Address by Minister Champagne at the Roundtable on Technology and Innovation during the Inaugural Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting

March 9, 2017 – London, United Kingdom

Check against delivery. This speech has been translated in accordance with the official languages policy and edited for posting and distribution in accordance with the Government of Canada’s communications policy.

Thank you.

I’m delighted with the opportunity to take part in this panel. I want to acknowledge the great job the organizers have done in bringing us all together.

My hat goes off to the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council and the Commonwealth Secretariat for having the vision to organize this very first meeting of commonwealth ministers responsible for trade, industry and investment, as well as this panel on innovation and technology.

Two of our longer-term goals outlined in the 2016-2017 Commonwealth Revised Strategic Plan are to pursue inclusive growth and sustainable development, while achieving a well-connected and networked commonwealth.

Canada applauds and embraces these goals. We need to ensure that everyone benefits from the economic growth and prosperity which trade can deliver. That is why Canada is pursuing a progressive trade agenda with our commonwealth partners, indeed with other countries around the world.

We also need to ensure that no one is left behind by the radical transformations which new technologies are bringing to our economies and our societies.

This is one reason why Canada is funding initiatives such as the Commonwealth of Learning, which helps member governments provide increased access to affordable, quality education and training opportunities for those who need it most, particularly women and girls, using open, distance and technology-based approaches.

Canada is also a principle contributor to the Commonwealth Youth Program, which has been supporting member countries for over 40 years.

Young people have a proven capability to lead change, and are a vital and valuable investment for now and the future.

The Commonwealth Youth Program supports the effective participation of young women and men in development processes and promotes their engagement at all levels of decision-making, including with Heads of Government.

So, let’s get straight to it: what about encouraging more trade in the Commonwealth?

Everyone here knows that the 2013 Commonwealth Charter notes that: “the special strength of the Commonwealth lies in the combination of our diversity and our shared inheritance.”

These cultural and historic links have been identified as the source of cost-advantages in international trade thanks to the use of a common language, similar laws and shared history. We should be looking for ways to fully leverage these strong historical and cultural ties to help further strengthen our commercial relations.

Canada is moving forward to accomplish this by signing and negotiating Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (FIPAs) with our commonwealth partners in Africa and Latin America.

Canada currently has 34 FIPAs in force, including with Barbados and Cameroon.  We’ve also concluded 10 FIPA negotiations, including with Zambia.

Canada is also committed to expanding trade relations with our friends from across the ASEAN region, with whom we are celebrating in 2017 forty years of relationship.

I recently spoke about expanding our trade and investment ties with Australia and New Zealand at the Canada-Australia Economic Leadership Forum.

At the beginning of the month, I also met with senior business and government officials in Delhi with the goal of moving forward with FIPA negotiations between Canada and India. India is undergoing rapid modernization and seeing huge urban and middle-class growth.

To support these high levels of growth, India clearly needs new and upgraded infrastructure, an expanded manufacturing base, clean and conventional energy and safe, high-quality food.

Canadian companies have the experience and know-how to help India meet these needs and accomplish its national priorities of “Make in India”, Digital India and the Smart Cities initiative.

Of course, Canada is also vitally interested in maintaining our close trading relationship and partnership with England.

Our two countries have deep and long-standing cultural, historical and people-to-people ties. We share common values and work closely together to promote those values around the world.

We cooperate on key issues in many international organizations, including NATO, the G7, the G20 and the Commonwealth. Our hope is that we can further strengthen our trade and commercial ties in the months and years ahead. 

So, how do we make this happen?

As Canada’s Minister of International Trade, our Prime Minister has asked me to work with our international partners to advance a progressive trade agenda in order to help create jobs for the middle class and those working hard to join it.

Progressive trade means doing everything possible to ensure that all segments of society, both in Canada and abroad, can take advantage of the economic opportunities flowing from trade and investment –with a particular focus on women, Indigenous peoples, youth, and small- and medium-sized businesses.

It also means ensuring that trade agreements include strong provisions in important areas such as labour and human rights, environmental protection and gender equality, and reinforce the continued right of governments to regulate in the public interest.

It is incumbent on everyone, particularly those of us in this room, to make trade real for people, to put the middle class at the heart of our trading agenda. 

There is another side to growth that we also need to consider. Developing countries need to participate more actively in international trade to acquire technological and other capabilities. 

Additionally, we make this happen by investing in innovation.

The Government of Canada believes that innovation is the path to inclusive growth during this time of great change. Innovation fosters a thriving middle class, and opens both developed and developing countries to new economic, social and environmental possibilities.

In line with this, investments in science and technology education are one of the most critical sources of economic transformation in Commonwealth and in other countries.

As the United Nations Millennium Project noted, in order to build science, technology, and innovation capabilities, developing countries need to devote resources to helping more young people, especially women, receive higher education 

Higher education is more important than ever before in the developing world. Universities can contribute to development in several ways.

They can undertake entrepreneurial activities that aim to improve regional or national economic and social performance.

They can get involved with their communities, gaining direct knowledge about social needs, some of which could be addressed through R&D activities. They can conduct industrial R&D.

They can help to create spin-off firms; participate in capital formation projects, such as technology parks and business incubator facilities; introduce entrepreneurial training and internships into their curricula.

Canada’s approach to higher education internationally is to help foster new research and collaborative partnerships between higher education facilities.

For example, there are over 700 formal and informal agreements between Canadian and Australian universities.

The majority of partnerships include research and academic collaboration in areas from medicine to law and applied mathematics.

Australian and Canadian universities have benefitted in many ways from such initiatives.

For example, the University of Newcastle and the University of Calgary successfully applied for a Discovery Project Grant from the Australian Research Council, while the University of Canberra and Trent University received a Social Science and Humanities Research Grant from the Canadian Government to support their studies in social and cultural anthropology.

Canada is committed to participation in international study and research partnerships that build understanding among peoples, develop global citizens and leaders, and contribute to the development of nations.

Canada offers the Student Exchange Program for Latin American and Caribbean citizens who want to study, conduct research, or professional development in Canada.

The 650 short-term exchange scholarships offered promote partnerships, student mobility and research collaborations between Canadian and Latin American and Caribbean post-secondary institutions.

Canada continues to offer scholarships to Caribbean Commonwealth (CARICOM) countries through Global Affairs Canada’s Canada-CARICOM Scholarships suite, valued at up to $1.7 million annually.

The suite includes the Canada-CARICOM Leadership Scholarships Program, which provides students and researchers from the Caribbean Community with short-term exchange opportunities for study or research in Canada at the college, undergraduate and graduate levels.

Other components of the suite are the Canada-CARICOM Virtual University Scholarship Program delivered entirely online or through distance education by Canadian educational institutions to learners from CARICOM countries and the Canada-CARICOM Faculty Leadership Program.

It allows faculty or international liaison officers and managers from the Caribbean Community to come to Canada for short-term exchange opportunities for professional development, graduate study or research at Canadian post-secondary institutions.

Of course, there is also the Association of Commonwealth Universities, which is the world's first and oldest international university network, established in 1913. One of the ACU’s strategic priorities for 2016-2021 is to champion the value of higher education for global challenges and positive social change through diverse campaigns and initiatives. This is very much in line with Canada’s goals and activities.

My friends, it’s not an exaggeration to note that today we stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, the way we work, and the way we communicate with one another.

The transformation will be unlike anything we have encountered before. How it will unfold is still not clear.

But as Klaus Schwab from the World Economic Forum recently noted, the one thing we do know is that our response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society.

The changes we face have the potential to deliver great economic benefits and help developing countries here in the Commonwealth and around the world achieve their potential. We need to work together to ensure that innovation and technology deliver on that promise.

Thank you.