Economy
Canadians share “fairly negative views” about foreign aid with a quarter nationwide favouring funding cuts, says in-house research by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Spending on aid abroad costs $6.4 billion a year excluding extraordinary funding for pandemic relief or Ukraine’s war effort.
“Survey results reveal some fairly negative views about certain aspects of international aid,” said a department report. “More than half of Canadians say a lot of international aid from Canada ends up in the pockets of corrupt politicians in the developing world (56 percent) and that most international aid does not get to the intended recipients (54 percent). Moreover 41 percent agree most international aid is spent on programs that don’t help reduce poverty.”
Asked, “All things considered, do you think the world is getting better?” 76 percent said the world was getting worse. Only nine percent thought the world was getting better.
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Read MoreThe Commons industry committee last night approved a cabinet bill to mandate disclosure of ownership of federally registered corporations. Police acknowledged the bill would not include 85 percent of Canadian companies that are provincially registered.
“This is a federal initiative that will only apply to a small percentage of companies in Canada given that most are incorporated under provincial laws,” testified RCMP Superintendent Denis Beaudoin. “To avoid leaving vulnerabilities that can be exploited by illicit actors, beneficial ownership transparency must be addressed across Canada as a whole to be useful. Otherwise criminals will simply use a province that doesn’t have a registry.”
Bill C-42 An Act To Amend The Canada Business Corporations Act would require that federally registered companies annually submit the names and addresses of individuals holding “significant control,” a minimum 25 percent of shares. “What our bill asks for is, who is the human, the natural person at the very end of the chain who is actually exercising control?” said Mark Schaan, senior assistant deputy industry minister. “If that person is exercising greater than 25 percent of control, that is whose name appears.”
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Read MoreEighty percent of Old Age Security pensioners earn more than $60,000 a year, new data show. Payouts include pensions to retirees with six-figure incomes, according to figures tabled in Parliament.
“The retirement of the baby boomers reaching age 65 over the next few decades is projected to increase the expenditures of the Old Age Security program,” Canada’s Chief Actuary Assia Billig earlier wrote in an Actuarial Report On The Old Age Security Program. Costs of Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement are projected to reach $123 billion a year by 2034.
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Read MoreCompanies and consumers alike have been complaining about supply chain issues for everything from clothes to electronics and home goods — anything that comes off a ship and has to be loaded onto a truck or a train.
It turns out it’s true, according to a report from the World Bank and S&P Global that ranks the Port of Vancouver second-last, or 347th, on global rankings of 348 world ports in terms of efficiency. It was also the second-lowest in North America.
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Read MoreOTTAWA, ON – Canada’s federal and provincial governments should promote jobs and employment as a way to reduce crime in our communities. That recommendation comes from Curbing Crime with Employment: Exploring Work as Crime Prevention for Canadians with Criminal Records, a new report from non-partisan think tank Cardus. The report’s key finding is that there is evidence of a two-way relationship between crime and employment—criminality can make it harder for someone to find work, while having a job can also help steer someone away from crime.
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Read MoreBattle lines are being drawn over energy, resources and emissions after the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan staked out defensive lines and marshalled support for what is shaping up to be an epic jurisdictional battle with Ottawa over resources.
The venue, appropriately enough, was the Global Energy Show in Calgary where Danielle Smith and Scott Moe each laid out their bottom line positions with respect to federal “overreach” into each province’s respective energy and resource sectors.
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Read MoreSaturn is one of Saskatchewan’s fastest growing oil companies
CALGARY –The Jeffersons (remember them?) may have been movin’ on up, to a deluxe apartment in the sky, but Saturn Oil & Gas just pulled off a similar move of its own.
One of Saskatchewan’s fastest growing oil companies in recent years, Saturn Oil & Gas Inc. has increased its land holdings and production tremendously in southeast Saskatchewan. And now it has received approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) to graduate the listing of its common shares to the main board of the TSX.
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Read MoreAt United Repair Centre (URC), located next to the popular indoor food market Foodhallen in Amsterdam, Bakri Zaitoun is busy repairing the sleeve of a dark blue Patagonia puffer jacket.
Mr Zaitoun, a tailor from Syria who arrived in the Netherlands in 2018, is among eight refugees working as tailors at URC, which was founded last year to help extend the lifespan of clothing by fixing garments for brands and their customers.
Through a translator Mr Zaitoun explains that he has been a tailor for 25 years, but when he first arrived in the Netherlands he had to do all sorts of jobs. I asked him if it’s good to be tailoring again and he gives me a big smile.
Mr Zaitoun’s work is a small part of Amsterdam’s effort to become a circular economy.
The circular economy aims to break the link between economic activity and using up the earth’s resources. This may involve reusing, repairing, and sharing materials and products.
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Read MoreA report from RBC Capital Markets has warned that housing affordability in two key Canadian markets is irreparable.
The report, prepared by Geoffrey Kwan and entitled RBC Capital Markets Canadian Housing & Mortgage Virtual Conference Recap, which was sent to True North, included the ominous warning.
“Fixing housing affordability, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver, is likely past the point of no return; housing activity remains weak, but is showing early signs of improvement as year-over-year comparisons improve through 2023,” Kwan’s report read.
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