Sign the open letter | Make the Employee Ownership Trust incentive permanent

Make Employee Ownership Permanent

To the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne
Minister of Finance of Canada

Canada is at a pivotal moment. As thousands of business owners prepare to retire in the coming years, the decisions we make now will shape who owns Canada’s economy, where wealth is created, and whether communities across the country continue to thrive.

Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) offer a proven, community-oriented solution.

Employee Ownership Trusts are an answer to succession. They enable business owners to sell their companies to their employees, and be paid out of company profits over time. They keep businesses Canadian-owned, enable workers to share in the success they help create, and support long-term investment in local economies. They align directly with Canada’s goals of economic sovereignty, worker opportunity, and resilient communities.

Canada has already begun to see the promise of this approach. The country’s first Employee Ownership Trusts are strong, values-driven companies rooted in their communities and focused on long-term success. Financial institutions, advisors, researchers, and workers are beginning to build an ecosystem ready to support employee ownership at scale.

What the market needs now is certainty.

Making the Employee Ownership Trust capital gains tax incentive permanent would unlock broader adoption, support thoughtful business succession planning, and allow employee ownership to become a mainstream pathway.

This is an opportunity for Canada to:

• keep successful businesses in Canadian hands,
• empower workers to build lasting wealth and stability for their families, and
• strengthen productivity, investment, and growth in communities across the country.

Employee ownership has delivered strong results in peer economies such as the United States and the United Kingdom. With permanent policy support, it can do the same in Canada.

We urge the Government of Canada to act swiftly to make the Employee Ownership Trust incentive permanent and embed employee ownership as a durable pillar of Canada’s economic future. This is a practical, forward-looking step that benefits workers, businesses, and communities — and helps ensure a stronger, more resilient Canada.

Signed,

Canadians who believe in shared ownership, strong communities, and a Canada-strong economy