OTTAWA - ITAC, the Information Technology Association of Canada, has called for the creation of a national ICT (information and communications technology) strategy for Canada. And, in a white paper, it released yesterday, it has outlined some of the measures that it believes are the essential elements in the formulation of this strategy.

"Upping our Game: A National ICT Strategy for Canada" http://www.itac.ca/uploads/news/upping_our_game_may2509.pdf addresses the issues and makes recommendations in several key areas including the formation of a strong Canadian talent pool, expansion of our innovative capacity and our use of ICTs, ensuring a competitive tax regime, access to capital and a smart regulatory regime in Canada. In addition, the paper calls for a 21st century view of infrastructure that includes electronic components such as broadband networks, a national electronic health record and the digitization of all Canadian content.

"Like many other nations in the world, Canada is currently facing a challenging economy," said Bernard Courtois, President and CEO of ITAC. "History has demonstrated numerous examples of hugely successful enterprises that emerged from periods of economic turmoil. What these companies have in common is a strategy and the fortitude to make the right investments in technology to help them outperform their rivals. We've seen this repeatedly in the marketplace. And we've seen it at the national economic level as well. Canada already punches above its weight in ICT. But no matter how good they are, competitors - including competitive economies - generally compete better when they have a strategy than when they don't. Canada needs a national ICT strategy now."

The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is the voice of the Canadian information and communications technologies (ICT) industry. ITAC represents a diverse ICT community spanning telecommunications and internet services, ICT consulting services, hardware, microelectronics, software and electronic content. ITAC's community of companies accounts for more than 70 per cent of the 592,600 jobs, $149.4 billion in revenue, $6.22 billion in R&D investment, $22.6 billion in exports and $11.8 billion in capital expenditures that the ICT industry contributes annually to the Canadian economy. ITAC is a prominent advocate for the expansion of Canada's innovative capacity and for stronger productivity across all sectors through the strategic use of technology.