While Canadians look for ways to grow our economy to a global commercial war, our political leaders should analyze a failed federal policy that only hopes to be dusty and reconditioned for today’s global realities.
The starting visa program (SUV) was introduced by the conservatives of Stephen Harper in 2013 to attract successful foreign businessmen to Canada. Unlike many OTTAWA initiatives, the SUV was designed to be world -class from the beginning.
Based on a successful model developed in Chile in 2010, the Visa offered qualified entrepreneurs a path to permanent residence and the support of professional management of existing organizations such as accelerators and incubators.
Canada is a nation of immigrants, and newcomers have always been business; Canadians born abroad begin business at a rate almost 50 percent higher than those born in Canada. Immigrant entrepreneurs create more jobs, export more goods and services, develop more intellectual properties and invest more in R & D.
The SUV aimed to make Canada more competitive attracting experienced and ambitious business leaders ready to launch successful and scalable businesses.
But the program has been cast by bureaucracy, uncertainty, absurdly long processing times (currently four years) and unbridled abuse. The program attracted many non -entrepreneurs who were only interested in emigrating to Canada, often helped by doubtful professional sponsors who were only in him by the generous rates.
Under fire for having invited too many immigrants to Canada, Justin Trudeau’s liberals in 2024 reduced the SUV pipe to a drip. To address the request for orders, the Government cut the number of applicants from 6,000 per year to 2,000 by 2025 and only 1,000 in 2026 and 2027.
He also limited advisory organizations, known as “designated entities”, only 10 groups of applicants per year, lacking respect for competent and well -organized accelerators and other organizations that had been increasing their ability to help guide these entrepreneurs.
As active participants in the starting ecosystem, we believe that the government lost sight of the important. He cut the SUV when he should have fixed and expand it.
The OTTAWA target market, mobile commercial talent with the capital and energy necessary to cross the oceans and start businesses, represents a rare race, highly demanded worldwide. Ottawa has reduced its SUV program, but other countries, from Estonia, Finland and Sweden to Singapore and Japan, are duplicating.
We have seen many qualified applicants change their minds to reluctant to apply to Canada, discouraged by long waiting lists and reduced intake. Other countries will be happy to welcome these entrepreneurs, their families and their capital.
In the United States, President Donald Trump is promoting a “gold card” that would allow any economic migrant with US $ 5 million to buy a path to citizens. He even knows that experienced and rich immigrants are a scarce and valuable resource.
Agitation in Washington has made it clear that Canada needs to build more commercial relations in Europe, Asia and in other places. What better way than to increase our attraction towards migratory balloon balloons with capital and hustle?
Canada needs to return to the start of starting entrepreneurs: elbows up. The next government must commit to harden the SUV and at the same time give more resources to process applicants with the speed and respect they deserve.
It doesn’t matter which party wins the elections, the new government should begin with an official review of the SUV. Let us identify what works, eliminate the actors in bad faith and make things move again. To ensure again to attract the best and brightest, we encourage the business community, entrepreneurs, investors and immigration experts to join the conversation.
Our experience suggests a powerful way to improve and expand the program: we must welcome not only experienced entrepreneurs, but also investors.
Many successful professionals would be delighted to invest in Canadian companies, helping to relieve our shortage of capital in the initial stage necessary to help existing companies to modernize and expand.
Most of these investors earned their money at the beginning of business, but do not want to go through the starting routine. The experience and resources of these veteran entrepreneurs would be better aimed at the companies established instead of the new risk companies that are for immigration purposes.
By better understanding and supporting the needs of immigrant entrepreneurs and investors, Canada can recover their condition as a country of choice. We can build a more robust start ecosystem, even when we provide more resources to support existing companies.
In this way, rich newcomers could help us solve another problem. A recent report by the New Scotland Bank said that almost a third of business owners in Canada plan to sell their business by 2030. Unfortunately, most do not have a succession plan or a strategy to innovate and grow their companies.
By adopting innovation and welcoming more types of immigrant entrepreneurs, we can create newly stronger companies and a new supply of visionary owners (and capital) to take our business inherited with new ideas and energy.
Now is the moment of trust and collaboration. Let’s learn our lesson and advance with anxious business partners around the world.
Saeed Zeinali is a Toronto -based entrepreneur who runs Nextstars, a multinational advice platform for entrepreneurs. Rick Spence is the former editor and editor of Profit, presenter of the Podcast Startup Canada and advisor to Nextstars.
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