CPA Ontario Addresses Senate Finance Committee on Budget 2025
January 5, 2026
On December 9, 2025, Joe Waterman, CPA Ontario’s Chief Communications Officer, appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance to address Bill C-15, an Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on November 4, 2025.
He emphasized that some measures in Bill C-15 and Budget 2025 are welcome, including the simplification and expansion of the Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit and the reinstatement of the accelerated investment initiative. He also emphasized the need for a more fulsome review of Canada’s tax system, and a bolder approach to tax reform.
Read Joe Waterman’s remarks in full below.
Thank you, Mister Chair, and thank you honourable members of the committee for inviting me to speak today. It’s a pleasure to be here representing the regulatory body for more than 105,000 Chartered Professional Accountants in Ontario, almost half of CPAs in Canada.
I know that several members of the committee are CPAs, and you are aware that CPAs play a crucial role in the Canadian economy. As auditors, they maintain the public trust in our financial system. As innovators, they help Canadian start-ups and scale-ups succeed. And as tax practitioners they understand, firsthand, how tax policy can encourage investment, entrepreneurship and growth in our economy, or become a barrier to the same. Which is why the tax measures in Bill C-15 and Budget 2025 are of great interest to CPAs.
There are no shortage of challenges facing our country: lagging business investment, weak productivity, and, of course, an unpredictable global trade environment. And it is encouraging to see Bill C-15 propose some important measures to help address them.
For example, given how critical Canada’s innovators and entrepreneurs are to our future the simplification and expansion of the SR&ED tax credit in Bill C-15 was a welcome change, and one the sector has long advocated for.
Canada’s economy has shifted, we increasingly are a knowledge-based economy. Data and intellectual property are the new building blocks to prosperity. Canada’s tax system must reflect this reality by encouraging commercialization and the retention of IP here in the country, as well as support investment and capital formation. But the Canadian economy has struggled with all three.
Which is why the extension of the accelerated investment incentive included in Bill C-15 through the Productivity Super Deduction is a positive measure, one that will help to boost investment by allowing faster depreciation of capital assets. It will enable firms to recover capital costs more quickly, enhancing cash flow and encouraging reinvestment.
At the same time, long-term investment requires certainty. The extension of the accelerated investment incentive and other provisions in the Productivity Super Deduction would be more impactful if they were made permanent.
Notwithstanding these welcome changes, I do want to make one thing abundantly clear, Canada’s tax system is too complex, and that complexity is a barrier for investment and growth.
Decades of piecemeal tax policy has resulted in a patchwork system ill-equipped for today’s economy.
Tax competitiveness is about more than just achieving the lowest marginal rate. It’s about removing inefficiencies so capital can flow to where it can be put to the best use. And CPAs can see tax complexity diverting resources from more productive economic activity every day. In fact, in a survey we conducted 88% of CPAs in Ontario emphasized the importance of reforming the personal and corporate income tax system, with 84% calling it overly complex.
Bill C-15 includes some measures to simplify the tax code with the proposed elimination of a few inefficient tax expenditures. However, a comprehensive review of all tax expenditures using similar criteria to study whether they are achieving their objectives without undue compliance costs could remove layers of complexity.
We are still a long way off from a necessary – and frankly overdue – broad review of Canada’s tax system. A robust expert review that could be used as the blueprint for a tax system that drives growth, competitiveness and productivity for Canada.
In closing, Budget 2025 is an important signal that Canada is addressing its competitiveness, and we appreciate the government’s efforts and direction.
But now is the time to be bold.
Comprehensive tax reform can help attract the capital, talent and growth that Canada needs.
Thank you, I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.