Budget 2026 puts five proposals on advisor client files
RBC Wealth Management notes that founders, early-stage employees and investors are the intended beneficiaries, that businesses in the financial, insurance, real estate, utilities, resource, accommodation and arts sectors are excluded along with professional practices and consulting firms, and that the measure would apply to qualifying shares issued on or after November 5, 2026 and before 2037.
Claiming the CGI exemption on shares of a corporation would limit a qualifying individual’s ability to claim the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption on shares of that same corporation, and the reverse also applies.
The budget puts the cost at $715m in tax relief over four years starting in 2027-28, and says a founder with a $15m capital gain would retain nearly 96 percent of the value on exit, compared with 71 percent before Budget 2026.
“The CGI has a lot of potential to help address the decline in business starts that Canada has been facing in recent years,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
Kelly added that Ottawa “has decided to limit the initiative by adding a bunch of complicated rules which result in excluding about half of the businesses that could otherwise use it.”
