Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland rises to present the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Liberal government has already unveiled significant planks of the budget, including billions of dollars to build more homes, expand child care and beef up the military. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Very little was said about energy in the 2024 budget address. Here are the portions of Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget speech that are related to energy, including artificial intelligence, which presumably will eventually have an impact on the energy sector:
The Canada Carbon Rebate ensures that we fight climate change in the most cost-effective way, delivering hundreds of dollars to Canadians, every three months, including yesterday. Eight out of ten Canadians get back more than they pay in the provinces where the federal price on pollution applies.
And in this budget, we are delivering on our promise to return carbon pricing proceeds to small- and medium-sized businesses.
I am proud to announce that our new Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses will soon return over $2.5 billion directly to about 600,000 small- and medium-sized businesses. This real, meaningful support is a testament to our commitment to Canada’s small businesses.
Mr. Speaker, at a time when prices are high, we are delivering real investments that help make life cost less for Canadians.
The third part of our plan is growing the economy in a way that’s shared by everyone.
To drive the kind of growth Canada needs today, we are redoubling our efforts to attract investment, increase productivity, and boost innovation.
We’re working to empower our best entrepreneurs to put their ideas to work here in Canada and create good-paying and meaningful jobs.
How do we do that? To quote one of our country’s great philosophers, we need to skate to where the puck is going.
That means doubling down on Artificial Intelligence.
We were the first country to have a national AI strategy.
Over the past several years, we’ve supported the creation and growth of one of the world’s leading, most talented AI communities.
Today, Mr. Speaker, we are taking the next step to secure Canada’s AI advantage.
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We are equipping our AI innovators with the compute power they need to attract and nurture the best researchers, scale up businesses, and drive the innovation that will deliver transformative economic opportunities for Canada and Canadians.
Home grown Canadian AI companies are already helping to boost the productivity of Canadian workers.
A natural area to seize a further competitive advantage for Canada is building the mechanical heart of the AI economy—data centres.
We have a natural edge: we have abundant and clean electricity; we have skilled and experienced engineers; we have the cold climate needed to help cool supercomputers; and we are physically close to the world’s largest market which has vast data processing needs.
We are introducing Accelerated Capital Cost Allowances for innovation-enabling and productivity-enhancing assets. This means that investments in things like computers, data network infrastructure, and more, will be eligible for immediate write-offs. This will encourage companies to reinvest, create more jobs, and make their businesses more productive and innovative.
In the first three quarters of 2023, Canada attracted the highest per capita foreign direct investment in the G7, and the third most total FDI in the world.
Our budget builds on that significant accomplishment—because attracting investment is key to driving growth, increasing productivity, and boosting innovation.
With the Canada Growth Fund and our $93 billion suite of Investment Tax Credits, we are already encouraging businesses to invest in emerging clean technologies that can drive growth and productivity —and create more good-paying jobs.
Today we are proposing a new Investment Tax Credit to attract companies investing across the electric vehicle supply chain. Canada boasts an abundance of natural resources. We intend to leverage this national advantage to build entire supply chains. And our new Investment Tax Credit will encourage precisely that.
We are investing over $5 billion in Canadian brainpower. More funding for research and scholarships will help Canada attract the next generation of game-changing thinkers pursuing excellence.
…
Mr. Speaker, there are those who claim that the only thing government can do when it comes to economic growth is get out of the way.
I’d like to introduce them to the talented tradespeople and brilliant engineers who, last Thursday, made the final weld—the Golden Weld—on a great national project: the Trans Mountain pipeline. It took our government to get it built—and last week the Bank of Canada estimated this project will add one-quarter of a percentage point to our GDP in the second quarter.
Additionally, for businesses, the Canadian Press noted:
- A 10 per cent tax credit for the cost of buildings used for key parts of the electric-vehicle supply chain over the next 10 years;
- A 15 per cent tax credit over the same period for eligible investments in new equipment or refurbishments for clean electricity;
- A new tax credit for about 600,000 small and medium-sized businesses worth $2.5 billion that disburses fuel charge proceeds dating back to 2019.
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