News
Provincial COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in the east and north – CBC.ca
While provincial governments move to reopen economies and relax some restrictions imposed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions and mandatory self-isolation policies remain in place in the eastern provinces and northern territories.
Here’s what you need to know about the travel policies in each province and territory.
B.C.
While the province hasn’t implemented border checkpoints, the government is still asking residents to avoid non-essential travel over the B.C.-Alberta border.
The B.C. government website does note, however, that Highway 77 is closed in both directions at Petitot River Bridge (4 km south of the border between British Columbia and the Northwest Territories). The road is closed to non-essential travel.
Alberta
Alberta has no border checkpoints or travel restrictions, but non-essential travel outside the province is not recommended.
However, the Northwest Territories government has tweaked its checkpoint program at the N.W.T.-Alberta border allowing Albertans to obtain access passes to the Fort Smith, N.W.T. area.
Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan government had imposed travel restrictions on northern Saskatchewan but the government has since lifted those restrictions.
Residents are advised to limit any non-essential travel outside of Saskatchewan, with the exception of people who live in border communities and are commuting for work.
It is not mandatory that Sask residents self-isolate for 14 days upon their return from an out of province trip.
Manitoba
The province hadn’t closed its interprovincial borders, but it had established information checkpoints at provincial border crossings — four entering from Saskatchewan and one from Ontario — to inform travellers of the risk of COVID-19.
Watch: Families worry about Manitoba’s restrictions for travellers
However, it has since begun easing up on those checkpoints.
The province is also dropping its mandatory two-week self-isolation period for some visitors.
Travellers coming from Western Canada, the territories, or part of northwestern Ontario (west of Terrace Bay) can enter Manitoba without self-isolating, as long as they don’t have symptoms or known exposure to COVID-19.
Ontario
There are no travel restrictions in Ontario.
Quebec
The province had set up roadblocks in some areas to contain the spread of COVID-19 but those have since been removed.
At present, access is allowed to all regions of the province, with the exception of the following territories:
- The Cree Territory of James Bay.
- Nunavik.
The government, still, is requesting that travel be limited from one region to another or from one city to another.
New Brunswick
N.B. Premier Blaine Higgs said he is expecting a travel bubble to open between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador in early July. Such a bubble would allow for travel among the provinces without the need to self-isolate for 14 days.
N.B. could open to the rest of Canada by mid-July, as long as officials can continue to manage the spread of COVID-19, he said.
In the meantime, all unnecessary travel into New Brunswick is still prohibited, and peace officers are authorized to turn anyone away when they attempt to enter.
Anyone authorized to enter at any point of entry must stop and and answer questions by a peace officer. Travellers who will be staying in the province must then self-isolate for 14 days.
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil is also hoping for the Atlantic bubble to open in early July. And the province could be opened to the rest of the country by mid- to late-July.
Highways, airports and ferry terminals are being monitored, with staff telling travellers to self-isolate for 14 days, no matter where they’re coming from.
Some travellers are exempt from the self-isolation rules, including truckers, medical staff and other essential personnel.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball said he is open to allow the free flow of people between the Atlantic provinces, and officials are working out the details of a regional bubble.
Until then, non-residents are banned from coming into the province, unless they have an exemption. Anyone entering the province is required to isolate for 14 days.
P.E.I.
P.E.I Premier Dennis King said he believes it’s still too early to give a specific date when the Atlantic travel bubble will come into effect. However, he said his focus is on that plan, rather than when his province can open to the rest of Canada.
Meanwhile, P.E.I. remains closed to non-residents, allowing only health-care providers and essential workers, such as truck drivers delivering goods, to cross the Confederation Bridge.
Any residents who have travelled within Canada or internationally are ordered to self-isolate for 14 days upon returning.
Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories
All three territories have had active public health orders prohibiting non-essential travel from the rest of Canada.
In Yukon, non-residents are allowed to travel through the territory on their way to other destinations. And on July 1, Yukon will be opening its border with B.C.
Residents of Nunavut and N.W.T. can now travel freely between the territories without having to self-isolate when they return.
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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