomplishments, our intentions and our impact.

I want innovation placed within a broader shared ambition. I want my children to be taught that Canada is a place that applies its ingenuity to solve major problems, invent new approaches and take care of its people.

That’s the story we need to tell.