Canadian business news — Canada’s biggest problem in tech isn’t a lack of talent or ideas. It’s that Canadian companies keep buying American software instead of Canadian software. Now a coalition of companies and organizations is doing something about it: the inaugural Source Canada conference will take place in Toronto on Oct. 22, bringing 150 CEOs and 50 enterprise buyers together for meetings and workshops with one goal — getting private companies to buy homegrown Canadian technology.
By Maplestime Business Desk | Toronto, Ontario | September 19, 2026
Sources: BetaKit, Source Canada | Last updated: September 19, 2026
Key Takeaways
- The inaugural Source Canada conference takes place in Toronto on Oct. 22 with 150 CEOs and 50 enterprise buyers
- Chief sponsors include OMERS Ventures, RBCx, and Deloitte; TMX, CCI, NGen, Schulich, Aptum, Highline Beta and Luge Capital also back it
- Founder Raymond Luk calls Canada’s private sector an “untapped driver of growth”
- Canada spends 1.9% of GDP on R&D — less than the OECD average
- The push comes as the tariff-driven trade war with the US forces a rethink of reliance on American technology
The Flywheel Behind the Source Canada Summit
“This conference is about accelerating the flywheel: when private companies buy Canadian tech, they create an impact that goes far beyond the contract,” said Raymond Luk, founder of Source Canada.
Luk, a senior advisor and “founder in residence” at Deloitte, has argued that Canada’s private sector is an “untapped driver of growth.” He pointed to the country’s R&D spending — 1.9 percent of gross domestic product, below the average of the countries tracked by the intergovernmental Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — as evidence that Canada punches below its weight in turning innovation into economic activity.
Before Deloitte, Luk was best known for founding Flow, a consulting company focused on raising non-dilutive funding for the Canadian tech industry that billed itself as having the largest collection of high-growth startups. Deloitte acquired Flow in January 2024 and integrated the 15-person team into its Global Innovation and Investment Incentives practice. Luk now nurtures startups as part of his Deloitte role.
The Source Canada advisory committee includes OMERS Ventures managing director Laura Lenz, Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) director Skaidra Puodziunas, RBCx senior director Shikha Bhuchar, and Luge Capital co-founder David Nault, among others.
Why the Homegrown Tech Push Can’t Wait
The summit arrives as pressure mounts to reduce reliance on American technologies amid an ongoing tariff-driven trade war with the United States. There are already industry initiatives with the stated purpose of fostering homegrown tech, including the policy platform Build Canada. Telecom giants Bell and Telus have pushed for more sovereign data centres — although their facilities still rely heavily on American products.
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It also follows increased government procurement of Canada-made technologies. Earlier this month, federal officials signed an agreement with Toronto-based scaleup Cohere to explore the use of its artificial intelligence systems within the public sector. The procurement platform Sovra also sold what it calls its non-essential businesses to focus on government tech.
The message is consistent from both directions: Canada builds world-class technology, and it’s past time Canadians — in government and in the private sector — started buying it.
Maplestime will provide updates from the Source Canada summit and Canada’s homegrown tech movement as announcements are made.
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If your company spends money on American software while Canadian alternatives exist, why? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Canadian founder tired of watching their own market buy from Silicon Valley.
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