Minister Chagger highlights investments to help businesses access new markets and create good middle-class jobs in Ontario

Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada - Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the engine that drives economic prosperity and creates jobs for the middle class. Opening new international markets and expanding existing ones is central to Canada’s trade diversification strategy, which aims to propel Canadian businesses to tap into new markets, reach new customers and create new jobs.

 

Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, was in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, and met with local businesses at an event hosted by TextNow, a local start-up that has developed a freemium wireless phone app. At the event, Minister Chagger encouraged local businesses to continue to explore new opportunities in overseas markets with the help of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS).

 

Minister Chagger outlined how the government is investing $290 million over five years to strengthen the TCS and enhance the support it provides Canadian businesses, including $100 million over six years to reinforce the CanExport program. Since 2016 the CanExport SME program has supported 469 projects with companies across Ontario, for a total of $13.4 million, helping these companies access new export opportunities and reach their global goals.

 

Minister Chagger also highlighted $17 million over five years to expand the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) program. This funding is part of Canada’s commitment to help SMEs expand and diversify their exports.

 

These programs are key components of Canada’s trade diversification strategy, New Markets, New Customers, New Jobs, which invests a total of $1.1 billion over six years to help Canadian companies succeed. With these investments, the government continues to make Canada the most well-connected trading economy worldwide while creating more jobs at home.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.