The federal Liberals unveiled their fall economic update Thursday — a 92-page mini-budget setting out Canada’s fiscal situation and outlining new policies to tackle cost-of-living woes.
That figure is on top of the $300 million over two years that the feds announced in early October in the wake of the devastating storm, and its month-long matching of donations to the Canadian Red Cross. Alberta and Manitoba only have one per cent of their funding envelopes left, representing $50.5 million and $13.6 million respectively. And though Ontario has used up all but four per cent, that still represents a significant amount of money at more than $450 million.
Canada’s fiscal framework needs to keep pace with the rise of the currencies and how the digitization of money is “transforming financial systems in Canada and around the world,” the document says. In a separate process, the Bank of Canada has studied the potential for a central bank digital currency. It has said it doesn't anticipate the need for it right now but wants to be prepared if that changes in the future.Individual truckers may have formed the genesis of the “Freedom Convoy” protest that descended on Ottawa last winter and prompted the Liberals’ use of emergency powers to clear protesters — a decision currently being scrutinized at a high-profile public inquiry.
The Canada Revenue Agency is also working to “encourage greater awareness” and “foster compliance” with tax rules that govern the use of incorporated employees, something the feds say they will elaborate on in next spring’s budget.The fall statement unveils the amount of funding Liberals expect to put toward a new immigration strategy they unveiled earlier in the week.