New federal budget appropriate to current crisis circumstances, CIAC

April 20, 2021

The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) acknowledges the new federal budget tabled yesterday will play an important role in supporting Canadians and Canadian businesses as they continue to cope with the current unprecedented public health and economic crisis. The budget also sends important signals and provides foundational fiscal supports for the future direction of the Canadian economy as it transitions to net-zero emissions by 2050.  

CIAC has identified a number of initiatives that will bring benefits to Canada’s chemistry and plastics sectors, including: 

  • funding for Canada’s world-leading Chemicals Management Plan of $476.7 million for a further five years to “continue to protect Canadians and the environment from exposure to chemicals that can be harmful”;  
  • the development of a new tax credit for carbon capture, utilization and storage; 
  • a $7 billion commitment to the Strategic Innovation Fund including the Net Zero Accelerator fund to support projects that help decarbonize heavy industry, support clean technologies and help accelerate domestic greenhouse gas emissions reductions; 
  • investing a further $1.9 billion in the Trade Corridors Fund to spur investments to our roads, rail, and shipping routes. 

“There are things that are in this budget that will help with the greening of the economy. Chemistry will be front and centre in providing those solutions to all sectors of the economy, whether through green energy, electric vehicles, low carbon products, energy storage and many others,” said Bob Masterson, President and CEO of CIAC.  

“While this budget establishes important signals on the direction of the future economy, post-pandemic future budgets will need to prioritize attention on strengthening Canada’s capital investment environment. Achieving Canada’s long term economic, social and environmental objectives will require major changes in recent patterns of capital investment in Canada.” 

CIAC and its members look forward to supporting Canadians on the path to net zero emissions and will continue to provide solutions for decarbonizing the economy. We will also continue to work with provincial and federal governments to keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment and to innovate to enable a circular economy for plastics.