Don’t Wait: Get Involved Today

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“Aspecter is haunting Canada – the specter of complacency.”

Although tongue-in-cheek, this statement points to a very serious matter in this country, the tendency towards risk-aversion. It is going to be up to new entrepreneurs who are not afraid and motivated to put their ideas and money on the table. Canada needs more entrepreneurs.

For those entering the entrepreneurial world, many will be wildly successful; many will fail. Some will try again and again until they find their place in the world of successful ownership.

As a result of downsizing, poor planning and a plethora of other factors we are all too aware of, Canadian industry, which is one of the most technologically advanced in the world today, has suffered arguably more than any other country in the world. The number of truly gifted professionals who are being unused in Canada or that are taking permanent flight southward or to other parts is, quite simply, a national embarrassment.

This call to support entrepreneurism is a call to those who can help capable individuals left by the wayside, to rise from the rubble and lead Canada to the forefront of international growth. We are looking for a ripple of productive economic activity. Every piece of the economic puzzle exists in Canada; we have the know-how and the investment capital. What we lack is the gumption to take the bull by the horns and realize our opportunities. The economic pie is massive and if Canada is to survive the next century, it will need to grab a significant piece.

Let us make one issue perfectly clear: our survival depends not on government intervention, but on the initiative and ingenuity of Canadians. Entrepreneurship is about creating wealth. It is about building and growing much more useful enterprises. New wealth and economic growth in the future will come from commercializing new technologies and growing our smaller and medium-sized companies into international competitors. To those individuals interested in exploiting opportunities, there are a multitude of them available. Sustainable societal wealth is not created by the accumulating, rearranging and manipulating of wealth.

Experience shows us that real wealth – those products and services which are tradable and exportable – means a great deal more to an economy than inflated real estate prices. The question must be asked as to what the current and established industry companies will do and are they going to promote the existence and success of such wealth-creating enterprises in Canada.

Although money knows no boundaries, economic peaks and troughs have significantly stronger currents on national economies. One of our super ordinate goals must be the preservation, as well as creation, of jobs and the increased ability to maintain development and commercialization of products in Canada by Canadians.

An extra effort must be undertaken to explore the options of management buyouts, joint ventures, technology transfers, and most of all, start-ups. Entire divisions are being cut from fat corporations no longer interested in mass production, leaving many attractive and more lucrative market niches upon which to capitalize. It is precisely these types of wealth-creating ventures that drive the Canadian economy and its tax base.

Real estate flips do not create real wealth. We in the industry have been too preoccupied in the safe money game. There is a growing urgency that we get our hands dirty with the real crux of economic activities. We must help and support start-up ventures. Do not wait, get involved today. MT

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Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


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