Monitor Telegram

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

Should the wealthy be allowed to buy their way to faster health care at private clinics?

A growing number of boutique medical clinics is establishing a second tier of health services that critics say encroaches on Ontario’s public health system by charging as much as $4,500 in annual fees for services such as no wait times, genetic analysis and added testing that isn’t always medically necessary.

A Toronto Star/Ryerson School of Journalism investigation documents a hybrid health-care regime that markets to a clientele who can access public health care while paying for services that reach beyond what is covered by OHIP, including 24/7 access to health-care professionals, fast-tracking of MRIs and a range of annual tests and lifestyle assessments.

read more at thestar.com

B.C. proves to Ontario Conservatives that ‘revenue neutral’ carbon taxes are a myth

There are lessons to learn from British Columbia’s carbon tax, and the biggest one is for the leader of Ontario’s official Opposition, Patrick Brown.

The lesson is a simple one. Revenue neutrality doesn’t happen.

Politicians sold a carbon tax to British Columbians on the promise of revenue neutrality – the idea that the overall tax burden on the public remains the same because the carbon tax is offset by tax reductions in other areas.

But a recent study by the Fraser Institute has found that British Columbians are on track to experience a $599 million net tax hike from 2013–14 to 2016–17 as a result of a carbon tax that politicians sold to them as “revenue neutral.”

read more at business.financialpost.com

Canadians Deserve To Know Why KPMG Tax Dodgers Were Let Off Easy

In the fall of 2015, Canadians heard news reports of wealthy tax dodgers using accounting giant KPMG’s Isle of Man scheme to avoid paying tax at home. Later, in the spring of 2016, we learned that the Canada Revenue Agency negotiated a secret deal with KPMG to offer their clients secret amnesties without penalties and very little interest if they just agreed to pay the taxes they should have paid in the first place.

In response to public outrage, the House of Commons Finance Committee decided to conduct hearings to find how the Canada Revenue Agency was handling the KPMG Isle of Man file. The hearings also aimed to get KPMG officials to explain themselves and their practices.

Things did not go well — at least, from the perspective of regular taxpaying Canadians.

read more at huffingtonpost.ca

How the 2017 federal budget could affect your wallet

The government will present its second budget on March 22, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced earlier this week. So what could Ottawa have in store for your wallet?

The contents of the budget are tightly guarded, so it’s impossible to tell for sure what will be in it ahead of time. But keen Ottawa watchers have become adept at reading the budget tea leaves and making fairly accurate guesses about some of the provisions the government is about to table.

Here’s a look at some of measures that could be coming down the pike and might have a direct impact on your finances:

Tying Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement payments to a new measure of living costs

OAS and GIS payments already rise in tandem with inflation, but the Liberals noted that, according to a Statistics Canada study, the price of most things seniors buy tends to rise faster. In its 2015 elections platform, the party proposed developing a Seniors Price Index that would supplement the general Consumer Price Index to which OAS and GIS are currently indexed.

read more at globalnews.ca

Ontario doctors push back against changes to discipline process 

The association that represents Ontario’s doctors is fighting back against the government’s proposal to change the law around discipline for health professionals, which would see the health minister being granted a larger role in the process.

“These changes, taken together, paint a troubling picture,” Ontario Medical Association spokesperson Dr. Rachel Forman said in a statement issued to the Star.

“If the bill is passed in its current form, there is a very real risk that physicians could cease performing certain medical acts to avoid any potential they would be subjected to unjust processes.”

Bill 87, which Health Minister Eric Hoskins presented in the legislature last December, contains amendments to the Regulated Health Professions Act that stem from a Star investigation into doctors still practising after being found to have sexually abused their patients.

Source: Ontario doctors push back against changes to discipline process | Toronto Star

Canada To Ramp Up Efforts Against Tax Evasion

The Canadian Government has said that it will review its tax ruling process and voluntary disclosures program as part of its response to recommendations made last year by a parliamentary committee.

In October 2016, the Standing Committee on Finance released its report on the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA’s) efforts to tackle tax avoidance and evasion. The Government has now published its response, in which it accepted all 14 of the committee’s recommendations.

The CRA is currently conducting audits of more than 820 taxpayers and criminally investigating 20 cases of tax evasion related to offshore accounts.

read more at tax-news.com

Alberta spends $2,700 more per person than B.C. yet collects $1,300 less tax

The Alberta government spends nearly $2,700 more per man, woman and child in the province compared to British Columbia, while collecting roughly $1,300 less in tax.

That’s according to the latest budget estimates from each province and the most recent federal census data.

That’s according to the latest budget estimates from each province and the most recent federal census data.

read more at cbc.ca

Alberta’s freewheeling Mental Health Review Panel earns Teddy Award nomination

If there’s a lesson the province can learn from this luxury-limousine-sized embarrassment, it’s that language counts.

Language like “quit it”. “Stop, or you’re fired.” “No more chauffeurs.”

Pretty much anything direct and to the point might have worked — after all, strong unwavering words sure had an instantaneous effect last October, when the provincial government finally read the bureaucratic riot act to Marilyn Smith, chair of the Calgary and South Mental Health Review Panel.

By then, Smith had managed to spend another $12,000 dollars on chauffeured limousine rides between Calgary and hearings in town like Canmore, Claresholm, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, where mental health cases were discussed.

“When it became clear that town car usage had continued after this initially came up, the minister made it clear to our officials that town car usage is unacceptable to Alberta taxpayers,” said Alberta’s health ministry, in a written statement.

read more at calgarysun.com

Manulife admits it was the bank fined $1.2 million by Canada’s money-laundering watchdog 

It took 10 months of media scrutiny and public outrage before Canadians learned Manulife Bank of Canada was the mysterious financial institution behind a $1.2-million fine for money-laundering violations.The same day Manulife’s identity was kept secret last April, a handful of much smaller companies — facing far less severe fines — were publicly named by FINTRAC, the country’s money-laundering and terrorist funding watchdog.

Source: Manulife admits it was the bank fined $1.2 million by Canada’s money-laundering watchdog | Toronto Star