Ottawa proposed permanent immediate expensing, and truckers saw a boost for fleet renewal

In September 2026, the federal Department of Finance proposed the Productivity Mega Deduction, which would permanently let businesses fully deduct the cost of most depreciable property in the year it becomes available for use, instead of writing it off over several years.

The measure would generally apply to eligible property acquired on or after Sept. 15, 2026. Finance estimated that about two-thirds of investment in capital assets would qualify, at an incremental cost of $36 billion over five years starting in 2026-27. It expanded on the Productivity Super-Deduction in Budget 2025, which covered about 15% of capital investment.

The fine print

• Exclusions included buildings in capital cost allowance classes 1 and 3, intangible property such as franchises, licences and goodwill, regulated natural gas distribution pipelines, and certain vehicles in classes 10 and 10.1.
• Used property could qualify only if neither the taxpayer nor a non-arm's-length person had owned it before and it was not transferred on a tax-deferred rollover basis.
• Assets that did not qualify would keep the enhanced first-year deduction under the Accelerated Investment Incentive.

What it meant for trucking

Finance's own calculations showed a large shift for transportation and storage. The sector's marginal effective tax rate would fall from 13.3% after the Spring Economic Update 2026 to -2.3%, compared with a 2026 U.S. rate of 8.6% for the sector.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) welcomed the proposal. It had pushed for permanent, broad-based immediate expensing after the U.S. passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, arguing Canadian fleets would otherwise be at a disadvantage. CTA chairman Scott Tilley said the measure would encourage fleets to add newer equipment, with new safety technologies, lower-emission engines and better fuel efficiency, sooner. The CTA said it would review the proposed rules with the federal government.