CCI's Ontario Priorities for Fall 2024

By Skaidra Puodžiūnas,
CCI Director of Ontario Affairs

Today the Ontario legislature resumes sitting, as the government is preparing to release the fall economic statement on October 30.

This could be the Ontario government’s final fiscal document before a rumoured early election campaign in the first half of 2025. In recent months, we’ve seen some positive steps from the province. As we enter this critical phase before a potential election, it’s time for the government to clearly demonstrate what they’re able to deliver for the Ontario innovation economy.

If voters are going to the polls, at CCI we believe citizens will judge this government not only on the immediate challenges facing the province, but also the long-term groundwork being laid for our economy’s future competitiveness.

Ontario has an amazing array of innovative companies that are already leading in their fields and working hard to scale-up globally and drive revenue growth. These innovation leaders are eager to play a role in building a better ecosystem, with policies that make Ontario the best possible place to found and grow an innovative company.

Here’s what innovators will be watching for, during the fall political season in Ontario:

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Create a Sustainable Pathway for Health Care Innovation

Innovation in health care requires a long-term vision—one that moves beyond the cycle of pilots and one-off funding announcements. This approach too often traps promising technologies and is responsible for a failure to achieve wider adoption.

CCI supports the government’s continued focus on launching a Health Innovation Pathway, most recently featured in the next phase of Ontario’s Life Sciences strategy. As part of this announcement, we saw the government commit an additional $24 million for a Life Sciences Scale-Up Fund, targeting Ontario’s most promising companies in conjunction with $12 million announced earlier this year under the Health Technology Accelerator Fund.

This is extremely encouraging, and we will be watching to see the implementation of these intentions in the months ahead. These mechanisms can be game changers for health providers looking to adopt transformative tech in Ontario’s health care system.

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Advance Digital Leadership with Bill 194

The landscape of data and privacy is evolving rapidly, and Ontario’s response through Bill 194, the Strengthening Cyber Security and Building Trust in the Public Sector Act, is a positive step forward.

As debate resumes this month, CCI continues to emphasize that regulation must be balanced with flexibility—creating a framework that protects Ontarians while enabling economic growth. It’s about building trust, but it’s also about creating space for new business models and solutions to flourish. To this end, we want to see language in the bill that allows ministerial authority to recognize industry standards. Embracing industry standards can be a flexible tool of governance rather than relying on a more rigid regulatory approach, and this is simultaneously a way to free up government capacity for other priorities.

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Evolve Supply Ontario into a Strategic Partner for Homegrown Innovation

When an Ontario-based company secures a contract with the provincial government, it’s more than just a deal—it’s a critical stamp of approval that can unlock further investment and new markets, both within Canada and globally.

At CCI we were enormously optimistic about Supply Ontario as a centralized government procurement entity with a mandate to drive meaningful procurement reform across government. But in recent months, it seems that momentum for the Supply Ontario project may have stalled. We hope to see positive announcements on the progress of Supply Ontario in the months ahead.

Transforming the role of Supply Ontario by establishing a procurement concierge service would be a welcome step forward. By prioritizing local firms in procurement, Ontario can create a virtuous cycle of validation and growth, ensuring that the benefits of innovation are felt across the province.

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Invest in Ontario-Headquartered Companies with a Focus on Economic Growth

Ontario’s efforts to strengthen procurement for local innovators through the Building Ontario Business Initiative Act are commendable. This initiative is more than just policy—it’s a signal that Ontario is serious about leveling the playing field for domestic companies. A strategic focus on homegrown firms allows Ontario to build a globally competitive innovation ecosystem, fostering the creation of local IP, new products, and more jobs. CCI remains committed to working with the government to ensure that these initiatives translate into real, tangible growth for Ontario’s economy.

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For more on our policy priorities at Queen’s Park in the months ahead, check out our 2025 Ontario Pre-Budget Submission, where we lay out our vision for a future that fully harnesses the power of Ontario’s innovators.

Skaidra Puodziunas leads CCI's Ontario Bureau and works on behalf of innovators in Ontario to advance strategies at Queen's Park that help domestic companies scale-up globally. To learn more about CCI's Ontario advocacy efforts, email Skaidra at spuodziunas@canadianinnovators.org.

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About the Council of Canadian Innovators

The Council of Canadian Innovators is a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. Established in 2015, CCI represents and works with over 150 of Canada’s fastest-growing technology companies. Our members are the CEOs, founders, and top senior executives behind some of Canada’s most successful ‘scale-up’ companies. All our members are job and wealth creators, investors, philanthropists, and experts in their fields of health tech, cleantech, fintech, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation. Companies in our portfolio are market leaders in their verticals, commercialize their technologies in over 190 countries, and generate between $10M-$750M in annual recurring revenue. We advocate on their behalf for government strategies that increase their access to skilled talent, strategic capital, and new customers, as well as expanded freedom to operate for their global pursuits of scale.