The chairman of technology firm Mitel says he’s positive about Canada despite growing concerns about the country’s competitiveness.

“I’m a big Canadian tech guy, business guy, and very supportive of the Canadian ecosystem,” Terry Matthews told BNN in an interview Wednesday.

“It’s growing – there’s a global market. And frankly, I address that global market,” Matthews added, noting he’s invested in 70 tech companies.

The comments come just a day after Mitel, an Ottawa-based enterprise telecommunications company, said it was selling itself to an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners for about $2 billion.

Some business leaders have recently called Canadian competitiveness into question amid tax reforms south of the border and concerns over Kinder Morgan abandoning its Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project due to ongoing political uncertainty.   

But Matthews sees Canadian tech as a bright spot.

“I was really sad to see Nortel go. I’m sad to see BlackBerry come down,” he said. “On the other hand, the tech industry is really booming.”

Matthews said he sees “really good” up-and-coming Canadian tech firms and that he personally likes cybersecurity and cloud firms like AirVM in particular.  

Matthews also pointed to the provincial and federal governments’ efforts to create what he calls “clusters” to focus on growing areas of tech in the country like cloud, cybersecurity, and 5G.

“I feel good about it,” he said.