Lobbyists push for tax changes in hydrogen production, phosphate mining in next federal budget – The Hill Times

The lead-up to this year’s federal budget, the hydrogen sector is pushing for Ottawa to move fast on tax reforms to help unlock this country’s potential as a clean hydrogen supplier to Europe and beyond and before competing jurisdictions beat Canada to the punch, according to the federal Lobbyists Registry.

“We’re just working to ensure that decision-makers understand the scale of opportunity in e-fuel; that the demand we’re seeing specifically for e-methanol  … is very real and that the [European Union] is, internationally, the driver for this,” said Amelia Stastney, manager of policy and advocacy with StormFisher Hydrogen.

“We want to make sure that Canada is the producer of these molecules because when we look at e-fuels, what you need is low-carbon electricity and natural resources such as water. And Canada has these in spades.”

Pre-budget consultations, allowing Canadians to weigh in on their federal spending priorities, ran from July 6 to Sept. 8. The official budget date has yet to be announced, but this will be the second year in a row that the reading of the government’s spending plans occurs in the fall instead of the traditional spring release. Last year’s budget was tabled on Nov. 4, 2025.

More than 1,300 communication reports related to the budget were filed for lobbying activity between Aug. 1 and Oct. 12, based on a search of the federal lobbyists’ registry on Oct. 12.

So far this year, “budget” is the sixth most-listed subject in communication reports on the lobbyists’ registry, appearing in more than 7,100 communication reports for activity between January and September. Budget-related lobbying peaked in May with 1,032 communication reports filed on that subject that month.

Among the most active advocacy groups in that time frame was StormFisher Hydrogen, which is currently developing a low-carbon e-methanol facility in Varennes, Que., with a planned commercial operation date of early 2029. The facility, which would be capable of producing more than 72,000 tonnes of low-carbon methanol annually, would be the first large-scale facility of its kind in North America, according to the StormFisher website.

Stastney told The Hill Times that StormFisher is asking for Ottawa to adjust its Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit (CH-ITC) to allow hydrogen projects in different regions to more easily take advantage of the top tax-credit tier.

Currently, the CH-ITC offers a refundable tax credit ranging from 15 to 40 per cent based on a project’s carbon intensity. However, some projects are able to more easily reach the highest tax-rebate tier based on their location, according to Stastney.

Provincial grids dominated by hydroelectricity, as in Quebec and British Columbia, have baseline grid emissions at near zero, which means projects using grid power in those provinces are significantly more likely to qualify for the coveted 40-per-cent threshold, compared to projects in other provinces that rely on fossil fuels.

StormFisher is advocating for hydrogen projects to automatically receive the top tax credit if they are powered by grids where at least 90 per cent of electricity comes from non-emitting sources.

That same advice was also in the Canadian Hydrogen Association’s pre-budget submission to Finance in April. In its submission, the association argued that granting an automatic 40-per-cent CH-ITC to projects in provinces that already operate with overwhelmingly non-emitting grids would help reduce the unnecessary administrative burden related to additional renewable energy credit purchases or power purchase agreements.

Stastney emphasized the importance of building up the domestic hydrogen sector as Canada strengthens ties with the European Union (EU). In his September address to the European Parliament, Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) said that Canada can contribute liquid natural gas and hydrogen at large scale to support Europe’s energy security, including by developing and leveraging new port infrastructure in the High North and on the East Coast.

“A coalition of countries like the EU—they don’t have the natural resources that we do. We want to make sure we can really be that key provider, and I think Carney’s government does see that. He’s continued to push forward the hydrogen policy,” said Stastney.

Jud Whiteside, CEO of StormFisher, said in an Aug. 14 op-ed published in The Hill Times that hydrogen projects are not moving forward in Canada as quickly as they should, and cited issues with a national policy framework that he argued is “not fully aligned with how these projects are built.”

StormFisher Hydrogen is represented on the federal lobbyists’ registry in-house by Whiteside. The organization is also represented by consultants Alice Bergeron, Louis Mercier, and Philippe Bédard-Gagnon of Casacom; and by consultants Audrey Dépault, Dario Dimitriev, Dan Lovell, and Robyn Gray of Sussex Strategy Group.

Food security, supply-chain concerns highlight need for stable phosphate, says industry rep

Another group seeking tax changes as part of its pre-budget discussions is Canadian Phosphate Limited. Daniel Gleeson, the group’s managing director and Group CEO, told The Hill Times in an Oct. 15 email that phosphate is an essential component of modern food production, and a primary nutrient required for crop growth.

Canadian Phosphate Limited is advocating for an amendment to the Income Tax Act to grant phosphate extraction eligibility for various tax provisions specific to the mining sector, including the resource allowance, flow-through share rules, and the critical mineral exploration tax credit.

Currently, to qualify for certain tax incentives under the Income Tax Act, an industrial mineral deposit must meet the definition of a “mineral resource,” which includes being non-bedded, or a deposit that does not occur in distinct, layered sedimentary strata.

Because sedimentary phosphate is bedded, it is currently excluded from the financial incentives that Ottawa provides for critical mineral exploration, according to Gleeson.

“I think we’re very well-aligned with the objectives of the country to improve its food security and its domestic source of phosphate supply,” said Gleeson in an interview with The Hill Times.

“There hasn’t been a lot of exploration done, and so I think by bringing in those incentives, you’ll certainly see a lot more focus from exploration companies to target sedimentary phosphate.”

Gleeson argued that increasing phosphate mining in Canada could also help reduce reliance on foreign sources. Currently, this country imports nearly 100 per cent of its phosphate fertilizer needs from the United States and Morocco, and this reliance exposes Canadian agriculture to risks associated with international trade disputes, transportation disruptions, geopolitical instability, and supply-chain bottlenecks, he said by email.

“As concerns around food security and supply-chain resilience continue to grow, Canada’s dependence on imported phosphate highlights the strategic importance of securing stable and diversified sources of this critical agricultural input,” he said by email.

Canadian Phosphate Limited is represented on the registry by Louis Mercier of Casacom.

Another group engaging the feds about the budget is the Canola Council of Canada. In May, the organization provided a written pre-budget submission to the House finance committee, which included recommendations such as that Ottawa pursue a “more ambitious regulatory framework” for biofuels to help drive demand for home-grown canola, support investment, and further market development and diversification opportunities.

The submission also recommended that Ottawa pursue further relief for Canadian canola and canola products from tariffs imposed by China, this country’s second-largest canola market after the U.S.

On Jan. 16, 2026, Canada and China reached a preliminary agreement-in-principle to remove trade barriers and reduce tariffs that were previously in place on Canadian canola and other products. Chris Davison, president and CEO of the Canola Council of Canada, told The Hill Times that this deal is a step forward, but “it’s really important that we continue to build on that progress.”

Some aspects of the agreement are time-sensitive, such as China’s suspension of anti-discrimination tariffs on Canadian canola meal, peas, lobsters, and crabs, which are explicitly set to run only until the end of 2026.

“We need to be looking at what comes next so that we can continue to … improve our competitiveness in that critically important market, [and] provide increased measures of predictability and stability for the industry, starting at the farm gate with farmers and moving through processors and exporters. That’s absolutely critical,” said Davison.

“We’ve made some good progress, but we have some deadlines coming up as well, tied to that preliminary agreement-in-principle. We need to continue that work.”

The Canola Council of Canada is represented on the registry in-house by Davison.

To help address housing insecurity in Canada, the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada’s (CHF) pre-budget submission on Sept. 3 included a call for Ottawa to prioritize co-op and non-profit housing through Build Canada Homes, the federal agency focused on the construction of more affordable housing.

The Co-operative Housing Development Program has already committed $1.21-billion worth of projects to create 2,787 new co-op homes, with 1,449 units under construction as of December 2025, according to the CHF in its submission. However, the group also argued in its submission that there are more co-op housing projects in the pipeline than there are funds remaining, and that Build Canada Homes could “work strategically to advance remaining projects in this pipeline, much of which is shovel-ready.”

“We’ve seen some very promising work as Build Canada Homes gets established. We’d like to see that commitment to Build Canada Homes and a broader national housing strategy be recapitalized and funded on a long-term basis,” said Tim Ross, CHF’s executive director.

“From there, we also would aim to secure federal rental assistance for low-income households living in co-op and community housing for at least 10 years.”

The CHF of Canada is represented on the registry by Ross.

jcnockaert@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

Top organizations lobbying about the federal budget (Aug. 1 to Oct. 12)

The above table shows the organizations that filed the most communication reports listing the federal budget as a subject for discussion in lobbying activity that occurred between Aug. 1 and Oct. 12, 2026. Based on a search of the federal lobbyists’ registry on Oct. 12, 2026.

Top designated public office holders in budget lobbying (Aug. 1 to Oct. 12)

The above table shows the designated public office holders who are listed in the most communication reports for lobbying activity conducted between Aug. 1 and Oct. 12, 2026, that listed the federal budget as a subject for discussion. Based on a search of the federal lobbyists’ registry on Oct. 12, 2026.

Budget lobbying 2026

The above table shows the number of communication reports filed on the federal lobbyists’ registry each month that listed ‘budget’ as a subject for discussion. Based on a search of the federal lobbyists’ registry on Oct. 16, 2026.

Top subject matter for 2026 (January to September)

The above table shows the top subject matter listed in communication reports for lobbying activity that occurred between January and September in 2026. Based on a search of the federal lobbyists’ registry on Oct. 16, 2026.

 

Jesse Cnockaert began writing for The Hill Times in 2021 following three years as editor of The Lobby Monitor. He still covers federal lobbying, follows key legislation in the House and Senate, and takes the lead on our policy briefings. Cnockaert previously reported for Metro Ottawa, and spent eight years covering news for three different municipal newspapers. He can be reached at jcnockaert@hilltimes.com. See all stories BY JESSE CNOCKAERT