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(Note: This article first appeared on www.entrepreneur.com on October 20, 2017 under the title, "Regardless of What You May Think, Canada Has Always Been a Tech Hub."

Recently, there’s been a lot of media buzz regarding the notion that Canada has secretly become the next new ‘tech hub.’ This, of course, is due – in large part – to the anxiety many are feeling concerning Trump’s ideas on immigration policy.

Politics aside for a moment, I’d like to take this opportunity to not only provide my thoughts on the matter, but more importantly, make two points-of-view abundantly clear.

• There will always be a ‘Silicon Valley’ and it’s not going anywhere. But there’s also a ‘Silicon Valley of the North,’ which brings me to my second point.
• Canada has always been an innovative ‘tech hub’ (and that’s no secret). The True North has a long history of being technologically innovative.

For the rest of this article, I will be elaborating on this second point.

O Canada! The True North strong and free (and innovative)

Over the past decade or so, Canada has definitely proven itself to be a leader in technology and innovation. One only needs to look at the success Canadian tech companies like Hootsuite, FreshBooks, and Shopify have had to be reminded of that fact.

But more importantly, Canada has a long history of individuals and companies who have demonstrated their ability to push the technological innovation barrier. From the invention of the radio to BlackBerry to making new advancements with blockchain technology, one thing is certain: Canada has always been a place where innovation could thrive.

Redefining the Borders of the Silicon Valley of the North

Again, as I said at the onset of this piece, there will always be a Silicon Valley, but Canada is definitely helping to grow and expand the geographical landscape of where companies and individuals can set up and operate their tech ventures.

In fact, as I write these very words, I believe the geographical borders of what currently defines the Silicon Valley of the North is also beginning to expand. Let me explain. In the province of Ontario (where Clickback operates), the Toronto – Waterloo Region Corridor (billed the Silicon Valley of the North) forms a 112-kilometer trail of tech innovation. This corridor, even has its own website: theCorridor.ca, which is currently home to 15,000 tech companies, 200,000 tech workers, and 5,200 tech startups. However, the Corridor (or Silicon Valley for that matter) didn’t start out as a global centre of talent, growth, innovation, and discovery. It all started with a few companies who became successful, which then led others to say, “if they can build a successful tech company here, then why can’t we?”

For example, I started a software company in Niagara, which historically has been a blue-collar manufacturing community. But in the last five years, Clickback has grown 689% – and ranked (in 2017) No. 32 in the software category on the 29th Annual PROFIT 500 Ranking, which is a list of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies put out by Canadian Business. I don’t say this to impress you, I’m merely saying this to impress upon you that I started a tech company thousands of kilometers from Silicon Valley and 132 kilometers from Waterloo. If I can do it, so can others. That’s my hope. To make the same impact in Niagara as BlackBerry did in Waterloo and work towards the goal of expanding the geographical borders of the Corridor to soon include the Niagara Region.

Conclusion

So, in an effort to realize this vision, I recently acquired a 40,000 square foot, six-story commercial building in the downtown core of St. Catharines, Ontario (the largest city in the Niagara Region), which in addition to being Clickback’s new home will also be the first private technology and innovation accelerator in the Niagara Region. As for commenting further on Trump’s immigration policy, I have nothing more to say. Instead we’ll do what we’ve always done. Like good Canadians, we’ll keep improving and innovating. We’ll continue to challenge ourselves by attempting to solve big problems. We’ll help our customers succeed. In the meantime, if a few U.S. tech workers happen to come knocking on our door who share our vision, then we’ll gladly open our doors to them.