Major financial institutions are projecting Alberta will lead Canada in economic growth in 2022. Doubling down on investment attraction throughout the pandemic has led to billions in private investment across agriculture, energy, technology, and financial services to flow into Alberta.

Invest Alberta’s clients were part of this journey, announcing $19 billion in investment and over 5,000 jobs last fiscal. As Alberta continues to grow its pipeline of high-impact, high-value investment, new announcements and growing government steps to keep Alberta competitive are paving the way for emerging sectors and continued investment in technology, fintech, agriculture processing, hydrogen and more.

We're back to Daylight (Saving) Time, and with the change come fiscal year endings, beginnings, and the inevitable examination of achievements, goals, (un)realistic expectations, strategic planning, and KPIs. Annual reports, meaningful work, tangible impact, making a difference, and all the good words a PR team can think of to demonstrate brand delivery. One of my top-of-mind questions, though, goes beyond being on-brand — since most companies try to make that a priority: how are we doing with on-purpose efforts?

2022 will bring huge momentum as adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency become mainstream for the financial, regulatory, and fintech industries as well as B2B and B2C applications. Speed of adoption may vary among sectors, but one thing is for sure, all businesses should be planning for the possibility of modifying their digital platforms and core systems to achieve Crypto readiness.

We are honoured to sit down this month with Ontario's lead economic representatives for California and New York, Consuls and Senior Economic Officers, Ms. Chelsea Peet and Mr. Aaron Pinto, to take a look back at 2021, and to look ahead at what’s to come for Ontario in 2022.

Thank you for the opportunity to describe to your readers what the Government of Canada has been doing in support of Canadian businesses during the past year. Despite continuing to address the challenges of COVID-19 during 2021, the International Business Development team at the Canadian Consulate General in New York was able to make considerable progress in advancing Canadian commercial interests in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware. We brought over 180 high-potential new Canadian business clients to market to connect them with sources of capital for fundraising, investors, mentors, distributors, agents, sales partners and customers.

The middle market economy—often overlooked in the wake of large public companies and emerging Wall Street darlings—is the backbone of U.S. economic growth, accounting for the majority of new U.S. jobs and some 40 percent of the nation’s GDP.

North America remains a global center for innovation. In 2020, out of 388,861 U.S. patent applications filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), U.S. inventors filed 183,147 and Canadian inventors filed 7914.[1] In other words, roughly half of the patent applications originated in the U.S. or Canada. However, the USPTO is just one of many patent offices throughout the world. In general, a patent is only valid in the country (or, in some cases, countries) where the patent office that issued it has responsibility. With so many patent offices around the world, how does one decide in which offices to file a patent application for any given invention and select the correct timing for the patent filings?

The public markets in North America have seen records broken across many metrics this year. In the United States, the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) and financings have hit highs greater than in the last decade. As of mid-October, 434 companies had raised over US$157B through IPOs, compared to 264 IPOs in 2020 that raised a total of US$81B.

Since its inception over 50 years ago, the 1.8 million square foot California Market Center complex has stood as a cornerstone of Los Angeles’ wholesale apparel industry. Drawing manufacturers, distributors, buyers, and industry events from across the region, CMC has a long and respected history as the West Coast’s industry hub.

Today, that promise still holds true as CMC is at the epicenter of Downtown Los Angeles’ renaissance. Located in the heart of the Fashion District, CMC boasts large floor plates and an airy indoor-outdoor design unlike anything else in the region.

Québec is all set to become the North American leader in the manufacture and assembly of lithium-ion batteries. An economic powerhouse in its own right in Canada, Québec is strategically located to tap the U.S. market and its enormous potential for electric transportation. The province is primed to make a sizeable investment to develop a battery industry and accelerate the transition to electrified transportation.

The global pandemic continues to drive uncertainty throughout supply chains, resulting in trade restrictions, supply shortages, logistics capacity constraints, and fluctuating demand for companies. These trends will continue to plague manufacturers and retailers as they struggle to secure raw materials, transport finished goods to customers and consumers, and manage unpredictability in the marketplace. The ability to leverage logistics partners that can deliver your time critical shipments will be an important element to combat that uncertainty.

In their article, "To Hike or Not to Hike? Central Banks in the Pandemic Recovery Era"global payment solutions provider, AFEX, who together with Cambridge Global Payments, will be known as Corpay, profiles the actions of central banks globally as policy makers have grappled with keeping both populations and economies healthy. It's a helpful macro look at what's happened over the pandemic and what we might expect.

Our newest member organization, Canada's largest independent benefit consulting firm, Sterling Capital Brokers, examines company rewards programs with a firm's top talent in mind in "What are Total Rewards?". As companies compete for employees in an environment where expectations on where and how we work and how to strike a work-life balance continue to evolve, SCB shares some of the top priorities and key considerations for engaging your employees as you define and communicate a Total Rewards strategy in your firm.

While businesses had already been exploring the idea of diversifying manufacturing operations away from China in recent years, the global pandemic has put pressure on companies to speed up the process. In recent weeks, similar closures and supply chain disruption have emerged out of China and Vietnam—the latter of which has captured about half of the capital flight from China due to the U.S.-China trade war—and have served as a reminder that global supply chains have not yet reached a true post-pandemic “new normal.”

What manufacturing destination alternatives to China exist? There are a multitude of manufacturing centers across the globe; yet, for U.S. businesses, their northern neighbor might just be their best bet.

Former US Secretary of State George Shultz once drew a distinction between “problems you can solve and problems you can only work at.”These two types of problems have names: they are tame or wicked. Wicked problems are messy, confusing, unstable, ill-structured, and ambiguous.The Maple League of Universities was originally created to solve a wicked problem. The wicked problem was a lack of awareness or understanding of quality undergraduate education in Canada.

One of the founding tenets of MAPLE Business Council® is that our members’ and partners’ experience and expertise represent tremendous opportunities for our members to share and learn from one another in service of their strategic planning and business growth. There is strength in community and opportunity in connecting across sectors.

Hiring local talent in international locations is one of the best ways for Canadian companies to accelerate global expansion, especially in a time of restricted international travel. After all, locals know best how to engage clients in their specific markets. Still, hiring in other countries comes with a lot of red tape, unforeseen complications and potential risks. Enter Communitech Outposts.

Northbound M&A activity from the United States to Canada remains robust, fueled largely by optimism for strong economic growth as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, historic levels of government stimulus and incredibly low borrowing costs. Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, diverse economy and high living standards and the revamped U.S. – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), should facilitate further economic ties going forward. This brief article reviews certain key legal considerations for Americans thinking of buying a Canadian company by way of a private M&A transaction.

The Southern California Innovation Ecosystem is rapidly rising. Our diverse communities are taking huge strides in making the world a better place and helping people in a multitude of ways. We want the world to know what we are building so they can join in the co-creation.

Issue #50 of MOMENTUM is something extra special. We introduced a monthly e-newsletter dedicated to sharing insights across sectors and borders from our members and partners in early 2017 and it's exciting to reach this 50th milestone together.

We're marking this moment by sharing our newest video which is an opportunity for us to showcase the breadth and depth of expertise that our members provide to support growing businesses in Canada, the U.S., and north & south across our border. We are honored to include in this video special messages from Consul General of Canada in Los Angeles, Zaib Shaikh, and Acting Consul General of Canada in New York, Khawar Nasim, who reflect upon the moment in time that Canada and the U.S. have right now to build back better.

We are sharing a comprehensive look at Canada's new budget by our member organization, audit, tax and consulting firm, RSM. Last week Canada’s Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, presented the federal government’s first budget in more than two years and the first since before the pandemic. The budget addresses three fundamental challenges: (1) conquering COVID-19 itself, (2) climbing out of the COVID-19 economic recession, and (3) building a better, fairer and more innovative future.

Glenn Yonemitsu, Managing Director, and Rob LaJoie, Executive Advisor, High-Impact Firms at BDC Advisory Services, share perspectives on what resilient leadership in these uncertain times requires. In their article, Glenn and Rob discuss the importance of triaging issues, as a leader determines where to spend his/her time, and then applying a decision making framework to how they respond to issues and pursue opportunities. Resiliency in leadership is about being both fast and good which are both results of being prepared.

From the beautiful and dynamic city of Long Beach, California, we interview the city's Economic Development Director, John Keisler, for an update on one of California's largest cities with approximately 500,000 residents and a $3 trillion economy as it navigates the pandemic. With a booming tech sector, a new Long Beach Accelerator, and major investments from technology companies such as Swift, Relativity Space, and Virgin Orbit among others, there is much to get to know in this market.

Imagine that that your company is getting ready to file a US patent application covering a key product. Before the application has been filed, you ask your US patent attorney about how soon after filing the application you can look forward to receiving the good news of getting a patent. To your surprise, you learn that, in the ordinary course, it would likely take about two to three years, and sometimes even longer. But your company does not want to wait that long. You ask if there is anything that can be done to speed up the examination process to get a patent sooner.

The Province of Ontario, Canada, is home to a thriving innovation ecosystem where we pride ourselves in the belief that we, as a province, become stronger and more dynamic when we incorporate diversity into our way of life. Ethnicity, language, and gender combine to paint a vibrant picture of Ontario’s values – a place where everyone is welcome. In Ontario, more than 200 languages are spoken on a daily basis, and people from over 150 countries have been welcomed to and now call the province home. In our provincial capital city of Toronto, more than 50 per cent of residents are foreign-born.

As so many organizations have, the events of 2020 and what they echoed historically and systemically, caused us to pause and reflect on how we can do better in embracing and living Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in our organization. And as a growing bi-national organization whose mission is connecting people across borders, work that by its very nature is about diversity and inclusivity, our MAPLE Business Council leadership team felt we were overdue to address DEI. We are sharing our DEI commitments because they are integral to our mission and the value we want to deliver to our members and partners.

Is your home network safe? Are you putting your corporate assets at risk while working from home? At 10 months into the ‘new way to work’ with many more such months on the horizon, QA Consultants shares simple guidelines to secure your work from home environment.

We delve deeper into the Canadian economy with one of our member organizations, RSM US LLP, a leading audit, tax and consulting firm focused on the middle market. Joe Brusuelas, Chief Economist at RSM, gives us an in-depth outlook on the Canadian economy in 2021. First appearing in RSM's The Real Economy Blog, we appreciate the opportunity to share Mr. Brusuelas' analysis and commentary for our MOMENTUM readers.

This month, we are honored to share an interview with Nigel Neale, Consul, Senior Trade Commissioner and Director of Trade & Investment at the Consulate General of Canada in New York. John Costanzo, Executive Director of MAPLE New York, interviewed Nigel on the work of his team and some of their recent initiatives promoting economic ties between Canada and New York. We hope this interview provides a helpful window on how Canada engages economically with the New York region and opportunities for New York businesses to consider north of the border.

We are honored to be sharing an interview with the new U.S. Consul General in Vancouver, D. Brent Hardt, who became the senior U.S. diplomat for British Columbia and Yukon in August. In October, we had the pleasure of hosting a fireside chat with CG Hardt at our MAPLE British Columbia Fall Reception. In this interview with MAPLE B.C. Executive Director, Jason Tse, the Consul General outlines the work of his office and the opportunities between the region and the United States. Thank you CG Hardt for the opportunity to expand on our discussion from our recent event together.