Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) — Grants, Loans and an Early Cancellation

Modelled on Toronto's 2014 'Digital Main Street' initiative, Canada's federal government created the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) as a CAD 4 billion envelope to help small and medium businesses adopt digital technology (CAD 1.4 billion in grants and advisory services, up to CAD 2.6 billion in loans).

Help Canadian SMEs adopt e-commerce and digital technologies through micro-grants, subsidised digital-plan advisory services, and low-interest loans.

'Grow Your Business Online' offered e-commerce micro-grants up to CAD 2,400; 'Boost Your Business Technology' offered advisory grants covering up to 90% of a digital-plan consultant's fee, capped at CAD 15,000, plus zero-interest Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) loans up to CAD 100,000, delivered through 15 regional service providers and a marketplace of more than 700 advisory firms.

By closure, the Grow stream had received over 43,000 applications and approved more than 20,000 grants worth an estimated CAD 47.8 million; the Boost stream had given over 53,000 SMEs a digital-needs assessment and disbursed more than 15,000 grant claims worth over CAD 229 million; BDC authorised nearly 5,000 loans worth over CAD 280 million, approving 82% of loan applications. Despite this reach, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada wound the programme down by September 2024, about two years ahead of schedule, having spent well under its CAD 4 billion envelope.

Independent policy analysis (Policy Options/IRPP) attributed the shortfall to a cumbersome, jargon-heavy application process, a rigid one-size-fits-all advisory template regardless of business size, and a fee structure that drew 'questionably credentialed' consultants into the marketplace rather than sustaining follow-through by SMEs — and noted government was aware of these problems roughly a year before it acted.