Highlights in this week’s Short Report:

• National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program has invested more than $135 million in defence and dual-use technologies since launching Defence Industry Assist.
• Federal government commits $50 million to Canadian Food Innovation Network.
• Canadian SMEs are investing more in growth, AI and diversifying their markets: BDC.
• Royal Bank of Canada commits more than $70 million to renew and expand collaboration with Futurpreneur.
• There’s no “silver bullet” to improve Canada’s productivity – multiple reforms are required: C.D. Howe Institute.
• You can’t build state capacity without measuring productivity and value for money: Benoit Robidoux.
• Seven provinces rank in the bottom 10 for the lowest living standards among all Canadian provinces and U.S. states: Fraser Institute.
• Canadian employers view work-integrated learning as positive, but face numerous challenges integrating it into their businesses: Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING & NEWS

Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced that the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) has invested more than $135 million in defence and dual-use technologies since launching Defence Industry Assist (DI Assist). The initiative helps Canadian businesses understand the defence market and procurement processes, explore early-stage R&D ideas and refine, test or validate technologies that are closer to completion. From cybersecurity and communications infrastructure, to maritime and underwater systems, aerospace, drones and space, Canadian SMEs are advancing the critical technologies that will strengthen Canada’s economic and national sovereignty, Ottawa said. Since its launch in January 2026, DI Assist has helped 860 Canadian SMEs, enabled over 540 innovation projects and supported more than 2,300 jobs across Canada. DI Assist supports innovation across all 10 key sovereign capabilities identified in Canada's Defence Industrial Strategy. The investment and initiatives under the DIS are helping create 125,000 jobs, increase Canada’s defence exports by 50 percent, and position Canada’s defence economy at its strongest level in decades, the government said. National Research Council of Canada

Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson committed $100 million to advance offshore wind development in Nova Scotia. This will help secure the private investment needed to move projects like the province’s Wind West clean energy initiative from concept to development, the government said. Referred to the federal Major Projects Office in September 2025, the Atlantic Energy Strategy focuses on leveraging on- and offshore wind, nuclear and hydro power across Atlantic Canada to build a stronger, more connected grid. Wind West, a Nova Scotia-led project to develop offshore wind farms and connect their electricity to customers, is a key component of this strategy. Wind West aims to generate enough zero-emissions electricity to power Nova Scotia’s entire population and export additional power beyond Nova Scotia via new transmission infrastructure. Before wind turbines can be built, companies need reliable information about the ocean and wind conditions. That is why $5 million of this $100-million commitment will go to the deployment of floating light detection and ranging-mounted buoys. By measuring offshore wind speeds and ocean conditions, these buoys will provide data to help proponents prepare for the upcoming project’s call for bids, which will be launched by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator in winter 2027. Natural Resources Canada is also providing nearly $3 million to Net Zero Atlantic to expand existing modelling to include the transmission of offshore wind power from Nova Scotia to Quebec, Ontario and beyond and conduct marine survey work to support transmission cable routing. Natural Resources Canada

Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced a $50-million investment in the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) through the Strategic Response Fund and Canada’s National Food Security Strategy. Strengthening domestic food-processing capacity, accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies and supporting innovation in the sector are central to Canada’s National Food Security Strategy. CFIN is an industry‑led not‑for‑profit that helps food and beverage companies access the expertise, partners and technologies they need to innovate and grow. This additional funding will enable CFIN to expand its services, helping more food and beverage processors, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, adopt and implement automation, artificial intelligence, digital manufacturing and other advanced technologies. With this funding, CFIN is expected to support more than 200 SMEs and expand its national network to 20,000 members through its established collaborative online platform and targeted programming. Through its network, CFIN is expected to facilitate up to $200 million in follow-on investment, create approximately 300 new jobs and support over 450 total full-time equivalent positions. This investment contributes to the National Food Security Strategy’s goals, including strengthening domestic food production, improving access to affordable, nutritious food, and advancing Canadian-developed technologies that make the food system more resilient and competitive, the government said. Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Health Canada says it has taken a number of steps to improve access to the drugs and medical devices Canadians need. From July 1 to September 30, 2026, the department authorized 16 new prescription drugs and 33 generic and biosimilar drugs, and approved 540 new medical devices. A growing number of increasingly complex drug submissions is putting pressure on the drug review process. To address this, Health Canada is prioritizing the review of certain generic drug submissions to provide better access to medicines in Canada, prevent and minimize disruptions to Canada’s drug supply, and make the generic drug review system more sustainable in the long term. To help Canadians access promising new treatments sooner, Health Canada is also moving forward with the first phase of its clinical trials modernization efforts. This includes:

• Supporting faster implementation of modernized clinical trial requirements ahead of new regulations, which will modernize Canada’s clinical trial framework and help attract more clinical research to Canada.
• Providing information on clinical trials approved by Health Canada through a new clinical trials portal, to help patients find information about clinical trials that may help them and help researchers, health care providers and other stakeholders access information about ongoing trials.
• Making it easier for researchers to conduct pediatric standard-of-care studies through a new pilot project. This could generate better evidence leading to improved treatment outcomes for children, who are often prescribed drugs intended for adults off label (i.e. outside of their indicated use).

Health Canada is also working to get more medicines approved for children and youth to Canadians faster. Under the proposed approach, review times would be reduced by up to 40 percent from 300 days to 180 days. Health Canada is currently consulting on the proposed changes until October 23, 2026. Finally, Health Canada is launching a new pilot for Access Consortium work-sharing submissions that will provide more flexibility during the review process and prevent delays. This will result in stronger alignment between international regulators and help bring products to the Canadian market faster. The Access Consortium is a coalition of international regulatory authorities that work together to promote greater regulatory collaboration and alignment, including joint reviews of new drug submissions. Health Canada

See also: Canada’s risk-adverse regulatory system and unpredictable drug access stifle novel drugs and clinical trials

Canada fails to meet Canada Health Act principles for patients, including access to innovative medicines

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) published the 10^th edition of its annual Meds Entry Watch report. Canada continues to approve more new medicines than the median for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, according to the report. Most new medicines come to market with high treatment costs and specialty medicines such as biologic, orphan and cancer treatments continue to make up a growing share of the new drug landscape. The Meds Entry Watch, 10^th edition report focuses on medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and/or Health Canada between 2021 and 2025, and analyzes their uptake, pricing, sales and availability as of the last quarter of 2024. The report’s highlights include:

• From 2021 to 2025, an average of 54 new medicines were first approved by either Health Canada, the FDA, or EMA each year. Over half of these medicines received an orphan designation (a special regulatory status granted to a medicine intended to treat, prevent or diagnose a rare disease or condition) from the FDA or EMA.
• In Q4-2024, 77 percent of total OECD sales of new medicines were for medicines that had sales in Canada, indicating that Canada continues to approve and sell the highest-selling medicines approved internationally. 
• Focusing on medicines receiving first Canadian approval, between 2021 and 2025, Health Canada granted market authorization to 41 medicines each year on average, of which an average of 14 (34 percent) were expensive drugs for rare diseases. PMPRB

Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson announced an investment of up to $50 million to establish the $86-million New Brunswick Strategic Innovation Centre in Digital Forestry, an initiative led by the Northern Hardwoods Research Institute in collaboration with ResearchNB. Canada’s forest products industry depends on a reliable supply of wood – called fibre supply — to make everything from lumber and paper to packaging and other products. That supply has become increasingly uncertain due to factors such as wildfires and pests, putting mills, jobs and Canadian competitiveness at risk. The new centre will establish a pilot for digitalizing the forest sector, helping the industry and its stakeholders better identify, track and use fibre resources across the supply chain. The centre’s work will include producing a digital replica of the province's forests. Foresters will be able to experiment with ideas before taking action in the physical world, Hodgson told a news conference in Fredericton. By increasing certainty of fibre supply and matching that fibre supply to facilities’ specific manufacturing requirements, the initiative would modernize the forest products sector in New Brunswick and create a model for other regions – attracting investment, reducing costs and improving operational efficiency for businesses. Hodgson also confirmed that Budget 2026 will contain further details related to the federal forest sector strategy. The strategy will detail Canada’s plan for a competitive, sustainable and prosperous forest sector that continues to support communities, create jobs and provide world-class products to customers at home and around the world. Natural Resources Canada

Canada placed 13^th of 14 coun­tries on an index of digital con­di­tions, with the biggest stum­bling block being people’s lack of con­fid­ence in the sys­tem, accord­ing to a sur­vey released by Interac Corp. “At a time when Canada is grap­pling with AI adop­tion, rising fraud, grow­ing cyber­security threats and ques­tions around digital sov­er­eignty, the index finds the coun­try’s biggest digital chal­lenge isn’t access to tech­no­logy; it’s con­fid­ence in using it,” Interac said in a news release. Canada scored 57.7 out of 100, well below first place Singa­pore at 83.3 and beneath the group mean of 67.1. Brazil came last with a score of 39.5. Coun­tries such as Esto­nia, Ger­many and South Korea were included in the index because they are lead­ers in digital rank­ings, while the U.S. and U.K. have sim­ilar reg­u­lat­ory envir­on­ments to Canada. Brazil, the only coun­try outside the advanced eco­nomy group, is con­sidered a pay­ments leader, Interac said. Canada’s low ranking “points to its lack of pre­dict­ab­il­ity and an uneven path through our eco­nomy and the way that Cana­dian con­sumers and busi­nesses exper­i­ence (the digital eco­nomy), which is hold­ing back growth,” said Lauren Mostowyk, head of cor­por­ate affairs and part­ner­ships at Interac. The index rankings were compiled based on the scores for five separate measures: access to the internet, the capability of users, user confidence in digital services as they relate to fraud and scams, participation in online sales and e-commerce and outcomes including labour productivity and digital competitiveness. Canada ranked last on confidence and 12^th on capability. Financial Post

Federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson announced the renewal of the Atlantic Fisheries Fund (AFF) for a further five years. In partnership with the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, the renewed AFF will make strategic investments of over $300 million in projects in the Atlantic Region over the next five years. The contribution is split, with the Government of Canada providing 60 percent of the funding, and the Atlantic provinces 40 percent. The renewed AFF will have four pillars. To be eligible, projects must align with one of the following four areas:

• Market Diversification – to support market development activities, including export-focused advertising, market analysis, industry branding, promotion and advertising; and the dissemination of research focused on market access requirements such as regulatory standards.
• Innovation – to support research and development of new innovations that contribute to the productivity and sustainability of the fish and seafood sector, and to create partnerships and networks that aim to promote and encourage innovations in the sector.
• Infrastructure – to adopt or adapt new technologies, processes, or equipment to improve the productivity and sustainability of the fish and seafood sector.
• Science Partnerships – fisheries and aquaculture industry-based partnerships with academia and institutions to enhance knowledge and understanding of the impacts of changing oceanographic conditions, including adaptability measures, and sustainable harvesting technology. The Atlantic Fisheries Fund is now accepting applications. Fisheries and Oceans Canada

The Government of Canada is looking to build a 60-megawatt data centre in the national capital region to support Canada’s cyber spy agency, saying it will focus on the “mid to long-term objectives” of government operations, security and technology. Defence Construction Canada issued an advance procurement notice for the data centre, saying it is informing “design-builders of an upcoming contract located” in the Ottawa area. The estimated cost of the project is $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, with the tender expected to be issued in 2027. The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) says the proposed data centre would provide “additional secure computing capacity” to support its “current and future operational requirements.” “It is part of the Government of Canada’s broader defence investments, including investments through CSE to modernize the secure infrastructure and capabilities needed to respond to evolving threats and support Canada’s national security and defence priorities,” CSE said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa. CTV News

The Government of Canada will spend nearly $258.6 million over the next five years to train workers in key sectors, federal Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu announced. Speaking in her home riding in Thunder Bay, Hajdu said the government is “investing in training and supporting” skilled trades workers to ensure that communities “have the people they need to get the work done.” She singled out government’s new electricity strategy aimed at doubling the size of Canada’s grid and a recently announced $2-billion national heat pump rebate program as helping to drive demand for skilled workers. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of a Sectoral Workforce Innovation Fund a little over a year ago and the government opened applications for the program in August. The fund aims to fill the gaps between workers’ skills and industry requirements in sectors like energy or critical minerals by funding projects that could speed up training or certification. The minister’s announcement came a day after Ottawa unveiled $430 million in spending to help unions and other organizations cover costs for new training facilities and equipment. iPolitics

Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) Lena Metlege Diab announced changes to the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System to better align with Canada’s economic and labour market needs. Starting November 3, 2026, IRCC will award additional points to candidates with eligible Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation, including jobs such as engineers and electricians. By placing greater emphasis on factors linked to stronger economic outcomes, these changes will help Canada attract and retain the skilled workers who are best positioned to succeed in the country’s labour market, the government said. In addition, as of November 3, 2026, a labour market impact assessment will no longer be required for a qualifying job offer to receive the new Express Entry points or to meet job offer requirements under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. IRCC will continue to assess job offers to confirm they are genuine and meet program requirements, with measures in place to protect against fraud. Candidates already in the Express Entry pool will have their Comprehensive Ranking System scores automatically recalculated under the new points system, which will include points for eligible Canadian work experience. However, candidates who wish to receive points for a qualifying job offer must update their profiles with the required information before November 3. IRCC

Federal Major Projects Office CEO Dawn Farrell told First Nations in B.C. that the frustrations expressed over a lack of consultation on the Pacific Link pipeline made her feel like Canada is "never going to work," but her office is determined to try to be better. Farrell was addressing the B.C. Assembly of First Nations at its annual general meeting in Vancouver. First Nations in B.C. are calling on Ottawa to set national standards for Indigenous consultations on major projects. They say they were given just 11 working days to review and engage on whether the proposed Pacific Link pipeline should be designated as a project of national interest. The standard, they say, should include "minimum procedural protections," including protected timelines for consultations before decisions are made. Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir, who presented the call for a national consultation standard, said the current process expects First Nations to review thousands of documents under tight timelines and with limited funding. Farrell said she agrees with the concept of national consultation standards, but she wondered how such standards would work alongside the government's accelerated timelines for project approvals. First Nations in B.C. also passed a resolution at the meeting calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to halt the advance of the Building Canada Act and to repeal Bill C-39 if it passes through Parliament. The Canadian Press

Canadian business leaders want Federal Budget 2026 to turn the government's economic strategy and reforms into concrete action at home while strengthening alliances abroad to compete in an uncertain global economy, according to a new KPMG survey of 346 business leaders. Faced with a uniquely challenging trade environment, nine in 10 leaders (87 percent) say they support Canada becoming more self-reliant and diversifying its economy, and nearly three-quarters (73 percent) say reforms to improve Canada's competitiveness are more important right now than securing a trade agreement with the United States. Business leaders identified the most pressing issues facing Canada's economy right now that the upcoming federal budget should take into account as: 

• 62 percent: Canada-U.S. trade conflict and tariff impacts.
• 44 percent: Attracting foreign investment and retaining capital in Canada.
• 34 percent: Accelerating major projects (e.g., energy, infrastructure).
• 34 percent: Cost pressures on businesses and households.
• 26 percent: Tax competitiveness/reform and reducing red tape.

While the U.S. remains Canada's dominant trading partner, diversification has emerged as a business priority:

• 72 percent think Canada should hold out for a better trade deal, even if doing so creates some economic pain.
• 68 percent are optimistic that new trade deals with non-U.S. partners will improve prospects for their business (e.g., the U.K., the EU, India)
• 77 percent say Canada was right to suspend trade talks with the U.S. and impose counter-tariffs.
• 45 percent say Canada should return to negotiations only when a better deal is achievable.
• 23 percent say Canada should return to trade talks immediately without any preconditions.

Despite slower economic growth and volatile geopolitical conditions, business leaders are pragmatic rather than pessimistic. In the short term, 59 percent are expressing optimism about the Canadian economy over the next 12 months, whereas 67 percent are confident in Canada's growth prospects over the next three years. Nearly nine in 10 (87 percent) want the federal government to conduct a comprehensive review of Canada's tax system; 85 percent feel Canada's tax system should be simplified to reduce complexity; and 82 percent feel Canada needs to make the tax system more competitive. KPMG

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), under its Space Technology Development Program, awarded $11 million in funding to 15 Canadian companies, including 13 SMEs, to pioneer research and development for 16 advanced space technology projects. A description of the projects, selected companies and funding amounts are presented below under three categories:

• Space Research and Development: Advanced Technologies.
• Space Research and Development: Small Businesses.
• Space Research and Development: Next-Wave Technologies.

This funding initiative aims to:

• use space to drive broader economic growth by enhancing Canada's space sector through the scaling up of firms, increasing the commercial potential, supporting the creation of high-paying middle-class jobs, providing support for small firms.
• increase the readiness level of several promising space technologies.

The non-repayable contributions cover pre-commercial R&D for 15 companies – including MDA Space, Kepler Communications, Honeywell, and Obruta Space Solutions. Over half of the project summaries explicitly cite Canadian sovereignty, security or Arctic operations. Among the critical dual-use capabilities receiving funding are ABB Inc.’s very-high-resolution satellite camera system, designed explicitly to reduce reliance on foreign military imagery, and MDA Space's advanced radio-frequency tiles for next-generation Synthetic Aperture Radar antennas. CSA

The Government of Canada, the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Government of the Northwest Territories are investing in local energy infrastructure that will strengthen energy security, support economic development, and improve the quality of life for residents and businesses in Fort Simpson. Ottawa is contributing more than $31.3 million through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program's Arctic Energy Fund, while NTPC is contributing more than $10.4 million toward a new liquefied natural gas power plant. The Northwest Territories government has provided key funding applications and prefeasibility studies to evaluate technical and economic viability to ensure requirements are met and appropriately considered. The existing diesel plant in Fort Simpson has become vulnerable to erosion along the Mackenzie River and is nearing the end of its operational life. The new project will support the construction of a combined generation facility that will primarily generate power using liquefied natural gas (LNG). The new power plant will include two 1.6-megawatt LNG generation units and two backup diesel generation units. The plant is forecast to run on 90 percent LNG. The new plant will help reduce reliance on diesel generation, improve energy reliability and energy security, and support a cleaner energy future, with an expected reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, Ottawa said. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada

The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario are partnering to invest almost $22 million through the Market Diversification and Trade Resiliency Initiative to help more than 130 Ontario farmers and processors sell more Ontario grown products around the world. The investment will support projects that diversify and expand agri-food trade opportunities, create 925 good-paying jobs and advance the province’s plan to protect Ontario’s agri-food sector by building a more secure, sovereign and self-reliant food supply. This government funding, combined with cost-shared investments by the sector, is expected to generate up to $134 million in investments for Ontario farmers and processors. Cost-sharing rates and maximum funding amounts vary by funding stream. The investment also supports the Grow Ontario Strategy’s goal of increasing the province’s agri-food exports by eight percent annually by 2032. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) announced up to $571,521 in funding over three years to Quebec-based Céréla Inc. through the AgriScience Program-Projects Component, an initiative under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. With this funding, Céréla will use artificial intelligence to develop new crop varieties years faster than traditional breeding methods. By using AI to speed up development, Céréla will create high-yielding soybean and barley varieties adapted to Eastern Canada’s growing conditions. This work focuses on breeding barley that resists Fusarium head blight and soybeans without anti-trypsin factors. Shortening development time means farmers get better crops sooner. These faster results will help growers protect their crops against plant diseases and extreme weather, get quality products to market, and keep Canadian agriculture competitive. AAFC

China said it plans to restrict or ban exports of 40 technologies that span artificial intelligence, chips and solar power as its technology race with countries including the United States intensifies. China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology jointly published a draft document with the proposed updates for China’s catalog of technologies subjected to export bans or restrictions. The proposal came as China and the U.S. made progress in dialogues over AI safety and governance and on the setting up of a notification mechanism between the two superpowers for AI incidents that could threaten national security. Twenty-three AI technologies, from advanced large models to agents, are included in the list, according to the Chinese ministries. U.S.-led restrictions have curbed the export of some advanced technologies to China over the past years, with the country blocked from accessing the world’s most cutting-edge AI chips and the advanced chipmaking machines that make them. Meanwhile, Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin confirmed that Taipei plans to add AI servers and cutting-edge semiconductors to its controlled goods list, although Kung gave no deadline. That would make these shipments – including those to China – a crime under the Foreign Trade Act. The Associated Press

RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

 Canadian SMEs are investing more in growth, AI and diversifying their markets: BDC report

Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises are investing more in acquiring customers, improving productivity, adopting artificial intelligence, and diversifying their markets, suppliers and revenue streams, according to a BDC report.

The share of SMEs with growth ambitions has increased significantly since last year, rising to 78 percent from 67 percent in 2025, said BDC’s State of Entrepreneurship in 2026 annual report. The accompanying survey included 2,500 respondents.

“Many businesses are now focused on growth,” the report said.

Over the past 12 months, nearly two-thirds of SMEs (64 percent) have gained new customers in their own region.

Nearly one-third (29 percent) have expanded their customer base into other parts of Canada, while 15 percent have attracted customers outside the United States. Despite tariffs, 11 percent of SMEs have also gained new customers in the U.S. market.

Forty-six percent of SMEs rank expansion among their top priorities, up from 34 percent in 2025.

This renewed focus on growth has not eliminated financial concerns. Improving profitability remains the second most cited priority, identified by 40 percent of SMEs.

SMEs directly affected by U.S. tariffs are also showing remarkable resilience, said Pierre Cléroux, BDC’s vice-president, research and chief economist. “Despite pressure on costs and supply chains, they continue to prioritize growth and are stepping up efforts to diversify their markets, improve productivity and increase profitability.”

In 2026, 88 percent of SMEs implemented at least one initiative to boost productivity, up from 74 percent in 2025.

Adopting new technologies (30 percent) remains the most common way to improve productivity. Still, SMEs are doing more than simply adding new tools. Twenty-eight percent increased their use of existing technologies, up significantly from 20 percent in 2025.

The report also highlights the growing role of AI in SME business strategies. The share of businesses that consider adopting or increasing their use of AI a priority rose from 14 percent in 2025 to 22 percent in 2026, and reaches 28 percent among SMEs directly affected by U.S. tariffs.

According to BDC’s Digital Maturity Study, 36 percent of SMEs already have a technology adoption plan that includes AI, and 96 percent invested in digital technologies in 2025. Businesses that already use AI intend to build on that momentum: 72 percent expect to increase their investment in AI over the next 12 months.

“This increase shows that businesses are looking to use technology to improve efficiency as part of a broader digital transformation,” Cléroux said.

However, the benefits will depend on their ability to integrate these tools in a structured way, tailor them to their operational needs and train their teams.

SMEs increasingly recognize that the ability to adapt quickly is a competitive advantage. A majority (59 percent) believe businesses that are slow to adapt risk falling behind.

As competition intensifies, SMEs are strengthening their value proposition. To differentiate themselves, they are primarily focused on improving the quality of their products or services, refining their pricing strategies and strengthening their marketing efforts.

Since the 2025 survey, new tariffs have been imposed on certain Canadian products, including expanded duties on softwood lumber, some furniture products, steel and aluminum derivatives, and a host of new tariffs on a variety of products made by Canadian SMEs.

As a result, the share of SMEs that view tariffs as a challenge increased from 19 percent in 2025 to 29 percent in 2026. Tariffs also continue to weigh on business investment.

Beyond tariffs, which are the primary challenge for businesses directly affected by trade tensions, two issues stand out: rising input costs (36 percent) and supply chain disruptions (31 percent).

Increased competition is also a significant challenge. More than one-quarter (27 percent) of SMEs affected by U.S. tariffs identify it as a major concern.

Other long-standing challenges remain, although they are less prominent. Nearly one in four SMEs (23 percent) are affected by a shortage of skilled workers, while access to financing remains a challenge for 16 percent of businesses, or about one in six. BDC

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Royal Bank of Canada announced a commitment of more than $70 million to renew and expand its collaboration with Futurpreneur, a Toronto-based national non-profit that provides entrepreneurs ages 18-39 with the financing, mentorship and resources to help them launch, buy and grow businesses across Canada. This commitment will empower the next generation of business owners to help strengthen Canada's economic future while advancing two of RBC's core ambitions: helping Canadians prepare and adapt for the changing world of work, and helping more people meet their essential needs. The $70-million-plus commitment is a combination of philanthropy, business loans and operating capital to support Futurpreneur's proven offering for the next generation of entrepreneurs, particularly those under 30 and young Indigenous founders. With persistently high youth unemployment and dwindling entry-level jobs, more young people are turning to entrepreneurship as a pathway to meaningful work and economic opportunity. The timing is critical: 76 percent of business owners in Canada plan to retire over the next decade, while this country now has approximately 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs than it did in 2000 despite significant population growth. Founded in 1996 with the early leadership and support of partners including RBC, Futurpreneur has helped more than 21,000 young entrepreneurs start, buy and grow businesses in every province and territory, creating jobs, strengthening communities and contributing to Canada's economic future. Royal Bank of Canada

McGill University launched AgPrécision, an agricultural research network that will connect agricultural experiments on farms across Quebec. The network will support research on soil nutrients, cover crops, new agricultural products and other elements of cropping systems to create a local scientific database for each agro-climatic region of Quebec. AgPrécision will use precision agriculture techniques that employ modern tools like GPS systems and soil sensors to generate big data and manage the precise application of inputs like seed, fertilizer and other chemicals. Experiments will be conducted in five of Quebec’s major agricultural regions – Lanaudière, Laurentides, Centre-du-Québec, Montérégie and Chaudière-Appalaches – and research will focus on optimizing soil nutrients, cover crops, new agricultural products and other elements of cropping systems. The resulting research will serve as a local scientific database tailored to each agro-climatic region. AgPrécision’s participating agronomists will work with soybeans, corn and forage crops, all of which have tight profit margins. McGill Reporter

Concordia University’s Office of Community Engagement released a new guide on building “respectful, reciprocal, and mutually beneficial” research partnerships with Indigenous communities. The guide is the second resource in the university’s Dewemaagannag / My Relations series, and contains guidelines in partnership development, ethics and data sovereignty. Grounded in Indigenous knowledge and expertise, the series supports Concordia’s commitments to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and broader efforts toward Indigenization and decolonization. The first resource in the series, the Indigenous Engagement Guide, was launched in 2023. It introduced principles such as listening, reciprocity, accountability, consent and positionality. Concordia University

An Israeli advertising agency has placed ads seen by millions of internet users that have left them open to spyware attacks, according to a new report from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab. The report alleges that Discover-Tech intentionally operates a platform that allows its "partners to de-anonymize, fingerprint, and automatically infect devices" with spyware. Those partners can then "push malicious content to individual targeted users alongside advertisements," the report says. Over a four-month period, Discover-Tech ads appeared on more than 120,000 websites and more than 75,000 apps in dozens of countries – endangering the security of "national-security-sensitive networks," such as government ministries, armed forces and multilateral organizations such as NATO, according to the report, which was released alongside an affiliated investigation by U.S. cybersecurity firm Confiant. Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab's director, said the findings are a "worst-nightmare" scenario, with "two poorly regulated and highly abused industries" – targeted advertising and mercenary spyware – coming together. "It's a recipe for disaster," Deibert told CBC News. "It's global espionage that we've uncovered on a massive scale." This marks the first time researchers have documented how "zero-click" spyware attacks can be enabled by targeted ads, Citizen Lab says. "Zero-click" means that users don't need to click on a link or actively do anything for their devices to be targeted with spyware. "The moment [the ad] is rendered, their device can be hacked, so there's really no defence against this, short of not using a smart phone or [not] connecting to the internet," Deibert said. CBC News

San Francisco-based Anthropic warned that small AI models may be months away from being capable enough to self-replicate on commercial internet-of-things devices, like smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes. A replicator like this – called a “worm” – would be challenging to shut down, since there’s no centralized point to shut off – though it may be slow (with a doubling time of days), the company said. Unlike non-AI malware, it could also figure out unfamiliar devices on its own. Data centre GPUs (graphics processing units) would be a clear, high-value target for such malware, Anthropic said. “We don’t yet have a full rogue replicator, but agents are becoming increasingly capable of completing the individual steps in the replication chain (and passing on their adaptations to future copies of themselves).” The company said it expects to see a future “awash with agents running on all types of hardware, including some that aren’t under human control . . . We should aim to harden our systems to make it difficult for such replicators to spread, but also prepare to deal with a world where they are here to stay.” Anthropic

Meta and Apple, both headquartered in California, announced a new collaboration that will enable developers to easily run Meta’s new open-weight AI model on Apple’s high-end desktop computers. The collaboration centres on Muse Spark Open, the most capable open-weight model released under a license that allows for limited commercial use, according to Meta. It’s an 816-billion-parameter model using a so-called mixture-of-experts architecture. As an open-weight model, developers can download the technology’s parameters, or weights, from the internet and run the model on a wide range of hardware. Customers will be able to pair between two and four Mac Studio PCs to use Muse Spark to code, analyze video or do other agentic work. The model runs locally, instead of in the cloud, adding a layer of security and saving users money, the companies said. CNBC

Canada’s major banks and telecoms are launching a platform that allows them to share internal intelligence about fraudsters trying to steal money from consumers and institutions. The Cross-Sector Anti-Fraud Exchange, or CSAFE, will be operated by EnStream LP, an identity-verification company owned by Canada’s three largest wireless carriers. The initiative began with a pilot project between Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Rogers Communications Inc. Since then, several other big banks – Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia and National Bank of Canada – as well as Desjardins have signed on. BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada and Telus Corp. are also participating. Upinder Saini, president and chief executive officer of EnStream, said the initiative started with the realization that the same fraudsters were targeting multiple companies, for instance by opening accounts at multiple banks and telecoms. “The goal is, let’s eliminate or minimize that repeat fraud across organizations,” Saini said in an interview. Fraud victims reported $351 million in losses to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in the first six months of this year, a figure that represents just the tip of the iceberg. The centre estimates that only five percent to 10 percent of frauds are reported. The Globe and Mail

The international Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its final report on Sound Practices for Responsible Adoption of Artificial Intelligence, reflecting public feedback received on a consultative version of the report, published in June 2026. The report identifies 12 sound practices to help financial institutions harness the benefits of AI while managing its risks responsibly, in ways that support the resilience of the financial system. The 12 sound practices are organized into two groups, which:

1. Emphasize the importance of organization-wide AI governance as financial institutions adopt AI, including maintaining an appropriate governance framework with well-defined roles and responsibilities.
2. Set out a comprehensive framework for managing risks throughout the AI lifecycle from AI development and deployment.

The sound practices serve as a practical toolkit that financial institutions can tailor to their specific context and risk profile and integrate into existing frameworks, including those for cyber and third-party risk. The report includes case studies illustrating the benefits reported by financial institutions and how some sound practices have been applied proportionately. FSB

Brampton, Ont.-based Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst cybersecurity training hub received a $3.5-million contribution from Google.org, the search giant’s philanthropic arm, to help Canadian organizations develop a cybersecurity game plan while giving budding cybersecurity experts real-world training. The funding will help launch the Cyber Clinics Canada program. The national network of clinics will train postsecondary students and new cybersecurity professionals to deliver free cybersecurity consulting to public and community organizations. The program is the national expansion of the Catalyst Cyber Clinic, which launched last year to provide cybersecurity support for Canadian non-profits and community organizations. Catalyst launched in 2018 as a national centre for cybersecurity out of Toronto Metropolitan University to promote training, research and commercial innovation in the field of cybersecurity. BetaKit

Toronto-based AI developer Cohere announced a proposed agreement to acquire Prague, Czech Republic-headquartered AISLE, a company building autonomous systems to discover and remediate previously unknown vulnerabilities in critical software. Cohere said the proposed transaction reflects the company’s continued investment in Europe. Following Cohere’s acquisitions of Reliant AI and Germany-based Aleph Alpha, the addition of AISLE would deepen the company’s presence across the region and strengthen European AI and cybersecurity capabilities that help protect critical infrastructure, governments and highly regulated industries around the world. AISLE’s team is joining Cohere, with its three founders taking leadership roles spanning cybersecurity, corporate security, AI security research and frontier model development. Cohere

Toronto-based Superwhisper partnered with Cohere to launch a local meeting recorder, putting the consumer AI dictation tool in competition with enterprise meeting assistant companies like Granola and Otter. The companies announced that Superwhisper users can now access Cohere’s AI models to record and transcribe meetings, allowing them to take advantage of the enterprise AI company’s smaller language models, which are trained with far fewer parameters than large language models. Cohere’s Transcribe model will transcribe what was said, while its Tiny Aya model will provide meeting summaries and action items. Notably, using this feature with Cohere’s models lets it run locally on a user’s device, without storing that data with Superwhisper, Cohere said. Meeting recorder competitors such as Otter have seen legal action alleging privacy breaches, including a lawsuit claiming that it deceptively recorded and stored private user conversations. Otter was also embroiled in a controversy in an Ontario hospital when sensitive patient data was mistakenly shared with dozens of people. BetaKit

Toronto-based cybersecurity firm Tailscale, which offers technology for virtual private networks, announced that it’s making a multimillion-dollar push to build sovereign, on-premise versions of its networking software, and is concentrating development in Canada and Europe. The company has hired Patricia Prewitt, a former manager at Google X’s Moonshot Factory, to lead its sovereign AI push and plans to add at least 50 more people for the project, with the majority of those jobs in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. Tailscale is trying to tap into anxiety about overdependence on U.S.-based AI services and cloud platforms, such as those sold by Anthropic PBC and Alphabet Inc. Tailscale already serves as the network layer for many AI companies, but demand from sovereign data center builders in Canada, Europe and Asia nudged the company toward developing independent, self-hosted deployments where customers maintain full control. Bloomberg

A liquid cooling startup spearheaded by former Calgary-based CoolIT Systems alumnus Steve Walton merged with the U.K.’s Datalec Precision Installations to create a multifaceted data centre services platform. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed. The merger was announced on October 14, with the new entity operating as 3C Datalec. The new company will pair 3C’s liquid-cooling data centre infrastructure services with Datalec’s engineering capabilities, allowing the company to design, build and operate data centre infrastructure. Walton will take the role of CEO at 3C Datalec. In March, Walton’s former company, CoolIT Systems, sold to Minnesota’s Ecolab for US$4.75 billion. Walton later founded 3C, which helps data centres move away from air cooling systems to closed-loop, liquid cooling systems. Over the next 12 months, the company said it is planning to hire 200 engineers ahead of opening new facilities in Calgary, Austin, and Warsaw. BetaKit

Halifax-based energy developer EverWind announced that an unnamed AI company – later confirmed to be San Francisco-based Anthropic – signed a 20-year lease for the first phase of a $10-billion data centre and wind energy development in Point Tupper, Cape Breton. EverWind plans to spend more than $8 billion on the campus and $2 billion to build onshore wind projects, calling the combined development Nova Scotia’s largest private investment. The initial 95-megawatt facility is targeted to open in late 2027, with an expansion bringing its capacity to 420 megawatts in 2028. The campus investment also includes several hundred megawatt-hours of battery storage to support the facility and help manage demand on Nova Scotia’s electricity grid. According to projections by Davis Pier, the full data centre development is expected  to generate approximately $2 billion in provincial GDP during construction. At full operation, the campus is expected to generate approximately $137 million in provincial GDP annually. EverWind

California-headquartered Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., announced that it is bringing its autonomous ride-hailing services to Toronto through a provincial pilot program. Human drivers will be behind the wheel for the deployment’s initial phase, Waymo said, and it aims to serve riders autonomously in 2028. To help manage its fleet of robotaxis, Waymo is partnering with Toronto-based Element Fleet Management. The companies said they will invest in “hundreds of roles” related to vehicle maintenance, validation driving and customer service. First commercially deployed in Phoenix, Ariz., in 2018, Waymo now has ride-hailing services in 15 U.S. cities and is testing in several more. The Toronto pilot program represents its first official foray into Canada. According to Waymo safety performance reports, the Waymo Driver autonomous system has been involved in 95 percent fewer “serious injury or worse” crashes than human drivers and has better collision avoidance. Waymo

Toronto-based Promise Robotics signed a multi-year deal with new customer D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in the U.S. Promise robots will help build 1,250 homes around Phoenix, using its AI-powered “factory as a service” platform.  The "factory as a service" approach lets Horton use Promise's AI-enhanced production capabilities without investing in a factory buildout. Promise's platform also can ingest Horton's existing designs to generate instructions and workflows for its robotic arms. Promise's robots will handle most factory production – including components like stairs, doors and window frames – before the home is assembled onsite. The company’s facilities recently began incorporating plumbing and HVAC components into the process as well. In a 2025 survey of 301 builders conducted by Home Innovation Research Labs, 32 percent reported using AI, up from 20 percent in 2024. Realtor.com

Ottawa-based defence-technology company Dominion Dynamics announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Tencore, a ground robotics company based in Ukraine, to manufacture Tencore’s uncrewed ground vehicles in Ottawa and outfit them with Dominion’s own command-and-control software. The partnership is a direct response to an agreement signed last month by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to jointly produce uncrewed systems, counterdrone technologies and munitions. Carney has committed to sending one-third of all drones manufactured in Canada to Ukraine. The platform Dominion plans to manufacture is a modular vehicle called TerMIT. Tencore has designed the drone to be adaptable to different use cases, including transporting supplies and people, deploying barbed wire and operating a machine gun. The Globe and Mail

CSG, a Czech-based industrial and defence group, bought a 9.5-percent equity stake in Brampton, Ont.-based MDA Space, making CSG MDA’s largest shareholder. CSG said it views this strategic investment as an opportunity to explore potential cooperation between the two groups over time. Such cooperation could include co-investing in manufacturing or assembly facilities in Europe, partnering on strategic acquisitions, and otherwise seeking to introduce CSG’s customer relationships to MDA Space to support MDA Space’s international growth. CSG also announced the creation of a dedicated space team to develop its long-term activities in the sector. The team brings together senior expertise from space and technology, defence and national security, as well as from the Canadian aerospace and defence market. CSG

Halifax, N.S.-based Maritime Launch Services Inc. announced that the Toronto Stock Exchange conditionally approved the listing of the company’s common shares, subject to the company satisfying the customary listing requirements of the TSX and receiving final approval. The common shares are expected to trade TSX under the symbol “MAXQ” and will continue to trade on Cboe Canada until trading commences on the TSX. Maritime Launch’s conditional approval to list on the TSX comes as the company continues developing Spaceport Nova Scotia as a dual-use facility designed to support civil and defence-related space missions and provide launch services to domestic and international customers. Maritime Launch Services

Calgary-based TC Energy Corporation announced the closing of an agreement with FN CGL Pipeline Limited Partnership, an Indigenous-led investment entity representing five First Nations along the Coastal GasLink (CGL) corridor. Through the agreement developed in collaboration with the participating Nations, Haisla Nation, Halfway River First Nation, McLeod Lake Indian Band, Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations will obtain an economic interest in the entity that holds TC Energy’s limited partner interest in CGL. These communities are expected to benefit from long-term, predictable financial returns associated with TC Energy's limited partner interest in CGL. The size of the investment wasn’t disclosed, although TC Energy has previously said it was offering First Nations investors up to a 10-percent stake in the 67-kilometre-long natural gas pipeline, which supplies LNG Canada in Kitimat, B.C. This announcement is the first of two planned Indigenous investment transactions related to CGL. A second transaction involving additional First Nations is expected to close in Q4 2026. TC Energy

Plans for a floating nuclear power plant advanced last week with its backers’ selection of a small reactor to power it. The demonstration facility, dubbed a Transportable Nuclear Power Plant, would mark many firsts. Set for near a small port in Belledune, N.B., it would be the first floating nuclear plant in a G7 country, as well as the developer’s first commercial deployment. It would also be the first nuclear project majority-owned by First Nations. Belledune is situated in the traditional territories of Pabineau First Nation and Eel River Bar First Nation, which support the project. And it would be a prototype for the barge’s developer, Montreal-based Prodigy Clean Energy Ltd., which hopes Belledune will serve as a “commercial blueprint” for remote communities and coastal industrial operations in Canada and globally. Prodigy hasn’t disclosed a price for the Belledune facility. It would feature two 22-megawatt microreactors known as the BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor. It’s currently being designed by BWX Technologies Inc., a U.S.-based manufacturer of nuclear components with operations in Ontario. New Brunswick has signed an agreement signaling its intent to buy power produced by the barge, and announced plans to bring it before the federal Major Projects Office for designation as a project of national importance. The Globe and Mail

NASA’s six-wheeled Perseverance Mars Rover had driven 45.22 kilometres as of October 11, 2026, surpassing the distance travelled by the previous Mars Rover, Opportunity. It’s the farthest a vehicle has driven on the surface of another world, including Earth’s Moon. Perseverance reached the mark on the 2,006^th Martian day, or sol, of its mission, covering in five and a half years a distance that took Opportunity almost 15 years. Much of the credit belongs to Perseverance’s self-driving capability. Using an autonomous navigation system known as AutoNav, the rover images the terrain while rolling, builds a 3D map of hazards, and plots its course between waypoints selected by rover planners on Earth – a capability the team calls “thinking while driving.” The milestone came as Perseverance traveled toward an area called “Idubi” through the region off the western rim of Jezero Crater nicknamed “Lac de Charmes,” where the rover is investigating what may be some of the oldest terrain ever explored in the solar system. The rocks and terrain of Lac de Charmes are so ancient that their Earthly equivalents have long since been erased by erosion and plate tectonics (Mars doesn’t have tectonic plates). Idubi is where the science team hopes to find traces of ancient hydrothermal systems. NASA

VC, PRIVATE INVESTMENT & ACQUISITIONS

 Calgary-based Waterous Energy Fund is preparing to raise approximately US$1 billion in new investment capital, with plans to establish another major Canadian oil and gas producer through acquisitions and industry consolidation. The proposed fund, reported by The Wall Street Journal, would follow the investment strategy that has helped financier Adam Waterous build significant positions in Canadian energy companies, including Strathcona Resources and Greenfire Resources. Rather than spreading investments across multiple companies, Waterous intends to concentrate the new fund’s capital in a single Canadian oil and gas business, building its scale through strategic acquisitions. Waterous has not publicly identified the company or specific assets that the new fund would pursue, and a final fundraising closing date has not been announced. The new fundraising initiative follows the successful closing of Waterous Energy Fund III in March 2025, which attracted approximately $1.4 billion in commitments. That capital has now been fully invested, according to The Wall Street Journal. EnergyNow.ca

Ottawa-based space technology company Mission Control Space Services raised $10 million in new financing. GreenSky Ventures led an equity investment, with new strategic investors joining, and Scotiabank and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Roynat Capital, led new senior debt and commercial banking facilities. Mission Control has expanded its Ottawa headquarters with new R&D space and facilities for the assembly, integration and testing of flight hardware, including spacecraft systems and rovers. The site includes upgraded clean rooms and a Mission Operations Centre built for lunar surface and deep-space missions. The company has also opened a rover prototyping and advanced concepts facility in St. Mary’s, Ont. dedicated to the rapid design, development and testing of next-generation rovers. The Canadian Space Agency has backed the company’s work, including with a contract worth more than $5 million for preliminary work on a vehicle to carry cargo and science instruments around on the Moon. The new capital will expand Mission Control’s research and development capabilities, rover design and production facilities, and operations staff, enabling it to take on larger, more complex missions while strengthening Canada’s space ecosystem. Mission Control Space Services

 Toronto-based biotech startup Molagri raised $8.2-million in pre-seed and seed funding. The company makes virus-like particles to ward off pests that are resistant to common farming pesticides. Convective Capital led the round, with participation from Y Combinator, Superorganism, Robinhood Ventures, Paul Graham and other angel investors. Julian Capital was the earliest backer, and led the pre-seed round. Molagri’s platform is built on non-infectious, engineered virus-like particles (VLPs). Each VLP recognizes receptors found in target pest insects. Once inside the target pest, the VLP delivers genetic instructions that cause the pest’s own cells to produce an insecticidal payload. Beneficial insects lack the receptor, so they aren’t affected. The company’s first products will target pests in tree nuts and tree fruits, which have an acute need for novel insecticides. Zaky Hassan, co-founder and CEO, and co-founder and chief scientific officer Min Jin are viral structural biologists and protein biochemists from the University of Toronto, where they studied human coronaviruses. Molagri

Delaware-based Intellivisa, which helps international travellers co-ordinate their visas, raised US$3 million in a pre-seed funding round to scale its agentic AI platform. Canada-based executives founded the agentic AI startup, which is backed by FlightNetwork founder Naman Budhdeo. The round was led by Mu Ventures and Incisive Ventures, with participation from Uncommon Denominator, Recursive Ventures and P2S: AltaIR Capital and Smart Partnership Capital, as well as an investment from United Airlines Ventures. Intellivisa handles end-to-end clearance for business, tourism and study-related travel across any global passport, supporting more than 50 document types from 195 countries and multiple languages. Intellivisa

Québec City-based Bia Health raised $2.15 million in early-stage funding to expand its AI assistant, which helps clinicians decide whether patients need medical imaging or interventions. Montréal-based Finalta Capital provided $1.4 million in debt, while Anges Québec led the equity portion and Desjardins participated through its Startup en résidence program. Bia's assistant draws on a library of medical and scientific knowledge to flag tests that fall outside evidence-based guidelines or are unlikely to improve outcomes. The company says it isn't meant to replace clinical judgment, only to offer "evidence-based recommendations." Bia has signed a deal with Santé Québec in the Capitale-Nationale – Universitaire region for a six-month trial with 100 clinicians focused on musculoskeletal care, covering conditions like osteoarthritis and fractures. Dealroom.com

Toronto-based industry technology startup Aerium raised US$2.5 million in a seed funding round led by Gutter Capital and that included participation from strategic angel investors. Co-founders Adam Trotman and Michael Dawes said the capital will help grow the team and deepen work with industrial customers. Trotman and Dawes founded Aerium after building software and agentic AI for industrial clients at McKinsey. Aerium is starting with an AI workforce purpose-built for industrial manufacturers and distributors. The platform connects information across a business and puts it to work, helping teams quote complex jobs, coordinate production, manage procurement and predict maintenance needs. Startup Researcher

Mirabel, Que.-headquartered aerospace and defence company Volatus Aerospace Inc. announced it has an agreement to acquire 100 percent of AISPECO UAB shares, a Vilnius, Lithuania-based developer and manufacturer of modular airborne sensor systems and proprietary flight-management software. Volatus will pay US$10.5 million, consisting of US$3 million in cash and US$7.5 million in Volatus common shares. The acquisition advances Volatus’ strategy of building a vertically integrated aerospace and aerial-intelligence business by bringing ownership of sensor platforms, control electronics and mission software into its existing aircraft operations, manufacturing capabilities and international customer network. By combining the aircraft, sensor technology and operational services within one organization, Volatus said it expects to capture greater value across aerial-intelligence missions, expand technology sales and develop additional capabilities for defence, security and infrastructure customers. AISPECO

 REPORTS & POLICIES

There’s no “silver bullet” to improve Canada’s productivity – multiple reforms are required

Canada needs coordinated reforms across multiple policy areas to address its longstanding productivity problem, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute.

Drawing on more than a decade of the institute’s peer-reviewed research, the Productivity Blueprint: An Agenda for Higher Living Standards in Canada, identifies eight policy areas that, together, can drive stronger investment, higher productivity and better living standards for Canadians, the C.D. Howe Institute says.

The report offers multiple recommendations in each area, for policymakers across different sectors and levels of government.

“The federal government has made some positive moves to address productivity growth, like the proposed Productivity Mega Deduction, the Major Projects Office, and Bill C-39. But there’s no quick fix for productivity,” said C.D. Howe Institute president and CEO Jeremy Kronick.

“Real progress will take reform across many areas of policy at once, and the Blueprint provides a ready-made set of recommendations to achieve that goal,” he said.

“If Canadians want stronger wages and living standards over the long term, raising productivity needs to be Canada’s number one priority,” Kronick said.

Canadians’ living standards have fallen behind those of other advanced economies, the report noted. From 2014 to 2024, real GDP per capita, a common measure of living standards, grew just 3.5 percent in Canada, the slowest among nine peer countries and far behind the United States, where it grew 20.2 percent.

Canada also lags on such fixed capital investment – in machines, equipment, and technology – consistent with its weak productivity performance overall. Canada trails most peer countries on capital available per worker.

The country also lags on investment as a share of the economy – Canada has invested less than most of its peers in gross fixed capital for the past three decades and ranked second last among peer countries in 2024.

The eight actionable policy areas the report identified are:

1. Tax policy, which can encourage work and production over consumption, and support or discourage business growth and innovation.
2. Regulation, which, when well-designed, can raise living standards and improve firm performance, but, when badly designed, can create unnecessary barriers to adopting new technologies and techniques, discourage risk-taking and fragment markets.
3. Competition policy, which can help strike a critical balance between the benefits of scale and maintaining enough competition to encourage innovation.
4. Human capital policies, which can help build and better match Canadians’ skills and competencies to available technologies and emerging growth opportunities.
5. Innovation and commercialization policies that support research and development and research partnerships, encourage the early adoption of innovation through government procurement, and improve IP management, marketing support and trade diplomacy.
6. Policies designed to help businesses grow from formation to scale and sustainability by improving access to capital, business advice and support for technology adoption.
7. Improving Canada’s trade and transportation infrastructure and removing obstacles to supply chain efficiency to give Canadian businesses the best opportunities to grow.
8. Fiscal discipline that improves value for money in the design and delivery of government programs and boosts government productivity more generally. Rapid public sector expansion financed by deficit spending, without commensurate improvements in service quality or efficiency, reduces growth opportunities by increasing debt, which can crowd out private investment and signal higher future taxes.

On tax policy, the report proposes cutting personal income tax brackets from five to three, replacing most credits and deductions with a $10,000 optional credit, and lowering the general corporate tax rate to 10 percent. Past institute work suggests these changes would unlock $140 billion in new business investment and add 2.5 percent to GDP.

The federal government should eliminate capital gains tax on qualifying small business shares sold to Canadian buyers, which would encourage more entrepreneurs to start companies and more investors to fund them, the report says.

Ottawa also should also tax income earned from patents and other intellectual property developed in Canada at a lower rate so companies have a reason to commercialize those inventions and book the resulting profits and tax revenue in Canada.

On regulation, the report recommends letting expert tribunals – not federal cabinet – decide on major projects, write legislation precisely enough that reviews stay focused on what is actually relevant to a project, and stop layering federal and provincial public-interest tests on top of each other.

On competition, the report recommends opening the door to competition in several sectors, including the postal service, telecommunications, the dairy supply management system and financial services, and setting AI competition rules before problems set in.

For human capital, the federal government should return to relying on the points-based Comprehensive Ranking System for skilled immigrants, the report says. Ottawa needs to raise admission standards for international students and reinstate limits on off-campus work.

[Editor’s note: Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) Lena Metlege Diab announced changes last week to the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System to better align with Canada’s economic and labour market needs. Starting November 3, 2026, IRCC will award additional points to candidates with eligible Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation, including jobs such as engineers and electricians].

For temporary foreign workers, Canada should preserve high-skill streams like the Global Talent Stream while sharply reducing reliance on low-wage labour and updating a $1,000 employer fee that has not changed in years, the report says.

Canadian education should also build innovation-based skills at every level, the report recommends. Postsecondary programs should emphasize creativity and involve undergraduates in research earlier. And colleges should keep training people for the specific, in-demand skills the economy still needs.

On innovation, technology and commercialization, the report recommends that the federal government coordinate innovation support for businesses, use public procurement more often, build the AI economy, and that more spinoffs be created from university research.

For business growth from formation to scale, the report recommends expanding access to capital and rewarding growth of companies, redirect some funding from supporting research toward marketing and sales programming, and reign in the growth of industrial policy subsidies.

On trade, transportation and supply chains, the report recommends clearing Canada’s port and rail capacity bottlenecks, fostering private investment at airports, and diversifying trade and building the infrastructure to support it.

When it comes to fiscal policy and government productivity, the report notes that public sector productivity has fallen even as public sector employment has grown much faster than the private sector, “a divergence that drags down Canada’s overall productivity numbers.”

Government needs to reduce debt and reign in spending, raise public sector productivity, and reform health care payment methods, and fund infrastructure smartly, the report recommends.

“Governments must address all eight policy areas together to make meaningful progress,” the C.D. Howe Institute said. C.D. Howe Institute

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You can’t build state capacity without measuring productivity, value for money

By Benoit Robidoux

Benoit Robidoux is an economist and an associate with Andrew Sharpe and Associates Consulting. Between 2015 and 2020, he was associate and senior associate deputy minister of Employment and Social Development Canada. He previously held various positions at Finance Canada, including assistant deputy minister of the Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch. This commentary first appeared here at the Institute for Research on Public Policy’s website.

Policymakers and governments are facing daunting challenges such as climate change, aging demographics, income and wealth inequalities, low productivity, unstable geopolitics and international conflicts.

For some, this means governments need to develop new approaches and capacities to meet these challenges. For others, the solution is to limit the size of government by focusing on key priorities and reallocating resources.

Both groups should agree that measuring and improving government efficiency and effectiveness is a smart way to boost state capacity. Without accurate and ongoing measurement of government performance, it is not possible to know how well governments work or whether initiatives to make them work better are successful.

Assessing government results requires measuring how efficiently programs are delivered and how effectively they achieve their objectives. Efficiency improves when programs are delivered at lower cost or with fewer inputs over time through productivity enhancements such as technology investments, alternative delivery channels or reorganization. Using scarce public funds more efficiently frees up financial resources for other priorities.

Effectiveness measures the extent to which programs achieve their expected outcomes and provide value for money – that is, whether they provide benefits that are greater than their costs. Measuring effectiveness allows governments to make better-informed decisions by identifying which programs achieve desired outcomes most effectively. It also helps governments better understand the trade-offs involved when benefits are difficult to measure, such as when pursuing equity or meeting national defence imperatives.

To examine productivity in Canada’s federal public service and inform the government’s economic plan, the President of the Treasury Board appointed the Working Group on Public Service Productivity in fall 2024. In 2025, the working group (of which I was a member) provided 19 recommendations to measure and improve the productivity and effectiveness of the public service.

Implementing these recommendations would help the federal government both measure and improve public service efficiency and effectiveness.

Measuring government efficiency

If a government wants to improve public-sector productivity, the first thing it needs to do is measure it. This is easier said than done. Since governments mostly produce non-market outputs (i.e., they do not sell their services at market prices), measuring output indicators for public services is challenging.

Until recently, Statistics Canada has followed international standards that allow for two ways of measuring government output: the direct inputs approach, which treats the resources used to produce public services as a measure of output; and the direct output approach, which measures what the public sector actually produces.

While the output approach is recommended, the input approach is considered the fallback when measuring output is too challenging (e.g., defence spending). What is unique about Canada is that it uses the input approach across all government sectors, whereas many countries have used the output approach for sectors such as health and education for some time.

This makes for an unsatisfactory and often misunderstood measure of productivity for the public sector. In a review of Statistics Canada’s measure of public-sector productivity, Phillip Smith, a former assistant chief statistician at Statistics Canada, concluded that the measure was misleading and should no longer be published. In December 2025,  Statistics Canada terminated its national public-sector productivity series “due to the difficulty of adequately measuring production” in that sector and began to publish labour productivity indicators only for the business sector.

An alternative would be for Statistics Canada (with input from departments and agencies) to follow the example of the United Kingdom and the European Union and develop and test a direct output approach to estimate public service productivity. As with the business sector, the output of many public services can be measured using physical counts or quantities of services provided to Canadians, such as patients treated, students enrolled, inspections conducted or passports processed.

While the output of many key activities conducted by the federal government would inherently be difficult, if not impossible, to measure, programs delivering direct benefits to Canadians would be strong candidates for testing an output-based approach to measuring public-sector productivity.

The federal government should require departments and agencies that provide services directly to Canadians to develop and report on productivity metrics for those services. These metrics should be standardized by type of service to facilitate comparisons across programs and reported alongside how often service standards are respected. (Service standards are commitments made by governments on the level of service Canadians can reasonably expect, such as processing times for passport applications).

Productivity indicators and service standards should be consolidated on a single government website to facilitate public access. This information would not only help Canadians and government officials assess performance but also provide Statistics Canada with the data needed to develop output-based productivity measures for the federal public service.

The federal government’s Expenditure Management System is designed to ensure that all existing and new programs are focused on results. It requires public servants to identify, measure and report on an array of performance indicators and targets. The system is built  on three pillars: the Policy on Results, which provides the framework for measuring and evaluating program performance;  Departmental Plans, which set out targets; and Departmental Results Reports, which report on results achieved.

The system should not be replaced, but there is an opportunity to simplify and improve it. Replacing a plethora of program-level performance indicators, objectives and self-determined targets with a unified framework for measuring efficiency and effectiveness would reduce the reporting burden on departments and be more useful for decision-makers.

Improving public-sector productivity: The AI example

The federal government can start making changes now, without waiting for an overarching measurement framework. The Working Group on Public Service Productivity made many recommendations for the federal government on how it could boost productivity, including accelerating investments in artificial intelligence technologies.

In its response to the Working Group on Public Service Productivity, the federal government indicated that improving public-sector productivity and measuring the impact of its actions are priorities. The government went on to emphasize that it intends to accelerate the adoption of AI to enhance public-sector productivity and develop a “consistent approach to measuring the productivity impacts of AI use cases across the Government of Canada”.

The Treasury Board Secretariat recently published the federal government’s first public AI register, providing information on where and how AI is being used across the public service. The register includes over 400 projects from 42 federal organizations, including most departments, where a range of AI tools are being developed or deployed. The mere fact that so many AI projects are being developed and implemented within the federal government is impressive.

Less impressive is the absence of quantitative estimates of the expected or realized net gains from any of the projects, such as reductions in operating costs net of investment costs or specific improvements in services provided to Canadians. This oversight suggests either a lack of capacity or, possibly, a lack of willingness within the federal public sector to adopt rigorous measurement.

Assessing value for money in government programs and activities

While measuring public-sector productivity is important for determining whether its capacity is growing or shrinking, there is a question that is even more important to consider: are government programs and activities providing a net benefit to society?

To answer this question, we need to consider the costs and benefits provided by a program. For example, a training program would pass a cost-benefit test if the benefits to participants – such as increased employability and earnings – exceed the program’s costs, including the cost of raising taxes to finance it.

As mentioned above, this cost-benefit assessment is, in principle, handled by the federal government’s Expenditure Management System. Under this framework, program performance is assessed in terms of relevance, efficiency – which encompasses both operational efficiency (e.g., productivity) and allocative efficiency (e.g., the net benefit experienced by program participants or beneficiaries) – and effectiveness, which concerns whether programs achieved their intended outcomes.

Deputy ministers are responsible for establishing, implementing and maintaining departmental results frameworks. Within departments, the head of performance measurement and the head of evaluation, together with program managers, are responsible for ensuring the appropriate data collection and other systems are in place.

In theory, the Expenditure Management System should provide the federal government with the information needed both to measure public-sector productivity and to determine whether programs provide value for money through cost-benefit analysis.

Unfortunately, a recent C. D. Howe Institute report indicates that when evaluations are performed, they rarely assess productivity or value for money. Instead, they tend to focus on implementation issues, qualitative assessments (e.g., recipient satisfaction) or how program beneficiaries are affected, without assessing whether the outcomes can be attributed to the intervention itself.

There are, however, a few federal programs that have been evaluated with state-of-the-art cost-benefit analyses. For example, the federal-provincial Labour Market Development Agreements and Pathways to Education program invested in systems that linked administrative and economic data. The federal government should build on these exemplary evaluations.

But these evaluations are the exceptions rather than the rule. Excessive flexibility in the federal evaluation framework makes it difficult to produce useful assessments of productivity and value for money. Departments have wide latitude in how they assess these core economic concepts, including through approaches that are only loosely connected to them. As a result, evaluations often fail to report on these basic performance indicators that would allow decision-makers to compare programs and assess whether they deliver value for money at the lowest possible cost.

Given the diversity of government programming, evaluation approaches should retain some flexibility. However, that flexibility should apply only once departments have met a set of mandatory requirements.

A recent C.D. Howe Institute conference report suggests the evaluation framework should be revised to require departments to assess programs’ value for money, alongside relevance, efficiency and effectiveness, using clearly specified methodologies. Standard efficiency metrics, such as output-to-input and unit-cost ratios, should be mandatory, as should appropriate value-for-money tools, such as cost-benefit analysis.

Strengthening evaluation practices would better equip ministers and other decision-makers to make difficult choices about whether to create, maintain, scale up, scale down or eliminate programs. The objective is not simply to identify and cut “wasteful” spending, but to give decision-makers comparable information about the costs and results of different programs when allocating scarce public resources.

Some may argue that it is difficult to apply cost-benefit analyses across all federal programs and that they may not be feasible for initiatives such as social or redistributive programs. We think the evidence suggests otherwise. For example, the U.S.-based Policy Impacts initiative created a library with over 200 programs, including social and income-transfer programs, with unified cost-benefit analyses.

The federal government’s experience mandating and applying cost-benefit analyses across departments under the Cabinet Directive on Regulation demonstrates what can be achieved when a framework clearly requires a common analytical approach. Under the directive, departments and agencies developing or amending regulations must provide a regulatory impact analysis that identifies and assesses the costs and benefits of the proposed regulation.

This approach has been successfully applied to regulations governing activities that, at first glance, might not seem well suited to cost-benefit analysis, including energy efficiency, food nutrition labelling and foreign influence transparency and accountability. This suggests that a mandatory requirement to assess costs and benefits need not prevent departments from applying judgment or adapting their analysis to the characteristics of individual programs.

This is not to suggest that cost-benefit analysis will always provide sufficient information for decision-makers to assess a program. Programs that pursue fairness objectives – such as income redistribution, reconciliation or strengthening social trust – involve outcomes that are inherently difficult to quantify. Evaluations should therefore complement the value-for-money perspective provided by cost-benefit analysis with a thorough assessment of a program’s broader impacts, including its effects on fairness and equity. Blending quantitative and qualitative analysis would give policymakers a more complete basis for weighing trade-offs between economic performance, fairness and other policy objectives.

 Where the federal government stands

Is the federal government interested in measuring and enhancing public service efficiency and effectiveness? The evidence suggests that it genuinely is. What is less clear is whether the public service can walk the walk.

In the 2025 Speech from the Throne and the prime minister’s May 2025 mandate letter, the government recognized the importance of improving the productivity of the federal public service to achieve better results for Canadians. In its response to the Working Group on Public Service Productivity’s recommendations on measuring and enhancing productivity, the government indicated that most of the recommendations either align with existing government actions, including those outlined in its 2025 budget, or could inform future work by the Cabinet Committee on Government Transformation.

One notable exception is the government’s decision not to pursue the working group’s recommendation to measure productivity across Canada’s public sector. This is unfortunate and a missed opportunity but should not prevent Statistics Canada from continuing its exploratory work on measuring output in the education and health sectors.

But does the public sector even have the capacity to improve how it measures productivity? Evidence from program evaluations and the AI register suggests that the public sector lacks capacity and, possibly, willingness, to establish a rigorous measurement framework. If the government is serious about its commitment to measuring and improving public-sector productivity, it will need to provide clear direction and invest in the capacity required to deliver it. In addition to rewriting the evaluation framework, as discussed above, and investing in data systems and people skills through training and recruitment, the government could take some relatively simple steps. For example, it could return to departments and agencies included in the AI register and require them to provide an assessment of the expected or realized returns on their AI projects.

What about ensuring that programs focus on results and provide value for taxpayers’ money? The public service does not have a good record of conducting cost-benefit analyses of government programs, and the evaluation policy framework needs to be updated to clarify what exactly is expected from program evaluation. The federal government should update the framework to make systematic assessments of programs’ value for money through rigorous cost-benefit analysis a mandatory part of program evaluation. This would be the most important long-term contribution the federal government could make to achieving better results for Canadians.

Conclusion

The troubled times in which we live may require governments to increase their capacity to deliver on new and ambitious policies and missions. But any added capacity must be effective and efficient. Likewise, current programs and initiatives should also be able to deliver results.

In both cases, the federal government will need a measurement framework that systematically tracks the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and activities. Such a framework would ensure appropriate results are achieved for current programs and activities, as well as new initiatives.

The federal government appears genuinely interested in improving public-sector efficiency and effectiveness.  But without the right framework to achieve its mission, it risks overestimating its capacity to deliver for Canadians. Institute for Research on Public Policy

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Seven provinces rank in the bottom 10 for the lowest living standards among all Canadian provinces and U.S. states

Of the 60 Canadian provinces and U.S. states in North America, seven provinces rank among the bottom 10 for the lowest living standards, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute.

“By comparing important economic outcomes in Canadian provinces and American states, it’s easy to see how Canadians stack up to their counterparts south of the border, and in recent years, Canadians have been falling further behind,” said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Squandering the Canadian Century Part 2: Comparing Economic Performance in Canadian Provinces and US States.

The study compares living standards, incomes, private sector employment and labour productivity in all 10 Canadian provinces and all 50 U.S. states.

In every category, Canadians have fallen further behind Americans. Specifically, in 2024 (the most recent year of comparable data), seven of the 10 lowest rates of GDP per person – a standard measurement of living standards – were Canadian provinces.

New Brunswick ranked lowest, followed by Prince Edward Island (59), Nova Scotia (58), Manitoba (56), Quebec (55), Newfoundland and Labrador (52) and Ontario (51).

B.C. ranked 49^th out of 60 jurisdictions on living standards, while Saskatchewan ranked 35^th, and Alberta – the only province in the top half – ranked 25^th.

Similarly, the study found that most U.S. states also out-earned most Canadian provinces with inflation-adjusted median employment income – wages and salaries – increasing faster in most states than in Canadian provinces in recent years.

In fact, in 2024, median employ employment incomes in all 50 states were higher than in all 10 Canadian provinces.

Unlike many U.S. states, from 1999 to 2024 every Canadian province experienced a decline in private-sector employment as a share of total employment, meaning the government sector outgrew the private sector in every province.

From 2007 to 2024, all but five U.S. states experienced stronger labour productivity growth than every Canadian province. Meanwhile, Prince Edward Island was the only jurisdiction in both countries where labour productivity declined.

“Simply put, thus far in the 21st century, residents in most U.S. states have experienced greater improvement in their standard of living than residents in most Canadian provinces,” the study said.

“It appears Canadian policymakers from coast to coast have thus far squandered their opportunity to step out from America’s shadow. Serious and fundamental fiscal and economic reforms need to occur in the years to come if the hope is to still make this the Canadian Century.”

“The evidence is clear – the 21st century has, so far, not belonged to Canadians, who have seen their living standards and incomes fall further behind those of Americans,” Fuss said.

As for the factors contributing to lower private sector employment and labour productivity, in July the Fraser Institute published the Provincial Occupational Licensing Index (POLI), the first comprehensive index of occupational licensing across Canada’ provinces.

The POLI analyzed licensing statutes across all 10 provinces for 158 job categories.

Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia require licenses for the largest number of jobs, 73, 67, 62 and 61 respectively. Prince Edward Island requires the least number of licenses, for 41 jobs.

Occupational licensing makes it illegal for aspiring workers to begin working before obtaining a credential issued by the government. To obtain the credential, workers must often obtain minimum levels of education and training, pass exams, pay fees, and meet additional entry requirements.

For example, to become a barber in Alberta, one must complete 1,450 hours of training, take an additional 10 weeks of classroom instruction, and pass both practical and theoretical exams in barbering.

“By limiting the supply of labour, licensure can raise the wages of those who are licensed,” the Fraser Institute said.

But these barriers to work tend to be concentrated in lower-income fields and they tend to limit opportunities for particular populations such as the less educated, those whose first language isn’t English or French, and military spouses who tend to move frequently and must obtain new licenses every time they move, the Fraser Institute noted.

Second, it raises prices for consumers by artificially constraining the supply of workers, the institute said.

While the stated aim of licensing is to protect consumers by improving safety, the evidence that it does so is quite weak, according to the Fraser Institute. There’s also little evidence that licensing improves service quality. In some contexts, it may undermine quality and safety by reducing competition.

“Given the limited evidence that licensing increases either the quality or safety of services, requiring stringent licensing for barbers, mechanic, and gardeners just limits opportunities for those eager to learn and meaningfully contribute to the workforce,” said Matthew Mitchell, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. Fraser Institute

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Canadian employers view work-integrated learning as positive, but face numerous challenges integrating it into their businesses

Canadian employers overall have very positive views of work-integrated learning (WIL) but face numerous challenges integrating WIL into their businesses, according a study by Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada.

With a survey of employers that elicited 1,121 responses, it is the most comprehensive study of employer perspectives on and experiences with WIL in Canada to date, said CEWIL, the national lead organization for work-integrated learning in Canada.

Overall, employers surveyed overwhelmingly had positive views of WIL, with almost all employers agreeing or strongly agreeing that WIL helps prepare Canada’s workforce for future labour market needs (92 percent), strengthen collaboration between employers and postsecondary institutions (89 percent), and support economic growth (87 percent).

Three-quarters of employers or more also agreed that WIL contributes to reducing youth unemployment and underemployment (80 percent), enhances innovation (79 percent), and improves equity in access to career opportunities across different regions (75 percent).

Key motivations that drive employer participation in WIL include organization-specific factors such as talent pool development, flexible cost-effective capacity, and innovation and fresh perspectives, as well as broader values driven factors such as social responsibility and sector stewardship.

• Talent pool development:

In the survey, pre-screening potential new hires was one of the most common motivations for participation (43 percent).

This was especially pronounced among private-sector host organizations, who were much more likely to identify prescreening new hires as a top motivation (53 percent) compared to public sector (31 percent), and non-profit (27 percent) organizations.

Increasing students’ awareness of their organization (31 percent) was also a top motivation, and this was more common among private sector (33 percent) and public sector (35 percent) host organizations compared to non-profits (20 percent).

In both cases, small, medium, and large organizations were significantly more likely to be motivated by these factors than micro organizations.

These two motivations – pre-screening new hires and increasing students’ awareness of their organization – were also the top two benefits host organizations reported experiencing, with approximately 70 percent of host organizations indicating that WIL had been very or extremely beneficial in these regards.

Seventy-three percent of host organizations indicated that in the last two years they had hired a recent graduate who had previously completed a WIL experience with their organization.

• Flexible, cost-effective capacity:

Among host organizations surveyed, managing short-term pressures and projects (31 percent) was one of the top five most commonly selected motivations, and was also a top benefit experienced (61 percent) very or extremely beneficial.

Host organizations interviewed noted that participating in WIL allowed them to tackle important projects and complete work that was simply not possible with their existing staff.

While reducing labour costs ranked relatively low as a WIL motivator and benefit in the survey findings, micro organizations were far more likely to report that WIL participation reduced their labour costs (51 percent) compared to small, medium, or large organizations (35 percent to 38 percent).

Similarly, micro (32 percent) and small (26 percent) organizations were significantly more likely to cite financial incentives as a key motivation for their WIL participation compared to medium (13 percent) and large organizations (12 percent).

• Innovation and fresh perspective:

In the survey, bringing in new ideas and perspectives (29 percent) was one of the top five most commonly cited motivations for WIL participation.

Among non-profit organizations, it was significantly higher – falling among the top two motivations (41 percent). Non-profit organizations were also much more likely to cite this as benefit of their WIL participation, with two-thirds noting that WIL was very or extremely beneficial for bringing new ideas and perspectives (67 percent), compared to half of private sector organizations (50 percent).

Approximately one-in-five host organizations in the survey stated that bringing in specific skills/talent (22 percent) was a top reason why they participated in WIL.

• Social responsibility and sector stewardship:

Employers are also motivated to participate in WIL due to broader social, industry and community impacts. Most frequently, it is to develop industry or professional workforce skills (42 percent), which is one of the top overall motivations among host organizations

As for the challenges, overall, 62 percent of host organizations surveyed reported experiencing challenges while providing WIL for postsecondary students.

Examined by organization size, micro and small organizations were significantly more likely to have experienced challenges (67 percent) compared to medium and large organizations (57 percent).

Challenges identified included:

• Staff time for recruitment and supervision. More than two-fifths of employers who had not participated in WIL (43 percent) cited this as one of the top three reasons why they had not provided WIL experiences for postsecondary students.
• Administrative complexity. One in 10 host organizations surveyed indicated that too much administration/paperwork was a challenge (10 percent), and 15 percent of employers who had not participated in WIL stated that this was one of the main reasons why they did not participate.
• Identifying suitable work. Among the host organizations surveyed, only six percent reported lack of suitable work as a challenge encountered. In contrast, 35 percent of non-participating employers identified the absence of suitable work as a top reason why they did not participate.
• Financial costs. Among employers surveyed who had not participated in WIL, more than one-fifth indicated that a main reason for their non-participation was the financial costs involved (22 percent). While relatively few host organizations overall experienced financial challenges (eight percent), financial challenges were significantly more likely to be experienced by micro organizations (20 percent), compared to small (eight percent), medium (five percent), and large (five percent) organizations.
• Finding WIL experiences and contacts within postsecondary institutions. Survey findings indicate that a substantial share of non-participating employers are not aware of relevant WIL programs (25 percent) and/or do not know how to get involved (24 percent). Among host organizations, almost half indicated that they first became involved in WIL because they already had a contact at the institution (44 percent), compared to only 19 percent who said the postsecondary institution reached out, and 11 percent who found a contact online.
• Aligning their needs with WIL duration, timing and intensity. Among host organizations, relatively few experience duration as a challenge with only 14 percent of host organizations surveyed reporting that the WIL experience was too short, and one percent indicating that the WIL experience was too long.
• Accessing funding. Awareness of the various financial supports available is the first hurdle, with many employers interviewed noting that they did not know what support they could access. There are also significant challenges related to the process of applying for funding and the timing of funding decisions.
• Student technical and professional skill gaps. Among employers that had not participated in WIL, 14 percent identified a lack of students with the required skills as a barrier to participation, suggesting that perceived skill mismatches can deter employers from engaging in WIL. For host organizations, two of the most frequently cited challenges experienced during WIL participation are related to student skills: students lacking soft skills was cited by 22 percent of host organizations, while 21 percent cited students lacking technical or applied skills.
• Misalignment between student and host organization goals as areas where challenges are encountered. Misalignment between students’ goals or expectations and host organizations’ realities is a related readiness challenge, experienced by one in 10 host organizations (11 percent).

The report said these challenges can be understood as falling within three larger thematic categories: organizational capacity constraints, system navigation and alignment challenges, and student and skill readiness gaps.

The supports most desired by employers include stable, simplified financial supports; streamlined processes; centralized platforms; greater standardization; improved communication; and proactive relationship management.

Financial incentives were found to be far more crucial to the WIL participation of micro and small organizations than they are for medium and large organizations, and small, medium, and large organizations are more driven to participate in WIL for talent pool development reasons compared to micro organizations.

Overall, the perspectives and experiences of medium-sized organizations were often more similar to large employers than they were to micro and small organizations.

One idea that emerged was to have a centralized listing of postsecondary WIL programs that allows employers to filter opportunities by expertise (e.g., marketing; biotechnology) as well as by the duration, intensity and timing of the WIL experience to help employers find WIL opportunities that align with their distinct needs.

Employers also suggested a business assessment to help employers identify the types of work that a WIL student could do within their organization, and developing technological solutions to match students with employers.

The report made four recommendations:

• Lead with employer talent needs rather than WIL terminology:

Employers engage in WIL to meet their talent and organizational needs. Rather than leading with institutional WIL terminology, which can unintentionally create barriers, outreach should instead center employer motivations and workforce priorities.

• Support better matching between employers and WIL models:

Half of host organizations surveyed reported accessing some form of financial support for WIL (50 percent), while more than one-quarter had not accessed financial support (27 percent), and 23 percent did not know (23 percent).

Provincial tax credits or wage subsidies (21 percent), the Student Work Placement Program (19 percent), and the Canada Summer Jobs Program (16 percent) were the most commonly cited sources of financial support.

When asked what would make WIL easier to provide, financial support was the most frequently selected option overall (41 percent), with particularly strong demand among micro (67 percent) and small (50 percent) organizations, as well as non-profits (62 percent).

No single WIL type is suitable for all contexts, and employers are often not aware of the full range of WIL options. Clearer navigation and advisory support are needed to guide employers to the WIL experiences that best fit their constraints and goals.

• Expand and modernize centralized digital engagement and navigation tools:

To scale WIL participation, digital tools and platforms will be needed that can streamline the discovery and administration of WIL opportunities, and improve the coordination of employer-facing supports. These digital tools should be simple to navigate and should complement rather than replace relationship-based engagement.

Many of the supports that employers indicated would make it easier for them to participate in WIL related to these processes, including access to pre-screened, qualified candidates (31 percent), a single portal to post roles, match candidates, and manage placements (24 percent), and having a simple streamlined process for engaging in WIL (23 percent).

For employers that engage with multiple postsecondary institutions, greater standardization in WIL processes is desired. Among all employers surveyed, one in five indicated that standardized procedures across postsecondary institutions would aid their WIL participation (20 percent).

This support was more desired by large organizations (25 percent), who are more likely to engage with multiple institutions, compared to micro (12 percent) organizations.

• Tailor outreach, funding, and supports to reflect differences among employers:

The similarities and differences across the employers in this study highlight the need for both broad strategies of employer engagement, as well as targeted supports that recognize the distinct realities and needs of specific employer segments including micro organizations and non-profits. CEWIL Canada

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[Editor’s note: Research Money will be highlighting news stories, reports and op-eds about agriculture and agri-food leading up to our annual conference, Food for Thought: Catalyzing Agri-Food Solutions in an Uncertain World, April 21-22, 2027, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa].

Food-rescue groups turn to processing facilities to respond to waste and food insecurity

By Abigail Turner

Abigail Turner is a journalist who worked primarily as a video journalist in Winnipeg before moving to Vancouver. Turner has taken on various roles in her career, including anchor and producer, while working in major outlets, including Global News and CTV News. This article first appeared here on Future of Good’s website.

 Food-rescue organizations are investing in processing facilities to meet growing demand while finding innovative ways to reduce waste.

Second Harvest estimates that Canada wastes about 46.5 per cent of its food.

In an effort to reduce this figure, the non-profit – which is one of Canada’s largest food-rescue organizations – announced the opening of a new facility that will work with local farmers to provide prepared fruits and vegetables to 28,000 students.

Located in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, the processing plant was scheduled to begin operating in September as a social enterprise, with revenue from the sale of its products being reinvested into Second Harvest’s programming.

The launch of the processing facility comes at an important moment for Canada’s food system, according to Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest.

“The federal government’s newly announced National Food Security Strategy identifies increased domestic food-processing capacity, innovation and stronger food-system resilience as priorities for building a more self-sufficient Canadian food system,” she said. 

“At the same time, Canada’s National School Food Program is expanding access to nutritious food for children across the country,” Nikkel added. 

Students are at the centre of this announcement, with Second Harvest working in partnership with the Toronto Foundation for Student Success to deliver packaged vegetables to schools, saving student-nutrition programs hours of food-preparation time.

“The reality is that some programs don’t have enough volunteers or facilities to prepare foods like celery and carrot sticks. This will make those foods much more accessible,” said Catherine Parsonage, CEO of the Toronto Foundation for Student Success.

This school year, more than 440 schools in Toronto will receive the additional food through the partnership.

“As food prices continue to rise, many families in our city are food insecure. What this means is more kids are walking through the school doors hungry, and it’s vital that nutritious food is available for them,” Parsonage said.

Across Canada, non-profits are finding new ways to give surplus a second life. 

In British Columbia, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank has begun repurposing excess fruits and vegetables for resale through vending machines, turning what might have been discarded into a source of revenue through its social enterprise model.

In Manitoba, a similar approach was announced this week, with Maple Leaf Foods investing $100,000 in Harvest Manitoba’s Food Transformation Centre.

The facility would increase Harvest Manitoba’s ability to recover and process surplus food and then distribute it through Harvest’s network of more than 400 food banks and community organizations.

The centre would also provide a permanent home for its Warehouse Training Program, which offers hands-on training and employment support to Manitobans facing barriers to employment.

Harvest Manitoba is currently looking for a site for the centre. If it secures enough funding, the facility would open in 2028. Future of Good

 THE GRAPEVINE – News about people, institutions and communities

Pamela Wallin, a trail-blazing broadcaster and Order of Canada recipient, resigned from the Senate with a few remaining years before her scheduled retirement data. Her biography on the Senate website listed her on October 19 as a former senator. She and her office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. iPolitics first reported her departure, citing a note sent to the Senate by the chamber's clerk. Wallin spoke earlier this month with national media about upcoming changes to the country's laws on medical assistance in dying, or MAID. She has been an outspoken supporter of MAID and served on multiple parliamentary committees that have studied the issue in recent years. She was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2007, in part because of her accomplishments as a broadcaster. Wallin was tapped to lead CTV's Ottawa bureau in 1985 – making her the first woman to head a national television bureau in Canada – and was the producer and host of the network's flagship political show Question Period. Wallin was appointed to the Upper Chamber in 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Canadian Press

Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel announced the appointment of Dr. George Mutwiri to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Governing Council. Mutwiri brings his expertise in the research and development of vaccines and immunotherapeutic agents to the Governing Council. He is the executive director of the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan where he is also a professor and a research fellow at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. Mutwiri holds a PhD in immunology and microbiology from the University of Guelph and has worked as a postgraduate research microbiologist at the University of California. His research has focused on vaccine discovery, formulation and exploring approaches to improve the efficacy of vaccines and immunotherapeutic agents against diseases, such as influenza, measles, hepatitis B, SARS and Ebola. Health Canada

Canadians in the cybersecurity world say they were shocked to hear that a prominent ransomware negotiator had been arrested by the FBI over suspected connections to criminal hacking group ShinyHunters. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrest of a "suspected co-conspirator" in the recent ShinyHunters cyberattack on FBIjobs.gov which exposed a trove of sensitive data about FBI staff. Reuters reported that sources familiar with the matter identified the arrested suspect as Ed Dubrovsky, a Canadian cybersecurity executive whose career has focused on helping clients negotiate with ransomware attackers. Court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania show Dubrovsky is facing two criminal charges: conspiracy to threaten to impair the confidentiality of information with the intent to extort money, and interference with commerce by threats. The allegations have not been proven in court. ShinyHunters is known as one of the world's most prolific data theft and extortion groups, typically demanding ransom payments in exchange for not releasing the sensitive data it has obtained. CBC News

 Maclean’s magazine released its 2027 Canadian university rankings based on retention and graduation rates. By retention rate, the top large universities were McGill University (#1), Queen’s University (#2), and the University of Waterloo and Western University (tied for #3). The top mid-sized universities were the University of Guelph (#1), Université de Sherbrooke (#2), and University of Victoria (#3). The top small universities were Bishop’s University (#1), Nipissing University (#2), and Lakehead University (#3). By graduation rate, the top large universities were McGill (#1), Queen’s (#2), and UWaterloo (#3). The top mid-sized universities were the UoGuelph (#1), USherbrooke (#2), and UVic (#3). The top small universities were Bishop’s (#1), Nipissing (#2), and Lakehead (#3). Maclean’s (Retention); Maclean’s (Graduation)  

The Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) released the results of its 2026-2027 survey of preliminary enrolments by institution, which summarizes international and domestic student enrolment at the undergraduate and graduate levels. According to the data, full-time enrolment in the Atlantic region fell to 77,637 students in 2026, compared to 79,228 in 2025 – a decrease of 18 percent. This brings the overall drop in international student enrolment at Atlantic universities to nearly 48 percent since new federal restrictions were put in place in January 2024, far exceeding the federal target of 35 percent. AAU CEO Ava Czapalay said the impacts of the drop have been multifaceted: “There’s a financial impact, and there’s the impact of having fewer people in our communities to volunteer, to contribute, to buy goods and services, everything.” Leaders including AAU Chair Dr. Handrew Hakin, president of St. Francis Xavier University, and David Dingwall, president of Cape Breton University, have called on the Government of Canada to review its international student study permit policies in Atlantic Canada. “The federal government made a national decision that has disproportionately hurt Atlantic Canada,” Hakin said. “Building Canada Strong must include Atlantic Canadian universities that are strong, vibrant and connected to the world.” AAU also reported there has been a 3.4-percent increase in full-time, first-year students – an additional 451 students – compared with enrolment numbers the same time last year. AAU

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International study involving Canadian researchers highlights health risks of “contaminants of emerging concern”

An international study offers insights into the health risks posed by crops’ absorption of “contaminants of emerging concern” (CECs) and flags knowledge gaps the authors say must be addressed.

CECs include pharmaceuticals, microplastics, engineered nanomaterials and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as “forever chemicals”). The researchers warn that even when present at very low concentrations, these chemicals can subtly alter plant physiology, disrupt soil health and pose wider environmental and human health risks.

“What’s new here is the holistic perspective: we bring together evidence across chemical classes, environmental pathways, plant uptake mechanisms and societal impacts,” said Audrey Moores, co-author of the meta-study and professor of Chemistry at McGill University.

“This review highlights major knowledge gaps, including the effects of chemical mixtures, long-term accumulation and sublethal impacts not captured by standard toxicity tests,” she said.

 “Crucially, we show that reducing contamination at its source, through smarter chemical design and sustainable production, is essential, alongside improved regulation and monitoring.”

“Contaminants of emerging concern in agricultural soils: Current understanding, overlooked issues, and future priorities,” by Laura J. Carter, Audrey Moores et al., was published in Thomas Review.

The review was led by Carter of the University of Leeds and conducted by an international research team whose members come from the United Kingdom, Israel, China, the United States and Canada.

The meta-study synthesized hundreds of laboratory, greenhouse and field experiments to compare how different CEC categories move through soils and plant tissues, how environmental conditions shape exposure, and how contaminants accumulate in edible crops at environmentally realistic levels.

The study shows that CECs enter soils and crops through multiple, often overlooked pathways. This includes agricultural technologies like wastewater irrigation, biosolids, manure and agroplastics, many of which, paradoxically, stem from the desire to develop more sustainable agricultural practices.

Once taken up, CECs can move through plant vascular systems and reach leaves, fruits and roots.

The authors report that many CECs remain biologically active even at trace levels, influencing plant hormone pathways, microbial communities and nutrient cycling.

The researchers also found that CECs can drive antimicrobial resistance, interfere with plant biochemical processes and affect soil structure, with consequences for agricultural productivity and food quality. Persistent contaminants such as PFAS are especially prone to bioaccumulating in leaf tissues, the researchers said.

The review identifies several overlooked issues, such as co-contaminant interactions that can amplify or suppress toxicity, pathways that remain poorly studied, such as absorption through plant leaves (“foliar exposure”), and uneven global data gaps in understanding crop-specific risks.

The authors call for new regulatory frameworks that account for the effects of mixing chemicals, realistic exposure scenarios and the role of CECs in antimicrobial resistance. They recommend long-term field monitoring, greater geographic diversity in crop studies and the development of degradable, non-persistent alternatives for agricultural and industrial use.

Moores noted that the review explicitly connects environmental findings with the principles of green chemistry, emphasizing that the safest and most effective long-term solution is to design chemicals and materials that degrade into harmless products and do not persist or accumulate.

“Safer chemicals can only be produced by having a design approach where we are thinking about end-of-life from the onset. Preventing pollution is far more effective than trying to clean it up later,” she said.

“Participating in this study was important to me as it illustrated with real-life examples the need for chemicals and materials design and discoveries to be better aligned with the realities of their applications and after-life,” Moores said.

The research was funded by a United Kingdom Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship and the Nanjing University International Collaboration Initiative. McGill University

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