National Bank of Canada (TSX: NA) CEO Laurent Ferreira wants Ottawa to throw out the federal tax code and replace it, saying a patch-up will not fix a system this complicated.
Ferreira, who runs Canada’s sixth-largest bank, made the pitch October 21 at the Canadian Club of Toronto. Canada should aim to be the “simplest, most efficient and most competitive tax jurisdiction of all developed countries,” he said. In his view, the code’s complexity imposes a real cost, and small businesses feel it most because they lack the resources to cope.
He would put a small group of experts to work on the draft and give them a year. “A review or an overhaul will not work,” he said. A simpler system, he argued, would draw investment and skilled workers and help Canadians build wealth.
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The Tax Foundation’s 2026 index of tax competitiveness puts Canada 15th among 38 industrialized countries, with 72.2 points out of 100. Individual taxes rank 28th, cross-border rules 28th, and property taxes 25th. Canada does better on corporate taxes (17th) and consumption taxes (8th).
Ottawa has moved to ease the burden on business. On September 15, it unveiled a Productivity Mega Deduction that lets businesses deduct the full cost of a broad range of eligible assets in the first year, and it is meant to be permanent.
A day earlier, the government said the Canada Revenue Agency will prioritize advance tax rulings for investments of $1 billion or more. Ferreira welcomed the steps but said measures like these can only go so far.
Other groups want a bigger rethink too. In a KPMG survey of 346 business owners and decision-makers, 87% said they want a full tax review. CPA Ontario wants a broad, independent review and notes the tax system has not had a comprehensive one since the 1960s. Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Canada’s slide behind the United States on business and income taxes should be a wake-up call for politicians.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will table the federal budget on November 5. The government has not publicly responded to Ferreira’s proposal so far.
