TORONTO — The world would listen, if only Canada would speak up.
One of Canada's most successful entrepreneurs, Jim Balsillie, served up strong words for the country last night, saying that when it comes to foreign relations and global leadership, Canada should be doing more on the international stage.
"It's not that the Canadian voice isn't valued, I assure you that's not it," the co-chief executive of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. said at the annual gala dinner of The Canadian Press.
"It's that we're not there. It's not that people aren't prepared to receive us, we're not voicing," he said. "They never say 'we don't want to hear what you say,' they say, 'where are the Canadians?' "
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In an era where many other Canadian-based global companies have been hollowed out and shipped abroad, Mr. Balsillie's Waterloo, Ont., business has become an unparalleled success on the back of the now ubiquitous BlackBerry e-mail device.
RIM's revenue topped $6-billion last year and the company has sold more than 14 million BlackBerrys.
As a result, the 47-year-old billionaire is often cast as the fiercely patriotic international face of Canadian business.
Over the past several years, Mr. Balsillie has made considerable investments to help raise Canada's foreign policy profile. In 2002, he helped found the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a not-for-profit think tank designed to study issues such as Arctic sovereignty, energy and relations with China.
Last year, he donated $100-million to found the Balsillie School of International Affairs, a joint venture between the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. He also is chair of the Canadian International Council.
Mr. Balsillie said Canadians need to understand that they have much to offer the world.
And that of course should include more Canadian hockey teams. "It would be nice to have another Canadian team competing for Lord Stanley's gift to the Dominion of Canada," he said.
Twice Mr. Balsillie has been thwarted in his attempts to purchase an NHL franchise and relocate it to the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
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