CED Quebec — Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI)

Program Description

Temporary non-repayable contribution of $100,000 to $1,000,000 for Quebec manufacturing SMEs negatively impacted by US/China tariffs and Canadian countermeasures. Supports productivity investments (equipment, automation, digitization), supply chain strengthening, and market diversification projects. Minimum $100K contribution, maximum 50% assistance rate. Projects focused solely on market diversification capped at $300K. Repayable contributions available for projects exceeding $1M at up to 75% cost-share. CED has already disbursed over $12M to 19 projects in the Mauricie, Lanaudiere, and Centre-du-Quebec regions alone.

Eligibility Requirements

• Manufacturing SME with fewer than 500 employees
• Located and operating in Quebec
• In business for at least 3 years
• Generated revenues of $2 million or more in the most recently completed fiscal year
• Was a viable business before tariffs were imposed (before March 21, 2025), demonstrated by financial statements
• Be adversely impacted by the economic context (loss of revenue, rising costs, reduced profitability) and be able to demonstrate this in concrete terms
• CED gives priority to projects that can be delivered in the short term
• Minimum assistance amount: $100,000 (implying minimum $200,000 total project)
• Must have a structuring project — an investment producing a significant, lasting and measurable change in operations, beyond a one-time or incremental improvement. Like-for-like equipment replacement, routine maintenance and marginal capacity increases are considered less structuring.
• A business may only receive non-repayable funding under the RTRI (IRRT) scheme once, and may not combine non-repayable funding with repayable funding for the same project.