Brand Canada

Canada should extend the ethos of clever compassion, embodied in health care, to other nation-building aspects.

There’s a whole list of possibilities Canada might contemplate for its future brand: fiscal savvy, good governance, good international relations, good business acumen. But to brand ourselves internationally, we need something more.

To be sure, innovation plays a starring role in all of these traits and would undoubtedly be an important ingredient to any branding exercise. There is of course nothing wrong with wanting to be economically viable or indeed, pursuing pioneering ideas. It occurred to me, though, that we could do so much more if we coupled our innovative desires with something more benevolent.

Although Canadians are a financially generous people, we give considerably less in comparison with our American neighbours. According to a 2007 Fraser Institute study, Americans give three times as much to charities as Canadians. Yet working as I do in an organization that relies on the time and graciousness of volunteers and donors, this statistic seemed out of sync with what I have been encountering.

It struck me that the distinction between Canadians and Americans could be nothing more complicated than strategy. Perhaps we are more strategic in our giving. After all, we give everyone a national health care system and a social safety net; that seems by far more efficient and caring than managing the varying needs of our citizens in a piecemeal fashion.

Shouldn’t our brand then reflect our innovative caring or – more broadly – our clever compassion?

The concept of clever compassion is really about applying the caring nature of our citizens to all of our actions. It could be applied to any number of areas and would reflect a well-rounded and strategic consideration of the issues we face as we move into the future. Instead of just looking for innovative answers, we could look for innovative answers that support our desire to be caring and considerate citizens of the planet.

Clever compassion could mean more efficient, environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.

It could mean choosing organic produce, so we reduce the use of pesticides.

It could mean helping our growing elderly population remain able as long as possible by investing in illness prevention and active living, not just acute care.

It could mean refreshing our health care system by using existing technology and readily available resources more effectively, with funds following the patient, not the infrastructure.

It could mean ethical investing – by making investments that are financially sound and keep our planet and its people healthy, we would not only improve our own country but also effect change across the planet.

Canada has the opportunity to do more than focus on one small area; we can influence the way the planet considers all issues. All we have to do is demonstrate a little more clever compassion.