{"id":303224,"date":"2026-03-17T11:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T15:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalmainstreet.ca\/?p=303224"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:36:15","slug":"celebrating-innovation-and-advocacy-a-recap-of-the-inaugural-google-canada-business-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmainstreet.ca\/fr\/celebrating-innovation-and-advocacy-a-recap-of-the-inaugural-google-canada-business-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Innovation and Advocacy: A Recap of the Inaugural Google Canada Business Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February 26th, 2026, Digital Main Street was proud to partner with Google Canada to host the first-ever Google Canada Business Summit in Toronto. The event brought together over 70 business and community leaders from 28 cities across the country, representing diverse sectors including lifestyle, beauty, food and hospitality, health, media, and agriculture.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an organization born to help small businesses navigate the digitization journey, we at Digital Main Street know the value of technology to small businesses, but understand it can come with challenges and questions. This summit proved that the AI era is a transformative time for entrepreneurs to streamline operations, get creative with their marketing, reach new customers, and use their voices to shape the policy landscape that governs our digital economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Opening Remarks – John Kiru (CEO and founder, Digital Main Street, Executive Director of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas)<\/b><\/p>\n

John Kiru opened the day by reflecting on Digital Main Street\u2019s 10-year journey of supporting 130,000 small businesses across Canada with their digital adoption. He emphasized that Google Canada has been a dedicated partner in this mission since day one of the organization. John reminded the audience that AI technologies are not exclusive to large corporations; they are practical, everyday instruments designed to help small business owners level the playing field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Unlocking the Power of AI for your Business – Natasha Walji (Managing Director, Google Customer Solutions Canada)<\/b><\/p>\n

Natasha Walji began by sharing that the small business journey is personal to her. Having grown up with parents who were both entrepreneurs, Natasha explained that she understands firsthand the sweat equity, care, and creativity required to run a business. Her journey began sweeping floors at her mother\u2019s flower shop in Calgary in the pre-internet era, later transitioning into the tech space as a lead product developer for her father\u2019s fintech startup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Natasha highlighted that we are currently in the third major technological shift – following the internet and mobile – and AI is the “great equalizer\u201d and the most transformative era yet. She emphasized that Google Canada\u2019s mission is to think about AI in a bold way, while considering responsibility at the same time, shown through Google\u2019s AI principles of security, privacy and trust. With the potential to boost Canada\u2019s economy by $230 billion and save the average worker 170 hours a year, Natasha shared that the opportunity for small businesses is massive.<\/span><\/p>\n

To help businesses navigate this, Natasha introduced the AI Five to Thrive:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Be easily found by AI-driven search<\/strong>: With 80% of customers going online before visiting a store, a strong digital presence is non-negotiable.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Boost operations with <\/strong>Gemini<\/b><\/a>: From summarizing long email threads to drafting customized marketing messages, Gemini helps you regain your time.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Supercharge profit-driven marketing with AI<\/strong>: Use AI tools to move beyond linear funnels and capture customers wherever they are.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Find your next big idea with NotebookLM<\/a><\/strong>: A tool for deep research and synthesizing complex information.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Stay curious about what\u2019s next<\/strong>: Success belongs to those who lean into experimentation and learn 1% every day.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Supercharging your Marketing & Creativity with AI – Laura Pearce (Country Marketing Director, Google Canada)<\/b><\/p>\n

    Laura Pearce reminded the group that small businesses are the heart of the Canadian economy, representing 99% of all businesses. She shared the importance of democratizing access to digital tools, noting that success is no longer about the size of a business, but how quickly entrepreneurs take advantage of the technology available to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Central to this is understanding how consumers are arriving at your digital storefront. Laura explained that this evolution of search has fundamentally changed consumer behavior; while we once relied on a linear marketing funnel, we now see customers engaging in the “4 S\u2019s” simultaneously- searching, scrolling, streaming, and shopping. Because these behaviors happen all at once throughout a customer's day, the journey has become significantly more complex. Laura emphasizes that this shift makes it more important than ever to leverage AI, as it allows business owners to cut through the noise and serve the right customer at the exact right time.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Laura emphasized that marketing is an investment, not an expense, and introduced tools like <\/span>Nano Banana<\/b><\/a> (a tool within Gemini) for creating product images and <\/span>Google Ads<\/b><\/a> Advisor (a new tool within Google Ads) that act like a built-in media agency to optimize campaigns based on real-time data. Expanding on this suite of creative tools, Laura introduced <\/span>Pomelli<\/b><\/a>, a brand-new asset creation tool designed to accelerate the creative process. By inputting your “Business DNA”- such as your website URL, brand colors, fonts, and existing imagery- Pomelli understands your brand identity and helps you generate full campaigns through simple prompts. The tool offers intelligent suggestions and allows for seamless edits using generative AI, enabling business owners to create high-impact content for their audience faster than ever before. Currently in its experimental stage, Laura said that Pomelli is being offered for free, providing a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to test the technology and provide feedback that will shape its future iterations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    NotebookLM and Learning in the Age of AI – Sofia Remtulla (Google Cloud AI Specialist, Google Canada)<\/b><\/p>\n

    Sofia Remtulla conducted a dynamic live demo of NotebookLM, a tool that is quickly becoming an essential partner for small business owners. While many are familiar with Gemini, Sofia clarified a key distinction: whereas Gemini draws from the vastness of the open web, NotebookLM allows you to create a controlled, high-certainty environment. It grounds its AI intelligence strictly in the sources the user provides- PDFs, slides, spreadsheets, or even videos- ensuring the answers you receive are based only on information you trust. By uploading these sources a business owner can chat with their selected data to create briefs, summaries, infographics or even podcasts, in a secure platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

    To illustrate its power, Sofia shared a mock example of “The Great Outdoors,” a Vancouver-based sustainable gear company looking to expand into the European market. By uploading long, complex documents like the CanExport funding guidelines, the ISPO Trade Expo website, and their own internal income statements, the owner was able to “talk” to their data.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The tool immediately confirmed their eligibility for government funding based on their revenue and outlined specific requirements like employee headcount. Because NotebookLM provides in-line citations, the owner could see exactly which page of which document the information came from, eliminating the guesswork often associated with long government manuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Beyond simple Q&A, the tool\u2019s reasoning models allow for strategic planning. The owner used it to:<\/span><\/p>\n