Jebco Industries in Barrie started as a small business in Innisfil in 1974. Today, the custom fabricator builds everything from mining equipment to water treatment systems. Like many Canadian businesses, it is feeling the effects of U.S. tariffs. The company says some American customers could be lost because of them. “We just had a fabrication that went across the border, and it was $16,000 to get it across on our clients’ end. It ended up being 50 per cent of the total order value,” says Connie Walker with Jebco Industries. On Tuesday morning, Canada’s Secretary of State for Labour was at Jebco announcing what it calls the Productivity Mega Deduction, a move that will allow businesses to immediately deduct the full cost of many investments, giving them an incentive to grow. “With Productivity Mega Deduction, Canada will have the most competitive tax system in the G7 for new business investment. Our effective new tax rate will be about six per cent. In the United States it is about 17 per cent. We want the next machine bought here, the next plant built here, the next technology built here, and the next job created here,” says John Zerucelli, Secretary of State for Labour. The minister told a small gathering at the plant that, “We cannot control the decisions made outside our borders, but we can control what we do here at home.” He says the new tax incentive will increase the amount of assets eligible for immediate expensing from about 15 per cent to 65 per cent. “Our focus is on what we can control. If we invest in ourselves, we can make more things in Canada because we can still make things in this country with our hands, with our own companies and our own people,” says Zerucelli. The federal government says the move will help set the conditions for a Canadian investment supercycle. It hopes the measure will drive immediate growth and productivity across the country. At Jebco, the focus is already shifting toward opportunities closer to home. “We are now looking at different ways and more fabrications that are landing in Canada. So, Canadian fabricated, Canadian landed, that is what our goal is right now,” says Walker.
