The Canadian Government has delivered a big-spending Budget which lays out a host of new projects of benefit to the Federal Public Service.
The National Research Council’s (NRC) Industrial Research Assistance Program is poised to get more money to help start-ups access intellectual property expertise, and to support thousands of small- and medium-size innovators.
There will also be investments in the NRC’s Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre.
Newly proposed programs and initiatives in Departments, including Employment and Social Development Canada, Statistics Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency, will continue to keep Public Servants and Government contractors busy.
At Public Services and Procurement Canada, plans to continue modernising the way the Government buys goods and services include proposals to buy from more Indigenous and Black-owned firms.
The Budget also reveals additional infrastructure spending for municipalities, including $C3 billion (about the same in $A) in permanent transit funding starting in 2026, and a doubling of the fuel tax paid out to cities.
Also addressed is affordable housing, with $C1.5 billion added to the recently-announced Rapid Housing Initiative, for a total of $C2.5 billion of spending on this new program.
Another new program will help property owners transform under-used office space into residential rental units.
An allocation of $C82.5 million to Transport Canada will help major Canadian airports improve their COVID-19 testing infrastructure.
Money has also been earmarked for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to acquire and operate sanitisation equipment.
Ottawa, 22 April 2021
