In a bid to mitigate the impact of a sharp rise in the Canadian dollar, an unnamed government official told Reuters that Ottawa would launch public consultations on the planned measure this week. If implemented, the plans would generate savings for industry of between C$250m to C$300m.

In its budget last January, the government lowered duties on some imported goods used as inputs by the food processing industry plus the energy and forestry sectors. At that time, it predicted the measures would save industry C$440m ($413 million) over five years.

The Canadian dollar has risen more than 20 per cent against the US dollar since hitting a four-year low in March.