Canada $-$ Business Income vs Capital Gains $($answer this question and the multiple choice OR the question on residency$)$

Joe Smith, the president and CEO of SSB Ltd$.$ In London, Ontario, has come to your office seeking your opinion. SSB Ltd$.,$ established in $1955,$ manufactures bearings for a wide range of industries including paper, steel and oil patch. During $2022,$ SSB Ltd$.$ disposed of a piece of land that they purchased for $$700,000.$ They sold the land for $$2,000,000.$ They have treated the transaction as a capital gain, but Joe$$s best friend has told him that the CRA may treat the transaction differently. Joe is asking for you to analyze the issues, and give your opinion as to how the transaction may be treated.

SSB purchased the land eighteen months earlier with the intention of it being used to expand the manufacturing operations. SSB received some bad publicity regarding the close proximity of the land to a subdivision. The subdivision was just completed, and is home to many young families with children. The families did not appreciate that the air quality near them may be hindered by the new manufacturing facility. Twenty years earlier, SSB had been charged with the breaking of environmental laws due to a blatant disregard for the negative impact that its$$ manufacturing process had on the environment. The company spent thousands of dollars fixing the manufacturing process with a focus on a positive impact on the environment. For the last five years, SSB has been awarded the ECO award which provides national recognition for an organization$$s positive contributions to manufacturing operations that focus on sustainability. When SSB purchased the land, they were aware that a subdivision catering to young families may be developed, but did not think their presence would be a problem given the recent awards that had received. Joe has indicated that at the time that they purchased the land, he speculated that it would increase significantly in value given the rapid growth in the area. In $2022,$ Joe and the rest of his management team decided to avoid any more negative publicity and sell the land. They are going to build the new manufacturing plant in Kitchener, Ontario where there is another piece of land in a more industrial area. They purchased that land $10$ years ago.

Required:

Advise Joe on the income tax issue that SSB Ltd$.$ must address with respect to the above transaction.