Build Canada appoints Lucy Hargreaves to CEO as tech think tank expands mandate

Build Canada has appointed Lucy Hargreaves CEO as the policy platform backed by major tech and business leaders looks to scale up its scope and support.

Hargreaves announced her new position alongside co-founder Daniel Debow on stage at Toronto Tech Week’s Homecoming event this week. Hargreaves said she will leave her job as vice-president of partnership and corporate affairs at San Francisco-based climate impact software startup Patch in favour of Build Canada. In a LinkedIn post, Hargreaves noted that Debow will become the organization’s board chair.

The organization’s stated aim is to make Canada the “most prosperous country in the world.” Policy proposals published on its platform include aggressively promoting AI adoption in the workplace, introducing a new visa for innovators, promoting nationalism with a mandatory year of public service, increasing energy production, and slashing public spending, including by eliminating several government departments.

Debow said the organization publishes a variety of policy memos, including some that may conflict. Royal Roads University communication studies professor Jaigris Hodson told the Tyee in April that Build Canada’s proposals largely reflect an ideology of “tech libertarianism,” which favours light regulations and low taxes, and has recently grown in popularity in Silicon Valley. The same month Build Canada launched, a coalition of tech leaders published an open letter with a contrasting message, denouncing “powerful forces” in Canadian tech who seek to “reshape Canada in the image of those who see inclusion as an obstacle, not an advantage.”

“The future of this country is not written in Ottawa. It’s written by people like you.”
Lucy Hargreaves,
Build Canada

In its next iteration, Build Canada plans to open source its policy projects, which Debow said will allow anyone around the world to copy or adapt them. The team is also looking to build a community through in-person and online events, as well as fund projects across the country. When asked what kind of projects Build Canada will fund and how, Hargreaves told BetaKit in an email that Build Canada is working on its plans for the next year and will share more when it can.

“We are going to start scaling up the things that we know work, to make it possible for people like you to actually do something,” Debow said on the Homecoming stage. “We want you to share the playbooks: if something worked in Moncton, why doesn’t it work in Victoria? If something worked in Ontario, can it work in Alberta?”

Debow claimed the response to Build Canada so far has been “overwhelming,” with people reaching out asking how to get involved and help in their town and province. Hargreaves said this inspired them to imagine Build Canada as a “nationwide builder movement.”

“What if thousands of smart, technical, creative people were volunteering and building projects, not just at the federal level, but at local levels, provincial level, and municipal levels?” she said. “[What would it look like] if they were contributing code and content to civic action?”

“We do not want to control this movement, we want to light the fire under the movement and give you the energy to make this happen,” Debow added.

Debow said that the expansion of Build Canada will not come from just himself, Hargreaves, and a few volunteers, but that they need thousands of engineers, data scientists, designers, economists, marketers, and people “who give a shit.”

“The future of this country is not written in Ottawa, it’s written by people like you,” Hargreaves said, gesturing to the audience. “People in this room, people who are listening today, people who step up and actually build the future they want to live in.”

Build Canada was launched by a collection of Canadian tech leaders ahead of the 2025 election to share policy ideas around innovation and the economy. When Build Canada launched, Debow told BetaKit on a podcast that it wasn’t much more than a “website that publishes policy papers.” Despite having registered lobbyists on its team, he also emphasized that Build Canada is not a lobbyist group. Hargreaves told BetaKit this week there are no plans for that to change.

On stage, the duo noted the young organization’s relative success in just a few months, shipping more than 30 policy memos, AI-powered policy trackers, and a government spending tracker. They claimed that government officials and representatives from both major parties have reached out to discuss and complement their memos. The organization uses AI tools to help draft its content.

“I’m not saying it was us, but there’s now a Build Canada cabinet committee, and the Build Canada Act just got passed [in the House of Commons] last week,” Hargreaves said. “I think it’s fair to say Build Canada is part of the national agenda now.”

BetaKit is the official media partner of Toronto Tech Week. Feature image courtesy Jon Fingas for BetaKit.