Food-Link Fund and Food Terminals: What It Means for Distributors

On 11 June 2026, at the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Canada’s first National Food Security Strategy. Much of it is about farms, greenhouses and processing. One part is about the middle of the food chain — the places food passes through on its way to stores and kitchens. That is where a distributor works, so it is worth reading closely. This post sets out what was announced, what is actually open, and what is still a plan. It is not advice on whether to apply for anything.

What was announced

The Prime Minister called it a “more than $3 billion strategy”. Three pieces touch distribution:

• The Food-Link Fund: $1 billion over ten years. In his words, it “will expand existing food terminals and start construction on two new ones by the end of 2028.” Note the wording: construction started by 2028, not terminals open.
• Food hubs: “up to 40 new commercial food hubs across the country”. The strategy itself, published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, says “up to 20 to 40 hubs”.
• Equipment: a $150 million Food Security Fund “to support small and medium-sized businesses in upgrading critical equipment so they can make more, store more, and bring more Canadian food to market.”

The stated reason is competition. The speech says 75% of grocery stores belong to the same five large retailers, and that independent grocers “too often” have to “buy products through larger competitors at marked-up prices.”

Terminals and hubs are not the same thing

The strategy describes a food terminal as a high-volume, public wholesale market that gives independent retailers and institutions an alternative to the big chains’ supply systems. The strategy calls the Ontario Food Terminal the only food terminal of this kind in Canada.

A food hub is for places where a full-scale terminal is not viable. The strategy says hubs connect local producers to nearby buyers by “collecting products from multiple producers, storage, and delivery to stores, restaurants, institutions, and consumers”. Read that twice: it is close to a description of what a distributor does.

What is open now

The Food-Link Fund launched on 5 October 2026. Its first intake runs from 14 October to 11 December 2026 (11:59 pm Pacific Time). Future intakes are promised over the life of the program, which ends on 31 March 2037. You send one Expression of Interest, and it is directed to one of two programs:

• the Food Terminal Fund, run by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada: $568 million for “a select number of wholesale food terminals”. These are large infrastructure projects;
• the Food Hub Program, run by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: up to $25 million per organization over the life of the program, normally covering at most 50% of eligible costs — 60% when the business is mostly owned or led by one of the underrepresented groups the program lists. A contribution to a for-profit business can be repayable, without interest.

Could a distributor apply?

Possibly, for a hub project. The Food Hub Program’s eligibility page names “small and medium-sized processors or distributors, logistics firms, and independent grocers” as examples of for-profit applicants incorporated in Canada. Eligible work includes equipment to store, pack and transport food, building or expanding facilities, digital systems such as supply chain management and e-commerce, and food safety and traceability improvements.

Read the limits before you plan around it:

• If running a food hub is not your main business, your project has to expand and modernize the existing network of food hubs and their distribution systems.
• Your own share must be secured before you apply, and total government funding cannot exceed 85% of the project.
• It is competitive. Projects “with the greatest potential for benefits will be given priority”, and meeting every criterion does not oblige the government to fund you.
• In this first year, costs may count from 11 June 2026. Anything you spend before a contribution agreement is signed is at your own risk.
• Equipment it pays for must be kept for at least two years after the project ends.

What is a target, not a fact

The strategy sets dated targets for this part of the plan:

• by the end of 2026, an agreement with the Government of Ontario to expand the Ontario Food Terminal, with federal funding;
• by the end of 2028, construction under way on two more food terminals;
• by the end of 2028, 10 food hubs established or expanded;
• by 2030, 15% more independent grocers buying from terminals or hubs.

The strategy does not say where the two new terminals will be. It says only that funds could go to regions that lack this kind of public infrastructure and have growing cities close to both farms and major transport routes.

The Toronto terminal’s own fight

The terminal where the strategy was launched has a land problem of its own. In April 2026 the Ontario Food Terminal Board asked the province for a Minister’s Zoning Order on 125 The Queensway, the property next to the terminal, to keep its existing zoning and keep out incompatible uses such as homes. Farmtario reported that Fiera Real Estate proposes a 4,000-unit condo site there, bordering the terminal’s east entrance, and that Ontario agri-food and wholesale groups support the request. Their concern, as reported: homes next door are not compatible with the early-morning noise a wholesale market makes.

The province’s consultation closed on 10 May 2026. As of 31 October 2026, the Environmental Registry of Ontario still lists the request as a proposal, and we found no decision. If you buy at the terminal, it is worth following.

What could change for you

The first applications are still open, so treat these as questions to keep in mind, not predictions.

• Where you buy. A terminal or hub within reach could become another place to source produce and local product, next to the growers and packers you buy from now.
• Who you compete with. A funded hub in your area could be a competitor, a supplier or a partner — it depends on who runs it, what it carries and who it delivers to. When hubs are announced, find out which.
• Your grocery customers. The stated goal is more independent grocers buying from terminals or hubs. If you sell to independents, some may buy part of what they need there. It is a fair moment to ask what they get from you that a terminal or hub would not give them — and to make sure ordering from you is easy.

What to watch

• The first intake closes on 11 December 2026. Later intakes are promised, not yet dated.
• Which terminals and hubs are funded, where, and who runs them. A hub in your delivery area matters more than one across the country.
• The agreement on the Ontario Food Terminal, targeted for the end of 2026, and the province’s decision on the zoning order.
• The $150 million Food Security Fund. The strategy places it under an existing federal program, the Regional Tariff Response Initiative, for food-related small and medium-sized businesses — including storage, distribution and delivery. As of 31 October 2026 we could not find an application page for it.

Where Supligo fits

Supligo is ordering software; it has no part in these programs. It covers the part of the job that stays yours whatever gets built: your customers order from your own page, at their own prices, for your delivery days and by your cut-off, and each order’s sales tax is worked out by the province it is delivered to. More on the ordering page.