Quebec has proposed to evolve the research and experimental development tax credit, first to make a broader range of business expenses related to development, experimentation, testing and validation eligible. The idea is to include expenses related to activities that are further downstream in terms of technological readiness, in other words, that are closer to the creation, approval and export of products than mere discoveries. Then there will be more depth. Some equipment-related expenses will now be eligible. So eligible expenses will be expanded to further encourage marketing and pre-marketing expenditures.
Since this new measure came into effect this year, there are no early success cases yet. It took courage to make such an effort, since it is an innovative approach that has not been tried very much in other countries. The Department of Finance is waiting for the results to make adjustments. Any innovative approach needs to be tried to see what works, and adjustments are then made to stay the course.