You saw a mention of the Canada Digital Adoption Program somewhere, a Facebook ad, a bookkeeper’s newsletter, a grant directory that came up when you searched for help paying to go digital, and you went looking for the application. Here is the short answer. The Canada Digital Adoption Program stopped taking new grant applications back in 2024, and the loan tied to it is closed too unless you signed paperwork before February 2024. If you run a business in Halifax or anywhere else in Nova Scotia and you are looking for help paying for new software, equipment, or AI tools, the program that replaced it works differently, and it is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon on a dead application.

What the Canada Digital Adoption Program used to offer

The Canada Digital Adoption Program launched in 2022 to help small businesses get online and adopt new technology. It had two halves. Grow Your Business Online offered small grants and a subsidized roster of digital advisors for e-commerce and website work. Boost Your Business Technology went further, funding a digital advisor’s assessment of a larger business and, for the ones that qualified, a loan to actually buy the technology the assessment recommended. A lot of the funding directory sites you will find with a quick search still describe both halves like they are open today. They are not.

Why you can no longer apply for a CDAP grant

Boost Your Business Technology stopped accepting new applications on February 19, 2024, according to BDC, the federal bank that manages the loan side of the program. Grow Your Business Online had its own cutoff, September 30, 2024. Both dates are years behind us now. If a service provider or consultant tells you they can still get you a CDAP grant in 2026, ask which stream they mean and get the current rules in writing before you pay them anything.

What about the CDAP loan through BDC?

Even the loan, the part of the program that outlasted the grants, has a hard line on it. BDC’s own program page says you had to have signed a CDAP grant agreement before February 19, 2024 to qualify for financing now. If you did not apply back then, there is no path into that loan today, no matter how strong your application is. For businesses that did sign on in time, loans still run up to $100,000 at 0% interest, with a five year term and a year before you have to start paying down the principal. For everyone else, this particular door is shut.

What replaced it: BDC’s LIFT program

BDC launched a new program called LIFT in April 2026, backed by $500 million, aimed at getting small and mid-sized Canadian businesses to actually use AI and other technology instead of just talking about it. It is not a direct swap for CDAP. There is no small flat grant for a basic website anymore. What LIFT offers instead is financing, from $25,000 up to $5 million, plus advisory help figuring out what technology actually fits your business before you spend anything. You can also postpone paying down the principal for up to two years, which matters if the technology takes a while to start paying for itself.

What does LIFT actually cost?

BDC has not published a specific interest rate in its announcement of the program, so budget for an actual conversation with a BDC account manager to get a number that applies to your business and its risk. The $25,000 minimum loan size is worth noting too. If you are a two or three person shop looking to spend a few thousand dollars on a new booking system or a point of sale upgrade, LIFT is built for a bigger project than that, not a small software subscription.

How to apply for LIFT, step by step

1. Confirm your business is a Canadian SME with a real technology, automation, or AI project in mind, not just general operating costs.
2. Check whether you already hold a CDAP grant agreement signed before February 2024. If you do, contact BDC about that existing loan first rather than LIFT.
3. Reach out to BDC directly through bdc.ca to ask about LIFT and get connected with an account manager.
4. Bring a clear picture of what you want to buy or build, whether that is new equipment, software, an AI tool, or a broader automation project, along with what it should save you or earn you.
5. Ask about the advisory services included with the program before you commit to a loan amount, since the point of LIFT is to avoid buying the wrong technology.
6. Get the actual interest rate, term, and postponement details in writing for your specific business before you sign anything.

Where else Nova Scotia business owners can get help

If $25,000 is more than you need, or you are not sure LIFT is the right fit, Halifax Partnership’s free SmartBusiness consulting is a reasonable place to start before you spend hours reading program pages on your own. I wrote about what that free service actually covers in an earlier post. Someone there can point you toward a smaller program that fits a business your size, rather than one built for a five or six figure technology project. And if what you actually need is a bigger operating loan rather than technology specific financing, Nova Scotia’s Small Business Loan Guarantee Program, which I covered separately, works through local credit unions instead of BDC and does not require any AI or automation angle at all.

What this actually costs in time

In dollars, the LIFT loan itself starts at $25,000, with no application fee mentioned in BDC’s announcement, though expect the usual paperwork a business loan of that size requires: financial statements, a project plan, and time with an account manager. In time, budget more than an afternoon. A loan of this size typically means real underwriting, not a same day approval. If you are chasing a smaller purchase, the free Halifax Partnership consultation costs nothing but half an hour and might save you from applying to a program sized for a business much bigger than yours.

The Canada Digital Adoption Program is not coming back in its old form, and chasing it wastes time you could spend on something that is actually open. LIFT is real, but it is built for a bigger technology project than most small Halifax businesses have in mind this year. Know which door is actually open before you walk toward it. For more on funding and free resources for Nova Scotia businesses, the Halifax Business Blog has other posts worth a look.

Quick note from the insurance side of my job, since that’s what pays the bills around here. If financing like this puts you on the hook for a bigger contract or a new client relationship, check that your liability limits actually clear whatever minimum the contract names. A lot of them do.

About the author. Rayanur Rahman writes about running and growing a business in Halifax. He is a commercial insurance broker with Western Financial Group in Bedford, Nova Scotia, and works with businesses of every kind across the Halifax Regional Municipality. Reach him at 902-321-1712 or book a 30 minute call.

Sources: BDC: Canada Digital Adoption Program. BDC: BDC Launches LIFT. Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels. Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash. Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Pexels. Prices and program details checked September 2026 and can change. General information only.