Expanding to Canada: public support, consultants and advisors

Your first point of contact is in France: the Team France Export international adviser for your region, who then refers you to Business France in Canada, the French chamber of commerce there and Bpifrance (France’s public investment bank). Bpifrance can advance 50 to 65% of your market development costsSource: les-aides.fr. On the Canadian side, public agencies also help foreign companies, but only if you’re coming to set up locally, not just to sell.

This is for owners and managers of French small and mid-sized companies looking at Canada, from the first assessment to creating a subsidiary. For the rules themselves (tax, incorporation, customs), see the guide to choosing between selling from France and setting up in Canada.

Who supports you on the French side?

Since 2019, France’s public export support has been grouped under the Team France Export banner, which brings together the regional councils, the national government, Business France, the CCI chambers of commerce and Bpifrance. Your regional adviser assesses your project, then hands you over to Business France’s team in Canada, which has staff in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. That team organizes market studies, meetings with buyers and French pavilions at trade shows, usually for a fee. If you want to meet three distributors in Toronto in a single week, they’re the people to ask.

Once you’re in Canada, the French Chamber of Commerce in Canada (CCIFC), based in Montreal, can give you a registered address, host your VIE (France’s subsidized overseas placements for young graduates) and help you set up a local entity. That saves you renting an office before you’ve landed a first customer. There are also French chambers in Toronto and Western Canada, which make more sense for a project in Ontario or Vancouver, since Montreal isn’t the natural gateway to those markets.

Then there’s the money. Bpifrance’s assurance prospection, a kind of market development insurance, advances part of what you spend prospecting over 2 or 3 years: travel, trade shows, dedicated salaries, marketing and set-up costs. You then repay it according to the export sales you actually make. It’s open to companies with under €500 million in revenueSource: les-aides.fr and at least one 12-month balance sheet.

Do Canadian agencies help a French company?

Yes, on one condition that surprises people. The Trade Commissioner Service of Canada, Global Affairs Canada’s network in embassies, mainly helps Canadian companies export. But it has a second job: attracting foreign investment. Together with the federal agency Invest in Canada, it helps a French company that wants to open a site in Canada: market intelligence, help choosing a city, and introductions to local agencies and support programs. It won’t help a company that only wants to sell into Canada, though: that’s Business France’s job.

Each province also has its own investment attraction agency, and the same logic applies: the more local jobs your project creates, the warmer the welcome. In Quebec, it’s Investissement Québec International, which supports your set-up and then your expansion, and can offer financing. Ontario has Invest Ontario, Alberta has Invest Alberta and British Columbia has Trade and Invest British Columbia. At the city level, agencies such as Montréal International do the same job for their region.

How do you vet an immigration consultant?

As soon as you send an employee or an executive to Canada, you’ll come across “consultants” offering to put the permit application together. For IRCCImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship CanadaThe federal department that handles visas, work and study permits, permanent residence and citizenship., the federal immigration department, only three kinds of professional can be paid to represent you: lawyers who are members of a provincial law society (and paralegals licensed by the Law Society of Ontario), notaries of the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and regulated consultants licensed by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). IRCC won’t deal with any paid representative outside these groups. To find out which permit your employee needs, see the guide to posting an employee.

Quebec adds a rule of its own: a consultant paid to handle a Quebec immigration application must also be recognized by the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI, Quebec’s immigration ministry) and appear in the Quebec register of consultants. So a CICC licence isn’t enough. Members of the Barreau du Québec and Quebec notaries are exempt, but a lawyer from another province needs special authorization.

None of this means you have to pay anyone. IRCC handles an application you submit yourself exactly like one filed by a representative, its forms are free on its website, and a friend or relative can help you without charge. If you do hire a representative, be wary of their “partners”: an unregulated agency that says it works with a licensed consultant is still an unregulated agency. The CICC recommends contacting the consultant directly, using the details in its public register, never ones supplied by a go-between.

When do you need a CPA, a lawyer or a notary?

A Canadian accountant holds the CPAChartered Professional AccountantThe title of accountants and tax specialists recognized in Canada. title (Chartered Professional Accountant), regulated by a professional body in each province: the Ordre des CPA du Québec, CPA Ontario, CPA British Columbia, CPA Alberta. You need one as soon as you have a tax obligation in Canada, whether that’s GSTGoods and Services TaxThe 5% federal sales tax, charged across Canada: the equivalent of French VAT, but added on top of the displayed price. registration, payroll, the corporate return (T2) or, for a subsidiary, invoicing between parent and subsidiary. Your expert-comptable (chartered accountant) in France can’t sign on the Canadian side, so you’ll need both.

Bring the CPA in before you choose between a subsidiary and a branch, and pick one who’s used to working with French groups. Your structure decides, under the tax treaty, where your profits and seconded employees are taxed, and that’s hard to change later. The sales tax basics are in the guide to GST, HST and QST.

A lawyer drafts the articles of incorporation and shareholder agreements, employment and distribution contracts, and the commercial lease. They’ll also check your terms of sale against each province’s consumer protection law. You can incorporate online yourself, but a badly structured subsidiary costs more to fix than to set up properly, and the guide to setting up a subsidiary or branch in Canada walks you through the choices.

The real trap for French readers is the word notary. In Quebec, which follows civil law like France, a notary is a legal professional much like the French notaire: they draw up authenticated deeds, are required to sign a property mortgage and can advise a business. In the other provinces, which follow common law, a notary public is mainly authorized to certify signatures and copies, and is often a lawyer. There, a lawyer handles the purchase of your premises. British Columbia is the exception, with notaries who also handle simple property transactions.

What does support cost?

The first meeting with your regional adviser, like the first one with a Canadian investment agency, is there to point you in the right direction. What you pay for is what comes next: Business France and the chambers of commerce charge for market studies, business meetings and trade shows based on a quote, and lawyers, CPAs and consultants bill by the hour or a flat fee. Ask for a written quote for each stage and compare at least two firms, bearing in mind that government fees always come on top: in 2026, for example, C$155 for a work permit and C$230 in employer compliance fees.

Take a fictional service SME that plans €100,000 of market development spending in Canada over 2 years and gets assurance prospection to cover it. Assumptions: a non-manufacturing company (50% coverage), all planned spending actually made.

It receives a €50,000 advance and pays a €3,000 premium. If its Canadian sales stay modest (under €150,000, or 3 times the advance), it only repays the 30% minimum, €15,000, so Bpifrance has absorbed €32,000 of a failed venture, after the premium. If instead it makes at least €500,000 in export sales (10 times the advance), it repays the full €50,000, and the insurance has cost it €3,000 for a two-year cash advance.

Before you call anyone, run your project through the Canada market entry checklist: it puts the steps in order, so you’ll know what to ask each adviser.