(Bloomberg) — Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to scrap capital gains taxes if the proceeds from an asset sale are reinvested in Canada.

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Companies would be able to defer any capital gains tax when they reinvest the money in active Canadian businesses, according to a news release. They would still have to pay taxes later on when cashing out the investment or moving the capital out of the country, the Conservatives said.

The proposed break would apply to reinvestments from July 2025 to the end of 2026. But the Conservatives said there’s a chance they would make the tax change permanent.

The move comes as Canada faces grave economic threats from a trade war with the US. Canadians will vote on April 28 to pick a leader they deem most capable in dealing with US President Donald Trump, and much of the focus of the election campaign has been on how to strengthen the country’s economy and sovereignty.

“Allowing reinvestments without tax will unlock billions to immediately begin building, hiring, investing and growing,” Poilievre said in a statement Sunday.

A spokesperson for Poilievre said individual investors would also be eligible to get the capital gains tax break on sales of their investment properties.

Poilievre’s new tax incentive follows an earlier promise of an additional C$5,000 ($3,500) in contribution room for tax-free savings accounts for Canadians who invest in domestic companies.

Last year, the government of Justin Trudeau proposed hiking the inclusion rate on capital gains to generate billions of dollars of additional tax revenue. But the policy proved to be contentious and the government could not get legislation passed. Trudeau exited as prime minister on March 14 to be replaced by Mark Carney, who has promised not to bring back the higher capital-gains rate.

Poilievre’s Conservatives are tied with Carney’s Liberal Party at 39% in the most recent survey from Abacus Data.

–With assistance from Tony Czuczka.

(Updates)

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