Highlights from Budget 2024

April 16, 2024

On April 16, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2024 federal budget.

Below are some highlights of interest to the Canadian library and information management community:

Artificial Intelligence

Strengthening Canada’s AI Advantage

To secure Canada’s AI advantage Budget 2024 announces a monumental increase in targeted AI support of $2.4 billion, including:

• $2 billion over five years, starting in 2024-25, to launch a new AI Compute Access Fund and Canadian AI Sovereign Compute Strategy, to help Canadian researchers, start-ups, and scale-up businesses access the computational power they need to compete and help catalyze the development of Canadian-owned and located AI infrastructure.
• $200 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to boost AI start-ups to bring new technologies to market, and accelerate AI adoption in critical sectors, such as agriculture, clean technology, health care, and manufacturing. This support will be delivered through Canada’s Regional Development Agencies.
• $100 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, for the National Research Council’s AI Assist Program to help Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses and innovators build and deploy new AI solutions, potentially in coordination with major firms, to increase productivity across the country.
• $50 million over four years, starting in 2025-26, to support workers who may be impacted by AI, such as creative industries. This support will be delivered through the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program, which will provide new skills training for workers in potentially disrupted sectors and communities.

The government will engage with industry partners and research institutes to swiftly implement AI investment initiatives, fostering collaboration and innovation across sectors for accelerated technological advancement.

Safe and Responsible Use of AI

AI has tremendous economic potential, but as with all technology, it presents important considerations to ensure its safe development and implementation. Canada is a global leader in responsible AI and is supporting an AI ecosystem that promotes responsible use of technology. From development through to implementation and beyond, the government is taking action to protect Canadians from the potentially harmful impacts of AI.

The government is committed to guiding AI innovation in a positive direction, and to encouraging the responsible adoption of AI technologies by Canadians and Canadian businesses. To bolster efforts to ensure the responsible use of AI:

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $50 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to create an AI Safety Institute of Canada to ensure the safe development and deployment of AI. The AI Safety Institute will help Canada better understand and protect against the risks of advanced and generative AI systems. The government will engage with stakeholders and international partners with competitive AI policies to inform the final design and stand-up of the AI Safety Institute.
• Budget 2024 also proposes to provide $5.1 million in 2025-26 to equip the AI and Data Commissioner Office with the necessary resources to begin enforcing the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act.
• Budget 2024 proposes $3.5 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to advance Canada’s leadership role with the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, securing Canada’s leadership on the global stage when it comes to advancing the responsible development, governance, and use of AI technologies internationally.

Arts, Culture, and Heritage

Preserving Holocaust Remembrance

Preserving the memory of the Holocaust is important to ensuring it never happens again. By educating current and future generations of Canadians about the Holocaust, the government will advance its fight against denial and Holocaust-related disinformation, and raise awareness of Antisemitism.

• To create a new National Holocaust Remembrance Program, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $5 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, and $2 million ongoing, to the Department of Canadian Heritage, to support initiatives that seek to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and help improve Canadians’ understanding, awareness towards the Holocaust and Antisemitism.
• Budget 2024 announces that the Department of Canadian Heritage will launch a project to review and renew Canada’s National Holocaust Monument, using existing resources, including to broaden its visibility and engagement in Ottawa and with Canadians across the country.

Investing in CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is key to our democracy. As Canada’s national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada ensures people in all parts of Canada, including rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, have access to local and Canadian news and entertainment, in their preferred official language. Like many media organizations, CBC/Radio-Canada has experienced declining advertising and subscription revenues that threaten its ability to fulfill its mandate of providing public television and radio programming.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $42 million in 2024-25 for CBC/Radio-Canada news and entertainment programming, ensuring Canadians across the country, including rural, remote, Indigenous, and minority language communities, have access to high-quality, independent journalism and entertainment.

Building New Museums and Cultural Centres

Our society is made stronger every day by Canada’s cultural and ethnic diversity. Canada’s rich cultural fabric is full of long and celebrated histories and telling these stories both informs and builds bridges of understanding. The government is committed to preserving the past and supporting the future of Canada’s remarkable diversity.

• Budget 2024 proposes $11 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to:
  • Support the Sikh Arts & Culture Foundation and the Royal Ontario Museum to create a museum space in Toronto dedicated to Sikh arts, culture, and heritage; and,
  • Support the operations of the Hellenic Community of Vancouver.

Beyond these funding allocations, the federal government is committed to being a funding partner for a new museum and a new cultural centre in British Columbia. Once further details are announced, the federal government will contribute to build a new museum highlighting the histories, cultures, and contributions of Canadians of diverse South Asian heritages, as well as a new Filipino cultural centre that will create a designated space for the Filipino community to come together and celebrate its culture and heritage.

Supporting the Canadian Book Industry

Canada has given the world some of the best books, written by some of the best authors. Novels draw readers in Canada and around the world into our uniquely Canadian landscapes and our diverse perspectives. Biographies, histories, and non-fiction that critique Canadian society ensure a faithful record of the Canadian experience and perspectives are kept.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $10 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Book Fund to elevate Canadian authors and stories both at home and abroad through increased supports for Canadian authors and book publishers.

Cyber Security

Strengthening Cyber Security

Cyber security is more important than ever as Canadians increasingly interact with and receive benefits from the government via digital services. The government is strengthening its tools to maintain digital services, protect Canadians’ information, and improve the resilience of federal agencies in the face of emerging cyber threats.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $11.1 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to implement a whole-of-government cyber security strategy. This will help ensure the government is best equipped to combat cyber threats, and quickly and effectively resolve any vulnerabilities across digital government services.
• Budget 2024 also proposes to provide $27 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, and $2.3 million ongoing to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to enhance its cyber resiliency and ensure the implementation of additional data security safeguards over the long-term.
• To ensure a common understanding of cyber security best practices and identify areas for priority action to build cyber resiliency, the government also proposes to launch a data governance review of federal financial sector agencies, to be led by the Department of Finance Canada.

Digital Economy

Protecting Children from Online Harm

Social media is simply a fact of life today; it is with us in our pockets, wherever we go. While online platforms offer connection, social media is also becoming increasingly filled with hate and risks of harm. And our children are spending more and more time online.

Social media and other online platforms need to do more to keep our children safe from being deceived, exploited, and taken advantage of by those with malicious motives. No child should ever fall victim to bullying, threats, or predators, but online platforms are failing to protect our children from known harms that exist online. Online platforms are failing to protect our most vulnerable, and must do more to ensure harmful content is not being prioritized and served to our children. We must ensure online platforms are safe places that enable the participation, connection, and freedom of expression of all Canadians, particularly the youngest generations.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $52 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, with $2.1 million in remaining amortization, to Canadian Heritage and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to protect children, and all Canadians, by subjecting large online platforms to a duty to act responsibly, ensuring that the platforms are reducing a user’s exposure to harmful content online and by creating a Digital Safety Commission to ensure this duty is being adequately met. The government will also establish a Digital Safety Ombudsperson to be a resource and advocate for users and victims of online harm.
• Budget 2024 also proposes to provide $2.5 million in 2024-25 to Public Safety Canada to support the important work of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in preventing and responding to online child sexual exploitation, of which $1.5 million will be sourced from existing resources.

Establishing a Right to Disconnect

Everyone needs some downtime; it is essential for well-being and mental health. As the nature of work in many industries has become increasingly digital, workers are finding it increasingly difficult to disconnect from their devices and inboxes after hours and on weekends. This has particularly impacted Millennial and Gen Z workers, many of whom have worked their whole careers without firm separation between work and personal time.

The government is taking action to restore work-life balance for the many workers in federally regulated industries, including but not limited to financial services, telecommunications, and transportation, by moving forward with a right disconnect from work, outside of their working hours.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $3.6 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, and $0.6 million ongoing to enable the Labour Program at Employment and Social Development Canada to implement legislative amendments to the Canada Labour Code that would require employers in federally regulated sectors to establish a right to disconnect policy limiting work-related communication outside of scheduled working hours.
  • This is expected to benefit up to 500,000 employees in federally regulated sectors.

Diversity / Equity / Inclusion

Combatting Hate

Hate has no place in Canada. The government is committed to combatting hate in all its forms, so that everyone in Canada is safe in our homes, on our streets, in our places of worship, and in our local communities.

The government remains steadfast in its commitment to protect the rights and dignity of all Canadians, fostering an inclusive Canada welcoming for all, regardless of their race, faith, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

By investing and scaling up efforts to combat hate, the government is strengthening the resiliency of our communities and institutions, so that together, we can build a fairer, safer Canada for every generation.

• To confront hate in all its forms, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $273.6 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, with $29.3 million ongoing, for Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate to support community outreach and law enforcement reform, tackle the rise in hate crimes, enhance community security, counter radicalization, and increase support for victims. These investments include:
  • $10 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the Changing Narratives Fund. This builds on previous funding of $5 million provided in Budget 2022;
  • $25 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support Anti-Hate programming and promoting intercultural ties and community-based activities;
  • $5 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to support the construction of the new Montréal Holocaust Museum, which will greatly expand the number of people, including schoolchildren, who can learn from its important collections;
  • $12.9 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, with $0.9 million ongoing, to support a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Canadian Heritage and Statistics Canada to improve the collection and availability of hate crime data in Canada;
  • $19.5 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to Public Safety Canada for the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence;
  • $26.8 million over four years, starting in 2024-25, to Public Safety Canada to support police colleges to increase training on handling hate crimes;
  • $28 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, to the Department of Justice for the Federal Victims Strategy to provide support to victims following a hate-motivated crime;
  • $1.5 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to the Department of Justice for developing and delivering specialized training to Crown prosecutors and to raise awareness in the judiciary about the unique dynamics of hate crime;
  • $12 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to Women and Gender Equality Canada to fund projects aimed at combatting hate against the 2SLGBTQI+ community;
  • $3 million over two years, starting in 2024-25, to Women and Gender Equality Canada to support security needs for Pride festivals;
  • $20.2 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, and $3.2 million ongoing, to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Police College to enhance their anti-hate work with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and policing partners through the Hate Crimes Task Force. This funding is offset by cost recovery of police colleges of $3.8 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, and $1.3 million ongoing;
  • $18 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, and $3 million ongoing, to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation to expand the scope of their work and create a stand-alone Combatting Hate: Community Information Resource Hub. The Hub will bring together, government, law enforcement and professionals to collect hate-crime related data, develop common standards for reporting and defining hate crimes; and provide important hate-crime related training; and,
  • $45 million over five years, starting in 2025-26, and $9 million ongoing, to support the capacity of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Addressing the Rise in Antisemitism

Recently, Canada has witnessed a worrying increase in Antisemitism, underscoring the need for urgent collective action. United against hate, the government is resolute in protecting Jewish communities from bigotry, hate, and religious discrimination.

• As part of Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $7.3 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, with $1.1 million ongoing, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. This builds on previous funding in Budget 2022 of $5.6 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, and $1.2 million ongoing.

These investments will help build a more inclusive society, ensuring that current and future generations of Jewish people in Canada can feel safe at home.

Addressing the Rise in Islamophobia

Recently, Canada has witnessed a worrying increase in Islamophobia, underscoring the need for urgent collective action. The government is resolute in protecting Muslim communities from bigotry, hate, and religious discrimination.

• As part of Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $7.3 million over six years, starting in 2024-25, with $1.1 million ongoing, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. This builds on previous funding in Budget 2022 of $5.6 million over five years, starting 2022-23, and $1.2 million ongoing.

These investments will help build a more inclusive society, ensuring that current and future generations of Muslim people in Canada can feel safe at home.

Modernizing the Employment Equity Act

Through the Employment Equity Act, the government promotes and improves equality and diversity in federally regulated workplaces. Since the introduction of the Employment Equity Act, continued progress has been made to address inequalities, but some workers are still facing barriers to employment and many federal workplaces fail to reflect the full diversity of Canada’s population. That is why, in 2021, the government launched an arm’s length Task Force to review the Act and advise on how to modernize the federal employment equity framework.

• Following the recommendations of the Task Force, Budget 2024 announces the government’s intention to propose legislative amendments to modernize the Employment Equity Act, including by expanding designated equity groups.

Additional Investments – Tax Fairness for Every Generation

An Accessible, Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Federal Public Service

Funding proposed for TBS and PSC to support the Office of Public Service Accessibility, the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities, and improve recruitment and assessment processes for persons with disabilities.

Government

A Single Sign-In Portal for Government Services

Canadians and businesses shouldn’t have to remember multiple passwords to access the services and programs they rely on. However, there are currently over 60 different Government of Canada systems each requiring their own separate log-in and passwords to access. That is too many.

Fast and efficient delivery of government services and programs is critical to ensuring Canadians and businesses are supported as intended.

To establish a modern, single sign-in portal for federal government services, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $25.1 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, with $13.5 million in remaining amortization, to Employment and Social Development Canada.

Responsible Government Spending

Budget 2023 and the 2023 Fall Economic Statement announced a total of $15.8 billion in savings over five years, and $4.8 billion ongoing, to be refocused towards the priorities that matter most to Canadians today, including health care, dental care, and investments in Canada’s economic plan.

Over the past year, the government carried out the first phase of refocusing government spending, identifying areas of duplication, low value for money, or lack of alignment with government priorities, with a particular focus on travel and consulting. Care was taken to ensure that departments and agencies could meet their reallocation targets without impacting direct benefits and service delivery to Canadians; direct transfers to other orders of government and Indigenous communities; and the Canadian Armed Forces. Results of this first phase are outlined in the Main Estimates, 2024-25 and the 2024-25 Departmental Plans.

• To implement the second phase of refocusing government spending, Budget 2024 announces the government will seek to achieve savings primarily through natural attrition in the federal public service.
  • Starting on April 1, 2025, federal public service organizations will be required to cover a portion of increased operating costs through their existing resources.
  • Over the next four years, based on historical rates of natural attrition, the government expects the public service population to decline by approximately 5,000 full-time equivalent positions from an estimated population of roughly 368,000 as of March 31, 2024.
  • Altogether, this will achieve the remaining savings of $4.2 billion over four years, starting in 2025-26, and $1.3 billion ongoing towards the refocusing government spending target.

Canadians know how important it is to responsibly manage a budget while at the same time contending with rising costs, and they rightly expect the government to do the same. This measure will not impact the delivery of benefits to Canadians and will be implemented in a way that continues to support regional representation and a diverse public service workforce.

Going forward, the government will continue to review spending across departments and on key initiatives to ensure the government operates effectively and efficiently for Canadians. Ongoing reviews of government spending and programming are an important component of managing public finances in a prudent and responsible manner.

Government Information

Modernizing Housing Data

To better understand the needs of local housing markets, we need better data. Every order of government should be committed to a data-driven response to the housing crisis.

To help modernize housing data, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $20 million over four years, starting in 2024-25 for Statistics Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to modernize and enhance the collection and dissemination of housing data, including municipal-level data on housing starts and completions.

Additional Investments – Tax Fairness for Every Generation

Enhancing the Security Posture of the Privy Council Office

Funding proposed for PCO to enhance physical and cyber security and expand access to secure communication technologies for senior leaders in the government.

Expediting Access to Information

Funding proposed for TBS and LAC to maintain the Access to Information and Privacy regime.

An Accessible, Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Federal Public Service

Funding proposed for TBS and PSC to support the Office of Public Service Accessibility, the Federal Internship Program for Canadians with Disabilities, and improve recruitment and assessment processes for persons with disabilities.

Infrastructure

More Community Centres

Community facilities, like libraries, cultural and community centres, and recreation facilities, are essential spaces for social interaction where Canadians can come together as neighbours. Recreation facilities help people build healthier lives, improving well-being and longevity. Libraries build literacy and learning, especially for young minds, and provide internet access for people with low incomes who can’t afford it at home.

The Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program is providing $1.5 billion to support green and accessible retrofits and upgrades of existing public community facilities, as well as the construction of new publicly-accessible community facilities across Canada.

The program is investing in projects like the retrofit of the Connections Early Years Family Centre in Windsor to make it more accessible and energy efficient, and an upgraded, energy efficient Band Office and daycare facility in Kapawe’no First Nation in Alberta.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $500 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, to Infrastructure Canada to support more projects through the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program.

Mental Health

Launching a New Youth Mental Health Fund

Young Canadians are facing high levels of stress and mental health challenges, including depression and anxiety. Many of them are still in school or just starting their careers and are struggling with the costs of private mental health care. The rising cost of living has further exacerbated this issue. Our government remains committed to ensuring that future generations have the access they need for mental health supports so that they can have a health start to adulthood.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $500 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, for the creation of a new Youth Mental Health Fund which will help younger Canadians access the mental health care they need.

The new Youth Mental Health Fund will help community health organizations provide more care for younger Canadians, and better equip these organizations to refer youth to other mental health services within their networks and partnerships.

It is critical that youth have what they need to build a happy, healthy start in their adulthood. Mental health care is an essential part of ensuring every young Canadian can reach their full potential, and that helps Canada’s economy reach its full potential, too.

News and Journalism / Publishing

Promoting Local Journalism

Access to high quality and independent news and information is a key pillar of any democracy. Over the years, private corporations have bought up media outlets, including small community papers and broadcast channels, but have not been there to support the journalists who are the heartbeat of news. Combined with shifts to the digital platforms of multinational tech giants who are reducing revenue streams, local news is facing critical challenges. If we allow the erosion of news media, we are enabling the sort of unchecked disinformation and misinformation that will erode our democracy.

The government believes that Canadians, no matter where they live, especially those in small, underserved, and official language communities, need to be able to have access to independent local journalism.

To support the production of independent, reliable, and diverse local news across the country, the government announced $58.8 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to the Department of Canadian Heritage for the Local Journalism Initiative. This support would be available to written press, community radio and television, and online news services.

Investing in Public Interest Programming Services

Public interest programming services, including the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), Accessible Media Inc (AMI), ICI Television, and TV5 Québec Canada, among others, play important roles providing news programming to Canadians, and ensuring diverse voices are heard and accessible across the country.

The services provided by not-for-profit media organizations, like APTN, which amplifies Indigenous voices covering Indigenous news, for Indigenous communities across the country, need urgent support to continue delivering the news.

• Budget 2024 proposes to provide $15 million over two years, starting in 2024‑25, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support public interest programming services, including $5 million in 2024-25 to support CPAC’s capital requirements.

Research

Enhancing Research Support

Since 2016, the federal government has committed more than $16 billion in research, including funding for the federal granting councils—the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

This research support enables groundbreaking discoveries in areas such as climate change, health emergencies, artificial intelligence, and psychological health. This plays a critical role in solving the world’s greatest challenges, those that will have impacts for generations.

Canada’s granting councils already do excellent work within their areas of expertise, but more needs to be done to maximize their effect. The improvements we are making today, following extensive consultations including with the Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System, will strengthen and modernize Canada’s federal research support.

• To increase core research grant funding and support Canadian researchers, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $1.8 billion over five years, starting in 2024-25, with $748.3 million per year ongoing to SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR.
• To provide better coordination across the federally funded research ecosystem, Budget 2024 announces the government will create a new capstone research funding organization. The granting councils will continue to exist within this new organization, and continue supporting excellence in investigator-driven research, including linkages with the Health portfolio. This new organization and structure will also help to advance internationally collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and mission-driven research. The government is delivering on the Advisory Panel’s observation that more coordination is needed to maximize the impact of federal research support across Canada’s research ecosystem.
• To help guide research priorities moving forward, Budget 2024 also announces the government will create an advisory Council on Science and Innovation. This Council will be made up of leaders from the academic, industry, and not-for-profit sectors, and be responsible for a national science and innovation strategy to guide priority setting and increase the impact of these significant federal investments.
• Budget 2024 also proposes to provide a further $26.9 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, with $26.6 million in remaining amortization and $6.6 million ongoing, to the granting councils to establish an improved and harmonized grant management system.

The government will also work with other key players in the research funding system—the provinces, territories, and Canadian industry—to ensure stronger alignment, and greater co-funding to address important challenges, notably Canada’s relatively low level of business R&D investment.

More details on these important modernization efforts will be announced in the 2024 Fall Economic Statement.

Investing in Homegrown Research Talent

Canada’s student and postgraduate researchers are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The solutions they come up with have the potential to make the world a better place and drive Canadian prosperity. They are the future Canadian academic and scientific excellence, who will create new innovative businesses, develop new ways to boost productivity, and create jobs as they scale-up companies—if they get the support they need.

To build a world-leading, innovative economy, and improve our productive capacity, the hard work of top talent must pay off; we must incentivize our top talent to stay here.

Federal support for master’s, doctoral, and post-doctoral students and fellows has created new research opportunities for the next generation of scientific talent. Opportunities to conduct world-leading research are critical for growing our economy. In the knowledge economy, the global market for these ideas is highly competitive and we need to make sure talented people have the right incentives to do their groundbreaking research here in Canada.

• To foster the next generation of research talent, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $825 million over five years, starting in 2024-25, with $199.8 million per year ongoing, to increase the annual value of master’s and doctoral student scholarships to $27,000 and $40,000, respectively, and post-doctoral fellowships to $70,000. This will also increase the number of research scholarships and fellowships provided, building to approximately 1,720 more graduate students or fellows benefiting each year. To make it easier for students and fellows to access support, the enhanced suite of scholarships and fellowship programs will be streamlined into one talent program.
• To support Indigenous researchers and their communities, Budget 2024 also proposes to provide $30 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to support Indigenous participation in research, with $10 million each for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit partners.

Right to Repair

A Right to Repair Your Devices

From cell phones to computers to washers and dryers, it is frustrating—and expensive—to replace, rather than repair, your devices and appliances when they break. The current disposable lifecycle of many modern electronics and appliances is bad for the environment, and it is costly for Canadians.

Canadians expect the expensive devices they purchase to work well and last for years. And if these items fail, Canadians should be able to repair their broken appliances or devices—and at a fair price—rather than being forced to purchase a new product when one component fails.

To ensure Canadians can keep their devices working longer, and reduce harmful electronic waste in the process, the federal government is advancing a right to repair to increase product durability and repairability.

Important progress is already being made to secure these rights for Canadians, including:

• Amending the Copyright Act to allow the circumvention of digital locks to diagnose, maintain, or repair a product. This will enable consumers to repair their devices where they choose.
• Amending the Competition Act, as announced in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, to prevent manufacturers from refusing, in an anti-competitive manner, to provide the parts, tools, or software needed to fix devices and products.

Building on this progress, Budget 2024 announces:

• The government will launch consultations this June to develop a right to repair framework, which will focus on durability, repairability, and interoperability.
• The federal government is also calling on provinces and territories to amend their contract laws to support a right to repair and interoperability. Quebec’s Bill 29 is an example of how provinces can protect consumers by promoting right to repair.

Further details on the right to repair framework on home appliances and electronic devices will be announced in the coming months. The federal government is exploring how to address:

• Planned obsolescence, which is when manufacturers intentionally create products that break quickly;
• The merits of a durability index, which could help Canadians better understand how long their device is expected to last; and
• If there is the need for further federal legislative changes to support right to repair.