Canada’s economy is at an inflection point. Faced with rising trade barriers, growing export controls, supply chain instability, and rapid technological transformations that are reshaping industry, government, and workers, Canada’s future depends on its ability to expand into new markets, to develop resilient and growing businesses, to protect its critical infrastructure, and to prepare a skilled, agile workforce that meets both current and future needs.

ICTC has prepared this list of recommendations to help the Government of Canada navigate these dynamics by focusing on three urgent objectives.

Recommendations

  1. Diversify Canada’s markets: Establish a Canada-EU AI adoption, commercialization, and market access initiative to support SMEs in building AI-forward teams with the capacity to navigate EU regulatory frameworks.
  2. Invest in increasing business productivity and resilience: Establish a National SME Digital Transformation Accelerator with dedicated multi-year funding to help SMEs adopt advanced digital and AI technologies, making them more productive, cost-competitive, and export-ready.
  3. Reduce strategic technological dependencies: Invest in Canada’s sovereign AI, digital, and cybersecurity infrastructure by establishing a coordinated federal strategy to secure the technological infrastructure on which Canada's economy depends, while recognizing technological dependency as a national security risk.

ICTC’s recommendations provide an actionable foundation for ensuring that federal investments translate into lasting benefits for Canadian businesses, workers, and communities.

Read ICTC’s full submission to the Government of Canada’s 2026 pre-budget consultation

To cite this publication:

Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC). (2026, September 8). ICTC’s Recommendations for the 2026 Federal Budget: The Information and Communications Technology Council’s submission to the Government of Canada’s 2026 pre-budget consultation.