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Top Glass Seminar: Bringing it back to Canada

9:30 am
Supply and Demand: Our challenge in an era of entangled global supply chains

Presenter: Hon. Tony Clement, Reshoring Canada

Before the pandemic, our biggest concern was finding the customers and making the sales. Now, with the phone ringing off the hook, the difficulty is getting the supplies and equipment we need. This global crisis has laid bare the downside of depending on offshore suppliers for critical products…but are our economies now irrevocably tied to the advantages of cheap labour, less regulation and scale of production that can be found overseas? These are questions that Tony Clement, as former federal Industry Minister, grappled with directly. Today, his concern with the state of our supply chains has led him to co-found Reshoring Canada, an information and advocacy group exploring ways to bring manufacturing back home. Join us at Top Glass to collect Mr. Clement’s insights, prescriptions and predictions for how and where we’ll get our critical supplies going forward. 

About the speaker

Hon. Tony Clement, Reshoring Canada

The Honourable Tony Clement is a former minister in the Harper government federally, and Harris government in the province of Ontario. During his time in the House of Commons, Clement served as both Minister of Health and Minister of Industry, playing a lead role in getting Canada’s economy back on track after the most significant global economic recession since the 1930s. In 2011, Clement was re-elected for a third consecutive time. Shortly after his re-election, he was asked by the Prime Minister to take on the responsibilities of president of the Treasury Board. In this capacity, Clement lead the development and implementation of a cross-government spending review – looking at transformational ways to support and deliver services to taxpayers in the most effective and efficient means possible. Within the federal government, Clement chaired five different committees of Cabinet and served on the cabinet committee on priorities and planning, chaired by the Prime Minister. Clement’s dedication to public service spans three decades. During his eight years as an Ontario MPP, he held prominent cabinet positions in the Ontario government, including Minister of Health and Minister of the Environment.