Growers, if you acquired an eligible greenhouse after Nov. 3, 2025, you may now be able to access an accelerated capital cost allowance. Here, we highlight what this new opportunity could offer for your business.

On June 19, 2026, Bill C‑30, the Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act, received Royal Assent. One particular measure is aimed at the agricultural community: a new, time‑limited capital cost allowance (CCA) deduction allowing growers to write off the cost of an eligible greenhouse much faster than ordinary depreciation allows ⁠–⁠ in many cases, all at once in the first year.

For producers weighing an expansion or a new build, this is a meaningful planning opportunity. But the benefit is temporary, tied to firm deadlines and dependent on getting the details right. Below is a summary of how the measure works and what to watch for.

What the new deduction offers

The measure introduces a special, elective CCA deduction for what the legislation calls an “eligible greenhouse.” Where it applies, it accelerates ⁠–⁠ and can fully front‑load ⁠–⁠ the deduction you would otherwise spread out over many years.

Under the regular rules, a greenhouse building falls into a CCA class with a relatively low annual rate, so only a small slice of the cost is deductible each year, offering limited relief in the early years of a project when capital outlays are highest. The new measure changes this for qualifying property. Specifically, if the greenhouse becomes available for use before 2030, you can deduct 100% of its capital cost in the first year.

The size of the first‑year deduction depends on when the greenhouse becomes available for use:

There are two critical timing details:

• First, the deduction turns on when the property becomes available for use ⁠–⁠ broadly, when the greenhouse is complete and ready to produce ⁠–⁠ not simply when construction begins or when you sign a contract.
• Second, the special allowance is not prorated for short taxation years, which can be helpful in a stub‑period year.

Which greenhouses qualify

To be an “eligible greenhouse,” the property generally must meet the following criteria:

• Be a Class 6 or Class 8 greenhouse property located in Canada. The greenhouse must fall within the relevant building classes and be situated in Canada.
• Be acquired after Nov. 3, 2025. Property acquired on or before that date is ineligible.
• Be genuinely new to the claimant. The greenhouse must not have been previously owned or acquired by you, or by a non‑arm’s‑length person or partnership and must not have been acquired on a tax‑deferred rollover basis.

There is some flexibility on that last point. If the property was acquired from a non‑arm’s‑length party or on a rollover basis, it can still qualify, provided no one (including you) has previously claimed CCA or a terminal loss on it. The intent is to direct the benefit toward genuinely new greenhouse capacity, not the recycling of existing assets.

An addition to, or alteration of, an existing greenhouse is treated as the capital cost of a separate greenhouse for purposes of this measure. That means expansions of an existing operation can access the accelerated deduction, as long as they otherwise qualify.

Elect your greenhouse to the right class

This is not an automatic deduction. To claim it, the taxpayer must elect to have the greenhouse included in a separate prescribed class. Critically, the election is made in the income tax return for the taxation year in which the greenhouse is acquired. Also, there is a separate election for each eligible greenhouse.

Why this matters now

The headline benefit ⁠–⁠ a full 100% first‑year write‑off ⁠–⁠ is only available where the greenhouse becomes available for use before 2030. After that, the deduction steps down to 75%, then 55%, and disappears for property available for use in 2034 or later. Because the deduction is keyed to the in‑service date rather than start of construction, projects with long build timelines must plan backward from that cut‑off. Construction delays do not just push out revenue ⁠–⁠ they can erode the size of the deduction itself.

An example

The following is a simplified illustration to show how the timing works ⁠–⁠ not a projection of any actual result. Assume an Ontario greenhouse operation acquires an eligible greenhouse costing $3 million, brings it into use in 2027 (before the 2030 cut‑off), elects into the new measure and has more than enough income taxed at the general corporate rate to absorb the deduction. For simplicity, the example uses a combined federal‑Ontario general corporate rate of 26.5% and compares the new rule against ordinary Class 6 declining‑balance treatment.

In this example, electing into the measure deducts the full $3 million in year one rather than a small fraction of it, deferring roughly $795,000 of corporate tax into the first year (26.5% of $3 million). Note: this is a timing benefit, not free money.

Ordinary CCA would eventually deduct the same $3 million over many years, so the real value is the cash‑flow advantage of claiming it sooner, plus the certainty of capturing it before the measure phases out. It reduces taxable income rather than acting as a credit or rebate, so its worth depends on the rate that would otherwise apply to that income.

If you are interested in learning more or would like to take advantage of this opportunity, simply reach out to your Melo advisor today.

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