Feds expected to help Canadian startups in budget by becoming bigger customer
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is expected to announce plans in next week’s federal budget to ensure Ottawa uses its massive buying power to help deliver a boost to the country’s emerging, high-potential companies, The Canadian Press has learned.
The changes would open the door for the government, which spends $7 billion annually on basic goods and services, to become a far bigger customer of new technologies developed by young Canadian startups.
A government insider, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the modifications in the March 22 budget are expected to make the existing Build in Canada Innovation Program far more ambitious.
The program has awarded a total of about $78 million in contracts since it was created in 2010.