 Do you like paying less taxes? What if there's a way that you can achieve this while also investing in the lucrative world of exploration and mining? We're joined with WCPD founder and president Peter Nicholson to speak on the world of flow through investing and how can help you come tax time. Peter, welcome. Yeah, thanks for having me, Brandon. And thank you for coming on. Well, first and foremost, what are flow through shares and why should all Canadians be aware of them? Can you walk us through an example of how this would benefit someone's taxes? Sure. Flow through shares have been in the tax code since 1954. So that's three years older than RRSPs. The government of Canada wants you to do more RRSPs. That helps with, of course, retirement, less pressure on the government. They want you to do TFSAs. That's tax free savings accounts. Again, another tool like RESPs for the kids and flow through shares. So those are the categories. There really isn't any other government supported tax policies. There are other structures to save on tax, but those are usually what someone may be called a loophole, that taking advantage of the government. This is not that case. I want the listeners and the viewers to really understand this is something that government wants more of because it's been in our economy for so long since 54. Canada is blessed with with terrific mineralization and also oil and gas. But we've been weaning ourselves off that, of course, to get the zero carbon. But with new minerals, we need them more than ever to get to zero carbon. Those are what we'll talk about as the critical minerals. A flow through share. These are small companies. The business is made up of small exploration companies are taking on the risk, very similar to venture capital. They have one out of 10. You get something exciting in a drill bit and one out of 100. You get a junior mind. So the government understands that and they want to shoulder that risk with our investors and they will allow you to get 100 percent to the tax tax deduction on the money you invest very similar to the RSP. So if you had a three hundred thousand dollar salary, there's a maximum of what you can buy of this number, but they're big maximums, roughly 30 percent of your income. That could be ninety thousand dollars on three hundred. And that would bring your income down to two hundred and ten thousand. Now, the government understands these are small companies. If they find something big, then bigger companies buy them like a tack or a barrack. Meanwhile, they don't have much revenue. They're up there looking usually they don't have any revenue, but they've got expenses. So we would do, let's say, a five million dollar drill program where a client would buy three hundred thousand of that five five million dollar drill program. And because the flow through company has no revenue, the government allows them to take that five million dollars of business losses on the drill bit and flow through to taxable corporations and Canadian individuals. That's the word flow through. Yeah, I appreciate that. I think a lot of people maybe haven't heard of it before, or maybe they have a misunderstanding of what they are. They're incredible tools to be able to use for not just your capital gains like you were saying, but your taxable income as a whole. So that's very fascinating. And hence why people use this. Now, are all flow through shares made equal? What are the various types of flow through shares? And are there certain provinces that provide more incentives than others? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. There there are there are I would call there's four separate categories of a flow through share. And we're going to start with the the CEE or the 100 percent tax deduction with no other credits. And then there's another category called CDE Canadian Development Expenses and CEE is exploration expenses. Both of those two categories. We like to give to because they fit quite nicely with corporations that have passive income. If you have an operating company like I do or have a holding company, anything I have interest income and for the first year, first time in years, I'm getting a four percent interest, let's say, on a million dollars of cash. That's in my operating company. That's 40 grand. We can shelter that 40 grand and it's taxed at 50.6 percent. So those particular categories are perfect for for corporations because they have no tax credits and an additional deduction after the 100 percent deduction, CEE is underground drilling. OK, so you found the resource and you're generally going you know, sideways to see how big it is, not going down from above from from above drilling down. And because there is less risk, you're again defining how large the resources you've already found it. They give you just the 100 percent tax deduction and CEE. So perfect fit for Corpse, CEE Development Expenses. You're building out the mine. This is the other category. So the resources have been found. We're all excited it's going to be a mine in the next five years. So these would be all the expenses of growing and developing that mine. And it's over a 10 year time period. You're going to get 45 percent deductions this year, the first year. And then the remaining 55 percent are amortized over the next nine years. You get most of your deductions on CEE by about year six or seven. You've already gobbled up about 80 percent of them. So those are corporations. Now the exciting part is individuals super flow through. Since 2001, the federal government is not only giving you 100 percent tax deduction, if you're in grassroots explorations, they call super. There hasn't been a discovery in that particular land area, and they will give you a 15 percent federal credit, plus the 100 percent tax deduction, but only individuals can use credits. So that's why we were at our firm at WCPD. We would tailor make the structure to fit. You want something your personal, you're supposed to probably need some. Maybe your adult children are the business. They need some. And of course, your corporation needs some. So it's not unusual. Someone could have multiple minds and getting back to your provincial credits. So provincially, Quebec is the best. They'll give you an extra 25 percent. Manitoba, Saskatchewan are 30 percent provincial credits. Quebec comes to them because there's no capital gain on the Quebec portion. So Quebec is by far the best, followed closely by Manitoba and Saskatchewan. And then 20 percent in B.C. There's five percent in Ontario and then the rest are zero. So that would be Alberta, residence, the Atlantic, Canada. You would just get the 15 percent federal and no provincial. Once again, we would choose if someone had a Quebec drill program, we would choose a Quebec taxpayer because the taxpayer has to be in that province to be able to use those provincial elections. B.C. drill programs, we give to B.C. taxpayers. And then the last piece is the new critical mineral that just came out in April. Yeah. The most exciting thing I think has happened to our industry in, well, I've been doing this for 36 years. I'm very excited about critical minerals and the federal government is supporting us. They've given another 15 percent federal. So let's just call it 30 percent federal credits when you're looking for their 17 critical minerals on top of the 100 percent tax deduction. And remember, a tax credit for the viewers is twice as good as a deduction. A credit of 30,000 is 30,000 off your income tax, a tax deduction of 30,000. And when you're at the top, a rate of 50 percent saves you $15,000. So the 17 critical minerals, the big ones are copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, scandium, you know, the list gets long, of course, uranium. These are all of the minerals that are going to get us to zero carbon and save our planet. Yeah, I appreciate the answer. But I mean, there's categories and will tailor to fit perfectly whatever that whatever the client wants. I appreciate that very much. I've heard about flow through shares for years. I've taken part in it in the last couple of years myself, but that was the best explanation I've heard on the various different ones. So I do appreciate that very much. Sometimes a long-winded answer is a good answer. My next my next question for you, the federal government is aiming to help facilitate investment in growth in a critical mineral space. Just like you said, critical mineral flow through shares are one of the incentives they created for this. Are you seeing this avenue increase in popularity since it was introduced? And is it enough to spur more investment into the industry? Yes, for sure. And I'll give you some history. Unfortunately for mining, they go back, you know, hundreds of years of mankind. Even to 5,000, we've been needing copper and heavy metals and to make our to make our utensils. And as we got through the last hundred years, 150 years, mine does not have a good reputation. It's starting critical minerals is changing that. We've been known as having bad human rights issues, of course, in Central America, South America and Africa. We've had issues with the environment, right? Clear cutting and damaging the environment. So we've been we've been the money industry has been improving on that. But it really took critical minerals to be in the forefront. It's been in the Wall Street Journal almost every week or every second week. It's been in the London Times, it's been the Globe and Mail, the Financial Post. People are talking, we need 10 times more of these these these electric minerals to be able to hit zero carbon. So I went from being not very well liked at a cocktail party. Oh, you're in the mining business five, six years ago. I don't know how we got invited to this great event to now being embraced that you know that I'm a positive, a positive for the environment, not a negative. So that means a hell of a lot. And I think we're we're we're just in the any number one. We're at the very beginning of a 20 year bull market in critical minerals. It just hasn't really taken off yet. But once people understand that we have to find 10 times more, that's a massive demand. And there's not a lot of supply. And we all know what that means in economics. Prices will go higher and money will be made. And I've been telling a lot of my clients, it's time to pivot from your technology you've done so well over the last 20 years. The real estate you've done phenomenally well when interest rates have dropped for the last 40 years since 1979. Everything has done well. It's time for critical mineral commodities to have its time in the sunshine. Yeah, once again, very well said. Well, lastly, if someone is looking at a hefty tax bill this year, how do they reach out to you to see about potential flow through investments? And when does that window tend to close in terms of being too late in a given year to find one that's right for them? Right. Well, look, we go right to the end. I go right to December 31st. We've always had some closings on the 30th, where we're trying to find, you know, new product. It is tighter in November, December. There is an infinite amount, especially what we do. What we're specializes in is what we call the GIC of tax reduction, where we find a liquidity provider to de-risk this volatile investment. So we can you can own the flow through shares for just one second in time and then and then sell it to a AGF Resource Mutual Fund, a Royal Bank Resource Fund, Sprots Fund. So those are those are an interesting thing. And we can talk about that more for people that are interested. But I would say now is the time, the later you wait, the harder it's going to be. Then we also have next year, we'll have 12 months of doing flow through shares. You tend to have the best pricing, I would say, usually in the summertime. And it's a little quieter from April to August, it's due to the best time for individuals to be buying this in corporations. If you're an issuer, if we have a viewer here that runs a mining company, they they they like to get good premiums and they're usually in the driver's seat now at the end of the year. Same thing with the same thing with our liquidity providers and before and usually in the early months before a federal budget. People are always these are so good branded, they don't want to take any risks that there could be a negative tax law change. I don't see that coming. I've been talking, I'm based in Ottawa. The politicians want more drilling and they want more giving, which a lot of our clients use to flow through shares to give to their favorite charities. So I think we're we're good. And how do you reach me? Well, you can Google Peter Nicholson. I'll just give you my private cell number. Happy for anyone to take anyone's call. I've got a team of 20, but I'm at 613-851-0417. You go to our website. It stands for Wealth, Creation, Preservation, Donation. And myself and my team would be happy to answer your questions and educate you further. Fantastic. Once again, Peter, thank you so much for your time. Always a pleasure speaking with you and like you. You were just saying that if anyone wants to reach out with your an issuer, investor, corporation, you know where to turn to now. Thank you so much, Peter. Well done. Thank you. Bye bye.