Budget 2025
From the start of this year, Build Canada has shared bold policy ideas to grow our economy. From finance to government transformation, housing to immigration, the message has been clear: Canada needs to cut wasteful spending, reduce friction for builders, and increase competitiveness.
This budget is a step in the right direction towards growth. It shows that Ottawa is starting to listen to the builders – the people who create innovation, jobs, and prosperity for our country. The budget gets some of the direction right, but needs boldness and urgency needed to truly unlock growth.
In particular, we’re encouraged to see:
- Proposals to streamline SR&ED, including “up-front technical approval” and streamlining “the review process by eliminating unnecessary steps”, as noted in our memo to Fix SR&ED
- Announcements to come to “launch an accelerated pathways for H1-B visa holders” as proposed in our memo to Turn America’s H-1B Shift Into Our Advantage
- Transformation of Interchange Canada into a “Build Canada Exchange” program to bring 50 external leaders into the public service, an idea we shared in Deploy Private Sector Experts to Support Government
- Amongst others
However, many of these budget commitments lack details, a concrete plan, or don’t go far enough. For example:
- Accelerated immigration to attract the world’s best researchers and innovators are announcements of intentions, with “additional details on the launch of recruitment processes [for top researchers to] be announced in the coming weeks” and changes to attract H1-B visa holders will come “in the coming months.”
- Plans to conduct a red tape review to streamline processes, modernise outdated requirements, and eliminate unnecessary steps with results of the review “available in Budget 2026”.
- The analysis in the Build Canada memo Creating a More Productive Government found that operational spending reductions of 15-20%, while maintaining commitments to defence, security, retirement and children’s benefits, were immediately possible, rather than the proposed 10% reduction over 5 years.
Execution now matters more than promises, more than plans, more than strategies. This government no longer has any excuses or any reason not to act. The real test of this budget, and of the Liberal government’s seriousness, will be whether it can turn these ideas into action.