Posts Categorized: Canadian Government

Phoenix fallout

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Data security.

Description: It was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of the former Conservative government’s efforts to prove they were the ones to deliver savings and efficiency in the way the public sector delivered services. But now with weeks of stories on how employees have gone without pay cheques or been paid the wrong amount,… Read more »

Budget transparency?

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Ethics, Taxation.

Description: Last year, the Liberals under Justin Trudeau latched onto the transparency theme. But last week the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) criticized the Trudeau government for what we might call a lack of transparency. The PBO said the latest federal budget contains some unrealistic forecasts, in particular one which underestimates the level of private sector… Read more »

Tax on pop

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Taxation.

Description: Britain plans one. Mexico has one. And Berkley California put one in place: a tax on sugary soft drinks that is. And in Canada, a recent report from our Senate called for such a tax as one means to combat obesity. Canada ranks number five in terms of the nations with the highest rates… Read more »

How’s your power bill?

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Canadian Government, IPO.

Description: Consumers are not fond of rising power bills. But how would you feel if you were an electricity consumer last week when provincial Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk reported that citizens of Ontario paid $37 billion in excess of market prices over an eight year period. That’s billion with a “B” folks. It comes at… Read more »

Costing things out at the post office

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Managerial Accounting.

Description: During the election campaign Justin Trudeau promised to suspend the previous government’s initiative to end home delivery of mail. And, in anticipation of the new government taking office, Canada Post has interrupted its plans to make scheduled cuts to the home delivery service. While this move may be politically popular, a analysis of the… Read more »

Budget balancing

Posted by & filed under Canadian Economy, Canadian Government, Personal Tax.

Description: The federal government released its budget this week, with a planned surplus of over a billion dollars. One of the tax measures for Canadians was an increase in tax free savings account limit to $10,000 per year. There were also changes in the small business tax rate. Source: thestar.com Date:  April 21, 2015 Link:… Read more »

Can Canada afford it?

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Personal Tax.

Description: A report released by Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer is raising alarm regarding the government’s plan to double the limit on Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs). Both the federal government and the provinces would eventually be losing billions in revenue each year as a result of the changes. With aging populations, this raises serious questions… Read more »

Big student loans write-off

Posted by & filed under Canadian Government, Financial Accounting.

Description: The Government of Canada is writing off about $300 million in student loans, most of which was defaulted on before 2009. The details were revealed in supplementary spending estimates tabled in Parliament on February 19. Jessica McCormick of the Canadian Federation of Students commented that the amount of the defaults points to a need… Read more »

The bailout story

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Accounting Principles, Canadian Government, Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: One intriguing chapter in the most current report by Canada’s Auditor General, Michael Ferguson, discussed the AG’s examination of the 2009 government bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors. Ferguson reported as much as $4 billion of the governments’ investment could be lost if the federal and Ontario governments trade in their shares too early…. Read more »