The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Small Business, celebrated Small Business Month (SBM) by meeting with local entrepreneurs and business organizations to highlight the federal government supports that are available to help them thrive.

“Small businesses are the heart of our communities and the backbone of our economy, employing nearly 8 million hard-working Canadians. It was incredible to spend Small Business Month celebrating their invaluable contributions and meeting key organizations that are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs thrive. Our government will continue to have the backs of small businesses from coast to coast to coast, whether they’re just starting out, looking to grow or striving to extend their reach into new markets.”
– The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Small Business 

• The Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses is a refundable tax credit to return a portion of federal fuel charge proceeds directly to eligible businesses.

  • Businesses will not have to apply for this rebate. The Canada Revenue Agency will determine and automatically issue the rebate amounts for eligible businesses based on the payment rates of each applicable province for the corresponding fuel charge years, as specified by the Minister of Finance.
  • The rebate will be available to eligible Canadian-controlled private corporations that had 499 or fewer employees in Canada throughout the calendar year in which the applicable fuel charge year began.
  • The federal fuel charge currently applies in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. The Government of Canada does not keep any direct proceeds from pollution pricing. All direct fuel charge proceeds are returned in the province or territory of origin.

• The Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada was first released in 2010 and was last updated in 2015.

  • All major payment card network operators in Canada incorporate the code into their rules, making it binding on all their network participants: issuers, acquirers and payment processors.
  • More than 1 million businesses that accept payment cards in Canada will benefit from the code revisions. In 2023, these businesses accepted approximately 14.1 billion card payments worth $1.2 trillion.
  • The increased transparency and disclosure elements of the revised code require payment processors to notify eligible businesses if network fee reductions will not be passed on in full. Additionally, payment processors must remind those businesses of their right to terminate their contract, enabling them to switch to a processor that passes on the benefits of rate reductions.
  • Under the existing code, businesses have the right to exit their contracts without penalty if they do not receive the full benefits of certain network fee decreases, such as the upcoming small business interchange reductions. But businesses have not always been aware of this right.

• Businesses pay fees to process credit card transactions, with the largest component being the interchange fee paid to credit card–issuing financial institutions, such as banks. The federal government has finalized agreements to lower these fees for small businesses starting on October 19, 2024. Visa and Mastercard have agreed to:

  • reduce domestic consumer credit interchange fees for in-store transactions to an annual weighted average interchange rate of 0.95%
  • reduce domestic consumer credit interchange fees for online transactions by 10 basis points, resulting in reductions of up to 7%
  • provide free access to online fraud and cybersecurity resources to help small businesses grow their online sales while preventing fraud and chargebacks
  • allow small businesses to qualify with each credit card network individually

• Small businesses with an annual Visa sales volume below $300,000 will qualify for the lower interchange fees from Visa, and those with an annual Mastercard sales volume below $175,000 will qualify for the lower fees from Mastercard.

• Non-profit organizations with transaction volumes below these thresholds will also benefit from reduced rates.

Callie Franson
Senior Communications Advisor and Issues Manager
Office of the Minister of Small Business
callie.franson@ised-isde.gc.ca

Media Relations
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
media@ised-isde.gc.ca

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