A Strong, Growing, and Resilient Economy

The global economy is changing. Technology, globalization, and a historic effort to fight climate change are creating new industries and new jobs.

We need to attract more investment in the industries that are creating good middle-class jobs for Canadians. We need to make our economy more resilient by strengthening our supply chains, ensuring our businesses can get their goods to market, and making sure Canadians are able to buy the products they need from around the world.

We need to make our economy more innovative and more productive and we need to make it easier for businesses, big and small, to invest, grow, and create jobs in Canada.

Canada is already home to some of the fastest-growing markets for high-tech jobs in North America. Toronto—not Silicon Valley—led high-tech job growth from 2019 into 2020, and Vancouver outpaced New York City.

In Budget 2021, the federal government announced a range of important programs and initiatives that will help foster economic growth, including:

• $8 billion to transform and decarbonize industry and invest in clean technologies and batteries;
• $4 billion for the Canada Digital Adoption Program, which launched in March 2022 to help businesses move online, boost their e-commerce presence, and digitalize their businesses;
• $1.2 billion to support life sciences and bio-manufacturing in Canada, including investments in clinical trials, biomedical research, and research infrastructure;
• $8 billion to transform and decarbonize industry and invest in clean technologies and batteries;
• $1 billion to the Strategic Innovation Fund to support life sciences and bio-manufacturing firms in Canada and develop more resilient supply chains. This builds on investments made throughout the pandemic with manufacturers of vaccines and therapeutics like Sanofi, Medicago, and Moderna;
• $1.5 billion for regional development agencies to support the country’s economic recovery through programs like the Jobs and Growth Fund and the Canada Community Revitalization Fund;
• Enhancing the Canada Small Business Financing Program, increasing annual financing to small businesses by an estimated $560 million;
• $1 billion to revitalize the tourism sector;
• Helping small and medium-sized businesses to invest in new technologies and capital projects by allowing for the immediate expensing of up to $1.5 million of eligible investments beginning in 2021;
• Cutting tax rates in half for businesses that manufacture zero-emission technologies.

Budget 2022 promotes the growth of small businesses. We plan to phase out access to the small business tax rate more gradually, with access to be fully phased out when taxable capital reaches $50 million, rather than at $15 million. The budget also plans to reduce credit card transaction fees.