CCI Hill Day: What We Heard in Ottawa

By Daniel Perry
Director of Federal Affairs
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Earlier this month, CCI brought Canadian innovators to Ottawa for a full day of meetings with ministers, elected officials, deputy ministers, and other senior public servants. We wanted Canadian companies in the room as government makes major decisions on procurement, economic security, defence capacity, export diversification, and digital modernization.

What we heard, across departments and in different ways, is that the conversation in Ottawa is moving. There is a more serious recognition that procurement is a policy tool. It shapes who gets a first customer, who builds a track record, where IP stays, and which firms are positioned to scale. That has been central to CCI's argument on Buy Canadian from the start. Government purchasing decisions do more than solve an immediate operational problem. When designed properly, they can build domestic capability and anchor long-term economic value here in Canada.

"We came to Ottawa with companies that have real capabilities, and a clear message," said Patrick Searle, Chief Executive Officer of CCI. "The decisions being made right now will determine whether Canada builds enduring economic strength or continues to leave value on the table. What gave me confidence is that more people in government are genuinely ready to engage on that question."

That point came through most clearly in conversations on defence and public safety. Decision makers were candid that Canada needs to get better at turning strategy into procurement pathways that Canadian firms can actually access. There was real interest in creating more space for early innovation investment, reducing internal bottlenecks, and building a better understanding of what Canadian companies are already capable of delivering. Canada has deep capability in dual-use technologies, digital infrastructure, AI, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing, but the system still too often favours incumbents, large integrators, and processes built around minimizing risk rather than building domestic strength.

We also heard a more developed conversation around sovereignty. Officials showed a stronger understanding that Canadian capacity is not simply about whether a firm has a local office or a sales presence here. It is about where decisions are made, where IP is owned, where data is controlled, and whether public spending strengthens firms that will continue to grow in Canada. That is an important shift, even if it remains uneven across government.

On procurement more broadly, one of the clearest observations was that departments often overbuild requirements. In practice, that makes it harder for smaller and scaling firms to compete. By the time a process is fully loaded with technical conditions, risk screens, and administrative expectations, the field narrows quickly. For innovators, this is often the real barrier. The challenge is not only whether government wants to buy from Canadian companies, but whether the system is actually designed to give them a fair shot in the first place.

Laurent Carbonneau, CCI’s Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, said CCI’s Hill Day helped clarify where the real work now lies. “What Hill Day reinforced for us is that the appetite for change is there. The next step is making sure that momentum is reflected in the details of procurement policy, including definitions, eligibility criteria, and program design. That is where strong intentions become real opportunities for Canadian companies.”

Trade and export discussions added another layer to that conversation. Members raised the need for stronger support to diversify into non-US markets and better connect Canadian scale-ups to global opportunities. That didn't replace the domestic procurement discussion. It reinforced it. In a more volatile trade environment, a stronger home market matters more. Public procurement helps companies build credibility, refine products, and establish the kind of customer validation that supports export growth later.

For CCI, the Hill Day was valuable because it clarified where there is alignment, where there is still hesitation, and where follow-up work needs to be concentrated. That includes new defence roundtables, deeper conversations on economic security, continued engagement with decision makers on Buy Canadian implementation, follow-up work on commercialization and IP policy, and more targeted advocacy tied to specific policy files.

The takeaway for innovators is not that Ottawa has solved these issues. It has not. But there are openings. There is more fluency in government on sovereignty, domestic capacity, and the role procurement plays in shaping market outcomes than there was even a year ago. That creates room to push harder on the details that matter. CCI will keep pressing for a procurement and industrial policy framework that treats Canadian innovators as strategic economic assets and gives them a credible path to grow, compete, and stay anchored here at home.

To learn more about CCI’s federal advocacy priorities, contact Daniel Perry.

About the Council of Canadian Innovators

The Council of Canadian Innovators is a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. Established in 2015, CCI represents and works with over 180 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies. Our members are the CEOs, founders, and top senior executives behind some of Canada’s most successful ‘scale-up’ companies. All our members are job and wealth creators, investors, philanthropists, and experts in their fields of health tech, cleantech, fintech, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation. Companies in our portfolio are market leaders in their verticals, commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, and generate between $10M-$750M in annual recurring revenue. We advocate on their behalf for government strategies that increase their access to skilled talent, strategic capital, and new customers, as well as expanded freedom to operate for their global pursuits of scale.