Federal funding has a geography. It reaches the most businesses where there are the fewest — and pools where there are the most.
Federal funding reaches the most businesses where there are the fewest of them. The Territories reach 34.8% of their businesses and the Atlantic 12.8%, versus about 7% in Ontario and Quebec (national average 8.1%). Yet Ontario alone holds 65% of all federal dollars — most access and most money sit in different places.
Share of each province’s businesses that have won federal funding.
Distinct for-profit businesses funded since 2016, as a share of that province’s employer businesses today. The map lights up around the edges — and stays pale through the populous centre.
The smallest economies have the widest reach.
Every province and territory by funding reach, with the national average marked. The four Atlantic provinces and the territories all sit above it; Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan sit below.
Bars show the share of each province’s employer businesses that have received federal funding 2016–26; the figure on the right is the average federal funding per business in that province.
Most access, least money — and the exact reverse.
The flip isn’t a rounding artefact. The places that reach the most businesses hand out the smallest cheques; the place that reaches the fewest holds most of the money.
Access and dollars pull in opposite directions.
Plot each province by how many of its businesses it reaches (across) against how much money pools there per business (up). Ontario floats off on its own — low reach, enormous dollars.
Horizontal: share of businesses funded. Vertical: average federal dollars per business (log scale). Bubble size is the province’s total federal funding. Ontario’s height is the battery plants and big industrial deals headquartered there.
Wherever you are, the money is findable — most businesses just never look.
Whether you’re one of the 1-in-3 funded businesses in the North or one of the 13-in-14 in Ontario that isn’t, the programs that fit you exist. The gap isn’t geography — it’s knowing what to apply for. That’s the whole job of GrantCompass.
See what your business qualifies for