Archived - Budget 2022 
A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable

• Budget 2022 proposes to introduce the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account that would give prospective first-time home buyers the ability to save up to $40,000. Like an RRSP, contributions would be tax-deductible, and withdrawals to purchase a first home—including investment income—would be non-taxable, like a TFSA. Tax-free in, tax-free out.
• Budget 2022 proposes to double the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit amount to $10,000, providing up to $1,500 in direct support to home buyers, applying to homes purchased on or after January 1, 2022.
• Budget 2022 proposes to double the qualifying expense limit of the Home Accessibility Tax Credit to $20,000 for the 2022 and subsequent tax years. This will mean a tax credit of up to $3,000—an increase from the previous tax credit of up to $1,500—for important accessibility renovations or alterations.

Houses should be homes for Canadians to live in.

• To ensure profits from flipping properties are taxed fully and fairly, Budget 2022 proposes to introduce new rules so that any person who sells a property they have held for less than 12 months would be subject to full taxation on their profits as business income, applying to residential properties sold on or after January 1, 2023. Exemptions would apply for Canadians who sell their home due to certain life circumstances, such as a death, disability, the birth of a child, a new job, or a divorce.
• To make sure that housing is owned by Canadians instead of foreign investors, Budget 2022 announces the government’s intention to propose restrictions that would prohibit foreign commercial enterprises and people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from acquiring non-recreational, residential property in Canada for a period of two years.

Budget 2022 proposes:

• $250 million over four years to support pre-development activities of clean electricity projects of national significance, such as inter-provincial electricity transmission projects and Small Modular Reactors. The federal government is already advancing similar work on the Atlantic Loop and Prairie Link projects.
• $600 million over seven years for the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program to support additional renewable electricity and grid modernization projects.
• $25 million to establish Regional Strategic Initiatives to work with provinces, territories, and relevant stakeholders to develop net-zero energy plans.

Budget 2022 proposes:

• An additional $2.0 billion over nine years, with $78.7 million in remaining amortization, and $136.4 million per year ongoing, to renew and expand the Oceans Protection Plan.
• $43.5 million over five years and $8.7 million ongoing to create a new Canada Water Agency, which will be stood-up in 2022.
• $19.6 million in 2022-23 to sustain the Freshwater Action Plan.
• $25.0 million over five years to support the Experimental Lakes Area.
• $44.9 million over five years and $9 million ongoing to support the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

• Budget 2022 announces that the Department of Finance Canada will engage with experts to establish an investment tax credit of up to 30 per cent, focused on net-zero technologies, battery storage solutions, and clean hydrogen. The design details of the investment tax credit will be provided in the 2022 fall economic and fiscal update.

Budget 2022 proposes to establish the Canada Growth Fund to attract substantial private sector investment to help meet important national economic policy goals. The fund will be initially capitalized at $15 billion over the next five years, and will target three dollars of private capital for every one dollar that it invests.

• To reduce emissions and contribute to achieving Canada’s climate goals.
• To diversify our economy and bolster our exports by investing in the growth of low-carbon industries and new technologies across new and traditional sectors of Canada’s industrial base.
• To support the restructuring of critical supply chains in areas important to Canada’s future prosperity—including our natural resources sector.

Small businesses currently benefit from a reduced federal tax rate of 9 per cent on their first $500,000 of taxable income, compared to a general federal corporate tax rate of 15 per cent. A business no longer has access to this lower rate once its level of capital employed in Canada reaches $15 million. However, phasing out access to the lower tax rate too quickly—and then requiring a small business to pay more in tax—can discourage some businesses from continuing to grow and create jobs.

• Budget 2022 proposes to phase out access to the small business tax rate more gradually, with access to be fully phased out when taxable capital reaches $50 million, rather than at $15 million.

This measure would apply to taxation years that begin on or after April 7, 2022.

Since 2015, the government has delivered real improvements to make Canadians’ lives more affordable, including:

• Making an historic investment of $30 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system in collaboration with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners. By the end of 2022, child care fees will have been reduced by an average of 50 per cent, and by 2025-26, the average child care fee for all regulated child care spaces across Canada will be $10 a day.
• Introducing the Canada Child Benefit, which will provide up to $6,833 per child to Canadian families this year, and has helped 435,000 children out of poverty since 2015.
• Expanding the Canada Workers Benefit to support an estimated one million additional Canadians, which could mean $1,000 more per year for a full-time, minimum-wage worker.
• Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15.55 per hour.
• Implementing a ten per cent increase to the maximum GIS benefit for single seniors, and reversing the announced increase to the eligibility for OAS and GIS back to age 65 from 67.
• Providing ten days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated private sector employees.
• Increasing Climate Action Incentive payments, which puts more money in the pockets of eight out of every ten people in the provinces where the federal system applies, and means a family of four will receive, for 2022-2023, $745 in Ontario, $832 in Manitoba, $1,101 in Saskatchewan and $1,079 in Alberta.
• Making post-secondary education more affordable by waiving interest on Canada Student Loans until March 2023 and enhancing repayment assistance to ensure that no person making $40,000 or less will need to make payments on their federal student loans going forward.