Canada’s financial sector is not robust, but the federal government can fix that

A robust system can withstand pressure, because it doesn’t put all its eggs in just a few baskets. As it happens, Canada’s financial sector is little more than a few egg-stuffed baskets.
‘No brainer’: consultations should not delay federal crack down on high-interest loans, say NDP MP, ISG Senator

Independent Senator Pierrette Ringuette says she worries Finance Canada’s consultations won’t be accessible to the vulnerable people most affected by predatory lending and the results will be biased towards the industry.
Coalition warns of ‘death knell’ to cryptocurrency industry under proposed tax law changes

A new coalition of companies representing Canada’s cryptocurrency sector are urging the federal government not to move forward with a proposed tax law change, which they argue has the potential to kill their nascent industry. “The reality is that by putting in these proposed changes to the tax code, they’re going to increase our costs […]
Burying our heads, and carbon dioxide, in the sand

Budget 2022 adds detail to the investment tax credit for carbon capture, utilization, and storage proposed in the previous budget. Credit rates are set at 60 per cent for investment in equipment to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) via direct air capture and 50 per cent for capture by other methods. The rate is only 37.5 […]
Budget’s anti-vaping measures a breath of fresh air, but more must be done

Teenagers are notorious for hearing what they want to hear and ignoring the rest. They’re also notorious for believing they’re invincible. So perhaps it’s no surprise that even government messages as clear as “vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it’s still not safe,” can get taken out of context. In recent years, because of […]
Former finance minister Morneau set to launch new book; lets loose on federal economic growth agenda

Former finance minister Bill Morneau, who served in the role from 2015 when the Liberal government was first elected until he stepped down in August 2020, is set to release a new book on his time in politics early next year. According to publisher ECW Press, Morneau paints a “positive picture, tracing his widely lauded […]
Federal spending up 6.2 per cent so far this year, with another $9.7-billion requested

Laying out a total of $9.7-billion in additional federal spending, the first supplementary estimates of 2022-23 are significantly lower than last year—an almost 77 per cent drop from the first supplementary estimates for 2021-22—but overall, federal spending so far this year is up by more than six per cent. Tabled by Treasury Board President Mona […]
How to stop sea level rise

LONDON, U.K.—“Ninety per cent of ice flowing to the sea from the Antarctic ice sheet, and about half of that lost from Greenland, travels in narrow, fast ice streams measuring tens of kilometres or less across. Stemming the largest flows would allow the ice sheets to thicken, slowing or even reversing their contribution to sea-level […]
Is Canada the global leader Canadians want it to be or think it is?

There has been a great deal of debate in the media recently, especially following the release of Budget 2022, about Canada’s role in the world. In the midst of multiple global crises, including the war in Ukraine and the seemingly endless COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing Canada struggle to find the balance between reacting to […]
Federal budget continues to neglect our tax system

TORONTO—Budget 2022 has been criticized for its excessive spending and failure to forecast balance, with the government’s flawed “fiscal anchor” normalizing persistent deficits adding to the ever-increasing national debt. These deficiencies have overshadowed the budget’s disinterested treatment of our tax system, continuing the chronic neglect of tax policy matters under the current government. Credit is […]