Buy Canadian

The Liberal Party’s proposed 2025 budget will include about $185 million in spending towards the country’s new “Buy Canadian” policy.

Most of the funding will be split between Public Services and Procurement Canada, the federal government’s chief procurement agency, and a new program called the Small and Medium Business Procurement Program, which will be specifically tailored towards helping smaller Canadian businesses do business with the federal government.

Under the procurement programs, major public works projects, such as building infrastructure, will prioritize buying from Canadian suppliers where possible to keep Canadian dollars invested in the country’s industries.

Patty Hajdu, the Minister of Jobs and Families and for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNOR), frames this year’s budget as a response to the great challenge of the current moment: “To ensure that Canada has what it needs to be able to continue to be a sovereign nation. It sounds dramatic, but it is exactly that,” the minister says.

Hajdu defines the budget as a way to ensure that Canadian companies get support from the federal government as they try to find new buyers in the wake of American tariffs.

Infrastructure is a key component of the budget, representing tens of billions of dollars of new investments over the next few years.

Building new roads, ports, and railways will serve as an early test of the Buy Canadian model, offering chances for Canadian businesses to earn their share of the government’s multi-billion-dollar projects.

Minister Hajdu suggests that northern Ontario’s industries could see opportunities to take part in a retooled economy. She says Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper has expressed interest in finding new markets and selling new products, which is exactly the sort of thing the budget’s new procurement programs will be looking for.

The minister also points to Algoma Steel and Kap Paper as examples of companies that could find a lifeline with new procurements, fewer barriers to national and international trade, and larger infrastructure investments to connect them to their buyers.

A recurring criticism of the budget is the cuts it makes to public services, but Hajdu says she finds the controversy surprising. She argues that the plan to reduce the civil service focused on attrition, retirements, and reducing contract work.

“And it’s really so that we can invest in Canada, and invest in the kinds of things that municipalities need, just like we have a need here in Thunder Bay for infrastructure of all kinds,” she says. “That need exists, and in fact is amplified in smaller communities.”

The Liberal Party’s 2025-2026 budget still needs to be passed, and it is not yet clear if the party will have the votes it needs. The final vote will take place on Monday, November 17.