Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons have linked their loyalty applications. As of September 2, 2026, Triangle Rewards and Tims Rewards members can join their accounts and earn as much as 5% in Canadian Tire Cash (CT Cash) on eligible Tim Hortons purchases, on prime of the Tims Rewards factors they already gather.
The partnership was first introduced on September 15, 2025 with a promise of a launch “later in 2026”, and it is now stay for anybody keen to spend two minutes linking accounts.
Actually, the headline quantity oversells it slightly for most individuals, since solely one of many three incomes tiers comes from merely scanning your barcode. Let me stroll via how the 5% is constructed, who truly will get there, and why this partnership is an even bigger deal for Canadian Tire than in your espresso funds.
Two Applications, One Barcode
You do not want a Triangle® bank card to participate. A free Triangle Rewards membership linked to a Tims Rewards account earns the bottom 2% by itself, and the bank card solely comes into play for the remaining 3%.
As soon as your accounts are linked, each eligible buy you scan for Tims Rewards at a collaborating Tim Hortons restaurant additionally earns CT Cash. The CT Cash comes along with your Tims Rewards factors, not as a substitute of them, so your ordinary incomes within the Tims app would not change.
The circulation solely runs in a single course at launch. You earn CT Cash at Tim Hortons, however linking would not allow you to earn Tims Rewards factors at Canadian Tire, and it would not allow you to spend CT Cash on a double-double.
How the Incomes Works
The 5% is a stack of three separate charges, and each has its personal situation. Canadian Tire’s announcement lays them out like this.
| What you do at Tim Hortons | CT Cash earned | Calculated on |
|---|---|---|
| Scan your Tims Rewards barcode with linked accounts | 2% | Eligible purchases, earlier than tax |
| Scan and pay with a Triangle® bank card | Further 2% | Complete buy, after tax |
| Scan & Pay within the Tims app with a Triangle® bank card because the cost methodology | Further 1% | Eligible purchases, earlier than tax |
| Most | As much as 5% | Plus your ordinary Tims Rewards factors |
Linking your accounts and scanning your Tims Rewards barcode is value 2% by itself. That is the piece each linked member will get, no bank card required.
Paying with a Triangle® bank card provides one other 2%, and that is the one tier calculated on the after-tax complete reasonably than the pre-tax subtotal, so it is value a contact greater than the quantity suggests. Any card within the Triangle household qualifies, from the no-fee Triangle® Mastercard® as much as the Triangle® World Elite Mastercard®.
The ultimate 1% is the fussiest. You solely get it when a Triangle® bank card is about as your cost methodology for Scan & Pay contained in the Tims app, so tapping the bodily card on the counter caps you at 4%.
For context, the bottom Triangle Rewards charge at Canadian Tire’s personal shops is 0.4% in CT Cash, which makes 2% to five% on espresso a placing determine by this program’s requirements.
A couple of purchases do not rely towards the pre-tax tiers. Canadian Tire’s phrases exclude catering orders, Smile Cookies, bottled drinks, specialty gadgets, and merchandise.
Not each restaurant participates both, with hospital, airport, and college areas referred to as out as the standard exceptions. There’s additionally a minimal spend of 10 cents earlier than tax, which even a single Timbit clears.
One restriction is value being clear about. CT Cash earned at Tim Hortons is barely redeemable at Canadian Tire Company banners, and Tims Rewards factors are nonetheless solely good at Tim Hortons. The collaborating banners are:
- Canadian Tire
- SportChek
- Mark’s and L’Équipeur
- Occasion Metropolis
- Ambiance
- Professional Hockey Life, Sports activities Rousseau, Hockey Consultants, and L’Entrepôt du Hockey
- Collaborating Sports activities Consultants areas
The place the Triangle® World Elite Mastercard® Matches
The Canadian Tire Triangle® World Elite Mastercard® earns 4% in CT Cash at Canadian Tire banners, 3% at grocery shops, and 1% on all the pieces else, with no annual payment. Eating places have all the time fallen into that 1% bucket, so for current cardholders this partnership successfully turns Tim Hortons into an up-to-5% class in a single day.
I ran the numbers for a reasonably typical espresso behavior. Somebody spending $20 every week at Tim Hortons places via about $1,040 a 12 months, and linking alone returns roughly $21 in CT Cash. Add a Triangle® bank card on the counter and that climbs to about $42, or $52 in the event you pay via Scan & Pay within the Tims app.
That is a decent quantity of CT Cash for one thing you have been going to purchase anyway, however no person ought to apply for a bank card over espresso. The worth right here is for individuals who already carry a Triangle® card, or who store at Canadian Tire usually sufficient that the 4% in-store charge justifies the cardboard by itself.
There’s a greater play for many readers, although. The two% for scanning posts irrespective of which card you employ, so hyperlink the accounts, scan your barcode, and pay with whichever card earns probably the most on eating.
The American Specific Cobalt Card earns 5 factors per greenback on eats and drinks, which works out to roughly 11% again by our valuation of Membership Rewards factors, and the Scotiabank Gold American Specific Card returns 5% in Scene+ factors on eating. Even the RBC® ION+ Visa at 3 Avion factors per greenback clears the Triangle® card’s further 3% in CT Cash comfortably.
The Triangle® World Elite Mastercard® solely wins this comparability in the event you’d reasonably maintain Canadian Tire Cash than factors, or in case your eating spend has already run previous the Cobalt’s $2,500 month-to-month cap.
Money again charges
4%Canadian Tire5-7¢/litre%Gasoline3%Groceries1%All the things Else
Key perks
- Canadian Tire Roadside Help Gold Plan
- Make invoice funds from the bank card
Money again charges
4%Canadian Tire5-7¢/litre%Gasoline3%Groceries1%All the things Else
Key perks
- Canadian Tire Roadside Help Gold Plan
- Make invoice funds from the bank card
One factor the phrases clarify is that the cardboard’s 2% is its earn charge at Tim Hortons, not a bonus layered on prime of the common 1%. Deal with 5% because the ceiling, not 6%.
What Canadian Tire Is Actually Constructing
That is the fourth partnership Triangle Rewards has added in about two years. Petro-Canada got here first in 2024, then an RBC hyperlink that pays 3x CT Cash at Canadian Tire banners, then WestJet Rewards in March, which lets linked members earn WestJet factors at Canadian Tire and CT Cash on WestJet flights.
Tim Hortons is completely different from the opposite three. The RBC and WestJet offers largely reward you for spending at Canadian Tire, or on the occasional flight, whereas this one pays out on the companion’s counter each single morning.
Put these items collectively and Triangle begins to look much less like a retailer’s factors card and extra just like the coalition mannequin Air Miles constructed its identify on. A fuel station, a financial institution, an airline, and now the nation’s largest espresso chain all feed one foreign money. The plain comparability is PC Optimum, which owns on a regular basis spend via groceries and pharmacies, and Canadian Tire is clearly chasing that sort of day by day frequency.
From Canadian Tire’s aspect, the logic is straightforward. CT Cash can solely be spent at its personal banners, so each greenback earned on a espresso run is a greenback that ultimately will get spent at Canadian Tire, SportChek, or Mark’s. Aeroplan has constructed comparable on a regular basis partnerships with Starbucks and Uber, with the distinction that Aeroplan factors might be redeemed for flights reasonably than being tied to 1 retailer’s shops.
The right way to Hyperlink Your Accounts
Linking takes a few minutes, and each applications are free to affix.
- Go to triangle.com/timsrewards and click on Hyperlink Accounts.
- Log in to your Triangle Rewards account, or create one.
- Log in to your Tims Rewards account, or create one.
- Observe the prompts to substantiate the hyperlink.
You can even hyperlink from contained in the Triangle Rewards app or the Tim Hortons app. From there, scan your Tims Rewards barcode as ordinary, and select a Triangle® bank card as your cost methodology within the Tims app if in case you have one.
The linked 2% and the Scan & Pay 1% present up in your Triangle account straight away, whereas the bank card portion takes 5 to seven days to put up. Go away the accounts linked till it does, since unlinking early forfeits something pending, and also you’re restricted to 2 hyperlink or unlink actions in any 24-hour interval anyway.
Conclusion
Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons have linked their loyalty applications, and linked members now earn as much as 5% in CT Cash on eligible Tim Hortons purchases on prime of their common Tims Rewards factors.
My trustworthy take is that this can be a link-it-and-forget-it transfer reasonably than a cause to alter the way you pay. If you happen to belong to each applications, spend the 2 minutes and gather the two%.
If you happen to already carry a Triangle® bank card and wish CT Cash, set it as your Scan & Pay methodology and take the total 5%. If you happen to’d reasonably earn factors, scan for the two% and pay together with your greatest eating card, because the Cobalt’s 5x beats the Triangle® card’s further 3% comfortably.
If you do not have a Triangle® card, the espresso math alone will not justify one. Let your Canadian Tire spending make that call, and maintain paying for espresso with the cardboard that earns probably the most.
The extra fascinating story is what Triangle Rewards is popping into. 4 companions in two years, and the latest one meets Canadians on the counter each morning.
