A one line post by Rob Hyndman; which is typical for him, lead me to a post on the StartupNorth blog by Will Pate where Will lets loose on our cavalier; or more likely lackadaisical, attitude toward the technology business in the Great White North and how we differ from our American counterparts

When you meet technology people from Canada, we’re not in a race. We’re watching the race from the sideline. We act like technology entrepreneurship is closer to farming than shark hunting, as if risky business isn’t necessary to make the next Google or Microsoft. We putter around as if slow and steady actually wins races to innovate and grow technology businesses. We fail to light a fire under young entrepreneurs, like the ones that started every major tech company you can think of, and our best venture capitalists are putting their ships on “coast”. In a world of accelerating change, those are very dangerous habits. We need to lose our current attitude quickly.

The problem is that this attitude is nothing new at all. Ask any actor or writer in this country and they will tell you that the same attitude exists their industry as well. My father; Martin Lager for those that are curious, is one of our country’s better television writers - or at least was before he turned to teaching - and he use to tell me of the standing joke among writers and actors in this country - “If you want to be famous; or even earn a living you need to go to the US”

In all the following years from when he first told me that it hasn’t changed. Regardless of the industry Canada doesn’t and never has rewarded its best and brightest.

Conversation Tags: Canada, technology, internet, start-ups