Christine Dobie
(Bloomberg) Bank of Montreal CEO Darryl White says Canada is “absolutely not” competitive on tax policy and is calling on the federal government to cut taxes even if it means running a bigger deficit.
White told the Global Forum in Toronto on Wednesday that investment tax incentives are not getting enough attention as trade issues dominate the national debate.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has scrapped an unpopular increase in the capital gains inclusion rate, but further steps are needed, such as letting companies write off capital assets more quickly and lowering corporate and personal taxes, White said.
“We have a little bit of financial capacity here that we can tap into,” he said. While he’s typically a proponent of a balanced budget, “now is the time — to throw it out the window and take more risks.”
He said Canada should seize the momentum generated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies, which have prompted a rethinking of internal trade barriers and Canadian exporters’ reliance on the U.S. market.
“Are we going to waste a crisis? Are we going to be competitive on taxes? I know the answer is, ‘Absolutely not,'” he said.
In July, the federal government lowered the country’s minimum income tax rate by 1 percentage point.
White, who led the country’s third-largest bank by market capitalization for nearly eight years, said capital will “flow to where there is least resistance” and Canada must make itself the destination. Other executives, including other bank CEOs, have also pressured Ottawa for tax reform.
The Carney administration will release its first budget on November 4, with the federal deficit expected to climb to at least $70 billion. National Bank of Canada chief economist Stefane Marion estimated the shortfall to be about C$100 billion and said Ottawa was likely to introduce a “stimulus budget.”
“When you compare Canada to the rest of the world, we do have some fiscal space,” Marion said at a Bloomberg event last week. “We shouldn’t squander it.”
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Last modified: October 15, 2025
