Research

The large and well-funded American blogsphere has a pretty wide array of economic voices and ideological camps within the centre-left tent. So big, in fact, that there’s a sub-genre of inter-blog conflict dedicated to people named Matt. Over the years, SCP Director of Policy Dan Skilleter has found it useful to categorize these various different centre-left ideological camps in his head. The categories are not mutually exclusive, and most people probably identify with a few at once. This explainer breaks down each camp's story about what’s wrong with the economy and how they’d prioritize dealing with it.

There is some confusion out there about Budget 2025 and employee ownership trusts (EOTs). To confirm, the federal government did not extend the $10M capital-gains exemption for sales through EOTs, in the budget released on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Because the sale of a business to an EOT is a process that often takes more than a year, certainty on the rules is essential for owners, advisors and employees planning succession. In this FAQ, Employee Ownership Canada answers key questions about what’s enacted now, why the incentive matters for uptake and how the sector, businesses and the organization are moving forward from the Budget news.

There has never been a federal budget quite like this one. Canada faces a moment of extreme peril, threatened by an American administration that has abandoned our mutually beneficial trading and security regime. In our pre-budget submission, Social Capital Partners recommends that Budget 2025 focus on broadening ownership to ensure the benefits of economic growth are more widely shared. Policy choices should move us away from an economy fueled by wealth extraction that enriches billionaires and inflates the bottom lines of foreign funds, and instead, move us towards more local reinvestment that builds an inclusive, sustainable and resilient democratic future where all Canadians have realistic chances to build economic security.

CAMP and SCP made a joint submission to the Ontario Securities Commission detailing deep concerns about proposals related to expanding retail investor access to private equity funds. The submission details the risks associated with buyout private-equity funds and the harms they can cause to communities and our broader economy.

There is a growing recognition, both globally and within Canada, that competition is essential to fostering a strong, resilient and productive economy. Yet, despite this consensus, the Canadian economy is becoming increasingly consolidated, and entrepreneurship is in steep decline. SCP's feedback on the Competition Bureau's Review of the Merger Enforcement Guidelines outlines our concern with serial-acquisition strategies wherein large firms acquire smaller companies in ways that evade regulatory scrutiny, and shares our recommendations to address this issue.

Social Capital Partners and Venture for Canada made a joint submission to Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) to amend the Canadian Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) to make it easier for would-be entrepreneurs to purchase existing businesses. Our recommendations to encourage more Entrepreneurship through Acquisition, or ETA, could help stop the decline in entrepreneurship, protect small businesses, keep wealth in Canadian communities and unleash more local, private-sector innovation.

Canada’s existing competition regime is unfair for small business. We surveyed over 1,000 small business owners to understand how competition policy has affected them.

The concentration of corporate power in Canada can be traced back to the antiquated objectives of our nation’s competition policy. Our submission to the government’s review of the Competition Act provides sharp critiques and recommendations on a path forward.