What do MGM Studios, Uber, eBay, Moderna, Tesla, Space X and OpenAI have in common? They are successful American companies that have helped change the world and Canadians have played a critical role in their success — in many instances as founders or co-founders. (Yes, Louis B. Mayer of MGM was from Saint John, N.B.) 

But these connections are not a point of pride for Canada or even widely known. Canadians are great innovators, but our country seldom benefits directly from their efforts. We’re missing out on entrepreneurial and economic gains while other countries reap the rewards. That’s something we urgently need to correct.  

This is particularly true with health care. Canada is not only facing a health-care crisis, but an economic one as well. These challenges are intertwined and it’s clear we need to do things differently.  

Canada needs to build successful companies that can help deliver better patient outcomes while growing the economy and providing tax revenue to sustain our health-care system. And we need to use our existing purchasing power to accomplish this.  

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Despite comparatively high per-capita spending, our health-care system’s performance is below average amongst our peers. Our publicly funded system needs a growing tax base to be sustainable and to help pay for health-care improvements. But Canada’s productivity is declining. A 2021 report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development predicts that Canada will be the worst-performing advanced economy over the next decade. A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that health-care costs are outpacing economic growth. This is a recipe for disaster given our aging population, increased complexity of patient care and new costly technologies.  

Canada’s health-care system spends more than $370 billion annually. Much of this goes to salaries, but there is considerable opportunity to use some of this money to create and nurture domestic health-care companies. Canada typically imports health-care technology, pharmaceutical and other innovative solutions, meaning other countries benefit from our expenditures. 

Yet Canada is home to some of the world’s leading medical scientists and by some analyses we have the most educated population in the world. Our natural-resources base gives us access to capital that can be used to support and grow companies. There has been much focus on investment in innovation, but this needs to be accompanied by ways to help governments and health-care institutions buy from Canadian-controlled companies. The Global Innovation Index ranks Canada eighth in what we invest in innovation, but only 20th in what we produce from our efforts.  

The problem is Canada’s approach to supporting domestic companies. We are the fourth most successful immigrant group at creating billion-dollar companies in the United States. Our discoveries have enriched other nations. The global insulin market, for instance, is expected to surpass US$40 billion by 2033 (the equivalent of $57 billion), controlled largely by three non-Canadian companies, despite insulin being our country’s discovery.   

Another breakthrough in diabetes treatment can also be credited to a Canadian. Daniel Drucker co-discovered hormones that stimulate insulin production in the body while decreasing blood sugars and appetite. But it is Denmark that has benefited the most from this discovery thanks to the remarkable growth of Novo Nordisk, which, based on Drucker’s research, produces Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus.  

These medications not only have benefits for diabetic patients but also can treat obesity and potentially a variety of other conditions. Novo Nordisk is now the largest company in Europe. It is responsible for one in five new jobs, nearly half of Denmark’s gross domestic product growth and the equivalent of $3.29 billion in tax revenue in 2023.  

A third example is British-Canadian computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, instrumental in the development of artificial intelligence neural networks, for which he received a Nobel Prize last year.  But it’s American companies that have the most potential to benefit economically from the AI boom in health care. 

Canada does not have access to capital the way the United States does. But throughout the world, countries our size have commercialized their own health solutions and built great companies.  

Why hasn’t this happened here? We return to the critical issue of supporting the purchase of goods and services from domestic companies. Other countries take pride in doing so. Consider former U.S. president Joe Biden, who introduced requirements to buy American.   

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Canadian federal and provincial governments are taking steps in that direction. The CAN Health Network supports the growth of innovative Canadian technology companies in the health-care sector with a focus on improving patient care, reducing system strain and driving economic growth.    

We are not advocating for protectionism, but rather for an even playing field for Canadian companies. Selling to governments can be complicated with long timelines that are major barriers for smaller Canadian companies. This has affected the price and quality of goods and services bought by our governments. The ability of Canadian companies to compete and succeed globally is hurt when the government relies too much on large, foreign technology service providers that offer sub-par solutions, according to a report last spring from the Canadian Council of Innovators. This is true for health care as well.   

Some ways the federal government could help address these challenges include: 

•  Further investing in existing initiatives that help attract and expand domestic health-care companies. 

• Setting aside 10 per cent of public health-care dollars to attract Canadian-controlled companies.  

• Considering capital gains exemptions for health-care technology companies.  

• Working with all levels of government to ensure control and protection of our health data and allowing Canadian health technology companies to use that data to give them a competitive advantage. 

•  Measuring the commercial output from academically affiliated hospitals and universities with medical schools. Financial incentives could be provided to institutions based on their success in creating jobs and contributing to the economy. 

If we don’t find ways to address our health-care challenges from within, Canada will be importing solutions not tailored for our population. We will lose tax revenue, fail to ensure health-care funding keeps pace with inflation, face worsening access to medical care and have poorer health-care outcomes. Or we can be a global leader in health-care innovation and export our solutions around the world. 

We have a choice as a country: We can be rich and well, or sick and poor. To realize the former, our health-care entrepreneurs need to succeed. We believe this is doable. The key is to unleash the potential of Canadian companies to provide world-leading health technology and knowledge.