During the 2015 election campaign, the Liberals promised to eliminate the small-business deduction, which would have meant the same, single corporate income tax rate for businesses large and small. It was a good idea. Eliminating special rates for small business, at the federal and provincial level, would reduce distortions between different-sized businesses and make the […]

Canada’s oil-producing provinces are seeing the biggest spike in insolvency in the country, according to new statistics from the Government of Canada. Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan had the highest percentage increases in the number of consumers and businesses unable to pay their debts in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2017, compared to the previous year, […]

Credit rating agency DBRS says without measures to rein in its finances, Alberta is at risk for another downgrade. In July, the agency changed its long-term outlook for the province from stable to negative while maintaining Alberta’s ‘AA (high)’ credit rating. Lower oil prices hitting Alberta budget, forcing drop in this year’s price forecast But DBRS […]

As regulators continue to examine whether sales fees should be unbundled from investment products, a new report suggests the move could have serious ramifications for Canadians’ access to financial advice and raise issues of investment choice, industry concentration and price transparency for clients seeking financial advice. The report, released Thursday by the School of Public […]

Cost overruns at the North West Redwater Partnership’s Sturgeon refinery are back in the news. The Government of Alberta has confirmed that capital costs are now estimated at $9.3 billion, about a billion more than the last estimate in 2014. And that estimate was $2 billion higher than the 2011 estimate of $6.5 billion. It […]

Why has Canadian productivity lagged so much compared to the United States? Is it risk-averse management in Canada? Too much taxation and regulation? Too little infrastructure and innovation? These are perennial questions that are highly important to our standard of living, which continues to take at least a 20-per-cent haircut relative to the U.S., with […]