On March 25, 2019, the Minister of Finance announced the Government's commitment to 129 Indigenous communities to explore the possibilities of Indigenous economic participation in the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). This participation would be in addition to accommodation measures and commercial arrangements with Trans Mountain Corporation.
A clean economy is one that creates good jobs for Canadians, keeps the emissions that cause climate change low, and invests to protect the environment.
Employee stock options, which provide employees with the right to acquire shares of their employer at a designated price, are an alternative compensation method used by businesses to attract and engage employees, and encourage growth. Many smaller, growing companies, such as start-ups, do not have significant profits and may have challenges with cash flow, limiting their ability to provide adequate salaries to hire talented employees. Employee stock options can help these companies attract and retain talented employees by allowing them to provide a form of compensation that is linked to the future success of the company.
The Expert Panel's final report—Mobilizing Finance for Sustainable Growth—presents 15 recommendations to help scale up financing for the investments Canada will need across all sectors to achieve more sustainable economic growth. These recommendations are grouped under the following three themes:
Today, the Government announced its intent to apply the federal pollution pricing fuel charge in Alberta, effective January 1, 2020, as a result of the province's May 30, 2019 repeal of its carbon levy.
Apart from the tax treatment of benefits provided to employees, the tax treatment of these trusts is not explicitly set out in the Income Tax Act (the Act). The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has, however, published administrative guidance since 1966 setting out the requirements for qualifying as a Health and Welfare Trust.
On October 23, 2018, the Government of Canada announced certain details of Canada's carbon pollution pricing system, including where and when it would apply. The federal carbon pollution pricing backstop system has two components:
The Advisory Council on Economic Growth's report, Building a Highly Skilled and Resilient Canadian Workforce Through the Future Skills Lab, recommended the Government of Canada create a dedicated, arms-length, Future Skills lab to focus on new approaches to address skills gaps and support learning throughout Canadians' working lives.
Today, the Government is proposing further new measures to support employees who must reimburse a salary overpayment to their employers due to a system, administrative, or clerical error, including federal public servants affected by the Phoenix pay system.
To support Canada's entrepreneurs, the Government cut the small business tax rate to 10 per cent effective January 2018, with a further reduction to 9 per cent set for January 2019. With this further tax cut, the combined federal-provincial-territorial average income tax rate for small business will be 12.2 per cent—the lowest in the Group of Seven (G7) and the fourth lowest among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
