SASKATOON — Canada’s finance minister is not ruling out cutting this country’s corporate taxes to better respond to increased competition from the U.S.

Bill Morneau told reporters in Saskatoon Tuesday that all options remain on the table as his government crafts a response to tax changes south of the border that put Canadian companies at a disadvantage. Liberal MPs are in the Prairie city for a caucus retreat ahead of Parliament’s return on Monday.

“I’m not at the stage now where we can say that we’ve ruled anything in or anything out,” Morneau told reporters.

“What I’m saying though is that it’s important that our economy, that investment opportunities for businesses remain robust and that means considering the competitive environment and the different investment opportunities they have.”

Morneau said his plan will be released with the fall economic update, a date for which has not been announced. The fall update is traditionally delivered by the finance minister during the fall session on parliament, where MPs are brief on the country’s economic situation.

That means it will come at least nine months after the changes south of the border took effect.

[READ MORE: Canada has options on competitiveness without corporate tax cuts]

The Trudeau government is facing increased pressure from Canada business groups who say they’re worried about Canadian competitiveness, including attracting investment after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration slashed corporate tax rates south of the border.

The Business Council of Canada has been calling on the federal government for months to make changes that would level the playing field after Trump’s tax changes pitched it heavily in favour of business investments made within the United States.

In January the U.S. federal tax rate dropped from 35 per cent to 21 per cent. Canada’s federal tax rate is 15 per cent but combined with provincial taxes it averages out to 27 per cent.

That’s one point higher than the average U.S. rate of 26 per cent. However, when combined with other tax savings available in America, the differential puts Canada at a “disadvantage” to the U.S., according to Ross Laver, a senior vice president with the Business Council of Canada.

The U.S. is also allowing companies to write off 100 per cent of the cost of major new investments in the project’s first year, he said – whcih Canada’ doesn’t do. Canadian rules allow new investments to be written off over the span of a project.

That difference alone, Laver said is a “huge incentive” for companies to spend in the United States instead of keeping cash in the bank.

In order to tackle the competition gap, Ontario’s new government promised during the spring election campaign to lower corporate taxes by one percentage point in year two of its mandate.

The Trudeau Liberals’ budget in February it didn’t include any response to the changes in the United States – which the Council said was a “missed an opportunity.” Those concerns continue today.

“The first thing that we’ve been looking for and we’ve been looking for since the budget was a clear acknowledgement from the government that it recognized that Canada has a serious competitiveness problem and then a plan to address it,” Laver said in an interview with iPolitics.

[READ MORE: Canada should cut corporate tax rate and incentivize high-tech investments: Mintz]

In the spring, the Business Council of Canada commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to study the effect the U.S. tax changes would have on the Canadian economy. The full report will be released Wednesday, but Laver said it shows “very, very substantial impacts on the Canadian economy overall but particularly concentrated in certain sectors.”

He said the report found that capital intensive sectors like manufacturing and refining will be the “most heavily affected,” compared to sectors where the largest share of the costs are labour, like the hospitality or high tech sectors.

A copy of the report was sent to the finance department last week, Laver said.

On Tuesday, Morneau wouldn’t get into details but acknowledged the concerns raised by the business community. “For business leaders in some sectors of the economy the changes in the United states tax are more significant than for others,” he said.

“We’re certainly looking at all aspects of the changes in the United States in order to ensure that that opportunity to maintain a robust investment environment in Canada stays there.”

Laver said the business council isn’t looking for immediate “dramatic” changes but rather for the government to lay out a plan to be rolled out over the next few years that is aimed at closing the competitiveness gap.

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