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Despite little fuss currently being made — and although rules around buybacks are looser in the U.S. — data show Canada’s biggest companies have greatly increased the amount of shares they are buying back. Some figures suggest they have also recently repurchased stock at a rate that outpaces the growth of their spending on equipment, technology and investor dividends.

However, buybacks could become a bigger talking point as Canada draws closer to this fall’s election, and as investment in future competitiveness looks to be flagging.

The allure of buybacks, at least in part, is that they can boost stock prices by reducing the number of company shares in circulation and increasing earnings per share, a key measure of profitability.

“All of our major holdings enjoy excellent economics, and most use a portion of their retained earnings to repurchase their shares,” Warren Buffett said in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders earlier this year. “We very much like that: If (Berkshire vice-chairman Charlie Munger) and I think an investee’s stock is underpriced, we rejoice when management employs some of its earnings to increase Berkshire’s ownership percentage.”

Buybacks offer other perks as well, a recent report by CIBC World Markets noted. This includes rewarding investors while allowing them to defer tax payments until after the shares are sold, unlike dividends.

They are also not “long-term commitments,” as dividends are, the report said, and they offer another use for extra cash lying around in a business, which “should result in additional capital discipline, ensuring that spending on any and all projects does not get unbridled support.”