By Jamie Barrie T he Liberal party released its 2018-19 budget and fore- casts the deficit will narrow to C$18.1 billion in the fiscal year that begins April 1, from $19.4 billion CAD in the current year and deficits over the six years including 2017-18 projected to total $98 billion CAD, with no set date for the governing Liberals to return to a balanced budget. The governing Liberals show their commitment to promote equality in the labour force with new funding included to encourage both parents to share in parental leave along with a government funding to increase the participation of women in the labor force at all levels. Canada will reduce bond issuance in 2018-19 by 17 percent from last year’s record to C$115 billion and is expected to reduce the ratio of debt to gross domestic product to 28.4 percent by 2022 from the current ratio of 30.4 percent. The government is also forecasting an average growth in GDP of 2 percent over this same period.
changes and how they will affect their business now and in the future. The government implemented a down scaled version of reforms for business and “tax planning’’ with new restrictions announced that will bring in just under $1 billion CAD annually in tax revenue by 2022. The federal government also promised new rules to prevent banks and other financial institutions “from gaining a tax advantage by creating artificial losses,’’ a move that will create another $560 million CAD annually by 2022. The Liberals are also set to increase taxes on tobacco which will generate $1.5 CAD billion over the next six years. Plus, the government expects to generate $690 CAD million over six years after it legalizes cannabis later in the summer. All in all, it was not a tough budget with the Liberals leaving themselves some wiggle room for the future as they will start to set the stage for an election budget next year as Canada heads back to the polls in 2019.
But most business owners were focused on upcoming tax
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MARCH 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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