OTTAWA, September 9, 2026 – Food and Beverage Canada (FBC-ABC) is calling on the federal government to use Budget 2026 to make Canada a more competitive place to invest, manufacture and grow food and beverage manufacturing businesses. 

In its 2026 Pre-Budget Submission to the Department of Finance, FBC-ABC argues that achieving Canada’s food security and domestic processing ambitions will require more than individual programs. It will require a coordinated economic approach that strengthens investment, productivity, regulatory competitiveness and the workforce needed to expand manufacturing capacity in Canada.  

Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing industry is the country’s largest manufacturing industry and largest manufacturing employer. In 2025, it contributed approximately $35.1 billion to GDP, employed more than 318,000 Canadians and exported $60.2 billion in products.  

“Canada has made food security and increased domestic processing national priorities. The question now is how we turn those ambitions into actual investment in Canadian plants, technology, people and production capacity,” said Kristina Farrell, CEO of Food and Beverage Canada.  

The federal government’s National Food Security Strategy has set a target of increasing food-processing GDP growth to 2.75 per cent annually. Research prepared for FBC-ABC by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), however, estimates that under business-as-usual conditions, food and beverage manufacturing GDP would grow by approximately 1.8 per cent annually to 2035.  

FBC-ABC’s Budget 2026 recommendations are intended to help close that gap.  

Among its recommendations, FBC-ABC is calling on the federal government to: 

• Commit at least $2 billion in dedicated federal investment support over five years for food and beverage manufacturing, including additional capacity to respond to demonstrated demand through the Strategic Response Fund and predictable, multi-year investment support; 
• Make food and beverage manufacturing a priority under the federal Red Tape Review, with a focus on reducing unnecessary regulatory costs, improving approval timelines and strengthening regulatory competitiveness; 
• Align Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan and economic immigration priorities with the permanent, year-round workforce needs of food and beverage manufacturers; 
• Reduce structural energy, fuel, freight and transportation costs that affect the cost and competitiveness of manufacturing food and beverages in Canada;  
• protect essential food and beverage products, ingredients and manufacturing inputs from retaliatory tariffs where tariffs would increase domestic production costs;
• Convene a Federal-Provincial-Territorial working group to harmonize Extended Producer Responsibility policies for packaging and paper, including definitions, reporting requirements and fee methodologies, while addressing gaps in markets for recycled materials; and  
• End automatic inflation-based increases to alcohol excise duties and return future rate changes to the normal budgetary and Parliamentary process.  

The submission also points to strong industry demand for investment. The federal Strategic Response Fund envelope supporting food and beverage processing and related agri-food investment was initially announced at $500 million and subsequently established at $350 million under the National Food Security Strategy. FBC-ABC understands that requests through the current intake have already exceeded the available funding. 

“That demand tells us something important: Canadian manufacturers are ready to invest,” Farrell said. “The opportunity for government is to leverage that private investment and make sure companies choose Canada when they are deciding where to automate a line, expand a plan or build new production capacity. It is also about helping Canadian companies scale – enabling small manufacturers to become medium-sized, medium-sized companies to become larger employers, and more Canadian businesses to reach the scale needed to compete internationally.” 

FBC-ABC’s submission argues that food and beverage manufacturing should increasingly be viewed not simply as one component of Canada’s food system, but as strategic industrial capacity. 

“Canada is extraordinarily good at producing agricultural products, but the economic opportunity does not end at the farm gate,” said Farrell. “The more we transform here, the more value we keep here – through jobs, investment, innovation, exports and stronger markets for Canadian agriculture.” 

FBC-ABC’s full 2026 Pre-Budget Submission is available here.

Media Contact:
Kristina Farrell, CEO
Food and Beverage Canada
kristina.farrell@fbc-abc.com
613-322-9235

About Food and Beverage Canada (FBC-ABC): Food and Beverage Canada is the national industry association representing Canada’s domestic food and beverage manufacturers. FBC-ABC works with members, provincial and regional associations, and government to advance policies that support a competitive industry that provides safe, high-quality food for Canadians and global markets.