Bill C-59 implements some of the commitments made in Canada’s 2023 Fall Economic Statement with the objective of improving economic growth and Canada’s taxation and competition regimes. The Bill, which received Royal Assent in June 2024, notably introduces a series of tax benefits related to climate measures including:
“(f) increasing the rate of the rural supplement for Climate Action Incentive payments (CAIP) from 10% to 20% for the 2023 and subsequent taxation years as well as referencing the 2016 census data for the purposes of the CAIP rural supplement eligibility for the 2023 and 2024 taxation years;
(g) providing a refundable investment tax credit to qualifying businesses for eligible carbon capture, utilization and storage equipment;
(h) providing a refundable investment tax credit to qualifying businesses for eligible clean technology equipment”
The Bill also introduces “greenwashing”-related amendments to Canada’s Competition Act, by amending s.74.01(1) (on Misrepresentations to the public) to include new forms of reviewable conduct that relate to the misrepresentation of green claims. These amendments to reviewable conduct include representations “to the public in the form of a statement, warranty or guarantee of a product’s benefits for protecting or restoring the environment or mitigating the environmental, social and ecological causes or effects of climate change that is not based on an adequate and proper test, the proof of which lies on the person making the representation” (amended Subsection 74.01(1)(b.1) of the Act) and representations “to the public with respect to the benefits of a business or business activity for protecting or restoring the environment or mitigating the environmental and ecological causes or effects of climate change that is not based on adequate and proper substantiation in accordance with internationally recognized methodology, the proof of which lies on the person making the representation” (amended Subsection 74.01(1)(b.2) of the Act).
