The president of the Mining Association of Canada says the federal government has made a mistake in cancelling a popular tax cut among mining companies.
Pierre Gratton explains the Accelerated Capital Cost Program helped companies recoup the costs of setting up new mines.
This was essentially done by writing off major capital investments.
Gratton says he doesn’t buy the government’s rationale for phasing out the tax cut:
“They say it’s because they want to make the system more tax neutral and that this is a measure just for mining. But in the very same budget, they extended the exact same measure for manufacturing and created a whole new one for renewable energy — so you know they’re not really saying it’s because of tax neutrality. They’re sort of talking out of both sides of their mouth.”
Gratton says he feels this could make it tougher for new mines to be established.
At the same time, he says there are still things he likes in the new budget, including money for Aboriginal job training.
Cameco notes $241 million for Aboriginal skills training was announced in the budget.
However, the company says details have yet to be released on how it will be able to access those funds.