Archived - Harper Government Creating Jobs and Growth While Returning to Balanced Budgets With Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2

October 23, 2014 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Finance

Finance Minister Joe Oliver today introduced the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2, which proposes to implement measures from Economic Action Plan 2014 and other measures that will support jobs, economic growth, families and communities, as well as improve the fairness and integrity of the tax system, as the Government returns to balanced budgets in 2015.

Highlights of the Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 2 include:

• Supporting job creation and growing Canada’s economy by introducing the new Small Business Job Credit
• Strengthening Canada’s intellectual property regime to promote job creation and to improve conditions for business investment and access to international markets, while reducing costs and red tape
• Amending legislation to implement certain reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
• Making the tax system simpler and fairer for farming and fishing businesses
• Extending the existing tax credit for interest paid on government-sponsored student loans to interest paid on a Canada Apprentice Loan
• Introducing new reporting standards to meet Canada’s 2013 Group of Eight (G-8) commitment to increase transparency for entities operating in the extractive sector

• Doubling the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit to $1,000 and making it refundable
• Permitting income contributed to an amateur athlete trust to qualify as earned income for Registered Retirement Savings Plan contribution limit purposes
• Expanding eligibility for the accelerated capital cost allowance for clean energy equipment
• Improving competition in the telecommunications market by providing telecommunications regulators with the power to impose administrative monetary penalties on companies that violate rules such as the Wireless Code
• Ending “pay-to-pay” billing practices by telecommunications service providers whereby subscribers are charged to receive bills in paper form, fulfilling a commitment in the 2013 Speech from the Throne
• Reducing the administrative burden on charities by allowing them to use modern electronic tools to raise funds
• Creating a national DNA-based Missing Persons Index to assist law enforcement in investigations and help bring closure to the families of missing persons through DNA matching

• Eliminating graduated rate taxation for trusts and certain estates
• Better targeting income tax rules relating to non-resident trusts
• Protecting the tax base by preventing the shifting of certain Canadian source income to no- or low-tax jurisdictions
• Adjusting the policy that encourages the exchange of tax information
• Adding new conditions for qualifying under the regulated foreign financial institution tax rules

• The Canadian economy has posted one of the strongest job creation records in the G-7 over the recovery, with nearly 1.2 million jobs created since July 2009.
• Real gross domestic product is significantly above pre-recession levels—the best performance in the G-7.
• Both the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development expect Canada to be among the strongest growing economies in the G-7 over this year and next.
• Overall, personal income taxes are now 10% lower with the tax relief the Government has provided since 2006. For an average family of four, taxes have been cut by close to $3,400.
• A New York Times analysis found that “after-tax middle-class incomes in Canada—substantially behind in 2000—now appear to be higher than in the United States.”
• With balanced budgets in sight, the Government’s first priority is to provide tax relief to hard-working Canadian families so they can keep more of their hard-earned money and decide how to spend and save it.

• Background Document: Bill C-43 – Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No.2

• Bill C-43: A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 11, 2014 and other measures
• Economic Action Plan 2014

Nicholas Bergamini
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Finance
613-369-5696

Jack Aubry
Media Relations
Department of Finance
613-369-4000