Small businesses to receive five years’ worth of carbon rebates in December

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says owners of small and medium-sized businesses will finally receive their long-awaited carbon pricing refunds before the end of this year.

The Finance Department says the federal government will send more than $2.5 billion to about 600,000 Canadian businesses in December.

The payments will return a portion of the carbon price revenue from 2019-20 through 2023-24 to small businesses in jurisdictions where the federal fuel charge applies.

The amount received by a business will depend on the province it operates in and the number of workers it employs.