Federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said he’s never seen a business incubator “as complete and as promising” as the Communitech Hub after touring the facility Wednesday.
Mulcair made the comment after a briefing about the Hub’s many programs for tech entrepreneurs and a tour of its 44,000-square-foot space in the former Lang Tannery in downtown Kitchener.
The Opposition leader was accompanied by Catherine Fife, the Ontario NDP’s newly-elected MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, throughout the visit, which was led by Jeff Nesbitt, Communitech’s head of engagement and Tim Ellis, CEO of the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo, whose programs serve many Hub tenant companies.
Mulcair later told Neil Adams of Kitchener’s 570 News that the Hub is “a model to be followed across Canada”, and “a great way to create jobs for the future, and they’re the best kind of jobs, high-tech jobs.”
He made similar comments in a brief one-on-one interview with Communitech during the tour:
Q – What are your impressions of what you’ve seen here today?
A – Well, I started in community economic development 35 years ago, when the English-speaking community was leaving Quebec in droves, and we tried, through a group called Alliance Quebec, to get things going.
Everyone was talking about incubators, and there were a few things that started, but I’ve never seen anything like this.
I’ve never seen anything as complete and as promising.
What’s most amazing is, people talk about the ups and downs of some of the bigger businesses here, but you realize that the knowledge is going to create the wealth for the future.
That’s what we’re doing here – we’re holding on to the brains and the ability and the experience and the expertise, and we’re channelling it, and that’s the beauty of this.
It’s really well done.
Q – How would something like the Hub fit into your economic model for Canada?
A – The provinces are primarily responsible for education, but the federal government has a lot to do with training, and is supposed to have an overarching vision for the needs and how to meet those needs long-term in the country.
Small and medium-sized businesses are where jobs get created, so in terms of our fiscal policy, for example, we want to give them the biggest break.
So, instead of giving away money to the banks and oil companies who don’t need it, try to concentrate a little bit on the areas where you’re going to have the most possibility of creating jobs.
These are also jobs for a new generation, who are used to working on their own, don’t mind working at home; the telecommute is their new life, so these are jobs that are going to be adaptive to that new reality as well.
The 9-to-5 in an office is going to be something they’re going to watch in movies.
Q – We’re starting to see companies from here go to places like California and secure funding, and then come back to this ecosystem to build their companies, where it used to be more common to lose them. What do you make of that?
A – Well, there’s going to be a lifestyle and quality-of-life element to this, as well.
You have to add a zero to any house you’re going to buy in some of those places in the States, whereas here you can have an incredible quality of life, close to universities and academic life.
You’ve also got a society that’s peaceful and well-organized here. Those are all things that we tend to take for granted, but they’re actually quite rare around the world.
