What makes a company "Canadian" enough for government contracts?
From CanCon by Jordan Heath-Rawlings, Laura Palmer, Mat Keselman
April 9, 2026 · 22 min · Episode 28
About this episode
The episode explores what qualifies a company as 'Canadian' enough to secure government contracts, featuring insights from Vass Bednar.
Would you call Walmart Canada a "Canadian" company? It's a much more complex question than it appears—but I think most of us would agree on the general answer. It's a Canadian subsidiary of a giant US retail behemoth. But when it comes to procurement spending from the federal government, often these are kinds of companies that can meet qualifications to describe themselves as "Canadian" and earn an edge over their competitors. It shouldn't be a surprise that government spending can get complicated, but it does raise a fascinating question: For the past year many of us have learned a lot about what makes a food item or a retail product Canadian—but what about a company? Vass Bednar, managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute, joins Jordan to puzzle through that question, and how our tax dollars are spent because of it.
People in this episode
Host: Jordan Heath-Rawlings
Guest: Vass Bednar
Topics covered
- Canadian companies
- government contracts
- procurement
- retail
- tax dollars
- corporate identity
Keywords
- Canadian company
- government procurement
- Walmart Canada
- Vass Bednar
- Canadian Shield Institute
- retail contracts
- corporate identity
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Walmart Canada, Canadian Shield Institute
Places: Canada, US
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