Updated

Updated · The Hill Times · Aug 10

CFIB Urges Canada to Cut Small Business Tax Rate to 6% as Closures Outpace Openings

Updated

Updated · The Hill Times · Aug 10

CFIB Urges Canada to Cut Small Business Tax Rate to 6% as Closures Outpace Openings

1 articles · Updated · The Hill Times · Aug 10

CFIB is pressing Ottawa to cut the small business tax rate from 9% to 6%, arguing a prolonged "entrepreneurial drought" is leaving more firms closing than opening.
Five straight quarters of negative net business creation ran through January-March 2025, and CFIB says the pattern has effectively stretched to about six quarters with only brief interruptions.
Dan Kelly blamed the slump on a post-pandemic closure hangover, strained Canada-U.S. trade ties and higher energy costs linked to the U.S.-Israel-Iran war and regional conflict.
Small firms make up about 98% of Canadian businesses and employ roughly 11 million people, making the trend a broader economic risk if too few survive long enough to scale.
The push came amid a wider surge in federal economic lobbying: economic development appeared in 9,393 communication reports in January-June 2026, and CFIB filed 48 of them.

Sources

Left100%

If cutting the small business tax rate frees up $2.1 billion, why is the government hesitant to implement this for struggling Canadian firms?

With Canada facing an entrepreneurial drought, will Ottawa's targeted grants actually save startups, or is a massive tax cut the only lifeline?

Are lingering pandemic closures and heavy regulations permanently driving Canada's most promising startups to scale up across the border instead?

1 total

Left100%