Canada’s economy added five times the number of jobs that were forecast for April and the unemployment rate unexpectedly held at 6.1 per cent, but wages grew at the slowest pace in 10 months, data showed on Friday....
Most are in my experience. Permanent position really just means there’s no pre-arranged end date for the position as opposed to say covering a maternity leave where you’ve been specifically given that position for just until the permanent employee comes back. Unless otherwise negotiated any permanent employee can be let go with 2 weeks(depending on provincial regulations) notice.
Could also be skewed the other way if it’s only about wage and not total compensation. Higher paid positions tend to also have good benefits like healthcare, vacation time, pensions, etc. that are on top of the stated wage. Lower wage positions often don’t have those same benefits.
Nunavummiut from several communities say they’re reeling from suddenly losing access to free Amazon shipping after Canada Post put an end to a loophole customers utilized to access the service....
Agreed that pricing is something that needs to be addressed, but subsidizing individual orders through Canada Post isn’t a good solution. Better to subsidize bulk shipping to the local stores to bring down the price at the shelf. That’d get residents a better return for the amount of subsidy spent.
The recent deadly crash near Toronto — in which four people were killed after police chased a suspect through oncoming traffic on a major highway — highlights the challenges officers face when deciding whether to pursue a suspect....
I think the biggest one is some departments already have a GPS tracker type thing that’s launchable from a squad car. Then it’s just a matter of deciding if the risk of engaging in the chase is higher or lower than the risk of the suspect escaping. It’s also worth considering that never engaging in a chase makes it simple for people to avoid arrest simply by driving away, so there has to be some expectation in a suspects mind that it might not be worth running.
Is there anywhere one can get more context in this? Seems to me like Superstore tends to be one of the more affordable options, so how do we reconcile that with them taking excessive profits? Are they doing enough volume compared to the competition that they’re that far ahead in economy of scale, have they been able to convince their staff to accept significantly lower compensation compared to the competition? Is this just people’s dissatisfaction being pointed at the biggest player even though the whole market follows the same trend?
I feel like that’s a bad example as consoles tend to be household items rather than individual ones. Regular releases mean that people can choose their upgrade schedule and always have a recently released product available. Good example is cars, manufacturers release a new version of each model every year, but the differences are fairly minor. Then every 5-10 years they do a major revision to the model that’s a significant change. This way most people don’t feel put off when they buy a 2-3 year old model and a revision come out the following year, but a person can buy a new model after 5-10 years and feel like they got a significant upgrade from the previous one.
On the other hand, console generations often provide a hard cut-off for compatibility. You can’t always use previous gen accessories with a new console, and those accessories are usually only comparable with that console. I can’t play my Wii games on my switch, nor use the controllers and other accessories. This is kind of inherent to consoles in that they’re meant to be a consistent platform that allows developers to maximize performance by knowing that each console is going to be pretty much the same. With iOS though the software evolved from the idea of desktop software that runs on a variety of devices. Developers develop with the idea that their software will be used on devices with differing hardware and performance. It’s a completely different paradigm. With computers, people expect that the one they buy this year will be better than the one available last year, but they also don’t feel the need to buy every revision(aside specific performance heavy use cases), they decide on their own replacement schedule. That’s the paradigm that the iPhone came from, regular iterations, occasional major revisions, and long term support/backwards compatibility with previous models and accessories.
Hmm, hard to quantify since I’m not sure how much of the population does a significant portion of grocery and other shopping at Loblaws, but in that context it doesn’t seem so bad. If we taxed those profits completely that only puts an extra $50 in everybody’s pocket each year, which doesn’t seem like it’d really have a large financial impact on many households.
Maybe $300/month, or $3600/year for groceries. Maybe another $200/year each for prescriptions, alcohol, and general housewares to cover the non-grocery items. $150 profit on $4200 of revenue would be about 4% margin. Doesn’t seem that high to me but I also don’t really know how that compares to other businesses in the same market.
Sask Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission has a similar policy of no electronic devices in the classroom. They can be outside the classroom during breaks(of which there are many). You’re allowed to have them on you, and leave class to take or make a call if you consider it important enough, just can’t have them out in the classroom. While it would have been nice sometimes to have access to network connected devices to supplement the classes, I can also understand the arguments around privacy, and distraction particularly among children/teens.
Couldn’t read the paywalled article, but most of the commentary on social media seems to be people that completely misunderstand how their taxes on capital gains are calculated, like thinking the inclusion rate is how much tax is paid, or think that paying capital gains on a secondary property is a new thing. Really it’s paying around 8% more in taxes on the gain over $250k. Some think they’re getting taxed on the whole sale price, not just the increased value, some seem upset that they’re taxed on the “investment” that was bought with after tax dollars(even though capital gains is taxed lower than things like a regular investment account). Some think it’s somehow unfair to pay the capital gains on what they consider their retirement plan, even though they have the same option to put those gains into an RRSP to shelter it from taxes, they’re paying a lower inclusion rate than regular income.
One thing that seemed to come out that didn’t change much and seems a big deal to some, is if you want to pass the property to next of kin, make sure your estate is sitting on 25% of the increased value of the property to cover capital gains, or use a trust and pay the gains up front(though this just puts it off so the kids pay more gains to pass it to their kids) before it hits the estate.
It is like that, and how it works for GST/PST. If I buy something outside Canada(either website/mail, or in person by leaving and coming back) and that seller doesn’t collect and submit sales taxes then I’m expected to submit those taxes myself.
I’m not that knowledgeable about finance and economics, but I feel like the flight thing is overblown. If it’s a company based in Canada making profits outside of Canada, bringing those profits back and deciding to leave then that would be a loss. If it’s a company based in Canada and making profits in Canada and they decide to leave, either we can still tax a cut of their business before it leaves the country or some Canadian alternative can fill the gap. Of course this all assumes there’s somewhere else to go that’s more favourable, and I don’t see a 16% increase in the inclusion rate tipping that scale for a large portion of businesses.
Maybe we should reconsider the environment we provide that would both make that increase significant enough to have a business leave for somewhere else, and also that it’s cheap enough to modify operations that way. Are all the staff going to come too, or is this just some Hollywood accounting that offshores assets with no real change in operations.
Even though the age pattern in spending is presently out-of-whack, the government is showing progress in delivering concrete policies that will make lives better for young people
Considering the median individual income in Canada is close to $45k, that’s a good point. Maybe there’s an argument that seniors have additional living expenses with healthcare or living in an assisted living or full-time care facility, but I feel like it should then be a lower OAS clawback with supports available for those with particularly high expenses.
Agreed. I’m all for accepting and learning from other cultures. I’m not for propping up low wage employers with immigration, particularly when it involves exploitation in ways that the locals refuse to put up with. We’re reaching a point where the boomers are retiring and there’s not as many gen A/Z to fill those vacated positions. Let those low wage jobs sit unfilled until they can find a way to do business while paying decent wages and providing good working conditions. Or go ahead and let the entry level jobs get automated while the actual well paying ones compete for workers.
Legislation to enact the digital services tax is currently before Canada’s Parliament. Once it passes, “the tax would begin to apply for calendar year 2024, with that first year covering taxable revenues earned since Jan. 1, 2022,” the Finance Department said in budget documents published Tuesday....
It’s a start, and keep in mind their value is based on global operations, but it’s only reasonable for Canada to charge tax on the Canadian portion of the business. We account for about half a percent of the world population, so if everybody else has a similar rule and proportional spending it would work out close to $300 billion per year.
Some good points, putting a cap on the primary residence excemption seems more in spirit with the idea of wealth redistribution than simply removing it all together. We could also consider something like letting people claim their capital gains over multiple years which would lower the tax paid on those of lower income while it wouldn’t change anything for those that are consistently earning in the highest tax bracket.
Green space is tough because there’s definite benefits to urban green space. Like moderating urban temperatures, minimizing run-off of precipitation and its effect on the storm sewer system, providing habitat for native species(even if the green space isn’t completely native). Though that green space is probably more efficient if it’s managed by the municipality around denser housing rather than each individual homeowner.
I’m not so sure about the difference between adding units within existing square footage vs adding square footage. I think part of the problem is availability of reasonable quality housing within the budget of minimum wage earners. Having, smaller units available seems more cost effective in this context than larger ones. I think it’s particularly good for more people to be able to afford a smaller unit on their own rather than a splitting of a larger unit between roommates.
No capital gains on principal residence. It would only come up on things like rental properties, cabins, or any other second property.
There’s also things like of a person has RRSP room and ends up in the edge case where this comes up just once or a few times in their life, they can use that to hold off the income tax until they can claim it at a lower tax bracket. If one isn’t put over by a single sale, (say selling multiple rental properties at retirement) they could spread those sales over multiple years to maximize that first $250k rate.
This is the most important part to me. Aside from a handful of fringe cases, this targets exactly the group that many have asked to be taxed higher. Majority of people complaining seem to completely misunderstand how the tax system works and what exemptions apply. In most cases it seems like the changes don’t actually affect the things that people are worried about, or the actual difference is much lower. For example, many are worried about paying tax on the sale of their homes(primary residence exemption), their parents homes(only capital gains on period between transfer of ownership and sale, not all the way back to the parents’ original purchase price), they think the tax rate is 50/66%(that’s the amount of the gain that is considered income and taxes at the marginal rate) or they don’t understand that capital gains tax was already a thing and the actual difference is an additional 16% claimed for amounts over $250k, which means the actual difference in tax paid under the old and new systems is just a few percentage points unless the gains are significantly over $250k.
I use the iCloud Photo Library, and seems worthwhile to me, though my photo library isn’t huge and has lots of stupid work pics. Frees up my phone storage, still have access anywhere I’ve got internet access. Big thing to me though is backups, iCloud is my really essential data, e-mails, contacts, family photos. That gets automatically synced up to iCloud, back down to my iMac, and that iMac gets backed up to my UnRaid server and a Time Capsule. So without any input from me, all my photos get backed up independently, with redundancy and versioning as well as to the cloud. That’s a pretty neat system to me.
Apple does have a setting for regular, automatic, local backups. Though I wish they could do that while also automatically backing up to iCloud. My iCloud backup is under 5 but that’s partly because lots of stuff is already stored in iCloud. I think the real issue for a lot of people is when they have multiple devices, like work and personal phones and/or iPad or two, that all want to backup to that 5 GB. I always thought a compromise like the first 5 GB of a devices iCloud backup doesn’t count towards the iCloud storage. This solves the multiple device backups issue and still keeps a modest base amount of storage so people with just one device still have an incentive to purchase additional storage.
Yep, I think what we’re really seeing is some of these things should be formalized in the employment contract, and the employer should be held to that within reason. Sounds like the linked article is pretty clear cut, the company claims time starts/ends when the vehicle’s engine starts, but there’s also clear regulation that employees should do an inspection before operating a vehicle, they may also have duties regarding reviewing shipping paperwork, signing in/out of a pick-up/drop off location, etc… This is similar to how many retail employees are pushed to clock in-out at the advertised hours of operation, while there’s obviously things that need to be done before/after actually being available for business.
For the rest, it could be as simple as considering work location a substantial part of the job, if a person accepts a remote position and the company decides to change it to an in-person position that should qualify as constructive dismissal, the employee should have the choice of taking a severance and moving on, or re-negotiating things like salary before accepting the change. Similar arguments for thing like working hours, if a company changes the location or wants a staff member to work at a different location, etc.
Unionization can help sometimes too. One place I worked had in the CBA that if an employee stayed more than 2 hours past the scheduled shift the employer would provide a meal. Some trade unions have language regarding covering mileage and paid travel time when the worksite is a particular distance from some specific location, as well as how far that distance can be before the employer also has to cover food and lodging.
Sounds like an OHSA violation. Vehicles should be inspected daily before operation. Either they’re not paying for the required inspection or they’re telling the staff not to do that inspection. Either way the company is liable.
I’d also consider that things like locking/securing the vehicle counts as work too. If the shift ends when the engine stops it’s getting left open until the next shift.
Sure, the occasional customer gets into a cycle for credit card debt and ends up paying big interest. That’s not where credit card companies make their money though. There’s a fee for the merchant to process each transaction, that’s the main revenue source. Then if we’re talking about a store card, they get the ability to track your purchases everywhere you use that card, and use that info to do better marketing, merchandising, and just generally get better at selling people stuff. It’s nice to make a buck when people buy things from your store, but it’s even nicer if you can make a buck when people shop elsewhere too.
Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan (www.ctvnews.ca)
Canada’s economy added five times the number of jobs that were forecast for April and the unemployment rate unexpectedly held at 6.1 per cent, but wages grew at the slowest pace in 10 months, data showed on Friday....
Canada Post closes loophole for Nunavummiut to access free Amazon shipping (www.cbc.ca)
Nunavummiut from several communities say they’re reeling from suddenly losing access to free Amazon shipping after Canada Post put an end to a loophole customers utilized to access the service....
Deadly crash highlights risks of police chases. Do policies need to be tougher? (www.cbc.ca)
The recent deadly crash near Toronto — in which four people were killed after police chased a suspect through oncoming traffic on a major highway — highlights the challenges officers face when deciding whether to pursue a suspect....
Is the Loblaw boycott privileged? Here's why some people aren't shopping around (www.cbc.ca)
Apple sales fall in nearly all markets (www.bbc.com)
Loblaw reports 9.8% quarterly profit boost, hikes dividend 15% (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Owner of Loblaws, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore and Shoppers Drug Mart recorded net earnings of $459-million or $1.47 per share in first quarter
Ontario to ban use of cellphones in school classrooms starting in September (toronto.ctvnews.ca)
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
You’re no longer middle-class if you own a cottage or investment property (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Paying taxes on a half-million-dollar capital gain from a cottage or an investment property is a good problem to have
Montreal tenant forced to pay his landlord’s taxes offers advice to other renters (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Tenant David Siscoe still owes more than $43,000 after being dunned by CRA for foreign landlord’s failure to pay
'Mark my words': Canadian tech investor warns Trudeau of capital flight after tax hike (financialpost.com)
A prominent Canadian technology investor joined the chorus of Canadian businesses criticizing the increase to the capital-gains tax. Read on
The federal budget admits millennials and Gen Z are being left behind. Now it’s time to fix the system (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Even though the age pattern in spending is presently out-of-whack, the government is showing progress in delivering concrete policies that will make lives better for young people
Immigration: 'Some Canadians are beginning to question the multiculturalist model' (www.lemonde.fr)
Sociologist Christian Bergeron says the intense debate surrounding the recent influx of immigrants is shaking one of the pillars of Canadian society.
Canada to start taxing tech giants in 2024 despite US complaints (techxplore.com)
Legislation to enact the digital services tax is currently before Canada’s Parliament. Once it passes, “the tax would begin to apply for calendar year 2024, with that first year covering taxable revenues earned since Jan. 1, 2022,” the Finance Department said in budget documents published Tuesday....
Ottawa’s plan for a (very limited) increase in the capital gains tax? It’s a start (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Let’s start with one of the highest-voltage [third rails] in federal politics: Old Age Security....
Capital gains tax 'last thing the Canadian economy needs,' say business groups (ca.finance.yahoo.com)
Apple calls 128GB 'lots of storage' in new iPhone 15 ad | AppleInsider (appleinsider.com)
B.C. trucking company goes after 3 former drivers for 'time theft,' loses every case (bc.ctvnews.ca)
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