Federal program aims to boost small businesses

Ottawa is eyeing small and medium businesses as it ramps up spending on national defence, infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

More details about a small and medium business procurement program will come next spring, Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez said during an interview with the Free Press.

The Liberals announced a “Buy Canadian” policy earlier this year. Part of that initiative includes showing smaller firms how and when to apply for government contracts.

“It’s the preparedness, it’s the getting them ready, getting the support they need,” Valdez said.

She declined to share further details.

Nearly 98 per cent of Manitoba businesses have fewer than 100 employees, an August Manitoba Bureau of Statistics report states. Two per cent of companies staff between 100 and 499 people.

The new program will give small businesses the “best opportunity” at getting contracts often awarded to larger corporations, Valdez said.

The number of federal contracts given to small- and medium-sized enterprises dropped from 38 per cent in 2008 to 20 per cent in 2024, Senator Danièle Henkel flagged on Parliament Hill last year.

Indigenous businesses in Manitoba have shown enthusiasm, Valdez said: “They want to see how we can partner together and work together.”

She called on Manitoba firms to apply to Ottawa’s Build Canada Homes portal. The feds are seeking developers and builders with “projects that are ready to go.”

Build Canada Homes, a new federal branch, has a mandate to fast-track affordable housing construction.

Ottawa has tabbed $81 billion in national defence spending over five years, Valdez noted. Manitoba’s private sector has been increasingly interested in the sector.

Last October, the BDC’s chief executive told a Winnipeg Chamber event crowd that the bank would invest in “dual-use” products for national security and civilian life.

“Once we really start to peel back the layers of defence procurement, we’re going to start to see there’s a lot of companies in Manitoba that are already playing in this space but could play in this space in a much bigger role,” Loren Remillard, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s president, said after the October event.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com