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Ottawa will impose a carbon tax on any province that doesn’t adequately cut emissions, minister says 

September 21, 2016

The federal government will impose a carbon price on provinces that do not adequately regulate emissions by themselves, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said on Sunday without giving details on how the Liberal government will do so.Speaking on the CTV’s “Question Period,” McKenna said the new emissions regime will be in place sometime in October, before a federal-provincial meeting on the matter.

Source: Ottawa will impose a carbon tax on any province that doesn’t adequately cut emissions, minister says | National Post

Filed Under: Government

‘I tried not to laugh’: Quebec woman gets call back from specialist after 9-year wait

September 21, 2016

Valentine Sicotte requested an appointment with a specialist at Saint-Eustache Hospital back in 2007.

Last week, nine years later, she finally got a call back.

“I tried not to laugh on the phone,” she said.

“I couldn’t remember even having requested the appointment. I told them to give my place to someone who needed it more.”

Sicotte was 19 when she requested the appointment with a gastroenterologist.

Source: ‘I tried not to laugh’: Quebec woman gets call back from specialist after 9-year wait CBC

Filed Under: Healthcare Waste

A ‘psychiatric refugee:’ why one woman fled B.C.’s mental health laws

September 19, 2016

From her apartment in Ontario, a 24-year old woman waits on the outcome of a Charter challenge in her home province of British Columbia, a place where she claims she was involuntarily held for psychiatric care.Experts say the province is an outlier when it comes to patient consent rights and deemed consent is causing an outflow of so-called psychiatric refugees — people who flee the province to avoid its mental health laws. “I wanted to get well. I wanted to go in and sit down with a doctor,” she says.

Source: A ‘psychiatric refugee:’ why one woman fled B.C.’s mental health laws – Home | The 180 with Jim Brown | CBC Radio

Filed Under: Healthcare Waste

U.S. tax laws, politics pushing more dual citizens to renounce citizenship

September 19, 2016

s the U.S. election draws near and the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency rises, more dual U.S.-Canadians are considering renouncing their U.S. citizenship.Tax accountants and tax lawyers in Canada say they are getting more calls from people considering giving up their U.S. citizenship, not only over onerous tax filing requirements but also over political objections to a Trump presidency.“We have people inquiring more frequently about renouncing not just for tax reasons but for political reasons,” said Max Reed, a tax lawyer with SKL Tax, a Vancouver-based U.S. advisory service. “I have one person who is so mad at Donald Trump she wants out, now.”

Source: U.S. tax laws, politics pushing more dual citizens to renounce citizenship LEADER POST

Filed Under: United States

Is Vancouver’s vacant home tax going to rely on snitches?

September 16, 2016

New details about Vancouver’s plan to tax vacant homes are raising as many questions as they answer, say experts, including how much it will rely on neighbourhood snitches to catch those who try to skirt the rules.Yesterday, Mayor Gregor Robertson revealed a few more details of his plan to tax empty homes up to two per cent of their assessed value, with the aim of encouraging real estate speculators to rent out their business holdings rather than leave them empty.But with tens of thousands of dollars of potential taxes on the line, Michael Ferreira of Urban Analytics says there are going to be plenty of owners looking to cheat the system.

Source: Is Vancouver’s vacant home tax going to rely on snitches? – British Columbia – CBC News

Filed Under: Nutty Stuff

French tax fraud trial portrays example of ‘world plague’ 

September 16, 2016

PARIS – Prosecutors have asked a French court to send the country’s former budget minister to prison for tax fraud and set an example of a necessary fight against a “world plague.”The two-week trial of Jerome Cahuzac on charges of tax fraud and money laundering ended Thursday in a Paris court. The judge set a December 8 date for the verdict.During closing arguments, France’s top financial prosecutor, Eliane Houlette, asked the court to sentence Cahuzac to three years in prison for inflicting a “major harm to France,” ”tarnishing its image,” ”withering its honour” and “making it the laughing stock of the entire world.”Cahuzac, a 64-year-old former cosmetic surgeon, is accused of hiding his wealth in tax havens around the world at the same time he was leading the government’s fight against tax evasion. He was forced to resign in 2013.

Source: French tax fraud trial portrays example of ‘world plague’ – Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News

Filed Under: Other

Canada’s Household Debt Hits Record in 2Q

September 16, 2016

OTTAWA — Household debt in Canada climbed to a new record in the second quarter as the demand for loans outpaced tepid growth in after-tax income.The country’s national net worth remained largely unchanged in the April-to-June period from the previous quarter, Statistics Canada said Thursday.The ratio of household credit-market debt to disposable income in the second quarter climbed to 167.6% from 165.2% in the previous quarter. That means households, on average, owed 1.68 Canadian dollars for every dollar of after-tax income earned. The previous record was 165.4% in the fourth quarter of last year.

Source: Canada’s Household Debt Hits Record in 2Q — Update – NASDAQ.com

Filed Under: Nutty Stuff

Canada Ranks Among Top Five Jurisdictions Worldwide for Economic Freedom, but Recent Policy Changes Threaten Canada’s Ranking in the Coming Years

September 15, 2016

TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – September 15, 2016) – Canada has moved into the top five among the world’s most economically free countries, according to the Fraser Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of the World report released today.

But a growing government, substantial tax increases, and encroaching regulations threaten Canada’s ranking in the coming years.

The report measures the economic freedom (levels of personal choice, ability to enter markets, security of privately owned property, rule of law, etc.) by analyzing the policies and institutions of 159 countries and territories.

Canada tied fifth overall in the 2016 report, which uses data from 2014, the last year of available comparable statistics. Since then, the provincial Ontario government and new governments in Alberta and at the federal level have increased taxes significantly and introduced stifling regulations on industry and business that jeopardize the gains in economic freedom Canada has made.

“Canada remains one of the most economically-free jurisdictions in the world. However, increased government intervention, higher taxes, and growing regulation at the federal level and in some provinces will leave Canadians materially less free,” said Fred McMahon, Dr. Michael A. Walker Research Chair in Economic Freedom with the Fraser Institute.

“Given the clear link between economic freedom and prosperity, we should expect recent changes to have negative and long-term effects on economic opportunities in Canada.”

According to this year’s report, Hong Kong is again number one, followed by Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The United States ranked 16th for the second year in a row.

Venezuela is once again last. Some despotic countries such as North Korea and Cuba can’t be ranked due to lack of data.

“Economic freedom leads to prosperity and a higher quality of life, while the lowest-ranked countries are usually burdened by oppressive regimes that limit the freedom and opportunity of their citizens,” McMahon said.

The Fraser Institute produces the annual Economic Freedom of the World report in cooperation with the Economic Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational institutes in nearly 100 countries and territories. It’s the world’s premier measurement of economic freedom, ranking countries based on economic freedom, which is measured in five areas: size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labour and business.

This year’s report was prepared by James Gwartney, Florida State University; Robert A. Lawson, Southern Methodist University; and Joshua Hall, West Virginia University.

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visitwww.fraserinstitute.org

Source: Fraser Institute News Release: Canada Ranks Among Top Five Jurisdictions Worldwide for Economic Freedom, but Recent Policy Changes Threaten Canada’s Ranking in the Coming Years

Filed Under: Government

Canada Fails To Commit To New Anti-Corruption Measures, Real Estate Soars 

September 14, 2016

This may come as a surprise to your average Canadian, but Canada is a haven for tax fraud. Transparency International released a report this week, judging the effectiveness of the commitments made at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in the spring. The report was a little dry, but an interesting thing was revealed – Canada made no commitment to start punishing professional enablers of fraud. In fact, they noted all of the commitments Canada made were “not new”.

Source: Canada Fails To Commit To New Anti-Corruption Measures, Real Estate Soars | Better Dwelling

Filed Under: Government

Why are our governments denying us our constitutional right to get the medical care we need?

September 13, 2016

“Access to a waiting list is not the same as access to health care.” This observation from the 2005 Supreme Court case of Chaoulli v.
Quebec
is probably the most famous judicial statement about Canadian health care. And rightly so. On the surface it is simple logic,
but its depths embrace the frustration of tens of thousands of Canadians who are forced to suffer unnecessarily on provincial health
care waiting lists each year. For them, this dry, ineluctable proposition is a rallying cry.

Last week, four patient plaintiffs and the Cambie Surgery Centre, a private clinic, finally got the chance to put that logic to the test in
the B.C. Supreme Court. Their case is simple: If a province does not provide timely medical treatment through its public health care
system, it cannot legally prevent patients suffering on waiting lists from taking control of their own health and arranging for
treatment privately. The trial is scheduled for 24 weeks of court time over the next eight months, reflecting the scope and import of
this constitutional challenge.

Source: Why are our governments denying us our constitutional right to get the medical care we need? | Financial Post

Filed Under: Healthcare Waste

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