The budget is out: your move corporate Canada

Monday November 17, 2025

Strings Attached

According to AI Minister Evan Solomon last week, government funding for AI and digital tech will come with Buy Canadian rules attached. This expands the Buy Canadian policy outlined in Budget 2025, details to follow say the feds. One of those details will presumably be defining what 'Canadian' means.

CCC has a primer of what Buy American rules exist south of the border. But that might not be a good inspiration for Canada because even if digital goods are mostly 'manufactured' in Canada, they end up being owned by foreign firms. Definitions matter.

Buy Canadian rules will extend to tech and AI infrastructure, Solomon says - The Logic

Ottawa is considering requiring organizations receiving federal funding to purchase from domestic suppliers, just as it’s doing with steel and aluminum for battery plants

The LogicMurad Hemmadi

Minister Solomon: Canada’s AI and Buy Canadian strategies likely to launch in 2026 | BetaKit

AI minister says feds might tie AI and digital funding to Buy Canadian rules.

BetaKitJosh Scott

Buy America vs Buy American – What Canadians need to know

While often confused or interchanged, there is a big difference between Buy America and the Buy American Act . In this blog, we provide an overview of the two and what each means to Canadian businesses. Do you get confused by the terms “Buy America” vs “Buy American”? Rest assured that you are not alone. […]

Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC)

Soaring Rhetoric From Canadian C-Suites

We should start tracking “Buy Canadian” rhetoric from CEOs and compare it with their actual procurement. The latest comes from Mirko Bibic, CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, calling for “decisive action to overcome cautious incrementalism” to build the AI infrastructure of the future—data centres, hardware, power, bandwidth. All sensible, tangible stuff.

What’s less tangible, and no less important, is for big enterprises to use their own procurement dollars to take “decisive action” by buying from Canadian startups. Buying Canadian is not just for governments.

Also added to the rhetoric tracker:

• “But government will is not enough, which is why Canadian business also needs to step up – and in a big way. For far too long, Canadian businesses have been too complacent, trading away growth for the promise of certainty.” -Benji Thomas, chief executive of KPMG in Canada
• “Avec tout ce qui se passe au niveau géopolitique et commercial, c’est le temps de mettre un Buy Canada Act en place pour ce qui est de notre approvisionnement, de la recherche et du développement et de l’intelligence artificielle appliquée à la défense et à la sécurité nationale” Laurent Ferreira, National Bank of Canada’s Chief Executive Officer.

Opinion: We can’t let Canada’s AI moment slip away

If we act with purpose, we can lead in the artificial intelligence economy and ensure that Canadians will reap the benefits

The Globe and MailMirko Bibic

Opinion: We must make Canada worth investing in

A woeful level of business investment in our economy has choked off growth over the past 20 years

The Globe and MailBenjie Thomas

https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/economie/2025-01-23/riposte-a-donald-trump/le-pdg-de-la-banque-nationale-reclame-un-buy-canada-act.php

No Experience Required

Canada is bidding for the headquarters of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB). Canada is known for its financial prudence (we're the 'R' in DSRB). But has much less experience actually lending to defence firms (we can learn on the job).

Minister Joly has asked for the financial sector to provide more financing, and BDC may be part of the solution.

Canada in the running to headquarter new multinational defence bank

Bank’s development group president says move would create 3,500 jobs in defence finance

The Globe and MailPippa Norman

Joly asks Canada’s financial sector to lend to defence companies

Though lenders tend to avoid the risky industry, Joly hopes once the BDC gets involved with defence financing, banks and pensions will follow

The Globe and MailStefanie Marotta

Isabelle Hudon says BDC plans to support Canadian defence tech in “a more aggressive way”

As the feds prep to accelerate defence spending, president and CEO Isabelle Hudon says that BDC is gearing up to serve Canada’s defence tech sector in “a less shy” and “more aggressive way.”

BetaKitJosh Scott

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