Canadian businesses across a wide spectrum of industries say they need tax breaks on critical machines and equipment—from computers to tractors to chainsaws—to drive capital investment and fend off U.S. trade threats.

Ahead of the federal budget next month, companies across the energy, mining, tourism, agriculture, real estate, manufacturing and softwood lumber sectors are urging Ottawa to accelerate and expand capital cost allowances (CCAs). That would mean changing provisions in the tax code that govern how and when companies can write off investments. 

Accelerating the rate at which companies can deduct expenses would let firms count a greater share of investments against their annual incomes. Under the current rules, firms can typically deduct only limited portions of their expenses over years-long periods. Because Canada’s corporate tax rates are tied to profits, letting them claim more costs all at once would lower their overall tax burdens.

The breadth of investors, companies and lobby groups calling for changes to CCAs suggests it is among the private sector’s favoured policies to contend with the “America first” economic policy under U.S. President Donald Trump. The administration recently made permanent its own version of accelerated write-offs in its so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Proponents in Canada also view accelerated CCAs as a way to juice capital investment, addressing the country’s long-standing productivity woes. 

To track the extent of industry’s tax wishes, The Logic combed through the more than 900 recommendations companies and lobby groups submitted to the House of Commons finance committee ahead of next month’s budget. The recommendations on CCAs took a variety of forms, from faster deductions to requests to expand the classes of eligible machinery and equipment.

PTI Transformers, a Saskatchewan company that manufactures the electromagnetic devices needed to transfer electricity, recommends letting companies write off equipment used to green the power grid. Calgary oilsands producer Cenovus called for 100 per cent capital cost allowances on investments that would “demonstrably improve Canada’s economic productivity.” Fuel distribution company Parkland, which owns some of Canada’s largest gas station chains, wants CCAs for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. 

Lobby groups calling for CCA changes include the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, Railway Association of Canada, Forest Products Association of Canada and others.

“A decline in overall capital spending since 2014 has triggered an urgent need to invest in trade infrastructure,” the railway lobby group said. 

Canada’s federal government had previously expanded capital cost allowances through a 2018 program that is set to end in 2027. It was part of Ottawa’s effort to match a suite of tax cuts introduced by the U.S. during Trump’s first term that, among other measures, accelerated equipment and machinery write-offs. Earlier this year, Trump made those 2017 tax changes permanent.

The National Post on Wednesday reported that Canada’s federal government would include accelerated capital cost allowances in its upcoming budget, citing anonymous sources.

Ottawa had already proposed extending its incentive to 2033, which would cost the government an estimated $17.4 billion over five years in foregone revenue. Such an extension would likely be welcomed by industry, but would not go as far as many of the recent submissions suggest in expanding and accelerating the allowances.  

Trevor Tombe, an economist at the University of Calgary, said speeding up CCAs is a useful way to address Canada’s flagging economic productivity.

“Investment is what drives labour productivity growth over time, and it’s that variable that, more than any other, accounts for the widening gap in GDP per capita between Canada and the U.S.” 

In their submissions, some companies argued that more generous machinery and equipment write-offs could also help Canada build its own supply chains and fend off U.S. onshoring efforts.

PTI Transformers, for its part, warned that a failure to match CCAs for grid-related equipment like transformers could hinder the country’s electrification plans. 

“Without targeted support,” it said, “Canada risks exacerbating supply shortages and increasing reliance on imported transformers—particularly from markets like China and South Korea—as domestic producers face uncertainty and hesitate to scale up.”