Contrary to prevailing wisdom, Canadian business leaders are not clamouring for corporate tax cuts and mega deductions in today’s federal budget.
The most recent edition of the Business Monitor reveals:
- Innovation and productivity are viewed as the top priorities.
- Corporate tax cuts are well down the list of priorities and perceive risk to the economy.
- The productivity mega deduction is not especially popular among business leaders.
A more detailed presentation is in the report with additional findings.
Business leaders are fairly polarized on Carney's productivity mega deduction
This is more or less consistent regionally. In no region does the initiative receive majority support.
Spurring innovation and productivity top the list of budget priorities for business leaders
Reducing the tax burden for corporations is well down the list of priorities.
- In the context of the attention given to Carney’s productivity mega deduction and reducing corporate tax burden, this seems to be at odds with the prevailing coverage.
Corporate tax burden also rates lowly as an economic risk
This is more or less consistent regionally. In no region does the initiative receive majority support.
Discussion
Recent coverage of Carney’s productivity mega deduction suggests that Canadian business leaders are wildly in favour and clamouring for corporate tax cuts. While spurring innovation and productivity are widely viewed as a top priority for this budget, corporate tax cuts are not.
Given the relatively weak appetite for corporate tax cuts across Canada’s business leaders, it is unsurprising to find only modest support for the productivity mega deduction. Although the deduction has been enthusiastically received among business lobby groups, these results show that the broader base of Canadian business leaders are not so impressed.
Methodology
The Business Monitor is powered by the Modus Business Panel – Canada’s only purpose-built, fully probability-based business research panel.
The survey was conducted online using both email and SMS invitations/reminders, and completed via desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices. A total of 510 responses were gathered from Canadian managers and executives. As Modus Business Panel is 100% recruited using RDD probability-based telephone sampling, it is statistically valid to calculate the margin of error – it is plus or minus 4.3% at a 95% confidence interval. Sample matters.
The survey was conducted from October 30 to November 3, 2026.
The data have been weighted by region and enterprise size using the latest population data from Statistics Canada.
The Business Monitor
The Business Monitor is a quarterly B2B omnibus survey ideally suited for discerning clients who need a cost-effective solution to their business research needs without compromising quality.
The Monitor is powered by the Modus Business Panel – Canada’s only purpose-built and fully probability-based business research panel. It is the gold standard for business research in Canada.
