The Canadian Federation of Independent Business applauded the federal government’s announcement to return $2.5 billion in carbon tax revenues to small businesses after five years of advocacy.
The association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members previously launched a petition garnering over 31,000 signatures that Canadians could sign calling on the Liberals to return the $2.5 billion to small businesses among other changes.
The petition specified that of the promised $2.5 billion to be returned to businesses between 2019 and 2024, only 0.17% had been delivered. For years, Ottawa had held onto the funds with no clear commitment to return it to businesses that paid into the program.
“CFIB is relieved to learn the federal government will return the $2.5 billion small business share of carbon tax revenue that has been stuck in Ottawa for the past five years,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB president. “These are not trivial amounts of money.”
The Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses is a refundable tax credit to return a portion of federal fuel charge proceeds directly to eligible businesses. Businesses do not need to apply for the rebate. Any eligible businesses are supposed to be paid based on rates applicable to their province and company size.
A previous survey conducted by the CFIB showed that 85% of small businesses opposed the federal carbon tax.
“They pay about 40% of the costs of the carbon tax, but the federal government has promised to return only 10% to small businesses,” said Kelly.
Kelly said a company with 10 employees in Alberta will receive almost $6,000. A 25-person company in Saskatchewan will receive nearly $29,000. A 50-person business in Manitoba will receive $24,000, and a 100-person company in Ontario will receive $40,000.
Rebates are based on how many T4s an employer has issued. Incorporated firms with between 1-499 employees are eligible.
Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said in a post to X that the Liberals have been holding these carbon taxes paid for by small businesses hostage.
“Remember, this debacle exposed one of the key lies spread by the federal Liberals: that the carbon tax is ‘revenue neutral.’ They would have never returned these funds to small businesses had they not been called out,” said Schulz. “The only way to stop this from happening in the future is to abolish the carbon tax.”
Schulz previously posted a video to X exposing Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s “small business carbon tax scam,” along with sending him a letter urging him to pay back in Apr.
A spokesperson for Schulz told True North that they are happy the Liberals have finally seen the light after years of pressure from provinces, businesses, and groups like the CFIB to return the funds.
“If the federal government backtracks on its promise to small businesses, and doesn’t return the money they have held hostage in Ottawa for years now, Alberta will use every legal tool at our disposal to establish a constitutional shield to protect small businesses and all Albertans from this blatant robbery,” said the spokesperson.
The Liberals issued a press release on Tuesday that said the $2.5 billion would be delivered to about 600,000 businesses before the end of the year.
A company with 499 employees in Saskatchewan would be eligible to receive up to $576,844, according to the release.
Additional announcements found in the press release were a revised code of conduct for credit and debit cards, meant to protect over one million businesses and reduced credit card transaction fees for small businesses.
Minister of Small Business Rechie Valdez said the Liberals’ message is that they have small businesses backs.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and today, our government is once again delivering real, tangible support to help them thrive. The Canada Carbon Rebate will put $2.5 billion directly into the hands of nearly 600,000 small business owners across the country, while lower credit card fees will save small businesses an additional $1 billion over the next five years,” said Valdez.
The CFIB said that it would continue to call on all political parties to scrap the carbon tax at the earliest possible opportunity, a request echoed by Schulz.
“The feds should axe their disastrous carbon tax once and for all to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” said Schulz’s spokesperson.