The elections have come and gone rather quickly. We can now safely say that there will not be another election for another 4 years. The conservatives finally captured their majority government, winning 167 seats. As you already may know, to most Canadians this was expect. One way or another, majority or not, Canadians presumed that Stephen Harper would continue to be King of Canada. One thing for sure, is that no-one anticipated such a surge by the NDP or even them forming the opposition.

Throughout the different campaign riding’s, there were many promises made to Canadians. Promises such as cutting corporate taxes, balancing the budget, new retirement solutions and benefits geared towards the financial & pension industries. This all sounds great, but let’s wait and see, what will actually come true and what wont. That being said, there is a lot of optimism everywhere.

 Some  major promises by the Conservative Party are as follows;

Economy

They promised to balance the budget by 2014-2015 and keep business taxes low, since the Liberals were hinting at raising corporate taxes. Conservative Party also plans to introduce a hiring credit for small businesses, and make it easier for immigrants to have their foreign credentials recognized in Canada. They also planned to keep working at creating a free trade union with India and the European Union.

Health Care

Introduce a tax credit worth up to $400 for those who take care of ill family members at home. Furthermore, the Conservatives plan to work harder with the Provinces on reducing wait times at hospitals.

Environment

Extend the ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes program and financial support for the replacement of fossil fuels energy with renewable sources. Conservative Party also plans to negotiate with the Provinces on expanding protected areas and national parks.

Child Care

Once the budget is balanced,  Tories plans to allow couples with children under age 18 to split their incomes, saving families an average of $1,300 annually. Furthermore, Children’s Fitness Tax Credit will be doubled and a Children’s Arts Tax Credit will be introduced.

Pooled Registered Pension Plans (PRPPs)

Along side Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, the Torrie’s in 2010 unveiled a plan for private-sector pension. Since winning a majority government, this idea seems evident more than ever. This plan would allow small and mid-size businesses to pool resources together, to offer Defined Contribution style pensions. 

Double  TFSA Contribution Limit

Torrie’s also promised to double the TFSA max annually contribution limit to $10,000, up from the current max $5,000 contribution. This is supposed to come into effect once the books are balanced, by 2015.

Many exciting promises were made by the Torrie’s, with time on their side and a majority government, there is no evident reason why they can not come through on the promises. Time, will tell though, let’s hope that they do stick to their word.

What are your thoughts? Do you believe that the Torrie’s will fulfil their promises?

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Wheather you are in the world of Marketing like me or work in Tim Horton’s or as  Nurse, well guess what? We’ve been told that we have to pay even more income tax. Nearly every Canadian worker will be faced to pay more in income tax starting January 1st.  The kicker to it all is, residents of Ontario will be hit the most, over residents of other provinces. Yay! I am excited to hear that. I was still trying to comprehend the fact that I simply got to pay more income tax, as if I already don’t pay enough. A projected 2 percent average increase in income tax will affect almost everyone. What’s different this income tax increase, is that it’s designated to affect everyone. Including the working poor across all provinces. This year we all are losers. In the previous years, you might have gotten hit with a tax increase, which depended on your level of income, province you live in & if you were a family or single.

Biggest reason for the increase in income tax, is because Canadian Government has come up with new social programs and needs the money to offset the funding it has designated for these programs. What else is new? Seems like every time there is a new program introduced, Government helps out on one end, but takes it all back on the other end. A great example of this was with introduction of HST in Ontario. Let’s hike the tax to 13 percent, but we will be nice enough and give the people of Ontario a tax relief of 3 payments spread over a year ($330 for families & $100 for singles).

The government simply feels entitled to our money, with no obligation or accountability for it. Despite the increase, most are surprised (like my self), while there are many who are not. After all the money has to come from somewhere, after various bailouts. Canada has taken on a $164 billion dollar debt, which is spread between 2009-2015.Gone are those days of surplus. Billions were put into infrastructure spending, bail outs for banks, bail outs for car companies, 6 billion dollar tax cut for corporations & $200 billion to banks to buy out bad mortgages. Seems like the only the corporations are getting the breaks, while the working class is getting hit hard. Seems fair huh? I didn’t think so.

The disappointment continues with our government, no matter which way you look at it. Seems like there are taxes on everything, not matter which province you live in. Let’s not forget property tax, GST/PST/HST, fuel tax (which is tax on top of tax), property transfer tax, medicare tax, payroll tax and last but not least, property tax. It’s not wonder people are in debt, yet the government is worried about the rising household debt. The answer lies right here, in taxes and taxes on top of taxes. In defense of those who are debt free, the reason why household debt is so high, is because of foolish spending, but again that is a whole other never ending story on it’s own.

How does everyone feel about the latest increase in Income Tax?

Source: Globe & Mail – Business

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Inflation in Canada slipped to 2% last month as prices of most consumer goods either dropped from last year or simply had a moderation in growth. October inflation percentage was at a high of 2.4%, which was also a two year high.

The only sign of inflation was a 0.1% jump in prices from October to November, which is well below the jump of 0.4% from September to October.Inflation also dropped for the first time, since Ontario and BC introduced the HST in July.

With small changes in the inflation, most analysts believe that Bank of Canada will keep the interest rates unchanged in next month”s announcement, while most analysts believe that the rates will stay unchanged until at least the Summer of 2011.

Prices of many key items such as food, electricity, gasoline and home goods cost rose very minimally in November, as opposed to the previous month. Furthermore the cost of goods such as clothing, vegetables and mortgage rates cost less than at the same time the previous year. Statistics Canada, who is the reporting agency for inflation numbers also reports that the price of gasoline rose 7.2% from the same time last year. No wonder, this makes total sense as the gas within the Toronto are is at $1.14. Also women’s clothing was down 6.9%, mortgage interest rates were down 2.7% and the cost of furniture was down 2.9% as well, all based in comparison to the same time the previous year.

All provinces & territories inflation rates:

PEI – 1.2 (2.3 in October)

Nfld. & Labrador – 2.2 (3.0 in October)

Nova Scotia – 2.2 (2.9 in October)

Quebec – 1.1 (1.4 in October)

Ontario – 3.0 (3.4 in October)

Manitoba – 1.1 (1.2 in October)

Saskatchewan – 2.0 (2.1 in October)

Alberta – 0.1 (1.2 in October)

BC – 2.2 (2.4 in October)

Whitehorse/Yukon – 1.6 (1.9 in October)

N.W.T. – 2.1 (1.8 in October)

Nunavut – 0.7 (-0.4 in October)

Source: The Globe & Mail – Business

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