CCI Response to the 2024 Alberta Budget

In response to Alberta’s 2024 budget, released today by Finance Minister Nate Horner, Council of Canadian Innovators President Benjamin Bergen released the following statement:

Alberta innovators are aware of the economic pressures faced by this government and assess budgets not based on new spending but on smarter spending that respects the limited resources governments have for investing in their economic futures.

The best strategy for this government to prepare for rainy days in the future is by ensuring that homegrown companies are thriving in the province, ready to sustain economic growth when needed.

Members of CCI in Alberta have long advocated for procurement reform to enable more Canadian-made solutions to be purchased by governments. This approach not only supports local companies but also positions them for future global contracts. Furthermore, innovative, high-growth companies in Alberta embody the kind of productivity growth and wealth creation that can generate tax revenue to fund the public services we all cherish.

We had hoped to see more in this budget about modernizing the procurement process, which is the biggest economic development tool the province can use to help grow its domestic tech sector.

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CCI’s Alberta Director Jess Sinclair also commented: 

“While we didn’t expect an innovation budget today, we had hoped for new developments on the government’s previously announced Alberta Digital Strategy, and potentially targeted capital support for technology companies.

This budget includes new spending for modernizing digital systems, a key area where modernized procurement processes could propel the province’s digital companies who are keen to both demonstrate their innovative capabilities and keep Albertans’ essential personal data safe and secure. 

In the year ahead, we hope that Finance Minister Horner, Innovation Minister Glubish, Economic Development Minister Jones, and their cabinet colleagues will consider procurement modernization as an important and strategic way to help more local companies scale-up globally.”

Media Contact:
James McLeod
Director of Communications
jmcleod@canadianinnovators.org

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About the Council of Canadian Innovators

Established in 2015, the Council of Canadian Innovators represents and works with over 150 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 healthtech, cleantech, fintech, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation. Our members are market leaders in their verticals, commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, and generate between $10-$750 million 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.

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