Federal Government Releases the 2026 Spring Economic Update
The federal government released its 2026 Spring Economic Update. The Carney government touted the update as the next step in their strategy to “Build Canada Strong. The update purports to strengthen Canada’s competitiveness and economic growth while investing in strong, safe communities across the country.
Spring Economic Update Summary
- The update also outlined the federal governments’ better than anticipated fiscal position, projecting a deficit of $66.9 billion – $11.5B lower than November budget anticipated. However, the government recognizes Canada is still subject to ever-changing world events. The Budget includes several new initiatives, including:
- Launching Canada’s own sovereign wealth fund, the Canada Strong Fund, to invest in the projects and companies that are driving Canada’s economic transformation, capitalised in the near term with $25 billion.
- Launching Canada’s first Investment Summit in September 2026 to convene the world’s largest investors, including top CEOs, entrepreneurs, and prominent global business leaders. The Summit is focused on attracting new investment into Canada.
- Providing $103.8 million to establish the Defence Investment Agency as a stand-alone entity.
- Launching a Whole-of-Government Competition Plan to strengthen productivity and affordability by ensuring that competition is prioritized throughout the federal government’s policies.
The Government outlined the pillars of its upcoming AI Strategy - The Government's Vision: Artificial Intelligence for All:
- Pillar 1: Protecting Canadians and Safeguarding our Democracy
- AI will only deliver on its promise if Canadians trust it. That requires modern privacy and online safety laws, strong national AI safety capabilities, and secure government systems.
- Pillar 2: Empowering Canadians
- Canada must become an AI skills nation, where AI creates good jobs for Canadians, by giving access to AI training and education for all Canadians, and by representing and including Canadian voices, languages, and culture.
- Pillar 3: Powering AI Adoption for Shared Prosperity
- The gains of AI will come from putting it to work across the Canadian economy and developing pro-worker, industrial AI technologies. AI for All will support accelerated adoption among small- and medium-sized enterprises and transform public service delivery to deliver better services to Canadians.
- Pillar 4: Building the Canadian Sovereign AI Foundation
- AI for All will support the building of sovereign compute infrastructure at scale — resilient, sustainable, and under Canadian governance, and grow Canada’s exceptional AI researchers and talent pool.
- Pillar 5: Scaling Canadian Champions
- To scale great AI companies in Canada, AI for All will unlock growth capital and leverage government as a strategic anchor customer.
- Pillar 6: Building Trusted Partnerships and Global Alliances
- Canada will work with a variety of trusted partners to align standards, co invest in innovation, and help Canadian companies access global markets—while shaping an AI ecosystem anchored in democratic values.
Buy Canada Updates
- Buy Canadian Building on this momentum, the government will launch a new Small and Medium Business Procurement Program later this spring to make it easier for Canadian firms to compete and win in federal procurements, by modernising digital tools and reducing barriers.
- Defence Investment Agency (DIA) $103.8 million over five years, starting in 2026-27, and $22.3 million ongoing to establish and operate the DIA as a stand-alone entity.
- Government intends to introduce enabling legislation to establish the DIA as a stand-alone entity and legislative amendments to the Defence Production Act to provide the DIA with expanded authorities.
- $2.0 billion over three years on a cash basis, starting in 2026-27, to the Department of National Defence, the Communications Security Establishment, Global Affairs Canada, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to support Operation UNIFIER.
- In February 2026, the government announced the renewal of Operation UNIFIER for an additional three years, starting in 2026-27. Under the renewed mandate, the number of CAF personnel dedicated to the operation will increase, providing greater flexibility and enabling Canada to further adapt and respond to Ukraine’s evolving operational needs.
- The Spring Economic Update 2026 announces the government’s intention to launch a Whole-of-Government Competition Plan to ensure that competition is prioritised throughout the federal government’s policies.
- Launching Team Canada Strong to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers by 2030-31, providing paid pathways for young Canadians into building housing, major infrastructure, and defence projects at speed and scale.
- Standing up the Financial Crimes Agency as a best-in-class Agency that will employ a “follow-the-money” approach to investigate serious and complex financial crimes, recover illicit proceeds, and hold criminals to account.
Closing Summary
$2 billion over five years, starting in 2026-27, and $262 million ongoing, to increase the number of young people who are ready to take up the challenge of a good career in the skilled trades. Team Canada Strong will provide a simple and seamless way to learn about and enter into the trades and link up with employers.