“Not everyone in the world wakes up in the morning thinking about Canada. This has been my mission, to really make the case for Canada.”

That, from Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, who spoke about Canada’s role to international investors while speaking to Calgary’s business community at a fireside chat with Calgary Chamber of Commerce CEO Deborah Yedlin.

Canada’s place in the world, said Minister Champagne, is one of stability and predictability—which despite the internal perception of instability within Canada and within Alberta, hasn’t translated, he said, into the perception of investors outside of the nation.

“We always have to be mindful that perception becomes reality when you add miles to it. What people may discuss here, we might be obviously more familiar with one position or another, but when you talk globally, I think we always have to be mindful of how this could be understood abroad,” he said.

That message abroad is good news for Calgary businesses that are doing work in critically important economic sectors like energy, critical mineral resource extraction, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and hydrogen technology, he said.

“I think that the world sees that Canada has everything to succeed. We have the talent, we have the ecosystem, we have the natural resources, we have the energy, we have the access to market,” said Minister Champagne.

“I think in a world which is fraught with uncertainty, there’s a big premium on stability, predictability, and the rule of law. I think that’s why Canada has been attracting investments like never before. I mean, last year, you may have seen that Canada ranked third in the world for foreign direct investment just after the United States and Brazil.”

Perception at home not the same as abroad

He pointed to direct investments into Alberta’s economy, like Dow Chemical’s largest-ever investment into any single project, the Path2Zero project in Fort Saskatchewan, as an example of that investment interest.

“I think of where we’re going and what I see as the opportunities not only for Calgary, for Alberta, but for all of Canada,” he said.

More locally, Minister Champagne said that he had discussions with Mayor Jyoti Gondek about the role Calgary has in “connecting the dots” of economic development.

“It’s always nice to see her, and I was talking to her, for example, I was talking about municipal diplomacy. Our friends down south understand that we are the essential relationship, that we are mutually dependent for security, for prosperity, for resiliency of supply chain. I was talking to her about critical minerals, for example, and the mayor was kind enough to say she’s part of a group of a number of mayors in North America which meet regularly,” he said.

“I always say that the mayor has a big role. A lot of investors, they choose cities. They know the cities where they want to go… and I said ‘let’s work together because with your network and my network, we could really help not only drive investment but also make sure that our friends down south understand the essential nature of our relationship.'”

Minister Champagne said that on the provincial front, he was preparing to meet with Premier Smith on March 9 early in the morning, which he said says a lot about the commitment to work together.

“We have a lot to talk about. Premier Smith and I text each other regularly to make sure that they’re always a discussion and a conversation going as to how we can meet. It’s always about jobs, about growth, it’s about opportunity, and how we can best position Canada,” he said.

In reference to the $211 million procurement contract announced for Calgary defence logistics firm Arcfield and Northern Sentry program partners on March 7, Minister Champagne said that kind of investment into maintaining the CF-18s of the Royal Canadian Air Force sends a signal to international partners and investors.

“When I’m in the United States, many people say we’re the natural extension of the investment in defence under the Defence Procurement Act, and the fact that you can protect IP, and is about the resiliency of our supply chain,” he said.

“We know it, but it’s good that our partners know that as well, and that they realize that when you look at the ecosystem of whether it’s about nuclear medical isotopes, whether it’s about the defence supply chain in North America. I think at a time where there’s a lot of uncertainties, there are a lot of benefits for us to try to see what we can do in North America.”

Resource story an important one to sell Canadians on, said Champagne

Yedlin said that the talk with Minister Champagne was a good one, and reflected on his willingness to listen to what role Calgary’s business community can play in the energy transition industry.

“I was pleased to hear the response to the one question that we asked about clean electricity regulations and the emissions cap,” Yedlin said.

Minister Champagne said, during the fireside chat in response to the question posed by Yedlin, that he was working to champion the interests of Alberta’s energy producers and that he was in favour of Canadian companies providing LNG to countries in Asia, like Japan.

“I’m always working to bring colleagues on board. This is about our future, prosperity depends on the decisions we’re going to take today. A lot of the big decisions are being taken now, which will have a big influence on the economy of the 21st Century. I mean, these decisions that I’ve seen over the last two, three years, are going to be most impactful,” he said.

Yedlin said that she thought that Minister Champagne had recognized the importance of making Canadians from coast to coast recognize the importance of traditional Alberta economic industries like energy and critical mineral resources.

“He recognizes that there’s some work to be done in order to sort of advance the development of those resources. So, certainly happy to hear what he had to say today, and now, to see action followed from his remarks,” she said.

She said that Calgary’s industries, like the defence industry, have a role in addressing the larger geopolitical issues that are occurring globally.

“The fact that we have a defence industry in this province and in the city is underappreciated by a lot of people. It’s sort of flown under the radar, so to speak, and it’s just part of our economic diversity. It gives us resilience. It gives us stability from an economic standpoint, it also brings talent with different skills that are also really important that can be applied across the board,” Yedlin said.

“It’s not just in aerospace—that can spin off into other industries and other opportunities—the geopolitical issue is one that everybody sees right now. we all have a role to play from an economic standpoint, but also from a diplomatic standpoint. And we have to have a little bit of leverage with us in order to be part of that conversation.”