Program directory · Global Affairs Canada
International Business Development, Investment Attraction and Innovation Support
- Department
- Global Affairs Canada
- Program code
- BVC11 (EA)
- Core responsibility
- Trade and Investment
- In Departmental Plans
- 2025-26 – 2025-26 · Appeared and later dropped
What it does
Primarily through Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service (TCS), the program works with businesses and partners to promote exports, attract foreign direct investment, foster innovation partnerships, and encourage study in Canada. The TCS provides services and advice to exporters (in particular to small and medium sized enterprises), helping them to identify new opportunities and to connect to global value chains. The TCS organizes sector-specific, targeted trade missions and other activities in priority markets. It works to attract job-creating foreign direct investment to Canada in close collaboration with municipal, provincial, and federal partners. It helps Canadian businesses gain increased access to international technology networks, partners and resources in knowledge-intensive sectors. The program also develops the agenda for the department’s international commerce files, fosters coherence with partners, and enables our network to promote Canadian prosperity, competitiveness and client success.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in the Departmental Plans in 2025-26. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Business Development | Earlier program (name match, medium confidence) | 2018-19 – 2026-27 | $773M |
| International Innovation and Investment | Earlier program (name match, low confidence) | 2018-19 – 2026-27 | $232M |
| Partnerships for Development Innovation | Earlier program (name match, low confidence) | 2018-19 – 2026-27 | $2.89B |
| International Business Development, Investment Attraction and Innovation Support | This program | 2025-26 – 2027-28 | — |
| International Business Development, Investment Attraction and Innovation Support | Later program (name match, high confidence) | 2026-27 – 2028-29 | — |
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Appears to combine earlier programs: International Business Development; International Innovation and Investment; Partnerships for Development Innovation | Canada Spends name match across plans (an inference) |
| 2026-27 | Appears to be replaced by International Business Development, Investment Attraction and Innovation Support | Canada Spends name match across plans (an inference) |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
No results reported yet.
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
No indicators in the 2026-27 plan.
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | $256M | — |
| 2026-27 | $254M* | — |
| 2027-28 | $250M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 1,708 | — |
| 2026-27 | 1,701* | — |
| 2027-28 | 1,698* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 plan | $255,561,754 | $254,209,072 | $250,090,041 |
| Actual |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.