Can Tariff Funding Pay for Software? Four Yukon Projects Say Yes

Tariff money can pay for software.

Not in theory. On September 15, 2026, CanNor, the federal agency that runs Ottawa's tariff program in the three territories, announced up to $1,903,869 for four Yukon businesses. The largest of the four contributions, up to $1,000,000, is for a cloud platform that runs a company's books.

Most owners we talk to assume the tariff program is for steel mills and exporters. The Yukon batch is four companies with ordinary problems: slow estimating, manual grading, fourteen sets of books, a growth plan pointed at a market that closed. Each one turned the problem into a project the program would pay toward.

What the four Yukon projects bought

Northern Vision Development LP is a group of 14 companies in Whitehorse. It is putting in one cloud-based enterprise platform to run financial management, purchasing, inventory and reporting across all of them, over three years. CanNor's contribution is up to $1,000,000.

Ketza Construction has been a general contractor in the Yukon for over 50 years. Its project is AI-enabled estimating and productivity tools and an upgrade of its digital operations, so it can model supply-chain risk, compare suppliers and handle volatile pricing with less rework. Up to $249,999, over two years.

Cobalt Construction moves earth for roads and mines. It is buying and installing four 3D grade control devices to modernize its grading work, cut training time and win more local contracts. Up to $389,285, over two years.

Solvest Inc. had a growth plan aimed at Alaska. Tariffs broke it, so the company is designing, building and testing a portable solar and battery system for Yukon placer mines instead, built to sell at home. Up to $264,585, over two years.

Two of the four are software. One is a device bolted to a machine. One is a prototype. None of them is a factory.

What the program calls a pivot project

The tariff program has two kinds of money. One is payroll support for a business that tariffs are squeezing. The other is project money, which the program calls a pivot project, and that is the kind all four Yukon companies got. We lay out both on our tariff response page.

The program's own list of what a project can be is short. Productivity improvements and process modernization. Equipment and technology adoption, including automation and digitization. Market diversification and export development. Supply chain resilience. Anything that makes you more competitive and less exposed to the next trade shock.

Read that list against the Yukon four and every one lands. A cloud platform is digitization. Grade control devices are equipment adoption. Estimating software is productivity. A solar prototype built for a home market is market diversification.

Project money is non-repayable up to $1 million, at up to 50% of eligible costs. Above $1 million the money becomes repayable, interest-free, at up to 75% of costs. Every project has to be finished by March 31, 2029.

Northern Vision's $1,000,000 is exactly the non-repayable ceiling. The release does not say whether any of the four contributions is repayable, and we are not going to guess. CanNor decides in the North, a different agency decides in each other region, and every one of them decides project by project. We wrote up how pivot projects work if you want the mechanics.

What the money will not pay for

The test for every dollar is that it is a new, additional cost tied to the project. The software subscription you already pay is not new. The bookkeeper you already employ is not additional. The program's words are new, additional costs directly related to activities that improve productivity, competitiveness, supply chain resilience, market diversification or long-term growth.

The named refusals are land and building purchases, entertainment expenses, motor vehicle costs and refinancing existing debt. The program adds "and more", so that list is not closed. Your project budget also cannot carry ongoing operating costs. Those belong to the payroll side, and the same labour cost cannot be claimed under both.

So the cloud platform qualifies. The truck that drives to the job site does not. The loan you took last year for the grader does not either.

The half you carry

Up to 50% means the program pays at most half. A $400,000 software project gets at most $200,000 from the program. The other $200,000 is yours, and the rules say it cannot be in-kind work or cash you expect from future revenue. It has to be money you have, money a lender has agreed to, or another government program's money, and no cost gets paid twice.

The program asks a few things of the business before it looks at the project. Incorporated and for-profit. At least $1 million in revenue in one of the last two fiscal years. Viable before tariffs. Able to show how tariffs hit, and the hit does not have to be lost export sales. Tariffs sharply raising what your suppliers charge you counts.

Approval is discretionary. The application form says meeting the criteria does not mean the money is granted, and the agency looks at the minimum the project needs when it decides the amount. Costs can go back up to 12 months before you apply, which helps if you already started, but anything you spend before the agreement is signed is at your own risk.

What to do with this if your project is on a whiteboard

Write the project the way the Yukon four did. One problem, one fix, a start date, an end date before March 31, 2029, and a budget broken out by cost category and federal fiscal year. If the fix is software, name the system and what it replaces, because the program is paying for the change, not the status quo.

Then the paperwork. Two years of financial statements that show the $1 million. A plain account of what tariffs did to your costs or your customers, in numbers. Last, your half: cash on hand, a lender's commitment or another program's money, lined up before you file, because a forecast does not count as financing.

Fund the new thing. Carry your half. Finish by March 2029.

If the project is real and the pressure is tariffs, software is on the list. Four Yukon companies just showed it.