This op-ed was published by The Hill Times on April 15, 2024.

Canada is a trading nation. In fact, in 2022 Canada’s two-way trade in goods and services reached a record high of $1.9 trillion. We have 15 free trade agreements reaching more than 60% of the world’s GDP, and Canada is the only G7 country with comprehensive free trade access to all its G7 counterparts and with the European Union.

This is a unique Canadian advantage in the global market, and the federal government has made diversification and expansion a priority. However, relying so heavily on trade also puts us at risk – geopolitical realities continue to change, industries and supply chains are being redefined, and new technologies are shifting where and how business is done.

Canadian businesses need to work harder to remain competitive, globally relevant, and accessible. A large part of that is having access to the right talent.

Study and work abroad experiences like those made possible with funding from Global Skills Opportunity (GSO) – a key element of Canada’s International Education Strategy – expose students to new environments, challenges and ways of thinking. It helps ensure that Canada’s talent pipeline is more culturally literate, adaptable and ready to succeed when they enter the workforce. For businesses, that means employees are better equipped to engage and understand customers, suppliers, and competitors around the world.

Those skills and traits are critical, because Canada has ambitious plans for growth that will require a large investment in wordly talent. And while global giants have the resources and networks to attract staff from anywhere in the world, 98% of Canadian businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises that mostly rely on local talent. We need to ensure that they have access to staff with global skills as well.

It’s important that we think strategically about talent acquisition and retention, particularly when we look at Canada’s demographic makeup. For example, we know that young Indigenous people are among the fastest growing populations. By making international work and study experiences more accessible to students who traditionally face barriers to participation, including students who identify as Indigenous, as differently abled, or as being from a low-income background, programs like GSO help to level the playing field while also expanding the pool of qualified talent for Canadian businesses to draw on.

Not to mention, a trading nation needs a globally engaged workforce, with people-to-people and business-to-business ties strengthening Canada’s place in the world. The more Canadians engage around the world, the more we bolster Canada’s reputation as a nation of innovators and a global place to do business. Similarly, the more Canadians come home with global competencies, the better we position our businesses for success around the world.

 GSO projects have already helped build over 800 collaborative partnerships between post- secondary institutions, businesses, and international organizations in more than 100 countries. Of these destinations, 80% are considered non-traditional for Canadian students – including Japan, Mexico, and Costa Rica – and are important markets for growth.

GSO is an established network and a successful pilot project with a proven track record. It makes good business sense that it become a permanent part of Canada’s ambition for growth.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce represents more than 400 local chambers of commerce and boards of trade, along with more than 200,000 businesses of all types, sizes and sectors. We recognize that our long-term prosperity is closely tied to how we engage with the world. And if we don’t do so effectively, it’s more than a lost opportunity for growth – it’s an existential risk to business and our economic prosperity.

Perrin Beatty is president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

By Margaret Biggs, Matthews Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen’s University, and Roland Paris, Director, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa. First published in the Globe and Mail. 

Canada is not adapting quickly enough to a world of increasing competition and conflict. The problem is not simply that Canadian governments and businesses have been slow to respond to changing global economic and security conditions. Too few Canadians are gaining the international experience that is needed to help our governments and businesses adapt successfully. 

This may seem surprising given that Canada is one of the world’s most diverse societies. Diversity, however, does not automatically translate into worldliness, or into the global skills that Canada will increasingly require in its work force: people with the ability to help governments and businesses manage increasingly complex global problems. 

In our task force report five years ago, we highlighted how far Canada had fallen behind. Our principal partners and competitors – including the United States, the European Union, and Australia – were investing in ambitious strategies to encourage their own postsecondary students to spend part of their degrees studying or working abroad. These countries recognized that producing graduates with international skills at a time of dramatic global change offered strategic benefits to their societies. Canada, by contrast, was doing little. 

The numbers spoke for themselves. At that time, approximately 33 per cent of undergraduates in France were going abroad for part of their degree. In Germany, the figure was 29 per cent. In Australia and the United States, it was 19 and 16 per cent, respectively. By contrast, only 11 per cent of Canadian students did so.  

The good news is that in 2021, Ottawa partnered with colleges and universities across the country to launch a Global Skills Opportunity pilot program to make international learning experiences more accessible to Canadian postsecondary students. 

This is not a traditional study abroad initiative. It offers young Canadians educational opportunities not only in the classroom, but also through temporary work placements and internships abroad. It also targets a wider range of countries. While Canadian students have traditionally travelled to a few familiar destinations – notably, the United States and western Europe – the new program has emphasized emerging countries such as Indonesia and Brazil, which are playing a bigger role in the global economy. 

Over the past two years alone, more than 6,200 Canadian college and university students have completed international study and work placements through this initiative. They represent the promise of a future generation of Canadian professionals with international knowledge and connections. 

However, the Global Opportunities pilot is scheduled to end in 2025, and its continuation is uncertain. At a time of economic strain at home, it risks being labelled a luxury for “rich kids.” However, this perception would be wrong. A full 75 per cent of the participants so far have come from groups that have traditionally been under-represented in university and college education, including students from low-income backgrounds and Indigenous students. 

This is no accident. The initiative is designed to give students from all backgrounds a leg up and prepare them for good jobs. Research shows that people who study or work internationally are more likely to complete their studies and to find employment after graduation, and that these benefits are even more pronounced for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.  

Employers are increasingly looking for people with the skills that these international experiences provide. According to the Business + Higher Education Roundtable, which represents some of Canada’s largest private employers, international learning improves students’ critical thinking and problem-solving abilities and their ability to adapt to different cultural environments, in addition to teaching them about the specific countries where they study or work. 

Businesses and governments alike will need more people with these skills to help them navigate the complexities of a changing world – and with good reason: The long postwar era of relatively easy prosperity and security is over. Increased competition for emerging technologies and critical resources is rapidly reshaping global markets and supply chains. Geopolitical competition shows no signs of abating. A more unpredictable world presents Canada with serious challenges, but also new opportunities. 

Canadian companies must take chances in new markets and with new products, while simultaneously anticipating and managing risk – a difficult but essential task. The federal and provincial governments must also support them, including by implementing Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy and by advancing Canadian interests in other parts of the world.  

Canada’s public and private sectors will have to work hard to meet these challenges head-on. Without a work force that has international knowledge and experience, they will be hobbled in these efforts – and Canada will fall even further behind.