CCI Response to Buy Canadian Policy Announcement

Today, the federal government announced the implementation of its Buy Canadian Policy, including new procurement rules intended to prioritize Canadian suppliers and Canadian content in large federal contracts.

In response to the announcement, CCI Director of Policy and Research Laurent Carbonneau issued the following statement:

"When governments buy from homegrown Canadian companies, they’re doing far more than issuing a purchase order. Government contracts send a clear market signal that acts as a validator, and allows a company to scale operations more quickly. All of this is especially true in the realm of innovative new technologies and services.

"Countries all over the world use procurement to support their homegrown companies, and drive innovation in their economies. A strong Buy Canadian policy can be a useful tool to boost government capabilities and deliver real economic benefits — jobs, investment, and the creation of intellectual property that drives wealth creation.

"For a Buy Canadian policy to be effective, it needs to meaningfully incentivize the government to work with authentically Canadian companies. The government’s stated intention to reform procurement to deliver greater economic benefits to Canadian firms is a step in the right direction, but if policies functionally allow Canadian branch-plant operations of foreign hyperscalers to call themselves “Canadian companies” then the wealth and intellectual property generated by the tech sector will continue to leak out of Canada.

"Procurement reform is an issue that Canadian CEOs are consistently concerned about, especially at a moment when we’re talking about the geopolitical importance of buying from Canadian suppliers. We are eager to work with the government to iterate and implement a policy that provides good value for taxpayers, while also driving the best economic results for Canada."

‍

‍

Media Contact‍

James McLeod
Director of Communications and Content
jmcleod@canadianinnovators.org