Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Policy Options | Alex Vronces | June 7, 2022
In the early 2000s, the federal government convened a task force to review [why the banks have disproportionate influence over moving money in Canada]. The findings? Canada’s payment systems were still “controlled by Canada’s major banks and other key institutions,” whose “interests are best-served by keeping at bay new entrants to the system‚ the very entrants who would bring the innovations that Canadians need.”
Decades ago, American economist and political scientist Mancur Olson argued that the longer a country is stable, the more “distributional coalitions” it will have. Distributional coalitions are interest groups. They lobby the government to protect them from competition, muting the forces of creative destruction and slowing down the rate of economic growth.
Canada’s problem is not that it doesn’t have a competitive payment system. The problem is that it has old and powerful distributional coalitions that stand between sclerosis and dynamism. Canada is predicted to be the slowest-growing OECD economy over the next decade. Although regulatory capture isn’t the only reason why, it’s one of them.
Old and powerful distributional coalitions need to be disrupted, beginning with the oldest one at the centre of the Canadian economy: the financial sector, which has a distribution coalition that predates 1867. “Improving the financial services sector’s productivity would not only boost its performance,” according to a recent report from the C.D. Howe Institute, “but also that of Canada’s economy as a whole.”
This should start with the Liberal government amending the Canadian Payments Act, which doesn’t let fintech companies become members of Payments Canada and use the payment systems.
Giving fintechs the ability to move money instantly empowers them to compete with big banks for market share. Moreover, as the fintechs get bigger, so will their distributional coalition, which also empowers them to compete with big banks.
In addition to letting new distributional coalitions get stronger, Canada should also prevent the old distributional coalitions from maintaining their dominance by anti-competitively merging with or acquiring their competitors. The Competition Act is up for review. The Liberal government should give the Competition Bureau the resources and legal room to do its job better.
Or we could do the opposite. We could wrestle power away from Canada’s biggest interests only to give it right back, as the federal government has done time and time again.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Guest Post | June 6, 2022
There are many reasons why many immigrants want to move to Canada or the United Kingdom. Not only do they provide great standards for living, but they also offer numerous opportunities when it comes to work and career.
But apart from the scenic landscapes or abundant opportunities, one way to determine whether or not a country is prosperous is through its technology. It’s worth noting that technology is a primary driver of countries’ economic growth. This is because technological progress enables more efficient production of better and high-quality services and goods, which is what prosperity mainly depends on.
The point is that it’s necessary to look at a country’s tech scene if you want a clue about its current state of economic development, especially since it ultimately provides a glimpse of the kind of life it offers its citizens. The more advanced technology is in a certain country, the quicker the global and local economy improves.
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That said, this article will compare the existing tech scene in both the UK and Canada and ultimately decide which one is better than the other in terms of technology.
Both countries – without a doubt – both show promising potential when it comes to innovation and digital technology. But when you look at the rankings alone, the UK proves to be better when it comes to technology and innovation, particularly since it’s ranked 4th worldwide in terms of innovation outputs and is the first in Europe in terms of advanced digital technology. Moreover, it is also the 6th-ranking economy globally and hosts four of the world’s top 100 science and technology clusters: London, Cambridge, Oxford, and Manchester.
On the other hand, Canada ranks 2nd in terms of technology adoption based on Cisco System’s 2019 Digital Readiness Index Rankings but ranks 22nd when it comes to innovation outputs. Canada has long struggled with below-average rates in entrepreneurship, high consumer prices, low business exit, and entry rates, and stifled innovation. Its struggle with innovation is mainly due to a lack of competition and industry concentration from decades-long unchallenged merger waves.
In a nutshell, it’s easy to see that Canada is only closely behind the UK when it comes to technology and innovation. The UK has been a home for some of the brightest tech talents, and it’s set out to produce even more of them.
To elaborate, here is a brief comparison and description of the existing tech scenes in both Canada and the UK.
Technology is in the heart of the United Kingdom, which is why it’s unsurprising to know that they’re a world leader in terms of artificial intelligence, data analytics, cyber security, and blockchain, among many others. The UK constantly spearheads some of the most exciting technological developments in the world, bringing nearly £184 billion to the economy as its digital technology companies continuously grow through the years. Because of this, the UK keeps attracting R&D investments from tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco.
Besides this, the start-up scene in the UK is prospering, showing significant growth, which will be sustained in the following years. In 2017 alone, there was a jump of almost 60% in terms of newly-launched tech-based companies. Its digital suburbs also prove how the tech scene is thriving in the UK. There are over 15,000 jobs in tech, with digital tech businesses having a combined turnover of roughly £305 million in a single year alone.
The UK was once named the digital capital of Europe, ranking as one of the best countries in the world when it comes to technology and innovation – and it remains a go-to hub and powerhouse for it even now.
There’s no doubt that the tech scene in Canada is growing. Given the country’s proximity to the United States and the size of its market, now is a good time for many Canadian start-ups to begin expanding to the US.
Moreover, the Canadian government also takes a rather active position when it comes to promoting modern-day research and technological advancement through various programs. In fact, Canada is best known for its efforts in space exploration and biotechnology research. Its government allocates about 2% of its Gross Domestic Product to Research and Development, their technology companies producing roughly $117 billion in GDP.
The constant research, stable work environment, and support of its government allow Canada to be among the most competitive countries when it comes to technology. The government keeps a futuristic outlook and is taking active steps in expanding the biotech industry. The country especially shows promising potential in developing novel health technologies, especially with nanotechnology and stem cell research at the forefront of their national agenda.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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FP | | May 27, 2022

Matthew Boswell, Commissioner Competition Bureau
To beat back the worst inflation in decades, Canada needs to modernize its competition laws and chase down companies that collude to jack up prices, the federal competition watchdog said in a speech this week.
Competition commissioner Matthew Boswell made the case for competition policy as a tool to tamp down consumer prices in Canada, where shopping for groceries and pumping gas has become “anxiety inducing,” as he put it:
If we do this right, we can keep growing. Or we can get it wrong. We can stifle competition, whether due to anti-competitive behaviour or regulatory impediments. And suffer now and for years in the future as a result.
The remarks come as Boswell’s Competition Bureau embarks on one of the most high-profile legal battles in its history, attempting to block Rogers Communications Inc.’s $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. In his speech, Boswell said he’s challenging the merger because he wants to “protect Canadians from higher prices, poorer service quality and fewer choices” — reiterating the bureau’s previous statements on the matter.
Robin Shaban, a former officer at the Competition Bureau and senior economist at Vivic Research:
We do know that our current approach, an oligopolistic way of organizing our society, it’s just not cutting it any more.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Techouver | | May 26, 2022
It is widely believed that cybercrime has already surpassed the drug trade as the single most profitable sector of illegal activities in the world.In essence, cybersecurity is not something specific to IT and its hardware and infrastructure, but embedded in business, and government and their processes that rely on IT. If cybersecurity is foundational to business, government and education, and military, then it has thus become fundamental to society as a whole and therefore, of concern to everyone.
It is becoming clear to the layperson, that data breaches are affecting everyone, even those who barely use the Internet, because everyone’s personal data has been digitized by one company or another, and subsequently breached.
In recent years, there has been much written about endless cybersecurity job vacancies. More recently, more has been written about how to fill those vacancies and with more urgency.
1. Employers need to look internally as well as externally for people that might be able to fill their vacancies. This may require more creative internally selling, i.e., “illuminate all of the internal career paths that can end up in their cybersecurity ranks”. Employers simply can’t wait forever for external candidates. The marketplace is much too competitive.
2. Employers must now shift from buying expensive security technologies to studying the enormous amounts of cyber analytical data that few are looking at and creating an action plan for. At the least, entry level junior cybersecurity analysts need to be created, to help turn prior cyber technology investments into actionable cyber plans.
The Canadian federal government has invested over $500 million in cybersecurity nationally, and created strategic organizations like CCCS, CCTX, Serene Risc, In-SEC-M and the National Research Council’s IRAP program. More funds have been provided since the 2021 study, in the Spring 2022 federal budget, towards improved critical infrastructure and national security.
In contrast, evidence of BC’s provincial government’s action on cybersecurity has been harder to find. And the loss of prestige due to chronic underfunding or neglect in cybersecurity is exemplified by the fact that no BC postsecondary institution is included in the recently announced Cyber Security Innovation Network (CSIN), which is driven by five non-B.C. universities across Canada called the National Cybersecurity Consortium (NCC).
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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