NOVEMBER 26, OTTAWA — 21 prominent leaders from business, environmental, youth and Indigenous organizations across Canada – all members of the Smart Prosperity Leaders’ Initiative – are issuing the following statement:
“We are encouraged to see Canada taking significant steps to advance competitiveness and clean growth in last week’s Fall Economic Statement (FES). In particular, the FES increased the eligible tax write-off for investments in clean energy and manufacturing equipment to 100% in the first year, a policy change this group has repeatedly endorsed. This step offers a measured response to recent tax changes in the U.S.; it will spur investment while helping to advance Canada’s clean growth, climate and innovation goals.
“Following the recommendations of the Economic Sector Strategy Tables, the FES also included initiatives to modernize the regulatory framework to encourage innovation and competitiveness. The key elements are an External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness and a new Centre for Regulatory Innovation, which will work with innovative businesses, using pilots and ‘sandboxes’ to ensure the regulatory system keeps pace with advances in technology.
“As Minister Morneau highlighted, Canada has the potential to be a leader in the burgeoning global clean growth economy, representing a $26 trillion opportunity over the next 12 years, as part of the FES’s ambitious plan to increase Canadian businesses exports by 50% by 2022.
“We strongly support these measures; they will strengthen competitiveness, grow investment, generate jobs and reduce emissions. These changes are good for Canada, and we encourage the government to take further steps to implement other key recommendations of the Economic Strategy Tables, including:
- Extend the 100% accelerated capital cost allowance, which now covers 19 specific clean energy technologies, to include other types of technologies, such as for water, waste and air pollution. This will further encourage the adoption of clean technologies across all sectors of the economy, and help businesses reduce their environmental footprint.
- Supplement this with an investor tax credit, which will draw in much-needed private capital to finance the growth of Canada’s emerging clean tech firms and leverage the significant public investment of over $2 billion in clean innovation in Budget 2017.
- Moving to more agile, efficient regulations is critical for competitiveness. But for this regulatory modernization initiative to succeed, it must achieve the dual mandate of improving both economic and environmental outcomes. Regulatory reform can be a win-win opportunity that advances both “clean” and “growth” objectives, as the Economic Strategy Tables recommended.
"We commend the initiatives in the FES, and encourage the government to continue acting to build a stronger, cleaner, more innovative Canadian economy.”
Signed by the following members of the Smart Prosperity Leaders Initiative
Meredith Adler, Executive Director, Student Energy
Dominic Barton, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Ross Beaty, Chairman, Pan American Silver Corp.
Brent Bergeron, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Goldcorp
John Coyne, Vice President, Legal & External Affairs and General Counsel, Unilever Canada
Michael Crothers, President & Canada Country Chair, Shell Canada
Stewart Elgie#, Professor of Law & Economics, University of Ottawa
David Hughes, President & CEO, The Natural Step Canada
Greg Kiessling, President, UpCapital Ltd.
Lorraine Mitchelmore#, Chair, National Economic Strategy Table, Resources of the Future
Merrell-Anne Phare, Founding Executive Director, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources
David Runnalls, Board Chair, Pembina Institute
Jean Simard, President and CEO, Aluminum Association of Canada; Co-founder, SWITCH
Vicky Sharpe, Founding President & CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Marcia Smith, Senior Vice-President, Sustainability and External Affairs, Teck Resources
Merran Smith, Executive Director, Clean Energy Canada
John Stackhouse, Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO, RBC
Craig Stewart, Vice President, Federal Affairs, Insurance Bureau of Canada
Kirsten Tisdale, Managing Partner, Government and Public Sector, Ernst & Young Canada
Scott Vaughan, President & CEO, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Annette Verschuren#, Chair and CEO, NRStor; Former President, Home Depot Canada
#= Co-chair, Smart Prosperity Leaders Initiative
Please note that this is a personal statement of support by the leaders and may not reflect the views of everyone in their respective organizations
