Spring Economic Update 2026

Our plan:
Canada strong for all

Building Canada Strong, For All

Over the past year, Canadians have navigated a rapidly changing and increasingly fragmented world. One that is more complex, more volatile and, for many, more costly and unpredictable.

In response, Canada's new government continues to focus on what we can control — building a strong Canadian economy, diversifying our trade partners abroad, delivering responsible fiscal management, and supporting Canadians who are under pressure from everyday expenses — with a boost today and a bridge to a better tomorrow.

In Budget 2025, we outlined our plan to build Canada Strong. Since then, we have moved fast to:

Build the major infrastructure, homes, and industries that grow our economy and create lasting prosperity.
Empower Canadians with better careers, strong public services in both official languages, and a more affordable life.
Protect our communities, our borders, and our way of life.

In our first budget, we made responsible choices to reduce spending to save Canadian taxpayers $60 billion over five years. We are spending less on government operations so Canadians can invest more to build a brighter future for all.

We have the right plan. We're building big, we're moving fast, and we're just getting started. In the past year:

15 nation-building projects have been announced that will support over 60,000 jobs and drive over $125 billion in new investment.
The government launched the $1.5 billion First and Last Mile Fund as part of the Critical Minerals Strategy, which will drive billions in further investments and position Canada as a secure supplier of choice.
Catalysing half a trillion dollars of investment to build Canadian industry and creating over 125,000 new jobs through our new Defence Industrial Strategy.
Building demand for Canadian products, driving changes in how we build homes, and committing support for thousands of new housing units to date through Build Canada Homes' partnerships across the country.
More than 12 million Canadians will have more money in their bank accounts starting in June — up to $1,890 this year for a family of four — through our new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.
400,000 children have access to healthy meals, while their parents are saving $800 a year on groceries because we have made the National School Food Program permanent.

The Spring Economic Update 2026 is the next step in our plan to build a stronger, more independent, and resilient Canada for all. It advances our progress of building more affordable homes and the major infrastructure that transforms and connects our economy, while bringing down costs to help you get ahead.

We are providing a clear and transparent account of how Canada's economy is performing in an increasingly uncertain world. This transparency is critical to lift the fog of uncertainty, help businesses seize new opportunities, and give families the confidence to plan for their future.

We are building a Canada that is not just strong, but good; not just prosperous, but fair. A Canada that is not just for some, most of the time, but for all, at all times.

We're building Canada strong, for all.

Delivering for Canadians: Progress Since the Spring of 2025

Since the spring of 2025, Canada's new government has taken decisive action and made targeted investments to deliver results for Canadians.

Chart image — Figure 0.1
**Delivering for Canadians: Progress Since the Spring of 2025**

The Spring Economic Update 2026

The Spring Economic Update 2026 maintains Canada's fiscal strength — while investing for Canadians where it counts to build Canada's prosperity today and for the next generation. This includes core new investments to invest in Canada's future, with the good-paying careers that will build a Canada that is affordable, prosperous, and safe.

The world is undergoing a series of fundamental shifts at a speed, scope and scale not seen in generations. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in health, energy, finances, and geopolitics have exposed the risks of extreme global integration. Today, the rules-based international order and the trading system that powered Canada's prosperity for decades are being reshaped.

Long-standing supply chains and trade relationships that once supported stable growth, good jobs, and affordable products are being disrupted. Rising geopolitical tensions, including the conflict in the Middle East and escalating trade pressure such as U.S. tariffs, are adding to cost pressures and driving volatility in energy prices and financial markets.

The Canadian Economy Is Resilient

In this more fragmented and unpredictable world, Canada's approach is clear: we will be principled and pragmatic. We are acting decisively to protect our economic sovereignty, strengthen our strategic industries, and position Canada for long-term growth.

Canada starts from a position of strength. Our economic fundamentals remain among the strongest in the world, supported by:

Talent: A highly skilled, adaptable, and the most educated workforce in the world.
Resources: A vast reserve of critical minerals, a clean and conventional energy superpower, and a strong agri-food industry.
Resilience: A strong social safety net and stable institutions.
Market access: The only G7 country with comprehensive free trade agreements with all other G7 countries.
Rule of law: A stable and reliable financial system, an independent judiciary, and transparent governments.
Investment attractiveness: A favourable environment for investment that attracts global capital, drives growth, and creates high-paying careers.
Tax competitiveness: The lowest overall tax burden in the G7 on new business investment.

Direct Investment Into Canada at a 20-Year High

Canada is emerging as a premier destination for global investment:

Direct investment into Canada is at its highest level in nearly two decades.
Canada has secured $97 billion in foreign investment and more than 20 new economic and defence partnerships across four continents in the last year.
A network of trade agreements spanning 51 countries and nearly two-thirds of global GDP positions Canada at the centre of a reconfigured global economy.

Momentum is building at home:

Canadian institutional investors, including pension funds, are stepping up and working with governments to unlock new opportunities.

Attracting New Investment

The Spring Economic Update proposes to further position Canada as a leading investment destination and a trusted convener of global capital through:

Canada's first Investment Summit in September 2026.
A Sustainable Finance conference in the coming year.

Canada Is the Most Competitive Jurisdiction in the G7 for New Business Investment and Trade

In this environment, Canada is redefining its international, commercial, and security relationships. We must build strength at home, and we must do it while choosing to work with our allies and forging new relationships with trusted partners. We recognise the world as it is, and we choose to adapt to thrive.

Canada Maintains Fiscal Discipline

Our focus is clear and disciplined. We are concentrating on what we can control: maintaining fiscal sustainability while making targeted, high-impact investments for Canadians. This means lowering the operating deficit over time, maintaining our fiscal anchors, and ensuring that every dollar spent on behalf of Canadians supports growth, resilience, and improving the well-being of Canadians.

Our government spends less, builds more, and delivers better — we are investing in Canada’s future.

The global landscape is rapidly changing, leaving businesses, workers, and families under a cloud of uncertainty. In response, Canada's new government is focused on what we control: building a stronger economy to bring down costs for Canadians.

Our plan is moving Canada's economy from reliance to resilience. We are advancing major projects that connect and transform our nation, turbocharging housing construction, catalysing an entirely new housing industry, and forging new economic and security partnerships. Some of the biggest long-term payoffs of this transformation will take time to be felt. To ensure Canadians have the support they need right now, the government is providing a boost today and a bridge to a better tomorrow.

For over a year, Canada's new government has been relentlessly focused on making life more affordable for Canadians:

Nearly 22 million Canadians are keeping more of what they earn, with the middle-class tax cut saving a two-income family up to $840 this year.
First-time home buyers are saving up to $50,000, with the removal or reduction of the Goods and Services Tax on new homes.
The removal of the consumer carbon price driving gas prices down by about 18 cents per litre across most provinces and territories.
Reducing Canadians' bills at the gas station by up to 10 cents per litre on regular gasoline and 4 cents on diesel by temporarily suspending the federal fuel excise tax.
More than 12 million Canadians will receive hundreds of dollars more in their bank accounts through the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.
Canadians are paying less in banking fees, with new rules capping non-sufficient funds fees at $10 and strengthening consumer protections.
Enhanced low-cost and no-cost bank accounts to offer all Canadians access to up to 50 per cent more debit transactions at a cost of no more than $4 per month.
Young Canadians are gaining opportunities to work and build careers, with 175,000 placements supported in 2026-27 through Canada Summer Jobs, the horizontal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, and the Student Work Placement Program.
Starting automatic federal benefits for the 2026 tax year, with pre-filled returns for up to 5.5 million low-income Canadians by the 2028 tax year, ensures that support reaches those who need it most.
Families and young people are travelling and exploring Canada for less, supported by the renewed Canada Strong Pass.
Supporting Canadian brewers, distillers and wineries and helping ease cost pressures with extended tax relief.

Making Groceries and Essentials More Affordable

Our government has introduced new measures to make groceries and other essentials more affordable for Canadians:

The new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit will provide additional, significant support for more than 12 million Canadians.
- Formerly the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Credit, we are increasing its amount by 25 per cent for five years as of July 2026.
- Combined, this means that a family of four will receive up to $1,890 this year, and about $1,400 a year for the next four years; and a single person will receive up to $950 this year, and about $700 a year for the next four years.
An additional $20 million has been provided to the Local Food Infrastructure Fund to ease pressures on food banks, and immediate expensing was announced for greenhouse buildings to support increased domestic supply and investment in food production.
We are providing $36 million to address food security and affordability in the North through the Nutrition North Canada Retail Subsidy Program and the Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund.
We have made the National School Food Program permanent, which will provide up to 400,000 children with meals at school each year, helping families save an average of $800 annually.

June 5

As part of the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, those eligible will receive — as soon as June 5^th — a one-time top-up payment equivalent to a 50 per cent increase in the 2025-26 annual value of the GST Credit.

More Competition, Lower Costs

Stronger competition pushes businesses to become more innovative and operate more efficiently. Over time, these productivity gains translate into lower costs, greater choice, and better wages for Canadians. Yet over the past two decades, competitive intensity across the Canadian economy has weakened. Strengthening competition will be essential to delivering sustained affordability gains for Canadians.

At a time when Canadians are facing heightened affordability pressures from sources beyond our control, it is more important than ever that we press harder to find opportunities for improvement within our control. To strengthen productivity and improve affordability, the Spring Economic Update 2026 launches a new Whole-of-Government Competition Plan that will take a focused and coordinated approach to ensure that competition is prioritised throughout the federal government's policies.

The government is focusing on lower mobile and Internet plan prices by building on the 2023 direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that places stronger emphasis on competition, affordability, and consumer interests with a decision to uphold a CRTC ruling on third-party access to fibre infrastructure in August 2025. The government is also implementing a Telecommunications Competition Roadmap outlining actions to improve consumer choice, pricing, and availability of services.

Competition only works when government ensures markets work. Continued decisive action is needed to strengthen competition and ensure the economy operates at its best, including:

Advancing the Whole-of-Government Competition Plan to ensure government policies prioritise competition
Providing more choices and more affordable financial services through consumer-driven banking and low-cost accounts
Making it easier to renew or switch between home Internet, home phone, and cell phone plans

As Canadians build the strongest economy in the G7, we know that some of the biggest payoffs in our plan will take time. That's why Canada's new government is standing with Canadians through uncertain and rapidly changing times, acting responsibly to provide support today, and making smart, long-term investments that strengthen Canada's economy. This means creating the mechanisms to ensure Canadians thrive today and tomorrow, supporting workers and young people, supercharging the housing sector, combatting financial crimes, and investing in strong communities.

Spring Economic Update 2026 introduces a number of flagship measures:

Introducing Canada's Own Sovereign Wealth Fund — the new Canada Strong Fund
Launching Team Canada Strong to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers by 2030-31, aligned to Canada's housing, infrastructure, and defence needs
Making life more affordable for Canadians
Building stronger and safer communities

Canada will establish its own sovereign wealth fund: Canada Strong Fund

The Canada Strong Fund is a new national investment initiative designed to strengthen Canada's economy and give Canadians a direct stake in its success.

The Fund will invest in key, strategic Canadian projects and companies, creating jobs, supporting innovation, and helping Canada stay competitive in a rapidly changing world.

Canadians will have the opportunity to invest in the Fund and share in the financial returns generated by these projects.

This is about building a stronger, more independent Canada where everyone can take part and benefit.

Canada
Strong
Fund

Strategic Investments

Equity investments in projects and companies that build Canada
Nation-Building Outcomes

A stronger, more competitive, more sovereign Canada
Returns to Canadians

Individual investors to see returns directly based on performance of the Fund

In a more uncertain world, Canada offers stability. In a more divided world, Canada forges partnerships. And in a more competitive world, Canada invests decisively in its future.

Supporting Workers and Young People

Canada's future depends on the people building it. That's why the Spring Economic Update 2026 is focused on helping workers and young people gain the skills, experience, and support they need to succeed.

We're making it easier to learn, train, and find meaningful opportunities:

Creating new opportunities for young Canadians

Launching Team Canada Strong to recruit, train, and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new Red Seal skilled trades workers by 2030-31, aligned to Canada's housing, infrastructure, and defence needs.
Expanding training capacity to deliver results at scale

Modernizing and increasing apprenticeship and Red Seal training capacity, working with unions, employers, provinces and territories, and national institutions to shorten timelines and improve outcomes.
Removing financial barriers during apprenticeship training

Introduce a new and redesigned Apprenticeship Grant that will provide apprentices with a weekly income top-up of $400 per week while they are attending mandatory in-class technical training for a total payment of up to $16,000 per apprentice, paid in addition to Employment Insurance.
Making education more affordable

Extend for the 2026-27 academic year the increases to Canada Student Grants and interest-free Canada Student Loans — 571,000 students are expected to benefit from the increase to non-repayable grants, and 422,000 students could benefit from the weekly loan limit increase.
Helping tradespeople go where the work is

Enhancing the Labour Mobility Deduction will make it more affordable for skilled workers to travel to where jobs are available.
Encouraging shared ownership

Making the Employee Ownership Trust tax exemption permanent will help more workers share in the success of the businesses they help build.

Our plan for a career in skilled trades

Step 1: Join the Team Canada Strong Program

Start up to 4-month job placement to gain experience.

Step 2 : Register as an apprentice and begin on-the-job training with either an employer or a union training centre

Small and medium enterprises receive $10K wage incentive.

Step 3: Complete your technical training at a college and through your employer or a union training centre

Receive a $400 weekly Apprenticeship Grant.
Receive income supports if caught between training and work.

Step 4: Get certified

Once certified in a Red Seal trade, receive $5K Completion Bonus.

Step 5: Start career as a Red Seal tradesperson

Contribute to the Build Canada agenda.

There will be new pathways to skilled trades through the Canadian Armed Forces

Hands-on training through Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers

Fully funded trades training for young Canadians joining the Canadian Armed Forces Primary Reserve

One process: faster and simpler (50% reduction in total time)

Making Life More Affordable for Canadians

Finding a place to live shouldn't feel out of reach. The Spring Economic Update 2026 builds on Build Canada Homes with a plan to increase supply, lower costs, and help more Canadians find a safe, affordable home.

We're taking action to build more homes, faster and smarter:

Cutting red tape to build homes faster

Streamlining rules and modernising building codes will make it easier to construct new homes, including factory-built and modular housing.
Supporting innovation in construction

Investing in new building technologies will help reduce costs and speed up construction.
Accelerating over $7 billion in low-cost financing to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

More affordable financing will help builders move projects forward sooner — getting rental homes on the market faster.
Helping those most in need

Extending support for people experiencing homelessness and ensuring survivors of gender-based violence have access to safe housing.
Boosting housing supply across Canada

Through the Improving Housing Supply Act, $1.7 billion will go to provinces and territories to remove barriers and accelerate homebuilding, including reducing development fees and levies on new home construction.
Improving cash flows for home buyers

Extending the grace period during which homeowners are not required to start repaying their Home Buyers' Plan withdrawals from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan.
Reducing the contribution rate of the base Canada Pension Plan

With the unanimous support of provinces and territories.
Making it easier to access the Disability Tax Credit

Streamlining the application process for individuals with certain long-lasting medical conditions.

An Economy Built by Canadians

Budget 2025 is translating our vision into real action through major projects, less red tape, and generational infrastructure investments that move goods to market. The Spring Economic Update 2026 builds on this momentum with strategic investments that support productivity, growth, and competitiveness.

First Announced in Budget 2025

Trade Diversification and Infrastructure Strategies

To ensure Canadian businesses can expand and double our exports to non-U.S. markets over the next decade, we are providing direct support to exporters, opening access to new markets, and modernising trade-enabling transportation systems and infrastructure.

In order to support trade diversification, the government is examining options to strengthen Canada's supply chains — backed by signing 20 new deals on four continents.

Critical Minerals Strategy

To grow Canada's critical minerals industry, we are promoting domestic production and processing of critical minerals, safeguarding critical minerals value chains for our economic sovereignty, and partnering with Indigenous groups, domestic stakeholders and international allies. Canada has a broad suite of financing tools in place to support this strategically important sector, and initiatives under the Critical Minerals Strategy, including dozens of new partnerships and investments mobilising $18.5 billion in projects across the country — with the Canada-led G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance. The government has referred five critical minerals projects to the Major Projects Office as part of the two waves of nation building project announcements, such as Nouveau Monde Graphite's Matawinie Mine in Québec and the McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project in Saskatchewan.

Defence Industrial Strategy

To build Canada's defence manufacturing and technology base, we are prioritising Canadian suppliers and materials in defence procurement, investing in Canadian defence innovation and commercialisation, and streamlining procurement.

We are positioning Canadian industry to take advantage of the government's generational investments in defence, creating significant economic benefits for years to come — including 125,000 high-paying careers and support an estimated $180 billion total direct investment in in defence procurement by 2035. This will strengthen military supply chains, create good careers at home, and equip the Canadian Armed Forces with the capabilities they need to protect Canada and our Allies.

Since Budget 2025

Automotive Strategy

To strengthen Canada's auto manufacturing sector and protect over 500,000 workers, we are boosting investment, strengthening our climate goals, making electric vehicles more affordable and reliable, and protecting Canadian auto workers.

In response to persisting and unjustified U.S. tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles, we will maintain our reciprocal counter-tariffs and explore ways to leverage Canada's automotive duty remission framework to reinforce domestic production, attract new investment and enhance the sector's long-term competitiveness. We will also seek ways to attract new investment, including by leveraging the recent arrangement on electric vehicles with China.

Nature Strategy

To build the clean and competitive economy of tomorrow, we are making significant investments through the Nature Strategy to help conserve 30 per cent of Canada's lands and waters by 2030, ensure our industrial strategies complement our conservation efforts, and advance actions to value and mobilise capital for nature.

Empowering Canadians

Strong communities are the foundation of a strong Canada. The Spring Economic Update 2026 invests in the services and supports that keep communities safe, welcoming, and resilient — so Canadians can stay informed, access essential services delivered in both official languages, and thrive where they live.

Key actions include:

Supporting trusted, independent journalism

Extending the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit to help sustain high-quality local news and keep Canadians informed.
Investing in Indigenous communities

Providing significant funding for essential services, including health benefits and culturally relevant education, to support stronger, healthier communities.
Investing in sport — from playground to podium

Investing $755 million to expand access to sport, creating opportunities for Canadians to build meaningful relationships within their communities, making full use of existing and new infrastructure, and to support Canada's world class athletes who inspire pride and unity, as we celebrate their accomplishments as a nation.
Protecting coastal livelihoods

Investing nearly $1 billion to repair and maintain small craft harbours — supporting jobs, local economies, and the future of coastal communities.
Making it easier to access the Disability Tax Credit

Streamlining the application process for individuals with certain long-lasting medical conditions and expanding the list of medical practitioners who can certify eligibility for the Disability Tax Credit will help ensure that Canadians with severe disabilities have access to the supports they need, including under the Canada Disability Benefit.

Protecting Communities

Too many Canadians — especially seniors and vulnerable people — are being targeted by scams and financial crime. The Spring Economic Update 2026 takes stronger action to protect people, crack down on criminals, and keep Canadians' money safe:

Establish the Financial Crimes Agency as a best-in-class law enforcement agency with the personnel, resources, mandate, and legislative tools needed to tackle sophisticated financial crimes and recover illicit proceeds.
Protect Canadians by cracking down on the criminal abuse of money services businesses for money laundering, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, and fraud through stronger regulations, new enforcement powers, and a ban on crypto ATMs.
Advance the National Anti-Fraud Strategy, with a public consultation launched in March 2026, by seeking feedback on the introduction of a multi-sector anti-fraud framework across the financial and telecommunications sectors, and digital platforms, alongside measures to strengthen public awareness of fraud and support law enforcement efforts to combat fraud.
Help keep communities safe and inclusive

Investing in the programs and services that ensure Canadians feel safe, supported, and able to fully participate in community life.

Build in Canada. Invest in Canada. Choose Canada. Buy Canadian. Because what we build belongs to you, your children, and your country.

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Date modified:: 2026-04-28

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Our plan:
Canada strong for all

Building Canada Strong, For All

Delivering for Canadians: Progress Since the Spring of 2025

The Spring Economic Update 2026