CCI Statement on the Conservative Party’s 2025 Campaign Platform

Today, the Conservative Party of Canada published their 2025 campaign platform. After assessing the platform, CCI President Benjamin Bergen issued the following statement on behalf of our members:

"This election, Canadian business leaders and innovators made a clear ask: show us your plan to secure long-term prosperity. In our pre-election brief, What Innovators Need to Scale, and our open letter signed by 150 CEOs at SecureProsperity.ca, we outlined the policies needed to help Canadian companies grow, compete globally, and create better paycheques here at home.

"As Canada navigates economic headwinds—from rising interest rates to a destabilizing trade war—homegrown firms are looking for political leaders who understand the modern economy and are ready to lead with vision. Platforms should reflect a serious strategy to build Canadian capacity, strengthen our sovereignty, and reduce our reliance on vulnerable markets.

"In today’s platform release, the Conservative Party has identified some important opportunities. The promise to implement open banking, for example, is good news—Canadian fintechs have been calling for this for years, and it’s a long-overdue reform that will increase competition and create new market opportunities. The commitment to use government procurement to support domestic firms is also welcome, and aligns with what innovators have told us: public purchasing should be used strategically to strengthen our economy. Similarly, the pledge to allow capital gains to be reinvested in Canadian companies responds directly to recommendations we’ve made about improving access to scale-up capital.

"But what’s still missing from the platform is a larger vision—one that demonstrates a clear understanding of how wealth and prosperity are generated in the 21st century, and the critical role that homegrown companies play in advancing economic sovereignty. Canadian entrepreneurs aren’t just looking for tax relief or procurement reform—they’re looking for leadership that grasps the structural shifts that have redefined the global economy.

"If the Conservatives form government after April 28, we hope their first priority will be to meet directly with Canada’s innovators to shape a meaningful response to the challenges facing high-growth firms in an era defined by IP, data, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies. These are seismic shifts—and Canada needs to be prepared to lead, not follow."

CCI is proudly non-partisan. We’ll continue to measure every party’s platform against the core principles outlined in our What Innovators Need to Scale document — delivered to all parties before the campaign began.

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Media Contact:

James McLeod
jmcleod@canadianinnovators.org