The new fiscal year is coming and Federal Government released the budget. There are no breakthroughs like major new funds announcements for businesses, so below please find key takeaways. If you have any questions or wanted to proceed with the application submission, simply reply to this email.

Good News

  • Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) gets more funding. For the past few years, the program was underfunded and oversubscribed. The program supports R&D on early and middle stages.
  • Canada Summer Jobs gets more funding again (not, you can only apply in December 2018)
  • Canada Job Grant programs for skills training will be extended and renewed following the extension of Federal-Provincial labour market agreements. No changes in rules as of now.
  • The funding with regional development agencies such as FedDev Ontario IBI and IBGP programs will be renewed and extended.
  • Many programs will be consolidated to reduce the number of hoops to jump through and time it takes to find the right funding program. This includes export development programs, like CanExport, and FedDev Ontario programs.
    There are still provincial funding opportunities that are not impacted by Federal budget.

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                                                                   Bad News

  • Programs consolidation will likely take 6-9 months. Expect longer than normal delays in application review process or rejections “until new program rules are created”.
  • Reform of Federal Development Agencies will likely delay the replenishment of Yves Landry Foundation’s program for skills training and CME SMART Program for advanced equipment acquisition. Those programs were previously funded by FedDev Ontario.
  • Strategic Innovation Fund for R&D and business expansion will now only accept applications for the projects of at least $10 million in eligible cost. We are yet to determine what will happen with the applications that are already submitted.
  • No word on the funding for productivity improvement and equipment purchase.
  • No word on the funding for skills training internally. Instead, a few million dollars will be allocated to a “lab” that would develop innovative training methods (what?).

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