CCI's 2026 Pre-Budget Recommendations for the Ontario Government

Ontario’s current economic challenges are not the result of short-term disruptions. They stem from decades of outdated policy frameworks designed for a previous industrial era.

For too long, provincial policy has prioritized short-term foreign direct investment (FDI) wins over long-term domestic wealth creation. Billions of public dollars have gone to subsidizing foreign branch plants, with little consideration for economic spillover effects. In agriculture, healthcare, critical minerals, high-IP manufacturing, and cyber technologies, Ontario still lacks a cohesive strategy to turn its raw materials, ideas, and data into sustained economic strength.

The spillovers that once came from traditional industrial strategies no longer work the same way in a knowledge economy. Today, prosperity follows where intellectual property, AI, and data assets are owned and commercialized. Ontario is Canada’s economic engine and innovation hub, but without modern policies to support growth, job creation, and fiscal stability, the province is exposed to the consequences of Canada’s declining competitiveness.

On behalf of Ontario’s homegrown technology leaders, the Council of Canadian Innovators is providing policy recommendations as part of the Ontario 2026 pre-budget consultations. These recommendations build on nearly a decade of work advocating for a stronger innovation economy in Canada.

1. Modernize Public Procurement to Prioritize Ontario-Made Solutions
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2. End the Era of Low-Value FDI
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3. Build Domestic Capacity in Strategic Sectors
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4. Strengthen Ontario’s Cybersecurity and Innovation Ecosystem
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5. Reclaim Ontario’s Talent Strategy

About the Council of Canadian Innovators

The Council of Canadian Innovators is a national member-based business council, working to reshape how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. Established in 2015, CCI represents over 150 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies. Our members are the CEOs, founders, and top 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.