News
World says final goodbyes as Queen Elizabeth laid to rest after state funeral
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LONDON — The queen who ruled the United Kingdom and served as Canada’s head of state for seven decades was carried to her final resting place on Monday after a grand state funeral attended by world leaders and watched by everyday people across the globe.
Thousands of mourners packed the streets of London to get one last look at the queen’s flag-draped coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, sparkling with almost 3,000 diamonds, and the sovereign’s orb and sceptre. They lined the roads on the way to Windsor Castle, where she was reunited with her parents and buried next to Philip, her husband of nearly 74 years.
On Monday morning, a bell tolled 96 times — once for each year of the queen’s life — to mark the start of the United Kingdom’s first state funeral since Winston Churchill’s. Royal Navy sailors drew the gun carriage carrying the late queen’s coffin to Westminster Abbey, with the queen’s son, King Charles III, and his sons, Princes William and Harry, walking behind as bagpipers played.
“Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer,” the dean of the medieval abbey, David Hoyle, told mourners.
In his sermon, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby paid tribute to the queen’s “loving service,” her religious faith and her ability to touch lives. Near the end, he quoted a song by Vera Lynn and echoed the closing words of the queen’s 2020 address to the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic: “We will meet again.”
The massive Gothic cathedral fell dead silent as two minutes of silence were observed in the abbey and throughout the U.K. Afterwards, the King stood in silence as the 2,000 or so members of the congregation, including his wife and family, sang “God Save the King.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, officially led the Canadian delegation that was ushered into the church in the hours before the funeral got underway.
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her husband sat a few rows behind the King and other senior royals, while a procession of decorated Canadians — including the holders of the Victoria Cross, George Cross and Orders of Chivalry — walked through the church on the way to their seats. Order of Canada holders actress Sandra Oh, Olympian Mark Tewksbury and performing artist Gregory Charles walked near the front of the procession.
Canada’s delegation also included former governors general Michaëlle Jean and David Johnston, as well as former prime ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper.
After the funeral, King Charles and the queen’s other children, grandchildren and young great-grandchildren accompanied the coffin on a military procession from Westminster Abbey as crowds of people, many of whom had been camped out for days, stood in respectful silence.
Members of the RCMP rode horses near the front of the procession that also included uniformed armed forces members from Canada and around the Commonwealth. A handful of the queen’s relatives who have served in the military were among those in uniform for the procession, while others were dressed in black, like many of the dignitaries who attended the service.
Lt.-Col. Ryan Hartman, a soldier from Ottawa, said after the event that getting to attend the service and march in the procession was “surreal.”
“I find myself having the honour of sitting with kings and queens and heads of state and people of significance,” said Hartman, who is commanding officer of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders. “It was humbling.”
Hours after the service, he said he was still processing what it meant.
“It’s something I will take away and never, ever forget,” he said. “I want to take this back to my family and my children.”
Lt.-Col. Drew Beauchamp, a member of the Calgary Highlanders, said he was moved by the number of people who lined the routes “to get one last look at Her Majesty.”
“From the looks on their faces, there was a lot of deep sorrow, deep reflection,” he said.
The queen, he said, was not only a leader and a veteran, but “an exceptional woman and someone who devoted her life to service,” he said.
The procession slowly made its way past major landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, where the queen lived throughout her reign. The toll of bells rang out through the streets that were mostly silent aside from the sounds of the ceremonial march.
Farther away, outside the barricades, a booming gun salute from Hyde Park echoed in the streets, while the distant sound of a military band drifted down to those trying to find a way in or gathering around screens set up in public squares.
The last leg of the queen’s final journey saw her transferred to a hearse on the way to Windsor Castle, where she was to be buried near St George’s Chapel.
People applauded as the hearse arrived at the castle and passed in a procession through the estate. The procession passed by one of the queen’s saddled Fell ponies and two of her pet corgis, in a nod to her well-known love of animals.
The state funeral marked the culmination of 10 days of tributes and mourning following the queen’s death on Sept. 8 at the age of 96.
Dignitaries and everyday mourners alike have poured into London in recent days to pay tribute to the U.K.’s longest-reigning monarch and Canada’s most long-standing head of state.
In London, an entire park near Buckingham Palace was filled with floral tributes, while people at one point were waiting up to 24 hours in line for a chance to view the queen’s casket at her lying-in-state at Westminster Hall.
Tim Thompson of Fredericton was among the members of the public who camped out for the procession. He had set up a tent on the flag-lined road leading to Buckingham Palace early Sunday morning to ensure he would get a good view.
As a military member with the Cadet Instructors Cadre, he said it was worth spending a night out in the cold in order to pay his respects to Canada’s former commander-in-chief and head of state.
While the event is a sad one, he said he was proud and happy to see different nations come together to mourn the queen.
“We have a shared grief that we’re going through, so it’s nice to see that camaraderie between Canadians, Australians and British people,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2022.
Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
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.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled the government’s 2024 federal budget, with spending targeted at young voters and a plan to raise capital gains taxes for some of the wealthiest Canadians.
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.
Some business groups are worried that new capital gains tax changes could hurt economic growth. But according to Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez, most Canadians won’t be impacted by that change — and it’s a move to create fairness.
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?
Tuesday’s federal budget includes nearly $53 billion in new spending over the next five years with a clear focus on affordability and housing. To help pay for some of that new spending, Ottawa is proposing a hike to the capital gains tax. Moshe Lander, an economics lecturer at Concordia University, joins host Jeff Douglas to explain.
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?'”
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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