Budget 2024: Boosting Youth Entrepreneurship
Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Small Business, highlighted Budget 2024: Fairness for Every Generation, the government’s plan to drive economic growth in a way that is shared by all. It is a plan to build a Canada that works better for every generation, where younger generations can get ahead, where their hard work pays off, and where they can buy or rent their own home-where everyone has a fair chance at a good middle class life.
To do this, Budget 2024 will empower young entrepreneurs with an investment of $60 million in Futurpreneur Canada. Federal funding will be matched by funding received from other orders of government and private sector partners to maximize the impact of new support in Budget 2024. By 2029, Futurpreneur Canada estimates this investment will enable an estimated 6,250 additional businesses owned by young Canadians to launch and scale-up their businesses.
Futurpreneur Canada is a national not-for-profit organization that provides young entrepreneurs with access to financing, mentorship, and other business supports to help them launch and grow their business. For over two decades, Futurpreneur Canada’s programs and offerings, supported by $161.5 million in federal funding, have helped over 17,700 young entrepreneurs to launch more than 13,900 businesses across the country, supporting thousands of jobs since its inception.
Budget 2024 is investing in the technologies, incentives, and supports critical for increasing productivity, boosting innovation, and attracting more private investment to businesses. And by supporting Canada’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and researchers in securing a prosperous future, it is helping create good paying jobs that Canadians can depend on.
Budget 2024 will build a fairer Canada, where every generation can reach their full potential. It makes Canada’s tax system fairer by asking the very wealthiest to pay their fair share-so that we can make investments in prosperity for every generation. This is a responsible economic plan that upholds the fiscal objectives outlined in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, and sees Canada maintain the lowest deficit- and net debt-to-GDP ratios in the G7.
