Do I Have a Right to Technology Grants?

I have a question: Do I have a right to technology grants?

In the past I haven’t much thought about the social impact of my businesses. I have only thought about the value of my services to my customers. I didn’t for one minute consider the social value of the business itself. I also didn’t think much about why there were grants available to my high-tech business, offered by our governments, and underwritten by our nation’s citizens. Nor did I wonder why they were not available to all types of businesses. And neither did I consider my obligation when I took the grant money offered. I accepted it as my right and of course I was never relieved of this misunderstanding.

So lately I have been pondering the occasions when this money – that I accepted so lightly – was offered to me. There was an implied expectation by the granting agencies that I use it wisely, that I grow my business, and that I create an innovation that would move the needle on Canada’s global competitiveness further to the right. The allocation of funds to my projects were at the expense of other projects that might have been more deserving, that might have contributed more significantly to our economy and that might have been a better use of taxpayer money.

But it wasn’t just the waste of money that might have been used to support other businesses at issue here. It was money that might have been used to support even more deserving initiatives, initiatives that might have had a greater social impact – like subsidized housing for young families, or scholarships for promising students, or more hospital beds, or…you get the idea.

I made the decision to take the investment lightly and did not take seriously my obligation to repay Canadians for their trust in me. Indeed, it never occurred to me that I even should. I will not make that mistake again.