2025 Newfoundland and Labrador Election Primer: What Innovators Need to Scale

Voters in Newfoundland and Labrador are heading into the 2025 election campaign at a defining moment. Global trade disputes, an aging population, rising public debt, and the impacts of climate change are all putting pressure on the province’s economy. Add to that the uncertainty of prolonged U.S. tariffs—threatening tens of thousands of local jobs—and it’s clear the next government will need a plan that goes beyond business as usual.

Despite these challenges, the province is not without advantages. Newfoundland and Labrador has proven strengths in fields like ocean technology, cybersecurity, natural resource innovation, and defence. Energy has historically driven growth, and the Churchill Falls agreement to export power point to what’s possible when the province plays to its strengths. The task now is to translate these assets into sustained prosperity by scaling more of the companies already growing here at home.

To meet this moment, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) has released What Newfoundland and Labrador's Innovators Innovators Need to Scale. This policy brief sets out a roadmap for leaders and candidates who want to strengthen the province’s competitiveness in the global innovation economy.

What scaling firms need is straightforward: the talent to grow, the capital to expand, customers who buy Canadian-made solutions, and regulatory frameworks that secure their most valuable assets—data and intellectual property. Without these, Newfoundland and Labrador innovators will struggle to keep pace in a world where every industry is being reshaped by software, artificial intelligence, and advanced technologies.

The coming campaign is an opportunity for every party to show ambition. Will the next government double down on outdated approaches that leave high-potential firms overlooked? Or will it champion homegrown innovators as the drivers of future prosperity?

Working closely with local innovators, CCI has identified the policies that will allow Newfoundland and Labrador’s scaling companies to grow stronger, compete globally, and build lasting wealth in the province. As parties finalize their platforms, they must prioritize policies that:

1. Combat tariffs and trade threats with a long-term commitment to opening and maintaining global markets
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2. Establish a premier’s innovation and productivity taskforce
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3. Power our later stage companies by enhancing access to capital for scaling innovators
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4.  Launch a provincial AI strategy
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5. Recruit, retool and retain talent that fuels our communities
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6. Empower innovators and grow our economy with a procurement shift
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7. Develop a modern data and intellectual property (IP) strategy

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Newfoundland and Labrador’s innovators are ready to help drive the province’s next chapter of growth. The opportunity now is for the next government to create the conditions that allow them to succeed.

To discuss CCI’s advocacy for scale-up companies in Newfoundland and Labrador, contact Karen Moores, Senior Advisor, Atlantic Canada at the Council of Canadian Innovators, at atlantic@canadianinnovators.org.