Manitoba Should Stay the Course on Sovereign, Value-Added Economic Strategy in Budget 2026

By Jess Sinclair
CCI Director of Prairie Affairs

Last October, when Manitoba’s Innovation and Productivity Task Force released its initial report, I noted that the report recommendations went well beyond political slogans.

Since taking office in late 2023, the Kinew government has identified and begun implementation of many of the innovation industrial policies CCI has been calling for more than a decade across Canada. In 2024, the province appointed Mike Moroz as its inaugural Minister of Technology and Innovation. 2025’s budget contained commitments to reorient government procurement practices toward buying from more domestic firms. The province has increased funding to Research Manitoba to pursue comprehensive intellectual property programming, including the creation of Manitoba’s first IP Collective. Last spring, Premier Kinew announced the I&P Task Force, appointing CCI Chair Jim Balsillie and Minister Moroz to lead that work.

The province has proven, over the past few years, to be one of the most forward-thinking jurisdictions in Canada in terms of establishing foundational innovation industrial policies. Here’s the rub; trade strife and volatile resource prices will likely mean Manitoba Finance Minister Adrien Sala will be tabling a lean budget tomorrow. In a province still playing catch-up in digitizing its public service and with a well-documented infrastructure deficit, lean times lead to tough decisions.

But Manitoba isn’t alone in dealing with difficult fiscal realities. And it has a significant asset in Premier Kinew and his team. Premier Kinew understands the AI Economy, its associated challenges and opportunities, and the need to build sovereign value in that context, better than any other premier in Canada.

Cogent AI and data policies that will establish a foundation for 21st century economic success are difficult to get right, but they need not be expensive to implement. Over the next fiscal year, I’ll be looking for Manitoba to prioritize AI and machine learning as part of its current and future economic growth strategy by capturing valuable intellectual property in these areas and, critically, utilizing local firms in their upskilling efforts and efforts to improve government services using AI tools. Officials should also ensure their efforts are maximizing federal AI/ML funding and aligning provincial policies with those of the federal government. This is doubly critical as Canada works toward implementing its own (long-awaited) AI and data framework.

This, along with the other policy recommendations in CCI’s 2026 pre-budget submission to the province, will help the Keystone Province weather future trade conflicts and keep more bright minds, big ideas, and critical intangible assets in Manitoba.

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Jess Sinclair leads CCI’s advocacy efforts in the prairies, and can be reached at jsinclair@canadianinnovators.org.

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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.