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A director of a corporation or owner of a sole proprietorship, as well as any of their authorized representatives, may submit an application. Applicants are required to attest and certify that their business meets all of the following eligibility criteria:

1. Is either a) a sole proprietor whose owner is a Canadian resident or b) Is a business incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province or territory;
2. Is a for-profit business;
3. Has between 1 – 499 full time equivalent employees*;
4. Has at least $500,000 of annual revenues but not more than $100,000,000 in one of the previous three tax years from the date of submitting a grant application;
5. Is a privately owned business;
6. Is a Canadian-controlled Private Corporation (CCPC) as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency (applicable if the business is incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province or territory);
7. Is a business that respects human rights codes, labour, environment and anti-corruption standards, as well as engages exclusively in legal activities;
8. Is not a business that has a class of shares publicly traded on a stock exchange (in Canada or outside);
9. Is not a majority or wholly owned subsidiary or branch or sales office of a multinational corporation (MNC);
10. Is not a business whose revenue model is designed to be economically dependent on non-commercial sources such as direct government funding or private donations;
11. Is not a government organization or body (other than an Indigenous entity or body) or an entity in which a government organization or body (other than indigenous entity or band) owns equity interests;
12. Is not a not-for-profit entity such as a union, charitable, religious or fraternal organization or business owned by such organizations, nor a business that exists as a fundraising vehicle for charities;
13. Is not a business in which equity interests are held by any current member of the Parliament of Canada or any current member of the Senate of Canada other than a business whose equity interests are publicly traded;
14. Is not a business that promotes violence, incites hatred or discriminates on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability nor does it trade with countries proscribed by the government of Canada;
15. Is not a business that directly or indirectly promotes sexual exploitation or disseminates media content that is sexually explicit;
16. Is not a business that has been determined to have pled guilty to or been convicted of tax evasion or a criminal offence.

*A full-time equivalent (FTE) employee is defined as receiving a T4 Statement of Remuneration Paid slip from the applicant. One FTE is defined as at least 30 hours/week of paid labour. Part-time employees must be included as fractions of 1 FTE based on average labour hours compared to typical hours for 1 FTE employee.

A director of a corporation or owner of a sole proprietorship, as well as any of their authorized representatives, may submit an application. Applicants are required to attest and certify that their business meets all of the following eligibility criteria:

1. Is either a) a sole proprietor whose owner is a Canadian resident or b) Is a business incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province or territory;
2. Is a for-profit business;
3. Has between 1 – 499 full time equivalent employees*;
4. Has at least $500,000 of annual revenues but not more than $100,000,000 in one of the previous three tax years from the date of submitting a grant application;
5. Is a privately owned business;
6. Is a Canadian-controlled Private Corporation (CCPC) as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency (applicable if the business is incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province or territory);
7. Is a business that respects human rights codes, labour, environment and anti-corruption standards, as well as engages exclusively in legal activities;
8. Is not a business that has a class of shares publicly traded on a stock exchange (in Canada or outside);
9. Is not a majority or wholly owned subsidiary or branch or sales office of a multinational corporation (MNC);
10. Is not a business whose revenue model is designed to be economically dependent on non-commercial sources such as direct government funding or private donations;
11. Is not a government organization or body (other than an Indigenous entity or body) or an entity in which a government organization or body (other than indigenous entity or band) owns equity interests;
12. Is not a not-for-profit entity such as a union, charitable, religious or fraternal organization or business owned by such organizations, nor a business that exists as a fundraising vehicle for charities;
13. Is not a business in which equity interests are held by any current member of the Parliament of Canada or any current member of the Senate of Canada other than a business whose equity interests are publicly traded;
14. Is not a business that promotes violence, incites hatred or discriminates on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability nor does it trade with countries proscribed by the government of Canada;
15. Is not a business that directly or indirectly promotes sexual exploitation or disseminates media content that is sexually explicit;
16. Is not a business that has been determined to have pled guilty to or been convicted of tax evasion or a criminal offence.

*A full-time equivalent (FTE) employee is defined as receiving a T4 Statement of Remuneration Paid slip from the applicant. One FTE is defined as at least 30 hours/week of paid labour. Part-time employees must be included as fractions of 1 FTE based on average labour hours compared to typical hours for 1 FTE employee.

First off, in undertaking the CDAP application process, the client must either create a GCKey account, or sign in via a verified partner login service.

Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria at all times while in the program; this includes from grant application submission to grant payment, accessing of the BDC zero interest loan and the subsidized youth placements.

Applicants must inform the program of any change in their eligibility while in the program; this includes from grant application submission to grant payment, accessing of the BDC zero interest loan and the subsidized youth placements.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) reserves the right to validate the eligibility criteria by seeking supporting information and documentation from the applicant at any point in the application process for the grant and grant payment.

If ISED determines that the applicant does not continue to meet the eligibility criteria, ISED reserves the right to terminate any Grant Agreement. Applicants whose Grant Agreements are terminated will be responsible for paying any and all costs incurred up to that point in time and any costs in the future associated with retaining a Digital Advisor. ISED may also seek recovery of funds.

In undertaking the the CDAP application process, the client must either create a GCKey account, or sign in via a verified partner login service. 

1.3.1 Applicants should not provide any additional documentation unless explicitly requested by ISED. As part of the eligibility determination process, ISED reserves the right to ask for additional supporting documentation such as:

• Assurance that the applicant is in good standing with regard to all federal, provincial, territorial and municipal laws and regulations;
• Corporate documents as the Program deems necessary (e.g. articles of incorporation, corporate by-laws and related instruments);
• Documents confirming annual revenue levels, such as notices of assessment issued by the Canada Revenue Agency;
• Documents confirming numbers of full time equivalent employees, such as T4 Summaries, deductions for the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance premiums, and income tax from remuneration or other amounts the applicant pays to employees;
• Confirmation that any person including any consultant or in-house lobbyist who lobbies on its behalf to obtain funding under the Program and who is required to be registered pursuant to the Lobbying Act is registered pursuant to that Act;
• Confirmation that the applicant has not, nor has any person on its behalf, engaged any person (other than an employee) for the purposes of obtaining Program funding and paid, or agreed to pay, that person a commission, contingency or success fee or any other consideration (whether monetary or otherwise) that is dependent upon the applicant receiving Program funding;
• Assurance that any former public servant who derives benefit from the Funding Agreement will be in compliance with the Values and Ethics Code for Public Sector;
• Assurance that any former public office holder who derives a direct benefit from the Funding Agreement will be in compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders; and,
• Assurance that no Member of the House of Commons or Senate will benefit from the non-repayable grant.

Applicants will be asked to submit the following information:

• Username
• User email address
• Business Number
• Legal name of business
• Operating name of business
• Canadian address of the applicant business