Alberta Export Expansion Program

What AEEP actually pays, and what it does not

AEEP is not a project grant and it is not a percentage rebate on your trip. It is a flat per diem plus a registration reimbursement, paid after you get home. Alberta calculates the per diem from the number of days you spent at formal international trade events, not from your receipts, and the guidelines state that recipients may allocate the funds as they see fit once received.

Two things follow from that design. First, most of the arithmetic is knowable before you book anything, so you can decide whether a show is worth attending. Second, if your trip is mostly private meetings rather than a registered formal trade event, there is nothing for AEEP to pay against. Alberta states plainly that days involving business meetings only are ineligible.

• Per diems: $400 CAD per day for the organization's first traveller and $200 CAD per day for the second traveller.
• Eligible days: the duration of the formal events you attend, plus a maximum of two days per application to accommodate air travel out of and back into Canada. Proof of travel is required. There is no limit on the number of event days, but the annual cap still applies.
• Travellers: a maximum of two, and both must be Alberta-based employees of the applicant organization. If two people travelled on a trip, both must be included in one application.
• Event registration: reimbursement of formal event registration fees up to a maximum of $1,000 CAD for each formal trade event, covering up to two travellers per organization. If registration or entry fees were part of an overall booth fee, submit the full booth receipt. Convert registration costs to Canadian dollars at the exchange rate on the date of purchase, which Alberta verifies during evaluation.
• Annual ceiling: no applicant may receive more than $15,000 CAD in AEEP funding per fiscal year, 1 April to 31 March. The cap applies whether you file one trip application covering several events or several separate applications, and all applications must be submitted under the same Alberta.ca profile.
• Worked example: a five day trade show with two travellers earns at least five eligible days each, so $2,000 for the first traveller and $1,000 for the second, plus registration reimbursement of up to $1,000. Adding the two air travel days lifts that further. Alberta's wording is "two total days per application" and it does not state plainly whether those days are added to each traveller's count, so a trip like this lands somewhere around $4,000 to $5,200 and three to four trips of that size reach the annual cap.
• Note one unresolved inconsistency in Alberta's own copy: the How to apply page describes formal event attendance as supported at up to 50 per cent of receipted base registration fees, while the About page and the September 2025 guidelines state a maximum of $1,000 for each event with no percentage. The two rules may well operate together, meaning 50 per cent of your fees capped at $1,000. Budget on that stricter reading and confirm the treatment with the program rather than assuming a full $1,000 back.

Current status: open, but the 2026-27 pot is smaller than last year

As of 29 July 2026 AEEP is accepting applications. Program intake commences 1 April and remains open until the annual budget has been spent for that fiscal year, at which point Alberta closes the intake and the online portal is no longer available for submissions that year. Alberta publishes no warning period.

The pace matters this year because the budget was reduced. Alberta funded AEEP at $1 million in 2024-25, $2 million in 2025-26, and $1.5 million in 2026-27. The archived funding tracker shows $979,322 requested against the $1 million pot by 26 March 2025, which is effectively a full year. In 2025-26, $429,596 had been requested by 20 August 2025 and $945,918 by 9 December 2025, comfortably inside the $2 million pot.

For 2026-27, $504,300 was already requested by 15 July 2026 against a $1.5 million pot. That is about a third of the budget requested roughly three and a half months into the year, on a smaller budget than last year. Alberta is explicit that the tracker is an approximation and is not a guarantee that funding remains available once you submit. If you have already travelled, file now rather than at the end of your two month window.

Who qualifies

AEEP has two eligibility layers: rules for every applicant, then a separate test depending on whether you are a for-profit business or a non-profit organization. This is an Alberta only program. There is no equivalent for companies based in other provinces, and travellers must be Alberta-based.

• All applicants: an incorporated legal entity in Alberta, in good standing with the province and meeting obligations under other provincial grant agreements, operating in and with a permanent physical presence in Alberta for at least one year, having undertaken outbound international travel from Canada, having attended an international formal trade or export-related event in another country with proof of registration, and having sent Alberta-based travellers to that event.
• All applicants: you must disclose every source of federal and provincial government assistance, and total government assistance may not exceed 75 per cent of total trip costs. The 75 per cent test is measured against accommodation, flights, event registration, booth and translation costs as specified in your application.
• For-profit applicants: annual gross sales between $250,000 CAD and $25 million CAD, at least one full-time equivalent employee based in Alberta, fewer than 500 full-time equivalent staff in the last fiscal year, and export readiness, meaning a developed product or service that can be exported, a plan for entering the target market, and the willingness and capacity to meet increased demand and to dedicate staff, time and resources to the new market.
• For-profit applicants: the market must be new to you. Alberta defines that as a country or US state representing $150,000 CAD or less of gross annual sales in your last complete tax reporting year, or the last 12 months for monthly and quarterly filers. If sales in that market exceeded $150,000, they must stay under 15 per cent of sales. Watch the denominator: the September 2025 guidelines say 15 per cent of the company's total international sales, and say it three times, while the About page says 15 per cent of total annual sales. International sales is the smaller and stricter denominator, so qualify yourself against that one and confirm with the program.
• Emerging technology exception: the September 2025 guidelines state that emerging technology companies may be eligible at a lower annual gross sales amount of $50,000 if they can show an exportable product or service in the export readiness section and identify as emerging technology in the sector identification question for each event. Alberta assesses these case by case and does not publish a definition of emerging technology.
• Non-profit applicants, including industry associations, Indigenous organizations and economic development organizations: provide specific services to Alberta SMEs for trade and export activities, hold a documented trade promotion and export development plan, and demonstrate how attending the event benefited Alberta companies. On staffing the two official sources differ: the September 2025 guidelines require at least one employee or volunteer based in Alberta, while the About page requires at least one full-time equivalent employee based in Alberta. Métis Settlements may be incorporated under the Métis Settlements Act.

The two month deadline, and the other rules that sink applications

Most AEEP failures are mechanical rather than strategic. The program is retroactive, the deadline is short, and Alberta states plainly that applications received after the deadline will be deemed ineligible and that if any ineligible activity is submitted as part of an application the application will be deemed ineligible. There is no discretion to plead your way past either rule.

The deadline is two months after the first day of your formal event participation, the event must have taken place on or after 1 April of that fiscal year, and the application must be filed inside the corresponding fiscal year. If your show ran in mid-February, you are racing both the two month clock and the 31 March year end at once.

• Filing late. The clock starts on the first day of the event, not the day you got home, and not the day the last invoice cleared.
• Ineligible activities in the application. Alberta lists international travel focused on investment, recreational or educational purposes, projects without a product or service ready to sell, travel for business meetings alone without attending a formal trade event, days involving business meetings only, pre-commercial projects seeking research collaborations or proof of concept or demonstration partners, incoming travel to Alberta, personal travel, brokerage services, ongoing operational activities or activities core to the business rather than specific to a new export market, travel related to acquisitions or mergers, travel and trade events taking place in Canada, and travel to countries with sanctions imposed by Canada.
• A market that is not new. If the target market already generates more than $150,000 and more than 15 per cent of sales, Alberta treats it as a well-established presence and lists it as an ineligible activity. The guidelines measure that 15 per cent against total international sales.
• The wrong kind of event. A formal trade event may include conferences, trade shows, conventions, fairs and expositions open to the public, focused on trade promotion and export development, with a connection to your target markets. Private, invite-only events are not eligible.
• Splitting or merging trips incorrectly. Submit one trip per application. Multiple events in one trip go on one application, but if you return to Canada between events you must file separately. All travellers on a trip go on the same application, an individual traveller may not be part of more than one organization's application for an event, and there cannot be multiple applications from the same organization for the same trip.
• Missing documentation. Proof of registration is required, and Alberta may request financial statements, corporate registration documents, boarding passes and proof of event attendance during evaluation. Flight receipts must show exit from and return to Canada, including any legs flown to other destinations after leaving Canada and before arriving at the first event.
• Mishandling the 75 per cent government assistance ceiling. Two different consequences apply. If total government support would exceed 75 per cent of trip expenses, Alberta adjusts your grant amount down to comply with the limit. If you fail to disclose all other sources of government funding, the application may be deemed ineligible outright.
• Letting the grant agreement lapse. If the signed agreement is not returned within 30 days of receipt, the application is considered withdrawn and the organization is not eligible to receive the grant.

How to apply, and when the money actually arrives

AEEP does not pre-approve and does not pay in advance. You book the trip, pay every cost yourself, travel, and then apply. Alberta strongly encourages completing its optional pre-screening questionnaire before booking, which is a self-assessment tool that is not submitted to the Government of Alberta and does not guarantee funding.

One thing worth doing before you book: check the Export Alberta trade events calendar. Alberta says AEEP funding may be prioritized for official participants in trade missions led by Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration, mission applications must go in at least six weeks before the mission, and approved participants should indicate that status in the AEEP application. Mission participation does not guarantee AEEP funding, and companies not approved for a mission can still apply.

• Read the current AEEP program guidelines, dated September 2025, published on open.alberta.ca.
• Apply through the Alberta.ca online application portal using an Alberta.ca account. The portal is designed for Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on desktop computers and is not currently supported for Safari or any mobile device browsers. It autosaves every 10 minutes and times out after 15 minutes of inactivity, and unsaved work is lost.
• Submit. Applications cannot be edited or changed after submission. You get a confirmation email; corrections go through the program mailbox.
• Decision target: AEEP strives to provide an eligibility decision within 60 business days of application submission, unless volume is particularly high or follow up is required. First-time applicants should allow an additional five business days. Awarded amounts may not equal the amount requested.
• Payment: successful applicants receive a grant agreement by email, signed through ConsignO, must return it executed within 30 days of receipt, and must provide banking information. Payments are processed within approximately 30 business days after all requirements are met. Stacking those published targets end to end, our own estimate is roughly four to five months from submission to cash, which Alberta does not publish as a service standard.
• After payment: submit a one-time AEEP export outcomes report four months after travel is completed. Reporting is an obligation under the signed grant agreement, and Alberta may request repayment of the grant if reporting is not sufficiently complete or is not submitted by the deadline. Keep receipts, proofs of payment, proof of attendance and proof of travel for five years after payment.
• Unsuccessful applicants are notified by email with the rationale and may update and resubmit, but resubmissions are assessed based on the new submission date against whatever budget is still available.
• Questions go to AEEP-mailbox@gov.ab.ca or 780-644-6686, 8:15 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Friday.

Stacking AEEP with CanExport SMEs

AEEP and CanExport SMEs both fund international trade event travel, so they overlap directly and both police the overlap. AEEP requires you to disclose all federal and provincial assistance and holds total government assistance to no more than 75 per cent of total trip costs. CanExport SMEs enforces the federal stacking limit in section 3.8 of its 2026-27 applicant's guide: total government assistance cannot exceed 75 per cent of total project costs, applicants must identify all sources of Canadian government funding for each expenditure listed in their application, and the program will adjust its funding amount to comply. Non-disclosure risks rejection, termination of an active project and recovery of funds.

The practical sequencing point is that the two programs run in opposite directions. CanExport is prospective and does not cover retroactive costs. AEEP is retroactive only and cannot be applied for until after travel. So a well built plan applies to CanExport before the trip and to AEEP after it, with the same trip disclosed on both sides.

Sizes are also different. CanExport SMEs funds up to 50 per cent of eligible costs, with requests between $10,000 and $50,000 per project, so total project value falls between $20,000 and $100,000. Its travel per diem is a total daily allowance of $600 per eligible traveller covering accommodation, meals and incidentals, capped at 90 per diem days per project, a maximum of two travellers per trip, and no more than 30 consecutive days on any given trip. AEEP's $400 and $200 per diems are smaller but come with no project minimum and far less paperwork.

• CanExport SMEs eligibility tightened for 2026-27: between 3 and 500 full-time employees and between $300,000 and $100 million in annual revenue declared in Canada in the last complete tax reporting year, up from 1 full-time equivalent employee and $100,000. Plenty of early stage Alberta exporters clear AEEP's $250,000 sales floor but miss CanExport's revenue or headcount minimums.
• The 2026-27 CanExport SMEs intake closes at 12:00 pm ET on 31 August 2026. Note the provenance: the published 2026-27 applicant's guide set the window at 4 February to 29 May 2026, and the program landing page later showed the deadline extended to 31 August 2026. Confirm the date on the program page before you rely on it.
• Approximately $31 million is available for CanExport SMEs in 2026-27, of which approximately $3.1 million was earmarked for projects targeting the United States, and for 2026-27 an applicant may target either the United States or other international markets but not both, with a maximum of five target markets per project. Third-party reporting says the United States allocation has been exhausted and new US-targeting applications are no longer accepted, but we could not confirm that on the official program page, so verify it directly. AEEP itself carries no market restriction beyond countries under Canadian sanctions.
• A company can receive a maximum of $99,999 in total CanExport funding per Government of Canada fiscal year, and that limit applies across all CanExport programs, not just CanExport SMEs. A company may hold only one active CanExport SMEs project at a time, though it may hold an active project under another CanExport program. AEEP's $15,000 sits outside that federal cap.
• Agriculture, agri-food including alcoholic beverages, agri-products, and fish and seafood are no longer supported by CanExport SMEs and are directed to the AgriMarketing Program: Market Diversification for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Agricultural technology, post-harvest food technology, agricultural machinery and equipment, and life sciences remain eligible under CanExport SMEs provided the core business activity is not primary agriculture, agri-food production or agri-products. The AEEP guidelines list no sector exclusions, so agri-food exporters remain eligible for AEEP.

Does AEEP reduce your SR&ED claim?

In most fact patterns, no. Under the Income Tax Act, government assistance reduces qualified SR&ED expenditures only where it can reasonably be considered to be in respect of SR&ED, and the Canada Revenue Agency treats that as a question of fact judged on the circumstances and agreements involved. AEEP pays per diems for attending international trade shows and reimburses event registration fees. Trade show travel, accommodation and registration are not eligible SR&ED expenditures in the first place, so in the ordinary case there is nothing in your SR&ED pool for AEEP to grind down.

That is not a reason to keep it off your accountant's desk. AEEP is government assistance, it is disclosed to Alberta as such, and it needs to appear in your year end file so that the assistance schedule and any other program claims line up. If your company also claims SR&ED, the useful discipline is to keep trade show and market development costs cleanly separated from experimental development costs in your books, which is good practice regardless of which grants you touch. Confirm the treatment with your own tax adviser rather than treating this page as tax advice.

The interaction to actually watch is not SR&ED. It is the 75 per cent government assistance ceiling that both AEEP and CanExport apply to the same trip, and the risk of claiming one cost twice across two programs.

How Impact Applications works AEEP

The way to get real value out of AEEP is to run the year as a sequence of qualifying trips rather than treating each trade show as a one off. The per diem math is simple, but the annual cap, the two month filing window, the one trip per application rule and the shrinking first come budget all have to be managed as a calendar, not as a form.

We are Alberta rooted, and AEEP is an Alberta only program administered from Edmonton by Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration. Our national reach is growing, so if you are exporting from Alberta we will typically pair AEEP with the federal programs that reach beyond the province, and we will tell you plainly when a trip does not qualify rather than filing an application Alberta will deem ineligible.

• Pre-trip screening: confirm the event is a public formal trade event, confirm the target market is genuinely new under the $150,000 and 15 per cent test using the stricter international sales denominator, and confirm the sales and headcount gates before anyone books a flight.
• Stack design: decide which costs go to CanExport before the trip and which go to AEEP after it, then keep the 75 per cent government assistance ceiling documented on both sides.
• Filing discipline: one trip per application, both travellers on the same application, filed well inside the two month window and early in the fiscal year while budget remains.
• Evidence pack: proof of registration, flight receipts showing exit from and return to Canada, proof of attendance, registration costs converted at the date of purchase exchange rate, held for the five year retention period.
• Follow through: grant agreement signed inside 30 days, banking set up, and the export outcomes report filed four months after travel so the grant closes cleanly and does not jeopardize future applications.