Moderator:
Bruce LourieChair
Speakers:
Bentley AllanTransition Pathway Principal
Erin O’ToolePresident and Managing Director, ADIT North America; former leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
- 1:00 - 2:00 pm ET
Canada’s Trade Reset: Building the New Economy
Webinar Summary
Canada’s heavy trade reliance on the U.S. has long made its economy vulnerable to external shocks like those underway with Trump’s tariff war. With tariff threats from across the border and a new Prime Minister focused on Canada’s trade sovereignty, the time has come to rethink our diversification strategy. This isn’t just about reducing dependence on one country; it’s about seizing new global opportunities by leaning into our strengths in clean energy, technology, and value-added natural resources.
From electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries to mass timber and clean tech components, Canada’s fastest-growing exports hint at a broader industrial transformation already underway. But turning this momentum into lasting economic resilience requires more than innovation. What are the next steps for building an integrated trade strategy for Canada that strengthens existing industries, scales emerging ones, and expands the infrastructure needed to get our best products to global markets?
Join us for a forward-looking conversation on what it will take to implement a truly national trade diversification strategy. From new governance models that support open information sharing to deeper collaboration across government, Indigenous partners, civil society, and industry, Canada must rethink how it designs and delivers a bold, strategic economic vision, seizing the opportunity for low-carbon competitiveness in a rapidly evolving economy.
Moderator
Bruce Lourie
Chair
Bruce is president of the Ivey Foundation, an Adjunct Professor at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, and a Board director of several organizations including the new Canadian Institute for Clean Growth and Climate Change. He is a former Director of the Independent Electricity System Operator, the Ontario Power Authority, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and many others. He is a founding Advisory Board member of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, an Advisory Board member of the Canadian Energy Research Institute and visiting faculty at the University of Oxford Social Finance Programme.
Bruce is well known for his work in convening collaborative efforts among businesses, NGOs and government. He played a pioneering role in connecting environmental issues to human health, most notably with his leadership in the phase-out of coal-fired power plants in Ontario, the single largest climate action in North America. And also as the co-author of two best-selling books, including the internationally acclaimed Slow Death by Rubber Duck. He is the founder of Summerhill Group, one of Canada’s leading energy efficiency consultancies.
Speakers
Bentley Allan, PhD
Transition Pathway Principal
Bentley Allan, PhD, is a Transition Pathway Principal at the Transition Accelerator, as well as an Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Allan is an award-winning scholar who has written on the dynamics of international order, science and politics, climate policy, and the political economy of decarbonization. He provides regular advice to government and industry on geopolitics, industrial strategy, and policy.
He has co-lead the development of three sector strategies and roadmaps in collaboration with industry partners. He is the co-coordinator of the Centre for Net-Zero Industrial Policy which advances research and action to strengthen and mobilize Canada’s expertise in modern industrial policy, enabling strategic collaboration between government, industry, indigenous communities, labor, and financial institutions in pursuit of good jobs and a competitive economy.
