'Ottawa culture' prevents government programs from succeeding, says Ben Mulroney

The failure of the visa program designed to attract foreign entrepreneurs to Canada can be explained by an administrative "culture" specific to Liberal governments in Ottawa focused on big announcements without real follow-up, according to QUB contributor Ben Mulroney.

"Every day, we hear a story about something not working in Ottawa. But when it starts, it starts with a big announcement," Mulroney said in an interview Tuesday with Benoît Dutrizac on QUB radio and TV, broadcast simultaneously on 99.5 FM Montreal.

Launched in 2013 under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, the program really took off in 2015 under Justin Trudeau, he explains. The goal was clear: to attract young entrepreneurs in order to create jobs for Canadians.

However, the results have been disappointing. It has been more "older" entrepreneurs who have settled in the country, mainly to take advantage of its proximity to the United States.

"[In Ottawa], they are very good at making big announcements. They like to talk about what we're going to get at the end of this program, but they don't put the investments into the program to ensure they get the results they want," criticizes Ben Mulroney.

Visa waiting times have also become disproportionately long, discouraging many applicants.

"The program was so poorly run that there was a 58-month waiting list to get this visa. 58 months is longer than the wait for asylum in Canada," he points out.

Listen to Ben Mulroney's full interview in the audio clip above.