On November 19, ecosystem leaders and entrepreneurs from across Canada gathered for A National Post-Budget Dialogue: Women Powering Canada’s Prosperity, a virtual briefing on the Government of Canada’s Budget 2025 hosted by the Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada (WEOC). The briefing featured a wide-ranging discussion with national and regional representatives, including WEKH’s Quebec and francophone lead, Dr. Tania Saba.
Victoria Lennox, Chief Executive Officer of WEOC, opened with an analysis of Budget 2025 through three key lenses:
“Will women have access to these opportunities? Will there be alignment in the ecosystem to deliver on these opportunities and make them actually work for Canada? And how are we going to ensure accountability to ensure that we aren’t moving backwards?”
Recognizing that women-led businesses could benefit from the procurement, export, clean energy, infrastructure and supply-chain opportunities of the Build Canada Strong budget, Lennox warned that the shift away from direct support for women’s enterprise programs risks inconsistent visibility of these opportunities, regional disparities in implementation, gaps in readiness for procurement, trade and digital transformation, and reduced tracking of women’s participation without gender responsive metrics, among other impacts.
Lennox outlined key recommendations for government, regional and ecosystem partners, and entrepreneurs to ensure women’s enterprises can participate in the budget’s growth opportunities.
A cross-country panel discussion, moderated by 11ove Inc. and RISE founder Theresa Corazon Laurico, followed, featuring
- Dr. Tania Saba, BMO Chair in Diversity and Governance at Université de Montréal; and WEKH’s Quebec and francophone community lead;
- Bobbie Racette, Founder and CEO of Virtual Gurus Chair, Indigenous Prosperity Foundation; Chairwoman, QueerTech; and
- Shauna Harper, CEO of WeBC and Chair of WEOC’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Saba set the stage with key insights from WEKH’s robust national research including its 2025 State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada Report, which revealed that despite contributing over $90 billion in economic activity and generating over 865,000 jobs, women entrepreneurs remain under-represented in procurement opportunities across Canada.
Women are increasingly moving into fields such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture and natural resources, she noted. The share of small and medium-sized enterprises majority-owned by women has climbed from 15.6 per cent in 2017 to 20.9 per cent in 2024. Women business owners are also becoming more highly educated, with women holding majority ownership in 26.6 per cent of SMEs led by someone with a master’s degree or higher, up from 17.3 per cent in 2017. The trend points to a broadening of women’s economic influence and a gradual shift in the leadership profile of Canada’s small-business sector.
Panellists shared concerns that the budget assumes women can readily participate in systems that drive productivity—capital, procurement, innovation and more —despite persistent systemic barriers, especially for Black, indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ and other equity-deserving women. Challenges around accessing capital, navigating supply chains, and building export, procurement and digital skills were frequent themes.
Calgary-based Bobbie Racette reflected on her experiences securing investment, days after Virtual Gurus closed a major successful exit:
“Investment in capital is still anchored in legacy leadership and “who you know” networks,” she observed. “Funders respond to what they know already and can be reluctant to engage with people who are not like them.”
She emphasized wraparound supports and navigational help to overcome barriers to opportunities, investors and networks, particularly for entrepreneurs outside the traditional power and capital centres of Ottawa and Toronto.
WeBC CEO Shauna Harper emphasized the need for intentional strategies:
“A set aside or specific targets for inclusive procurement policies will be vital to creating better pathways to supplier diversity” she noted. Other measures to advance growth of women’s businesses include “supplier certification in diversity; specific outreach in defense and infrastructure to reach women-led businesses; transparent decision-making; and intentional focus on scaling market access domestically and internationally.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change participation,” Harper observed, “but only if women have equitable access across all provinces…and a strong, shared voice backed by national data.”
On trade, Dr. Saba highlighted that women-led businesses account for less than 5% of export value yet export at parity with men:
“We need to acknowledge and improve access to export support, and improve access to capital for market entry… We can close the gap by inviting women-led SMEs in, but also by creating women-led trade missions, export training, and investing in platforms.
“Again, the risk is that if export programs do not make gender targets clear and measurable, then nothing will really change.”
This aligned with WEOC’s call for a national data dashboard with shared KPIs, gender-disaggregated reporting and transparent tracking. Dr. Saba emphasized that data tracking of persistent gaps in revenue growth, capital access and scale-up rates can inform targeted measures, and that broader indicators—contract signings, export access, digital readiness and more—would help reveal outcomes and impacts.
In a video statement, WEKH founder and academic director Dr. Wendy Cukier reaffirmed the need for a gender and diversity lens on budget investments and policies:
“We believe good policy and programs are founded on good research and coordinated action and we have built a national network to ensure that we have access to the latest data and evidence of what works,” she explained.
“Our research shows that women entrepreneurs are not just contributing to Canada’s economy; they are anchoring it.” She underscored gaps that must be addressed as businesses expand trade beyond the U.S. and support national infrastructure initiatives.
“Inclusive leadership fuels productivity, drives innovation and strengthens our economy.”
WEOC’s Victoria Lennox reminded participants that lasting change requires collaboration across government, industry and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Budget 2025 signals a structural shift, she noted, and national networks are more vital than ever to ensuring women-led enterprises can grow, scale and build a stronger, more inclusive and resilient economy for all Canadians.
“There is a huge opportunity for this whole ecosystem… We need to lead with unity and shared purpose, centre the mission, invest in capacity and insights, and stay vocal.”
