http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
‘Everybody thinks it’s a magic bullet but it doesn’t do anything,’ economist says
It’s been a regular feature of Conservative federal budgets since 2006: an extension, for another year, of the 15 per cent Mineral Exploration Tax Credit.
The Conservative Party is now promising to extend that credit for another three years, if it’s re-elected, and boost the credit to 25 per cent in remote areas, including the territories and large parts of the provincial North.
There’s just one problem, says Lindsay Tedds, an economist with the University of Victoria: it may not actually work.
“Everybody thinks it’s a magic bullet but it doesn’t do anything,” Tedds says. “It does not increase investment to the point where you’re going to have increased exploration.”