As Canadians prepare to head to the polls, we are once again faced with a choice聽鈥 not just of leaders, but of direction. What kind of country do we want to become? How will we meet the challenges ahead? And most importantly, how do we ensure that every community not only survives but thrives?
At a time when global politics is increasingly marked by division, short-term thinking and zero-sum narratives, Canada has a different path available to us聽鈥 one rooted in a quiet but powerful tradition: collaboration.
While the world often jokes about how 鈥渘ice鈥 Canadians are, our niceness isn鈥檛 just a national quirk聽鈥 it鈥檚 our collaborative superpower. It鈥檚 what has enabled us to listen deeply, work across differences, and build trust-based solutions to our most complex challenges. And right now, it鈥檚 the key to solving the defining problems of our time聽鈥 housing, climate, inequality, and reconciliation.
That鈥檚 why we believe the next federal government must treat the social sector not as an afterthought, but as a core part of Canada鈥檚 innovation economy. Because innovation isn鈥檛 just about patents and products聽鈥 it鈥檚 about solving problems at scale. And no one does that better than civil society organizations, Indigenous nations, community leaders and mission-driven entrepreneurs. These are the people already doing the hard work of systems change.
Here鈥檚 what the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP have promised during the federal election campaign.
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Take housing. Canada鈥檚 housing crisis has taught us that market-only solutions won鈥檛 cut it. The shift toward collaborative models聽鈥 like CMHC鈥檚 Solutions Labs and the Housing Supply Challenge聽鈥 hasn鈥檛 just funded new projects; it鈥檚 fundamentally changed how we approach affordable housing.
Policymakers, nonprofits, developers and people with lived experience are coming together to co-create solutions that are scalable, sustainable and rooted in community need.
The same is true for clean energy. Indigenous-led projects like Wataynikaneyap Power, the largest Indigenous infrastructure project in Canadian history, are transforming not just how we generate power, but who holds power. These initiatives are about more than sustainability聽鈥 they鈥檙e about sovereignty, equity and local economic development.
Canada is also becoming a global leader in climate-focused social finance and cleantech. The Canada Growth Fund and impact investment vehicles are helping scale low-carbon solutions that will define the economy of the future. And let鈥檚 not forget: the term 鈥渃leantech鈥 itself was coined by a Canadian.
But none of this progress happened in isolation. It happened because we worked together. Because we were willing to listen, to share power and to co-create across traditional boundaries.
This is what we call radical collaboration聽鈥 the practice of not just working together, but transforming how we work together. It means:
鈥 Building long-term relationships, not just one-off partnerships
鈥 Creating space for discomfort and hard conversations
鈥 Valuing many kinds of knowledge equally
鈥 Designing solutions with communities, not for them.
This kind of collaboration is hard. It鈥檚 slow. It challenges egos and requires patience. But it鈥檚 also the only way we鈥檒l achieve systems-level change. And Canada, with its deep traditions of co-operation and pluralism, is uniquely positioned to lead.
That leadership, however, requires the right infrastructure. We need national mechanisms that connect grassroots solutions to federal strategy. We need resource flows that are flexible, equitable and grounded in local realities. We need policy coherence across departments, so promising innovations don鈥檛 get stuck in silos.
And above all, we need to recognize that Canada鈥檚 most valuable asset isn鈥檛 just our land or economy聽鈥 it鈥檚 our people. Our capacity to collaborate across difference is not a 鈥渘ice-to-have.鈥
It鈥檚 a survival strategy. It always聽has been.
Indigenous communities understood this long before the word 鈥渋nnovation鈥 became a buzzword.
Their teachings on food, medicine and stewardship made Canada possible. Our collective future depends on learning聽鈥 and unlearning聽鈥 what it really means to build relationships based on reciprocity and shared leadership.
As we look ahead to the election and beyond, we invite candidates and policymakers to embrace a bold, distinctly Canadian vision: one where social and environmental innovation are central to national prosperity.
Where communities have the autonomy and infrastructure to drive change. Where collaboration isn鈥檛 just a personality trait聽鈥 it鈥檚 our national strategy.
Let鈥檚 make sure the next chapter of Canada鈥檚 innovation story includes all of us. And let鈥檚 be unapologetic about the power of being nice.
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