Potential gas leak forces an evacuation in Coronation, Alta. Monday night

OTTAWA – Owners of small and medium-sized businesses will finally receive their long-awaited carbon pricing refunds before the end of this year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on Tuesday.

The Finance Department says the federal government will send more than $2.5 billion to about 600,000 Canadian businesses in December.

The payments will return a portion of the carbon price revenue from 2019-20 through 2023-24 to small businesses in jurisdictions where the federal fuel charge applies.

The amount received by a business will depend on the province it operates in and the number of workers it employs.

For example, a business in Ontario with 10 employees can expect to receive $4,010, while a business in Saskatchewan with 499 employees will receive $576,844.

“So these are real, significant sums of money. They’re going to make a big difference to Canadian small business,” Freeland said in a news conference on Tuesday.

The federal government said lower credit card transaction fees for small businesses will take effect on Oct. 19, saving them about $1 billion over five years.

It also announced a revised code of conduct for the payment card industry “that will help businesses compare prices and offers from different payment processors, and shorten the complaint handling response time by nearly 80 per cent to just 20 business days.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business applauded the announcements, but called for the abolition of the carbon levy.

“While CFIB welcomes the federal government delivering on its commitment to return a portion of carbon tax revenues to small businesses, the vast majority of small firms (83 per cent) now oppose the carbon tax. CFIB will continue to call on all political parties to scrap the carbon tax at the earliest possibility,” the business group said in a statement.

The federal government has also announced the final list of Chinese-made aluminum and steel products that will be subject to a 25 per cent tariff, which will come into effect on Oct. 22.

The 100 per cent tariff announced last month on Chinese-made electric vehicles came into effect Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

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British Columbia’s Green Party has released an election platform that’s heavy on taxing the wealthy to support people’s wellness, while the provincial Conservatives have unveiled a plan for making B.C. energy-independent.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau says her party’s 72-page platform, which includes doubling existing property tax rates and adding a new two-per-cent tax on homes over $3 million, is aimed at creating “an economy that serves the people” instead of “delivering harm.”

The platform is the first to be released by a major party for the fall provincial election and includes an 18 per cent proposed tax for corporate profits over $1 billion, while there would be investments of $650 million annually in “municipal infrastructure to support new housing” and $250 million to expand child care.

Meanwhile, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says his party will reverse course on provincial policies on vehicle electrification and heat pumps under the New Democrats.

Rustad says those policies are “pushing B.C.’s energy system to the brink,” adding that a Conservative government would look at building the infrastructure needed to support B.C.’s electricity demands, including conducting a feasibility study on nuclear power.

In Castlegar today, NDP Leader David Eby pledged a re-elected New Democrat government would cover the travel costs for cancer treatments and extend employment protections for people with serious illnesses from eight days to 27 weeks.

Eby told a campaign event in the southeast B.C. city that rural residents face “unique challenges” accessing health care, and bolstering travel assistance would allow them to be reimbursed for mileage if they can’t get a flight to access treatment.

The New Democrats say in a statement that changes to the province’s travel assistance program would allow people to receive “up-front payments.”

Rustad said during an announcement in Brackendale outside of Squamish that the NDP’s energy mandates on vehicle electrification and heat pumps are “pie-in-the-sky.”

The Conservative leader also says his party will support alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, but only when the projects “make practical, economic sense.”

Furstenau says she wanted her party platform to “lead by example” in getting away from the back-and-forth politics she says is demonstrated by the NDP and the Conservatives.

She says the Green platform is aimed at presenting a “vision” to take B.C. forward, and urged everyone to “all start voting for what we want” instead of compromising their expectations on an elected government.

As part of the second week of the election campaign, all three major party leaders are expected to come face-to-face for multiple events on Wednesday.

They will debate live in the morning on Vancouver radio station CKNW, followed by an event hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

– With files from Darryl Greer in Castlegar

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

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PARIS – Quebec Premier François Legault says his government has asked Ottawa to set up “waiting zones” for asylum seekers, as is the practice in France.

Legault told reporters during a press conference in Paris on Tuesday that Canada should take inspiration from the European country. Waiting zones in Canada, he added, could be located close to airports or elsewhere on the territory.

The premier has for months been calling on the federal government to redistribute would-be refugees across Canada. He says Quebec is home to 45 per cent of asylum seekers in the country, despite accounting for just 22 per cent of the population. “So can we think about having waiting zones in other provinces?” he said.

In France, people arriving by boat, train or plane can be placed in a waiting zone at the border for up to 26 days if they are seeking asylum, if they are refused entry, or if they’re denied boarding to the country of their final destination.

Ahead of Tuesday’s cabinet meeting in Ottawa, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller accused Legault of using immigration for political ends. “Secure zones are a completely different order of magnitude from anything that has been conceived in Canada. And it’s never been mentioned in our working groups,” he said. “I think Mr. Legault is desperately trying to keep the public’s attention on the immigration issue.”

Miller said he had “no idea” what exactly Quebec is calling for. “They’re just throwing it out there,” he added.

The minister said Quebec is home to four of the 10 post-secondary institutions with the most asylum seekers in the country. “Do they want to put these people in secure zones?” he said. “I don’t know.”

Former Quebec immigration minister Christine Fréchette sent a letter to Miller and federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, dated July 22, outlining the proposal. She suggested “setting up a secure transition site” to hold asylum seekers before they are transferred around Canada.

“We believe it is essential for the federal government to quickly set up and manage this transitional infrastructure across Canada,” she wrote.

Fréchette noted that “several countries, which are parties to the same international conventions as Canada, have set up such sites,” including France.

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized Legault for his position on immigration in front of French President Emmanuel Macron, who was visiting Canada. Trudeau accused Legault of spreading falsehoods and dragging his heels on presenting a plan to reduce the number of asylum seekers brought in by the province.

Reacting on Tuesday, Legault defended himself against the charge of inaction, saying he will table a bill this week to set a maximum number of international students that Quebec will accept. There are currently 120,000 such students in the province.

Legault said an analysis of the impact his proposed student cap will have on schools is still underway, adding that the maximum number of foreign students per school has yet to be determined.

“So we’re acting on the part we control,” he said. Legault reiterated that Quebec has control over only 180,000 of the 600,000 temporary immigrants in the province, including 60,000 economic immigrations and 120,000 international students.

Trudeau has insisted that Ottawa has taken numerous steps to reduce the number of non-permanent residents in the country, including reimposing visas for Mexican travellers and adding admission criteria for temporary foreign workers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

— With files from Émilie Bergeron in Ottawa

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.