{"id":934391,"date":"2026-10-15T21:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T21:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/934391\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T21:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T21:24:09","slug":"canadas-federal-budget-likely-to-be-business-friendly-poll-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/934391\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s federal budget likely to be ‘business friendly,’ poll finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lachlan Wolfers, national leader at KPMG Law, Canada, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss what businesses want ahead of the Federal Budget 2026. <\/p>\n

As Canada\u2019s business leaders await the release of the 2026 federal budget, a majority say they\u2019re optimistic about Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s economic and fiscal plans as long as they lead to \u201cconcrete action,\u201d research suggests.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, KPMG released the results of a recent poll<\/a> that found 71 per cent of business leaders are expecting a \u201cbusiness-friendly budget that improves their prospects\u201d from the federal Liberals this fall. <\/p>\n

Although Canada\u2019s economic outlook is clouded by trade tensions with the U.S., the need for lawmakers to put forward a plan that mitigates that uncertainty is partly why leaders are so bullish on the budget, argues Lachlan Wolfers, national leader at KPMG Law Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say the optimism is born out of current economic conditions, which are obviously fragile, but people are cautiously optimistic in the government trying to ensure policy settings encourage further business innovation and investment along the way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

KPMG\u2019s poll also suggests that business leaders are on board with the Carney government\u2019s push to diversify Canada\u2019s economy through access to markets outside the U.S. <\/p>\n

Among respondents, 76 per cent said diversifying to non-U.S. markets is more important now than it was six months ago, while 84 per cent said they support Canada\u2019s pursuit of partnerships with more stable trading partners such as the European Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings reinforce the importance of the federal budget in accelerating efforts to expand market access amid ongoing uncertainty,\u201d KPMG said Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Focus on competitiveness<\/p>\n

While many thousands of Canadian firms still rely on access to U.S. markets, 72 per cent of business leaders said they are willing to be patient in negotiations if it means a more favourable trade deal is reached in the months ahead, the poll found.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaced with a uniquely challenging trade environment, nine in 10 leaders say they support Canada becoming more self-reliant and diversifying its economy, and nearly three-quarters say reforms to improve Canada\u2019s competitiveness are more important right now than securing a trade agreement with the United States,\u201d KPMG said.<\/p>\n

However, Canada\u2019s need to improve its competitiveness and its need to reach a new agreement with its largest trading partner are \u201cnot mutually exclusive concepts,\u201d Wolfers argued. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about competitiveness, we obviously want to ensure that our trade is competitive, which is obviously the most pressing issue at the moment with our relations with the U.S.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in addition to that\u2026 businesses are saying that compliance costs are too high and our tax system is not geared toward the needs of a modern economy in order to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Canada to meaningfully address its competitiveness gap, Wolfers said, the federal budget needs to include new measures that support Canadian businesses across multiple fronts. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a combination of not just (removing) the trade tensions that we see, it\u2019s interprovincial trade barriers, it\u2019s regulatory reform, it\u2019s tax reform, it\u2019s all of those things combined,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The poll showed that while the vast majority of business leaders support the federal government\u2019s general economic agenda, they say that tangible results need to follow \u2013 and soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a Canadian perspective,\u201d Wolfers said, \u201cwe\u2019re starting to see the tariffs really bite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadian business leaders want Federal Budget 2026 to turn the government\u2019s economic strategy and reforms into concrete action at home while strengthening alliances abroad to compete in an uncertain global economy,\u201d said KPMG.<\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lachlan Wolfers, national leader at KPMG Law, Canada, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss what businesses want ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-934391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}