When the 45th Canadian Parliament commences next week, Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government have a long list of challenges to tackle. It’s hard to know where to start: boost productivity or address health-care woes? Bolster national unity or forge new global trade alliances?
In the official mandate letter released on May 21, Carney acknowledged his government’s “immense responsibility to address these challenges head on with focus, determination and fundamentally different approaches to governing,” laying out seven priorities at home (affordability, housing, interprovincial trade, government overhead, defence) and beyond our borders (U.S. relations and international trade, as well as recruiting talent through immigration).
The past few months have made it clear the electorate is committed to Canadian sovereignty — and eager to see meaningful change. “Buy Canadian” has become a rallying cry, but for many in the country’s innovation community, it’s more than just a kicky slogan. On the most fundamental level, it’s the key to growing our companies, strengthening the economy and hitting sustainability goals.
We asked 10 startup leaders what the new government should prioritize to support businesses and innovation in Canada. Here’s what they told us:
Make it easier for domestic companies to grow in Canada
It’s no secret the country’s productivity rate has trended downward since the 1980s. While there’s cause for (cautious) optimism — in 2024, Canada’s GDP inched upward for the first time in three years, increasing by 0.6 per cent — much more work is needed. Canada is a global leader in research, especially in emerging fields like AI and quantum computing, but that research doesn’t easily translate into viable companies and jobs. The country’s startups don’t suffer from a lack of ideas, but for those ideas to change the world, they need to make it out of the lab, which requires scale-up capital, buyers and co-ordinated support. It’s a place where policy can play a big role.
Although founders across sectors praised existing government initiatives, they highlighted the need to streamline processes. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentives and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), which are critical for early-stage cash flow, “are still too complicated and cumbersome for startups to apply for,” notes Zak Hemraj, the CEO of software firm Loopio.
Expanding the scope of these programs is also key. Many companies struggle to cover the costs of office or wet lab spaces, which don’t qualify for SR&ED coverage. As Ayrton Energy CEO Natasha Kostenuk notes, it’s particularly challenging for ventures working on first-of-a-kind deployments and commercial demos. More support is needed, she says, “to help ventures bridge the critical gap between lab success and market adoption.” While Canada has made great strides in developing early-stage innovation over the past decade, says Ripple Therapeutics CEO Tom Reeves, “we now need to set our focus on supporting these companies through the ‘missing middle,’ with the goal of building a mature ecosystem.”
Create a unified national energy strategy
Hours after the election was called, Carney pledged to make the country an energy “superpower,” building on his vision of fast-tracking projects and establishing an east-to-west electrical grid. He’ll have his work cut out for him: the prospect of expediting approvals on mines, pipelines, transformation infrastructure and large-scale storage facilities is daunting.
“Canada urgently needs a co-ordinated push to expand clean-energy generation,” says Andrew Murray, CEO of Aslan Renewables. Because each province operates with its own rules and purchase structures in the current “fractured system,” he adds, “we’re asking energy developers to shoulder all the financial risk and negotiate to build in every province.” Murray points to such mechanisms as subsidized long-term purchase agreements and feed-in tariffs that serve to de-risk clean energy investment and have allowed Germany and Japan to accelerate their transition to more sustainable options. Incentivizing players in mining, transportation and manufacturing to “Buy Canadian” can also be a boon — encouraging domestic businesses to adopt homegrown energy solutions would boost demand, he says, and reduce reliance on volatile international markets.
Clear the path for a Canadian brain gain
Canada has seen a southern exodus of top talent, especially in STEM fields, for years. But recent shifts in the U.S., including funding cuts to government agencies, such as the NIH and major research organizations, and political pressure on colleges and universities, could catalyze a reversal of this trend. Indeed, Carney touched on this idea in his first postelection press conference: “For Canadians abroad thinking about returning to build their lives and our nation, there’s never been a better time to come home,” he proclaimed.
While academic institutions are primed to take advantage of the moment — witness the influx of professors who’ve fled north — there are fewer precedents in business. Loopio’s Hemraj suggests offering tax credits or other incentives to domestic companies that hire and bring expatriates home. During their fundraising process, Carla Spina and Serena Mandla of biotech firm Noa Therapeutics identified gaps in support for continued skills development and talent retention. Expanding government funding to develop tailored programming and training, they say, could also help build Canada’s capabilities.
Build a supply chain for critical minerals
The growing demand for semiconductors, data processing machines as well as batteries and other forms of energy storage has sparked a rush on critical minerals, which are essential components of these technologies. Recent trade tensions have underscored the significance of supply chains and the need for more autonomy from the extraction of the materials to manufacturing.
It’s important that Canada looks beyond just extraction and better manage its resources to ensure any critical minerals that are used can be effectively repurposed, says Alex Tanner, the director of government affairs at Cyclic Materials, which develops circular supply chains for rare earth elements. That could involve a recycling mandate for original equipment manufacturers, a traceability framework along the lines of the battery passport implemented in the EU or end-of-life mapping to ensure critical minerals are not simply shunted overseas. “Incentives like tax credits for recycled domestic content can play an important role in the adoption of best practices,” Tanner says. By becoming the top customers for our own materials, he adds, we can create a self-sustaining sector.
Harness insider knowledge
The challenge with emerging technologies is that they’re novel, which means it’s rare that policymakers have the subject-matter expertise to know whether or not they’re making the right decisions. Niraj Mathur, the co-founder of semiconductor startup Blumind, says the people in power should solicit input from people working in the field. He shares the example of an acquaintance working at a chip manufacturer in San Diego who was recruited by the U.S. federal government and spent two years consulting on the development of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. Expanding access to deep scientific knowledge is crucial for stakeholders across sectors — as the Noa Therapeutics co-founders emphasize, there’s a need to connect investors with insiders who can gauge the viability of potential technologies.
Streamline the permitting process
If, per his victory speech, Carney is eager to “build, baby, build,” he’ll need to clear the runway. Startup founders have raised concerns about convoluted and drawn-out processes that can make it frustrating (if not impossible) to get major projects off the ground. “Fast-tracking approvals will attract global investors, innovators and builders who are ready to build,” says Apoorv Sinha, CEO of Carbon Upcycling.
Ayrton’s Kostenuk echoes this sentiment, noting that simplifying the regulatory process for demonstration projects would help ventures validate their solutions more efficiently and build credibility with partners and investors. Her company was recently named a grand prize winner in the Liveability Challenge 2025 and is using the $1 million (U.S.) award to fund a pilot in Singapore. The end goal isn’t to export that technology, it’s to bring it home and deploy it on a larger scale — but red tape makes it difficult to test out early-stage technologies in Canada.
Leverage the power of procurement
“Buy Canadian” isn’t just a grocery-store mantra — it can be a guiding principle for the public sector. Remi Desa, the CEO and co-founder of smart transportation startup Pantonium, says government bodies have an important role in catalyzing demand by becoming a first customer. “Make it easier and quicker for Canadian startups to sell their innovative technologies directly to all levels of government,” he suggests. “Streamlining the process will accelerate growth.” Savvy policy moves can also strengthen domestic manufacturing, notes Sinha of Carbon Upcycling. Instead of simply taxing imports, he recommends the government incentivize made-in-Canada products. “Expanding tax credits for projects using more than 75 per cent Canadian materials would entice multinational and blue-chip Canadian companies to manufacture in Canada,” he says. Borrowell co-founder Eva Wong echoes this sentiment. “Instead of recruiting American firms to set up shop in Canada, which drives up costs for Canadian companies and deprives them of already scarce talent,” says Wong, “we should be investing in our own homegrown companies.”
Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star, has partnered with MaRS to highlight innovation in Canadian companies.
