Minority Parliaments can work
There was one positive: two parties worked together on the federal budget, which is refreshing in these toxic political times.
Parliamentary Budget Office says ending tax exemption for real estate investment trusts would generate at least $285.8-million in additional revenue over five years
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office says the federal government ‘continues to evaluate the impact’ that large corporate landlords have on rental housing across Canada.
Economic justice advocates encouraged by a few big wins in Budget 2023, but renew call for bolder action
Tax fairness advocate praises measures to end exemptions for banks and to set up a corporate registry, but says government ‘way too timid’ in its overall approach.
The CRA’s reliance on biased sources can perpetuate Islamophobia
Without oversight, the Canada Revenue Agency has zero accountability for what it writes in its administrative fairness letters.
Searching for consensus in a divided country
The reaction to the budget is all the more pertinent for the Liberals at a time when culture war issues are eclipsing already meagre policy-related consensus-building.
A budget unworthy of the name
This is a shopping list, with little regard for balance sheets, fiscal projections, the state of the economy, and the requirement governments be careful stewards of the public purse.
Feds ‘shooting themselves in the foot’ on cannabis excise tax as some producers choose illicit market over bankruptcy
Cannabis marketing CEO Lisa Campbell says she expects more than half of the existing licensed producers and retailers will fold in a year, well before ISED’s strategy table consultations conclude.
Freeland promises Canada will ‘build big things here,’ but will we really?
Who actually will own the new, big things to be built in Canada? Whose big new ideas will be used? Who will profit from the big, new opportunities? Will Canadians be more than employees of foreign multinationals?
Competition is essential to dynamic capitalism and productive economies
Modern competition policy dates back to the U.S. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which was an epochal policy response to the emergence of industrial monopolies in oil, transportation, and elsewhere. Competition policy runs in long cycles. As new monopolists emerge—often in response to technological upheavals—policy is reformed and updated. Then things calm down and go […]
Government must start ‘walking their talk’ on affordability to maximize political impact of budget roll-out, says pollster
Some ‘very real wins’ for the NDP set-up an ‘important class-based message’ it can deliver to working class voters, says strategist.
