TIIP has submitted recommendations to the federal government’s 2026 pre-budget consultations. Our message is simple: social finance is not niche—it is economic infrastructure. Drawing on input from our members, we outlined four priority actions that would strengthen Canada’s economy, expand housing and clean energy, and ensure investment reaches communities across the country. While the federal budget process is competitive and uncertain, this submission signals TIIP’s role as the national voice for social finance intermediaries.

Our four recommendations are:

RECOMMENDATION 1: Strengthen and Extend the Social Finance Fund

That the Government of Canada ensure the continued and timely deployment of the Social Finance Fund, without delay or reduction, and pair it with a multi-year program to strengthen the capacity of social finance intermediaries. 

RECOMMENDATION 2: Integrate Social Finance into Federal Investment Programs

That the Government of Canada explicitly include social finance as an eligible category within existing federal investment initiatives ensuring that the social economy and community-rooted intermediaries, including those seeded by charities, nonprofits and coops and the organizations they finance, are recognized as a core part of Canada’s innovation and competitiveness agenda. 

RECOMMENDATION 3: Advance a Canadian Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) Framework

That the Government of Canada begin work toward establishing a Canadian framework for Community Development Finance, modeled on the successful U.S. Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) Fund. As a first step, the Government should launch a consultative process with practitioners, Indigenous leaders, and financial institutions to explore design options and pilot approaches.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Develop a Canadian Social Finance Taxonomy 

That the Government of Canada invest in the development of a Canadian Social Finance Taxonomy to establish clear definitions and standards for social finance and impact investment to provide clarity for investors, regulators, and communities, and enable future policy tools such as RRSP/TFSA eligibility, procurement targets, CRA reforms, and a Canadian Community Reinvestment Act.

 

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