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Canada must be willing to expel Chinese diplomats over interference, harassment: ex-envoy
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The federal government must be prepared to expel Chinese diplomats if they are found to be involved in interference or harassment, Canada’s former ambassador to China says.
David Mulroney, who was the government’s envoy to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) between 2009 and 2012, told MPs sitting on a committee studying foreign interference on Tuesday that China is the “primary threat” of that in Canada.
As a result, politicians should implement a series of measures to shore up the country’s protections against foreign meddling, including action up to diplomatic expulsions, he said.
“We must be prepared to expel Chinese diplomats involved in interference or harassment. Our failure to do so only encourages increasingly brazen meddling,” Mulroney told MPs.
“This will trigger retaliation, but we must make it clear that expulsion is the inevitable consequence of such hostile behaviour.”
Canadian relations with China have been uneasy for several years, intensifying in recent months over allegations of attempts to influence and interfere in Canadian affairs.
Global News reported on Nov. 7 that Canadian intelligence officials have warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that China has allegedly been targeting Canada with a vast campaign of foreign interference, according to Global News sources.
Furthermore, the RCMP has asked anyone with experience of Chinese influence through so-called “police stations” believed to be operating in Canada to come forward.
After Global News’ report broke, Trudeau said the government has “taken significant measures to strengthen the integrity of our elections processes and our systems,” adding that Ottawa will “continue to invest in the fight against election interference, against foreign interference of our democracy and institutions.”
Trudeau also brought up alleged interference in interactions with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 in Bali, Indonesia, late last year. Xi later confronted Trudeau about how it was “not appropriate” that details of those conversations had been shared with news organizations.
Doing so is the norm in Canadian politics.
Late last year, Ottawa released its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy, with Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly calling China an “increasingly disruptive global power” in a region where multiple countries are showing major economic growth.
Mulroney told politicians China’s Canada policy is “being advanced aggressively,” with its objective being “a degree of influence in our democracy, our economy, our foreign policy, even daily life in some of our communities.”
He called China’s goals “beyond the ambitions of any other country,” but that it’s “not too late to push back.” China has called allegations of attempted interference “complete nonsense.”
Mulroney suggested that aside from the possibility of diplomatic expulsion, the federal government should consider three other measures, one of them being identifying China as the main threat of foreign interference in Canada.
“Therefore, our defences, including election security, must be designed to counter techniques favoured by Beijing, such as the use of proxies,” he said. Global News reported on Nov. 7 that China’s United Front Work Department operates through Chinese consulates in Canada, from which officials direct funds into Canada’s political system, using communist party proxies.
Second, Ottawa should create a registry of foreign agents, something “that would simply require transparency of those who disperse funds for, lobby for, or speak for foreign states in Canada,” Mulroney said. In April 2021, a private members bill in the House of Commons called for a foreign influence registry, but it did not become law.
Ottawa has promised to launch consultations on a foreign agent registry, but Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino warned on Monday that such a database must be carefully considered, as it could stigmatize communities who have felt targeted by security agencies in the past.
Charles Burton, another former diplomat posted in China, appeared alongside Mulroney on Tuesday and said the registry should be communicated as being directed at the broad issue of interference, instead of the meddling of just one country.
Finally, Canadian police must be more present in diaspora communities, be better informed about PRC interference, and be enabled to protect people who are being “harassed and silenced’ by Chinese officials in Canada, Mulroney added.
“I believe that Beijing’s ambitions and capabilities are growing and because many of the victims of PRC interference in Canada are members of Han Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan diaspora communities whom Beijing threatens with seeming impunity,” he said.
“A defining characteristic of a truly sovereign nation is the ability to shield its citizens and its institutions from foreign interference.”
— with files from Global News’ Sam Cooper and The Canadian Press
News
Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday | CTV News – CTV News Toronto
More money will land in the pockets of Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit (CCB) installment.
The federal government program helps low and middle-income families struggling with the soaring cost of raising a child.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees who are the primary caregivers for children under 18 years old are eligible for the program, introduced in 2016.
The non-taxable monthly payments are based on a family’s net income and how many children they have. Families that have an adjusted net income under $34,863 will receive the maximum amount per child.
For a child under six years old, an applicant can annually receive up to $7,437 per child, and up to $6,275 per child for kids between the ages of six through 17.
That translates to up to $619.75 per month for the younger cohort and $522.91 per month for the older group.
The benefit is recalculated every July and most recently increased 6.3 per cent in order to adjust to the rate of inflation, and cost of living.
To apply, an applicant can submit through a child’s birth registration, complete an online form or mail in an application to a tax centre.
The next payment date will take place on May 17.
News
Capital gains tax change draws ire from some Canadian entrepreneurs worried it will worsen brain drain – CBC.ca
A chorus of Canadian entrepreneurs and investors is blasting the federal government’s budget for expanding a tax on the rich. They say it will lead to brain drain and further degrade Canada’s already poor productivity.
In the 2024 budget unveiled Tuesday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government would increase the inclusion rate of the capital gains tax from 50 per cent to 67 per cent for businesses and trusts, generating an estimated $19 billion in new revenue.
Capital gains are the profits that individuals or businesses make from selling an asset — like a stock or a second home. Individuals are subject to the new changes on any profits over $250,000.
The government estimates that the changes would impact 40,000 individuals (or 0.13 per cent of Canadians in any given year) and 307,000 companies in Canada.
However, some members of the business community say that expanding the taxable amount will devastate productivity, investment and entrepreneurship in Canada, and might even compel some of the country’s talent and startups to take their business elsewhere.
Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), said the capital gains tax has overshadowed parts of the federal budget that the business community would otherwise be excited about.
“There were definitely some other stars in the budget that were interesting,” he said. “However, the … capital gains piece really is the sun, and it’s daylight. So this is really the only thing that innovators can see.”
The CCI has written and is circulating an open letter signed by more than 1,000 people in the Canadian business community to Trudeau’s government asking it to scrap the tax change.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and president Harley Finkelstein also weighed in on the proposed hike on X, formerly known as Twitter.
We need to be doing everything we can to turn Canada into the best place for entrepreneurs to build 🇨🇦<br><br>What’s proposed in the federal budget will do the complete opposite. Innovators and entrepreneurs will suffer and their success will be penalized — this is not a wealth tax,…
—@harleyf
Former finance minister Bill Morneau said his successor’s budget disincentivizes businesses from investing in the country’s innovation sector: “It’s probably very troubling for many investors.”
Canada’s productivity — a measure that compares economic output to hours worked — has been relatively poor for decades. It underperforms against the OECD average and against several other G7 countries, including the U.S., Germany, U.K. and Japan, on the measure.
Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers sounded the alarm on Canada’s lagging productivity in a speech last month, saying the country’s need to increase the rate had reached emergency levels, following one of the weakest years for the economy in recent memory.
The government said it was proposing the tax change to make life more affordable for younger generations and fund efforts to boost housing supply — and that it would support productivity growth.
A challenge for investors, founders and workers
The change could have a chilling effect for several reasons, with companies already struggling to access funding in a high interest rate environment, said Bergen.
He questioned whether investors will want to fund Canadian companies if the government’s taxation policies make it difficult for those firms to grow — and whether founders might just pack up.
The expanded inclusion rate “is just one of the other potential concerns that firms are going to have as they’re looking to grow their companies.”
He said the rejigged tax is also an affront to high-skilled workers from low-innovation sectors who might have taken the risk of joining a startup for the opportunity, even taking a lower wage on the chance that a firm’s stock options grow in value.
But Lindsay Tedds, an associate economics professor at the University of Calgary, said the tax change is one of the most misunderstood parts of the federal budget — and that its impact on the country’s talent has been overstated.
“This is not a major innovation-biting tax change treatment,” Tedds said. “In fact, when you talk to real grassroots entrepreneurs that are setting up businesses, tax rates do not come into their decision.”
As for productivity, Tedds said Canadians might see improvements in the long run “to the degree that some of our productivity problems are driven by stresses like housing affordability, access to child care, things like that.”
‘One foot on the gas, one foot on the brake’
Some say the government is sending mixed messages to entrepreneurs by touting tailored tax breaks — like the Canada Entrepreneurs’ Incentive, which reduces the capital gains inclusion rate to 33 per cent on a lifetime maximum of $2 million — while introducing measures they say would dampen investment and innovation.
“They seem to have one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake on the very same file,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
A founder may be able to sell their successful company with a lower capital gains treatment than otherwise possible, he said.
“At the same time, though, big chunks of it may be subject to a higher rate of capital gains inclusion.”
Selling a company can fund an individual’s retirement, he said, which is why it’s one of the first things founders consider when they think about capital gains.
Mainstreet NS7:03Ottawa is proposing a hike to capital gains tax. What does that mean?
Dennis Darby, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, says he was disappointed by the change — and that it sends the wrong message to Canadian industries like his own.
He wants to see the government commit to more tax credit proposals like the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses, which he said would incentivize business owners to stay and help make Canada competitive with the U.S.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulties attracting investment over the years. I don’t think this will make it any better.”
Tech titan says change will only impact richest of the rich
Toronto tech entrepreneur Ali Asaria will be one of those subject to the expanded capital gains inclusion rate — but he says it’s only fair.
“It’s going to really affect the richest of the rich people,” Asaria, CEO of open source platform Transformer Lab and founder of well.ca, told CBC News.
“The capital gains exemption is probably the largest tax break that I’ve ever received in my life,” he said. “So I know a lot about what that benefit can look like, but I’ve also always felt like it was probably one of the most unfair parts of the tax code today.”
While Asaria said Canada needs to continue encouraging talent to take risks and build companies in the country, taxation policies aren’t the most major problem.
“I think that the biggest central issue to the reason why people will leave Canada is bigger issues, like housing,” he said.
“How do we make it easier to live in Canada so that we can all invest in ourselves and invest in our companies? That’s a more important question than, ‘How do we help the top 0.13 per cent of Canadians make more money?'”
News
Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday | CTV News – CTV News Toronto
More money will land in the pockets of Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit (CCB) installment.
The federal government program helps low and middle-income families struggling with the soaring cost of raising a child.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees who are the primary caregivers for children under 18 years old are eligible for the program, introduced in 2016.
The non-taxable monthly payments are based on a family’s net income and how many children they have. Families that have an adjusted net income under $34,863 will receive the maximum amount per child.
For a child under six years old, an applicant can annually receive up to $7,437 per child, and up to $6,275 per child for kids between the ages of six through 17.
That translates to up to $619.75 per month for the younger cohort and $522.91 per month for the older group.
The benefit is recalculated every July and most recently increased 6.3 per cent in order to adjust to the rate of inflation, and cost of living.
To apply, an applicant can submit through a child’s birth registration, complete an online form or mail in an application to a tax centre.
The next payment date will take place on May 17.
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