Ottawa businesses hit hard by tariffs have a bigger pool of federal money to draw on this month. Applications opened September 8, 2026 for the expanded Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI), the program that channels federal support to companies across southern Ontario, a region that includes Ottawa.
What's New in the Expanded Program
The expansion adds $1.5 billion in federal investment to the RTRI, bringing the program's total national investment to $3.45 billion. Under the enhanced program, eligible businesses can receive up to $3 million in non-repayable funding. Of that, up to $2 million is earmarked specifically for businesses' demonstrated liquidity needs, money meant to help companies cover cash flow gaps tied to tariff costs rather than fund long-term capital projects.
Part of a Larger Federal Push
The RTRI expansion is part of the Government of Canada's $7.5-billion tariff response package, announced August 25, 2026. The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and the minister responsible for FedDev Ontario, said Canada has the businesses, the skilled workers, and the expertise to compete and grow, and that the expanded RTRI is meant to provide additional support toward that goal.
The Ottawa Angle
The program is administered through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), whose service territory includes Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, specifically the counties of Renfrew, Lanark, Leeds-Grenville, Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry, and Prescott-Russell. That means Ottawa-area businesses squeezed by tariffs, from manufacturers to exporters, are directly eligible to apply for the funding alongside companies across the rest of southern Ontario. For a city with a significant manufacturing and trade-exposed business base, that eligibility matters: it puts non-repayable federal money, not a loan, on the table specifically for tariff-related pressure.
Why This Matters Now
Tariffs have been a persistent source of pressure on Canadian businesses this year. ottown's earlier report noted that federal politicians have been taking Canada's trade grievances directly to American audiences, describing Canadians as feeling wounded and confused by the pressure. For Ottawa business owners watching costs climb, the expanded RTRI offers a concrete way to offset some of that financial damage, rather than just political messaging about it.
What Ottawa Businesses Should Know
The $3 million funding cap and the $2 million liquidity carve-out apply to eligible businesses across the entire southern Ontario territory, not exclusively to Ottawa. Businesses looking to apply should go directly to FedDev Ontario for full eligibility criteria and application steps, since the details of the program are set at the federal level rather than through the City of Ottawa. With $3.45 billion now committed nationally to the RTRI and a $7.5-billion tariff response package behind it, the federal government is signalling that tariff relief funding is meant to be an ongoing tool for affected businesses, not a one-time measure.
Sources: Canada.ca / FedDev Ontario, Economic Developers Council of Ontario
