The federal government says it’s simplifying the current ‘Buy Canadian’ procurement process to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to be competitive and get new projects to market faster.
To do this, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement Joël Lightbound said the government will streamline the process of filing paperwork and navigating government systems.
“You can be qualified, you can be ready, you can be competitive, and so you can get left out because the system is too complicated, too inconsistent and too burdensome to navigate,” Lightbound said, speaking Monday in Toronto.
“This is about changing the default, making it easier for small businesses to actually show up, compete and win.”
The Buy Canadian policy was launched in December 2025 as a way to help create stronger and more efficient domestic supply chains that boost the economy while also supporting local businesses and industries amid the trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies last year.
Since tariffs have been biting into Canada’s economy, businesses have been working to pivot away from the U.S. as a main trading partner. Ottawa and provincial governments have also been working to improve domestic supply chains, including easing interprovincial trade barriers, to support the economy.
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Lightbound outlined three ways the government plans to make it easier for these small and medium-sized businesses to access these federal procurement benefits.
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First, Lightbound said the Small Business Procurement Program will have its requirements made more “clear, proportional and focused.”
Second, the user experience online will be made simpler to navigate, and make use of digital tools like chatbots. These tools, Lightbound said, will help applicants who are “stuck interpreting government language.”
Third, the government says it will standardize all procurement documents to avoid confusion for business owners.
“We have to be honest about what stands in their way. It’s not just markets or competition. It is complexity. It is paperwork. It is systems that feel like they were designed for government and not for the people trying to work with it. And that has to change,” Lightbound said Monday.
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“Government should not feel like a maze you have to get through. It should feel and be a partner that helps you move faster, not slower.”
Lightbound also announced that Ottawa plans to spend up to $80 million over the next five years to boost Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC).
ISC awards contracts to entrepreneurs who may have otherwise found it difficult to get a project beyond an initial concept, proposal or pilot and empowers innovators by funding research and development and testing prototypes in real-life settings.
This also comes a few weeks after the federal government lowered the minimum threshold for the Buy Canadian procurement policy from $25 million to $5 million, which Lightbound said was done to open the doors to smaller and medium-sized business.
“The biggest barrier for many innovators is not the quality of their idea, it’s getting that first chance to prove it. And this program, ISC, fixes that,” Lightbound said.
the good contracts will still all get awarded to their buddies.
Buy American is so unfair to your trading partners, namely me!
Also…buy Canadian!
The leadership is breathtaking.
I wonder what all of Carney’s alleged new trading partners think of his Buy Canada policy?
When inferior Canadian products (eg. Canadian wine) is more expensive than superior non -Canadian products why would someone purchase it? Even hotels, and including exchange I can stay at a USA hotel much cheaper than a Canadian one in borders towns like White Rock and Bellingham. Canada is expensive in general.
I have zero interest in doing business with the Canadian goverment
Based on their history of fiscal. ncompetence and a trillion plus dollar debt I have doubts they can afford to pay the invoice
More promises and talk about making business easier they still haven’t made it easier to trade between provinces that they promised over a year ago. The fact is businesses need to trade with the USA and the tariffs need to be dealt with.
With all of the liberal carbon, plastic & packaging taxes, it’s cheaper to import from the U.S.