Develop proposals to limit Exploration Expenses tax deduction to unsuccessful projects.

What success looks like

Successful exploration expenses incurred to develop discovery wells no longer benefit from favorable tax treatment.

Government's narrative on progress

Budget 2017 announced changes that allow the costs of drilling discovery wells to be deducted gradually over time as development expenses, rather than require them to be deducted immediately as exploration expenses. With these changes, Canadian exploration expense treatment will effectively be limited to unsuccessful exploration or cases where the linkage to success cannot reasonably be determined in the year the activity takes place.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.