Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Tuesday that small business owners will finally receive their long-awaited carbon price rebates by the end of this year.
The federal government will send more than $2.5 billion to about 600,000 Canadian businesses in December, the Treasury Department announced.
The payments will return a portion of carbon price revenues from 2019-20 to 2023-24 to small businesses in jurisdictions subject to the federal fuel tax.
The amount a company receives depends on the state in which it operates and the number of workers it employs.
For example, an Ontario business with 10 employees can expect to receive $4,010, while a Saskatchewan business with 499 employees will receive $576,844.
“These are actually substantial amounts of money. They’re going to make a huge difference to small and medium-sized businesses in Canada,” Freeland said at a news conference Tuesday.
The federal government has announced that lower credit card transaction fees for small and medium-sized businesses will go into effect on October 19th and will save about $1 billion over five years.
It also announced a revised code of conduct for the payment card industry, which will “allow businesses to compare prices and offers from different payment processors and reduce complaint response times by nearly 80 percent to just 20 business days.” “It will be done.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business applauded the announcement but called for an end to the carbon tax.
“While the CFIB welcomes the federal government’s commitment to pass a portion of carbon tax revenues back to small businesses, the majority (83%) of small businesses currently oppose a carbon tax. “We call on political parties to abolish the carbon tax as soon as possible,” the business group said in a statement.
The federal government also announced a final list of Chinese-made aluminum and steel products that will be subject to a 25% tariff, effective October 22nd.
The 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles announced last month went into effect on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.
