What business wants from the 2026 federal budget

Oct 28, 2026 | 5:45 AM ET

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OTTAWA — Defence, Canadian sovereignty and trade expansion dominate the arguments that hundreds of businesses and industry associations made for money or changes to the rules governing them in the Nov. 5 federal budget.

Ahead of each budget, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance takes proposals from companies, sector groups and the public on what they’d like to see in the final document. The Logic reviewed more than 1,350 submissions (more than 400 more than there were last year) to see what business wants.

Talking Points

More than 1,350 people and groups filed written briefs to the House of Commons finance committee with requests for the upcoming federal budget—an increase of more than 400 from last year
Appeals for national defence and sovereignty are all over the requests, from how pharma research is important for Canada’s resistance to biological attacks to a call for billions of federal dollars for two provincial highways in Ontario

If there’s any case at all that some cause has a military benefit, odds are the requester made it. The national Semiconductor Council says military technologies need semiconductors, so Canada should have a national semiconductor strategy. Good Roads, an association of Ontario municipalities and First Nations, argues that the federal government should fund multibillion-dollar improvements to two provincial highways and count it toward NATO spending commitments; real estate investment firm Starlight wants a fund to clean up old industrial sites—like one in Prince Albert, Sask., where Starlight wants to build an explosives plant.

Artificial intelligence—funding it, deploying it, restricting it—features in submissions across sectors, from the cutting edge of high tech to skills-training programs and creative industries’ concerns about copyright and ownership.

Here’s what Canadian business is seeking:

Artificial intelligence

The players

Many of the budget submissions landed before the federal government launched its updated national AI strategy in June, which incorporated programs and funding that aligned with some of the recommendations made to the committee. Still, there are plenty more AI asks for Ottawa to consider.

The Canadian Shield Institute, a think tank focused on ideas meant to strengthen homegrown businesses, is calling for a new “strategic sovereign compute entity” to provide processing power for domestic firms and researchers, either through a Crown corporation or a deal with homegrown suppliers. Ottawa has already promised to fund a new public supercomputer, and back developers building AI infrastructure. But “simply subsidizing data centres that are built within our borders is not enough to call it sovereign compute,” the institute says.

As copyright claims against AI companies continue to wind their way through the courts, artists groups and publishers continue to push for more enforcement favouring their ownership rights, or new payment policies. The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada—which is suing generative tune startup Suno—wants the federal government to compel developers of AI models and tools to disclose which works they use, and license them from creators. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists wants a similar system to require tech firms to get permission from and pay the performers it represents when their likenesses help train AI tools.

Several submissions called for no new carve-outs to copyright, like the one for so-called text and data mining, a process used in AI model training, which tech firms and lobby groups have pushed for. Others opposing the exemption include Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency and Copibec, as well as the Canadian Arts Coalition, Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), Literary Press Group of Canada, Music Publishers Canada, News Media Canada and Playwrights Guild of Canada. CIMA, which speaks for domestic players, also wants a dedicated program to train workers and firms in cultural industries to use AI.

Ottawa doesn’t seem minded to move in either direction on copyright. Existing rules already protect artists’ rights, according to Culture Minister Marc Miller. “There’s no particular need, I believe, in opening up copyright law.” He was speaking at a federal conference on AI and culture in Banff in March, where many participants called for greater clarity on how copyright applies to the technology.

Organizations like AltaLink, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières want the federal government to get AI moving through the economy via new funding and programs that bring the technology to rural businesses, sector-specific labs and wildfire monitoring. Several are seeking money for initiatives that they could help deliver, like Polytechnics Canada’s pitch for $100 million a year in applied AI research grants, which would subsidize their students to work with small businesses to deploy the technology. The Canadian Federation of Library Associations asks for $2 million a year for its members to run digital and AI literacy sessions.

Meanwhile, Technation, which represents both multinational and domestic tech firms, wants federal departments to test how they could use AI to automate more of their procurement processes. – Murad

Defence

A close up of a grey drone with a Canada goose decal on its nose.

A drone on display during an exhibition at Area X.O., a testing ground in Ottawa for autonomous vehicles. Photo: David Kawai for The Logic

The players

Major military suppliers stayed out of this part of the budget process—there are no briefs from, say, Bombardier or Saab, CAE or MDA, General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin.

But Dominion Dynamics, which makes no secret of its ambition to become a prime defence contractor, filed a brief with nine recommendations, including that the government be nimbler in its military procurements (especially by delegating spending authority down its hierarchies); put more resources into equipment trials and test sites and privilege Canadian ownership, control and intellectual property in its suppliers.

Consulting firm KPMG echoed some of that, calling for defence procurements to be assessed “not only on cost and delivery, but also on whether they strengthen Canadian control over critical systems, supply chains, intellectual property, technical data and sustainment capacity.” The firm also wants a “sovereign blended finance model” for the defence sector, without spelling out exactly what that means.

Similarly to Dominion Dynamics, satellite provider Kepler Communications wants smaller companies to get easier ways into military procurements, seeking a clear path for them to be chosen as “strategic defence partners.” (Thus far, only one firm has won that status: U.S.-owned General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada.)

U.S.-based financial services firm Stifel says the government should be willing to take bigger risks in financing smaller defence companies—recognizing that some will fail—rather than focusing on a handful of “established, large-scale champions.”

Also, although the government has a list of priority capabilities, many of them are too vague to justify private investment, Stifel says. For instance, the government is interested in “arctic surveillance,” but what does that mean in terms of what federal dollars might buy? Contracts are real demand signals, it says, much more than policy announcements. The ability to launch things into space from Canadian territory is also on the government’s priority list, and Stifel says that’s specific enough that firms understand what’s involved.

A group of firms pursuing that very capability, including Maritime Launch Services, Polaris Aerospace and Reaction Dynamics, has five recommendations for how to help, such as signing more contracts with companies like them and investing in infrastructure, including test sites for large rocket engines.

Several submissions focus on the need for infrastructure in the Arctic. ATCO, for instance, which is amid a major restructuring to let it focus on these kinds of contracts, wants a bigger investment in Arctic infrastructure (like the Grays Bay road and port project that ATCO is backing) and clearer funding mechanisms. – David R.

Financial services

The players

Financial services firms and industry associations are pressing to make Canada more attractive to private investment, with calls for tax reforms, fewer regulatory barriers and measures to channel more capital into Canadian businesses.

The Coalition to Support Investment in Canada, a group of capital markets firms that includes National Bank Capital Markets, Canaccord Genuity and TMX Group, says Ottawa should encourage the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to allocate at least one per cent of its assets to publicly traded Canadian companies, a move the group estimates would direct roughly $7 billion into domestic markets.

Competition is a recurrent theme in the submissions, particularly among credit unions, smaller pensions and fintechs trying to push into markets dominated by large players. The Canadian Credit Union Association wants changes to the Bank Act to give federal and provincial credit unions more flexibility to merge, preserve existing share classes and offer third-party financial products. CAAT Pension Plan, whose members work in a range of sectors, wants more opportunities for smaller pension funds to invest in Canadian infrastructure, arguing that many of the existing arrangements favour the country’s largest pensions.

Wealthsimple, meanwhile, wants Ottawa to move faster on its promised ban on investment account transfer fees, arguing that the charges discourage Canadians from switching financial institutions and undermine competition.

Tax competitiveness is another priority. The Canadian Forum for Financial Markets wants Ottawa to cut the corporate income-tax rate by one percentage point in both 2027 and 2028, and reduce duplication in financial regulations. The Securities and Investment Management Association is calling for a co-ordinated approach to boosting investment in Canada focused on regulatory modernization, market structure, access to capital and tax competitiveness. It does not propose a specific new-capital program or a dollar amount for government investment.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association is pushing for a 100 per cent capital-gains tax exemption on qualifying startup investments of up to $15 million, provided the investor holds onto them for at least five years. The association also wants Ottawa to adopt an “evergreen” model for its government-backed venture capital investments, where proceeds are reinvested in the Canadian market, rather than treating its key program as a set of one-off funding initiatives. – Chaimae

Fintechs and crypto

The players

Companies and industry associations in these sectors had some familiar asks. “Please hurry up and launch open banking already” is one, voiced by Neo Financial, Fintechs Canada, Wealthsimple and others. “Please hurry up and launch the Real-Time Rail instant payments system already” is another from Fintechs Canada and Wealthsimple, with Payments Canada—which will operate the system—asking Ottawa to continue to support the launch. The Real-Time Rail appears to be on track to start up in late 2026; open banking, which has been in the works since 2017, looks less likely to go live this year.

A group of submissions from crypto ATM companies is new this budget cycle. Localcoin, CoinFlip, Instacoin, FastBTCatm, Bitcoin4U and Bitcoin Central are all asking Ottawa to rethink its proposed ban of the machines, commonly seen at corner stores, that let people exchange cash for digital assets. All six propose the government tighten regulations instead, suggesting measures such as identity checks and operator certification to help curb a rampant fraud problem.

Ottawa is also proposing to ban yield or rewards payments on stablecoins, which are crypto tokens pegged to the value of a government-issued currency. Shakepay, Kraken, the Canadian Web3 Council and Fintechs Canada all asked Ottawa to narrow the ban. The Canadian Web3 Council argues it’s unfair to ban stablecoin rewards, but allow them for credit cards. Kraken wants the government to take an approach inspired by the U.S. GENIUS Act, which lets crypto platforms run stablecoin rewards programs.

Relatively few submissions brought up artificial intelligence, despite—or perhaps because of—the recent attention on AI agents and the risks they could pose to the financial system. Interac asks the government to implement digital identification verification to help prevent the use of AI for fraud. The Electronic Transactions Association argues AI is “largely covered by existing laws,” warning against imposing new rules that could slow down innovation. – Claire

Oil and gas

A shot of two hard-hat workers on the drill floor of an oil rig, setting tongs on the main pipe. The lower parts of their coveralls are stained with oil, and a red sign behind them says, "STOP BEWARE OF DANGER ZONE."

Roughnecks on the drill floor of an oil rig near Clive, Alta. Photo: The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

The players

The oilpatch made its key submissions not long before a string of major federal policy announcements answered at least some of its demands. Lobby groups like the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC); as well as companies like Cenovus Energy, Pembina Pipeline and TC Energy, pressed for faster project approvals, tax measures to reward investment and other policy changes to expand oil and gas production.

“It is time to correct course,” CAOEC said in its submission, which calls on Ottawa to remove the industrial carbon tax and the oil tanker ban on British Columbia’s northern coast. Cenovus offered just two words as its top recommendation: “Move fast.”

On several of its top priorities, the industry has already gotten its wishes. Ottawa designated Alberta’s proposed Pacific Link oil pipeline a “project of national interest” under the Building Canada Act. It made the Canada Energy Regulator the sole federal regulator responsible for assessing major pipeline projects, eliminating the previous requirement for a joint review involving the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada. And in September, the federal government announced its so-called “productivity mega deduction,” expanding accelerated tax write-offs for eligible capital investments, including oil and gas production and pipelines.

There are still a number of asks on the sector’s list. TC Energy wants tax relief on financing costs for major energy projects, not just on capital investment costs. The pipeline giant is urging Ottawa to loosen rules restricting how much interest companies can deduct, arguing the limits make major projects too expensive. Pembina wants looser restrictions on federal financing for oil and gas projects, arguing it would support export projects serving non-U.S. markets like pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals. Pembina also asked Ottawa to maintain tariff-free movement of energy products through Canada’s ongoing trade dispute with the U.S. – Meghan

Infrastructure, transportation and trade

The players

The Liberal government is striving to double exports to non-U.S. countries by 2035. Canada’s marine transportation networks port authorities are calling for targeted infrastructure investments and modernization needed to help those goods reliably reach their destinations.

The BC Marine Terminal Operators Association is calling for a long-term transportation supply chain and infrastructure strategy—with permanent and predictable funding—that would optimize road, rail and marine networks across Canada through better data-sharing among terminal operators, port authorities, railways, shippers and customers. It also wants the federal government to act on recommendations from the inquiry into the labour disruptions at West Coast ports in 2023. Saskatoon-based Canpotex, which is one of the largest potash exporters in the world, is urging the federal government to amend the Canada Labour Code so that the key fertilizer ingredient, like grain, could still be shipped during port and rail strikes.

The Chamber of Shipping wants a single national maritime authority to streamline oversight of coastal activity that is currently spread across several departments. The Chamber of Marine Commerce wants the federal government to keep expanding the number of ports that can receive foreign shipping containers, as promised in last year’s budget. The Goderich Port Management Corp. is asking for $32.5 million from the $5-billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund to cover half the cost of Phase 2 of its harbour wharf expansion.

Further inland, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities urges the government to include a dedicated stream for northern and rural communities in the $51-billion Build Communities Strong Fund to help maintain the roads and bridges that connect Canada’s farms, mines and energy projects to railways and ports. Shepard Development Corp., a Calgary-based land developer, says Ottawa should commit $300 million in cost-share funding for the Prairie Economic Gateway—a proposed industrial and logistics hub with access to the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway line.

Speaking for a sector hit hard by Section 232 tariffs, Canadian Steel Producers Association is pushing Ottawa to expand its Buy Canadian policy beyond procurement by incorporating domestic steel content requirements into its grants and contributions; into major projects that get federal funding; and into incentive programs such as the Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit. The Canadian Institute of Steel Construction wants the surtax on imports of downstream steel products doubled to 50 per cent to better address the challenge of cheap steel from China and other non-market economies flooding into Canada in response to U.S. tariffs on foreign steel.

The Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters says the Canada Border Services Agency should get targeted funding to resolve remaining issues with its new online system to collect duties and taxes on commercial imports, and to ensure future efforts to overhaul digital customs infrastructure go more smoothly.

Several airport authorities submitted briefs well before the Liberal government talked openly about contracting out management rights to airports. In the main, the authorities sought long-term lease extensions and rent caps on the federal land they use, and improvements to security and border screening.

Buoyant Aircraft Systems, a Winnipeg firm, wants federal backing to experiment with airships to deliver heavy cargo to the North, including ground infrastructure, technical standards and a pilot program to assess the costs and benefits. – Joanna and David R.

Auto

The group representing auto mechanics’ shops is calling for national right-to-repair legislation. Photo: The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson

The players

Automotive industry groups are urging the federal government to prioritize renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and ensuring duty-free access to the U.S. market as key to ongoing investment in the sector, and indeed its survival. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association represents Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent company Stellantis. It said removing the Section 232 tariffs on autos—which U.S. President Donald Trump levelled on national security grounds—is crucial because more than 90 per cent of Canada’s automotive production is destined for the U.S. market.

Electric Mobility Canada wants the remission framework for counter-tariffs on autos to be available to American EV makers that are growing their workforces and investing in Canada, such as Tesla, Lucid and Rivian. The Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association wants RVs to remain a distinct category in CUSMA and other trade agreements to avoid collateral damage from trade barriers. Motor Coach Canada does not want any changes to the minimum North American content requirements for coach buses to be eligible for CUSMA. Yamaha Motor Canada, which sells motorcycles and snowmobiles, is asking Ottawa to back off proposed changes to how customs duties are calculated to avoid increasing costs for importers.

Several stakeholders argued a lack of reliable and high-speed charging infrastructure is blocking widespread adoption of EVs. Quebec-based charging operator Flo recommends expanding eligibility for the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit to include investments in on-road charging infrastructure—with a higher-level incentive for hyper-fast chargers. The company also said that Ottawa should commit $500 million to extend the Zero Emission Infrastructure Program for EV chargers and hydrogen refuelling stations by five years to 2031.

Toronto-based EV charger startup Swtch Energy wants that program retooled to get more chargers installed at multi-family dwellings, with $400 million over four years. Electric Mobility Canada recommended adding $250 million over four years to the program to focus on retrofitting condos and apartments to be EV-ready, including by covering 50 per cent of the cost of electrical upgrades. BMW Canada, meanwhile, suggested it is ready to invest in both Level 2 and DC fast-charging stations, and wants to work with Ottawa on identifying the best locations.

Global Automakers of Canada, which represents Honda, Toyota and other foreign car manufacturers in Canada, notes the industry is still waiting for more details on the EV supply-chain investment tax credit proposed in the 2024 federal budget. It also wants the federal government to increase the threshold for the luxury tax to keep up with inflation, or at least remove it from EVs.

Volvo Group wants the federal government to combine purchase incentives for medium- and heavy-duty EVs and funding for charging and fuelling infrastructure into a single stream. Volvo is also calling on Ottawa to launch a new competitive, time-limited fund for large-scale commercial zero-emission vehicle deployment projects, including in freight, transit, construction and mining. Electric Mobility Canada recommends $700 million over four years to fund the purchase of electric school buses, with another $200 million for charging infrastructure and planning.

Automotive Industries Association Canada, which represents mechanical and collision repair businesses, is calling for national right-to-repair legislation that would ensure independent auto mechanics get timely, secure and standardized access to vehicle repair and maintenance data. The group says technological advancements in autos means such diagnostic data is often needed to repair or maintain them, but lack of access means consumers often have no choice but to take them to the dealership—and pay more. – Joanna

Critical minerals

The players

Early this year, the Export-Import Bank of the United States announced a US$12-billion mineral stockpile called Project Vault, and Canadian companies now wonder whether the federal government will replicate the policy. Elevra Lithium suggests Ottawa buy critical minerals, using them to bridge supplies during market shortages to reduce price volatility and supply chain disruptions. Neither Elevra nor graphite miner Global Battery Materials explicitly mention China’s dominance of the critical mineral market, but both argue that government-owned mineral stockpiles would prevent foreign state-backed manipulation of supply chains.

The Mining Association of Canada and miners Glencore and Eldorado Gold want the government to consider tax breaks for zinc, a mineral that both companies produce and that the U.S. imports mostly from Canada for defence uses. The companies are asking Ottawa to make it eligible for the Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. Glencore also wants to see Canada adopt Australia’s model of offering tax credits to mineral processing and smelting operations, on expenses like labour costs and electricity.

PearTree, a mining financing firm, wants the government to target inefficiencies in the flow-through share tax regime, which lets individual investors claim deductions or credits from mining investments. These refunds often take nine months, PearTree says, mostly because of redundant reporting requirements.

Other organizations want to make it easier for Indigenous investors to participate in mining projects. PTX Metals wants the federal Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund used to facilitate equity deals with Indigenous investors, while the First Nations Tax Commission proposes a First Nations Resource Tax to expand negotiation options for major projects and give First Nations jurisdiction to collect taxes directly from projects in their communities, which could free up capital for financial participation. – Anita

First Nations

The players

The Assembly of First Nations is urging Ottawa to prioritize closing a $400-billion on-reserve housing and infrastructure gap, with many communities under boil-water advisories lacking access to capital. The assembly is calling for stable and inflation-adjusted funding, and joins the First Nations Finance Authority in proposing a program that would provide $200 million annually for 20 years to service a $2.5-billion infrastructure debenture. This would let First Nations borrow against federal transfers to speed up construction of housing, water treatment plants and other badly needed infrastructure.

The First Nations Lands Advisory Board argues that Canada’s current process for adding land to reserves, or creating new ones, entails too much red tape and unpredictable bureaucratic delays. This risks sidelining First Nations from major projects while fuelling opposition to them, the board says. It proposes an independent First Nations-led body to help the process move “at the speed of business.” The First Nations Tax Commission said such changes would make the process nearly seven times faster and cut costs by about 85 per cent.

Vancouver-based Community Circle, a non-profit organization focused on water health in rural and Indigenous areas, wants the federal startup procurement program, which Ottawa gutted as part of its 2024 spending review, to have a dedicated stream focused on solutions to challenges in those communities, including water-quality monitoring, off-grid energy and wildfire detection. – Joanna

Electricity

A low-angle shot of a pylon supporting high-tension power lines taken against the backdrop of sunshine and blue sky.

Power lines near the Tuft Cove generating station in Dartmouth, N.S. Photo: The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

The players

Utilities and producers

Consumers

Innovators

The broad message from several major electricity utilities and private power generation companies: Help us fund upgrades to the energy grid.

Alectra, an electricity company serving multiple communities in southern Ontario, seeks a change that would let local power companies take investments from pension funds without losing special tax exemptions they get for being publicly owned. Renewable energy developer EDF Power wants tax credits for clean-energy investments extended to 2050, which it says would lead to more long-term work. Hydro-Québec wants them not only extended, but widened to cover more long-distance transmission projects, and applied to subsidiaries and joint ventures that aren’t legally Crown corporations like itself.

Some possibly offbeat support for grid upgrades comes from some big energy users in Canada Steamship Lines (which wants federal investments in electric shipping, including charging infrastructure at docks), Global Container Terminals (which wants similar investments for terminal equipment) and Champion Iron (which wants a transmission line from the Churchill Falls hydro project to iron country in southwestern Labrador).

At technology’s cutting edge, fusion-energy companies General Fusion and Stellarex want fusion added to the national nuclear-power plans, and federal money to advance a form of energy that remains—so far—experimental.

Developers of small modular fission reactors also want more federal backing. Nuclea Energy seeks a 50-50 cost split for novel reactor technologies, saying Canada needs to keep pace with similar supports in the United States and United Kingdom. The Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in support for micro-scale nuclear reactors that could power remote military sites. – David R.

Health, pharmaceuticals and medtech

The players

As is typical, many big pharma and medical-device companies wrote to the committee suggesting Ottawa funnel more funding toward illnesses and conditions that their products treat.

Alexion, a subsidiary of Swedish-British firm AstraZeneca that focuses on rare diseases, wants sustained federal funding for drugs for rare diseases, warning that a four-year national strategy on the subject is due to expire in March 2027. Canadian regulators should review potential therapies for rare diseases more quickly, it also argues (several other firms argue similar cases).

At the other end of the continuum of drug popularity, Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of Ozempic, wants obesity treated as a chronic disease in the hope of “addressing obesity earlier and more systematically.” It also wants the government to crack down on shipments of drugs from Canada to the United States, citing the demand for cheaper Canadian Ozempic as a critical example.

GSK, which makes vaccines in Canada, wants the government to boost domestic biomanufacturing capability and equitable access to immunization shots for adults.

Philips, which makes a wide array of medical devices, wants federal support for AI in the publicly funded health system, because “clinical AI adoption is fragmented, underrepresented in primary care and Indigenous settings.” It should be treated as “foundational infrastructure,” the company says, not “discretionary technology.” – David R.

Quantum and semiconductors

The players

Canada’s Semiconductor Council—which represents both homegrown players like Hepzibah AI and Ranovus as well as multinationals like AMD and Marvell that have a local presence—is repeating its long-standing call for a national strategy for chips and photonics; every other G7 country has one, it says. The group also wants Ottawa to put up cash for firms looking to expand production in Canada, in a bid to counter what it calls “aggressive incentive offers” from other governments.

Edmonton-based Zero Point Cryogenics wants Ottawa to remember there’s more to quantum technology than uber-fast computers. The firm makes the freezers that many quantum processors, sensors and communication devices need to work. It wants in on the Canadian Quantum Champions Program, launched in December to help the country keep hold of its most promising firms in the field with an initial $23 million each in funding. The first four companies selected all develop quantum computing technology, and Zero Point argues the program should be expanded to “the supply chain that supports it.”

Photonic, based in Coquitlam, B.C., is already in the champions program, but wants Ottawa to commit to funding it for the long term to stay competitive with countries that are “deploying substantially larger pools of capital and infrastructure incentives,” the submission warns.

Université de Sherbrooke is proposing to apply quantum technologies to the challenges of climate change at a new R&D centre it wants the federal government to fund. Meanwhile, sector association Quantum Industry Canada as well as the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia want Ottawa to renew the National Quantum Strategy, launched in January 2023, which funds research, commercialization and talent development programs.

Quantum computers could eventually break traditional encryption codes, and Ottawa-based startup Crypto4A wants the government to speed up its deadline to adopt so-called post-quantum cryptography. Departments are supposed to have plans ready this year, high-priority systems converted by 2031, and all the tech in place by 2035. – Murad

Higher education

A shot of university grads lining up for convocation among the modernist concrete structures of Simon Fraser University. They're wearing blue caps and gowns with red hoods. There is a queue in the foreground beside a reflecting pool, and another in the background on a terrace.

Graduates awaiting convocation at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. Photo: The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

The players

Universities

Colleges, institutes and polytechnics

Skills training

Many postsecondary schools are seeking federal funding for their own projects, like McMaster’s request for a new cyclotron for nuclear research and the University of Victoria’s call for money for its oceanographic work. The University of Manitoba has an unusual ask: investment at the Port of Churchill, where it already has a science facility, as a “research hub anchored by world-class academic and scientific capability.”

Across the sector, though, recurring themes are for the federal government to spend more on academic research generally and to make sure universities and colleges get shares of defence spending—whether it be for military technology research or training for Canadian Forces members. McGill University proposes a federally funded system for placing PhDs in defence-related companies.

Several seek changes to the study-permit system, since the federal government cut foreign student admissions. The University of British Columbia wants more flexibility for “high-performing, reputable institutions” to accept more foreign students, for instance. The University of Guelph wants faster visa processing, including for top-tier faculty, and with an express lane for “trusted institutions”; the University of Waterloo asks for something similar, in couched language, asking the government to “adopt a distinctions-based approach to international student policy that prioritizes institutions like Waterloo that have rigorous academic and admissions standards.”

Among dedicated skills-training organizations, artificial intelligence is the big thing. Palette Skills says “investing in rapid reskilling to support AI training and adoption” would boost productivity in smaller businesses. Skills for Change wants support for inclusive AI training programs, so people who already have technical skills aren’t the only workers who gain more. – David R.

The innovation economy

The players

The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) wants the Buy Canadian procurement policy to prioritize “economically Canadian” firms. This means the federal government would weigh factors such as inbound IP revenue, the use of Canadian-controlled suppliers and the share of global R&D employees based in Canada—rather than simply whether bidders are registered here.

The Canadian Shield Institute, a think tank created by the CCI, wants Ottawa to create an Innovation Asset Bank that would help prevent publicly funded inventions—especially related to defence—from being transferred outside the country. Its mandate would include overseeing IP stemming from publicly funded research, acquiring strategic patent portfolios and making sure that public research funding comes with requirements to keep economic benefits in Canada.

The Liberals pledged during the 2025 election campaign to bring in a “patent box” regime. This would lower taxes on income from made-in-Canada intellectual property to help keep homegrown inventions from moving to the U.S. The Liberal government brought in some changes to its marquee Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentive in last year’s budget, but not a patent box regime. Obio, a not-for-profit that supports startups in the health space, wants to see it in this one.

As another way to use the tax system to encourage patient capital, the CCI wants to see a Canadian version of the U.S. Qualified Small Business Stock incentive. This would exempt long-term investments in high-growth domestic firms from taxes on capital gains. Obio proposes a national angel investor tax credit to improve access to early-stage capital in the life sciences.

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Bioindustrial Innovation Canada is asking to set up and run a $50-million pre-seed and seed investment fund to fill financing gaps for early-stage greentech innovators. Tech-Access Canada wants $33 million in annual funding to set up a sector-agnostic innovation pipeline program to give small and medium-sized businesses year-round support with R&D and commercialization.

Evidence for Democracy wants a national strategy for science, research and innovation that would include setting R&D investment targets relative to Canada’s GDP (and adjusted for inflation) and making it easier to turn innovative ideas into revenue-generating commercial products. – Joanna

#artificial intelligence #auto #banking #critical minerals #defence #economy #Energy #Federal Budget 2026 #fintech #infrastructure #innovation #markets #National

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