Back when I worked at a Canadian startup and had to do SRED paperwork I got the vibe that it was more about companies that could afford to hire SRED consultants than it was actual research and dev. Heard stories about web dev / media shops milking SRED, while I saw people doing actual foundational engineering struggle (nor could they waste the time filling in the paperwork).

This was over a decade ago. Did not come away with a positive impression of the tech startup scene in Canada. Yours and other comments since have only fed that.