Canada column for Sunday, April 26/15
THE CANADIAN REPORT
(c) By
Jim Fox
The Ontario government is turning over a new leaf and getting tough with
contraband tobacco dealers who account for 40 percent of the cigarettes
consumed in the province.
Finance
Minister Charles Sousa said the illegal cigarette market amounts to $500
million annually and is a big part of the underground economy costing the
provincial government $15 billion a year in lost tax revenues.
In
his budget, Sousa said new measures in the past two years have recouped about $600
million in lost revenue from tax evaders.
Along with getting tough with those in the illegal cigarette market, the
government will go after corporate tax avoiders and cash, tax-free deals by
roofers and auto body shops, he said.
Contraband
smokes are sold on native reserves, in bars and out of car trunks for a
fraction of the $85 average retail price for a carton of 200 cigarettes.
The government is also requiring that tobacco farms and everyone who handles
the product must be registered.
Authorities say much of the contraband cigarettes have come from unlicensed
manufacturing plants in New York State supplemented by the growth of Ontario farms
selling tobacco to underground manufacturers.
---
The time is right for Canadian companies to strike it rich in the United
States, Export Development Canada (EDC) said.
Exporting goods south will be a key driver of global economic growth”
over the next two years, the agency predicts.
U.S. companies are “being pushed to capacity” to
keep up with demand from a rebounding economy and consumer confidence, EDC
chief economist Peter Hall said.
Also boosting Canadian businesses is the higher U.S. dollar that makes
foreign goods less expensive.
---
News
in brief:
-
Pierre Claude Nolin, speaker of Canada's Senate, has died as the upper house is
in crisis over an expenses scandal. Nolin, who was 64, was appointed to the
Senate in 1993 by former prime minister Brian Mulroney and is remembered for
his “integrity, knowledge, wisdom and determination.” He had been battling a rare form of cancer the
past five years.
- Marshall
Rothstein is retiring from the Supreme Court of Canada effective Aug. 31, just
ahead of the mandatory retirement age of 75. The Winnipeg native was the first
appointment to the court by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2006. He was
earlier with the Federal Court.
-
Sears Canada has scored a partnership with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky for a
line of casual menswear. Company head Ron Boire also told Sears’ annual meeting
that it has picked up the Cherokee clothing line and Liz Lange Maternity that
had been exclusive to Target Canada before it closed its Canadian stores this
month.
---
Facts and figures:
The
Canadian dollar is higher at 82.14 cents U.S. while the U.S. dollar returns $1.217
in Canadian funds, before bank exchange fees.
The
Bank of Canada’s key interest rate is steady at 0.75 percent while the
prime-lending rate is 2.85 percent.
Stock
markets are mixed, with the Toronto exchange index up at 15,401 points and the TSX
Venture index down at 698 points.
The
average price of gasoline is higher at $1.065 a liter or $4.04 (Canadian) for a
U.S. gallon.
Lotto 6/49: (April 22) 4, 24, 27, 35, 38 and 48; bonus 44. (April 18)
11, 25, 33, 35, 44 and 49; bonus 43. Lotto Max: (April 17) 7, 11, 14, 15, 19,
30 and 41; bonus 22.
---
Regional briefs:
-
David Silverberg, a Charlottetown doctor, is being credited with saving the
life of a disabled man who fell onto the tracks of the subway in Washington,
D.C. The 66-year-old neurologist jumped onto the tracks after the man and his
wheelchair toppled over. He summoned another man to help lift the man who was
unconscious onto the platform.
-
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has explained his Winnipeg Jets wardrobe
malfunction. Fans criticized Harper for wearing a red-and-white Team Canada
jersey to the hockey playoff game instead of the team’s colors. He explained
that he didn't have a Jets jersey to wear even though an online photo surfaced
of him later wearing one a year ago.
-30-
Jim Fox can be reached at canadareport@hotmail.com
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