Canada is building on its strengths. Every Canadian business should be doing the same.

Today is September 8, 2026 a pivotal day in our country’s economic future. As I watched the Prime Minister’s message on YouTube this morning, my immediate thought was: What can I do? What can my business do? What role do we play in what's being built across this country? 

I know I’m not the only Canadian business owner asking these questions. 

Right now, much of the conversation about Canada's economic future is understandably focused on major projects: infrastructure, defence, energy, housing, manufacturing and investment. These are big projects, involving industries and organizations with the capacity and expertise to take them on.  We all need them to, along with the new businesses that are emerging to be a part of the work. 

There are also thousands of small and medium-sized businesses just like mine that won't see our names, or even our industries, reflected in the major project list. 

So where do we fit? I believe this conversation is about us too because as these new projects take shape, people, skills and investment will move with them. Families will move into new communities because someone has taken on project work. Young Canadians will train for and enter industries they may never previously have considered. People will find themselves establishing their lives in new parts of the country. Communities will grow and change around the work taking place within and around them. And all of those people will need the businesses that already exist across this country. 

They will need places to live and eat and shop. They will need professional services. They will need childcare and recreation and health and wellness services. They will need the countless businesses that help people establish their lives, raise their families, do their jobs and become part of their communities. Those businesses may not be considering themselves part of Canada's major economic projects today. They are still part of what makes those projects possible. 

That's what has me thinking: how do we, as business owners and leaders, understand the changing landscape of our country? Where are people going to move? What new needs will emerge in the communities affected by these projects? Where will young Canadians go as they enter new industries and build new skills? What opportunities will emerge for businesses that aren't directly involved in the projects themselves? Where do our businesses fit? 

What conversations should we be having now so that we are ready to see those possibilities when they begin to appear?  AND how do we support the important work our country is undertaking?  Right now, many of our businesses may be in support roles to the major projects receiving so much attention. We aren't necessarily building the infrastructure or delivering the projects themselves. We can help support the people, businesses and communities that are.  Over time, I believe much of what is being built today will simply become part of the new fabric of our country. New industries. New skills. New communities. New businesses. New ways Canadians work and live. Right now, we have an opportunity to think deliberately about our place alongside that change. 

For those of us leading small and medium-sized businesses, that means asking some important questions: 

How well positioned is my business for what comes next? 

What are we exceptionally well equipped to do? 

What strengths already exist within our people and teams? 

Are we using those strengths strategically to get where our business wants to go? 

This is the work I do every day at The Consulting Office: connecting the strengths of people and teams to business strategy.  And it's also the work I'm currently doing as a Canadian business owner. I'm looking at my own business and asking where it fits. What are we particularly well equipped to do? Where can we contribute? What changes around us should I be paying attention to? How do I position my business alongside opportunities that may not even be obvious yet? 

I’m not saying every Canadian business needs to suddenly become something different because our economy is changing. I believe we need to fully capture what we already have.  Our capabilities. Our people. Our experience. Our communities. The things our businesses already do exceptionally well. Then we need to look outward and ask where those strengths can matter. That is why I believe these leadership conversations are critical to our collective success, and why we need to have them now. 

If you're an SME owner or business leader looking at the opportunities ahead and considering how your business and your people are best positioned for them, let's talk. 

If you're a passionate Canadian with ideas about how we build from the extraordinary capability already within our businesses, communities and people, let's talk. 

I want to hear what you're seeing from where you sit.  It helps me.  It helps all of us. Because no single one of us can see all the ways this change will move through our businesses and communities. The conversations we have with each other can help us see more of them. 

Canada is building from a position of strength. So are we.  Let’s do it together.