Negotiators have made some progress on agriculture-related topics during the third round of NAFTA negotiations in Ottawa this week. A full day of discussions on agriculture took place on Tuesday, with more planned for Wednesday. The U.S. introduced a "consolidated text" for agriculture, compiled from the three countries' individual submissions, according to a source who... Read More
Category: Agriculture Policy
Dairy and supply management have yet to be formally discussed in the renegotiation of NAFTA, with the third round of talks set to wrap up on Wednesday. Canada's chief negotiator, Steve Verheul, indicated over the weekend that he did not expect the U.S. to table any dairy text in Ottawa. That was still the case... Read More
As the NAFTA negotiations enter the third round of talks in Ottawa, the agriculture community in all three countries is nervous. We have heard "do no harm" so many times from famers and ranchers in all three countries that you'd think it should have penetrated into the minds of the negotiating teams. The White House... Read More
The federal government wants to clamp down on incorporated business owners who it says are claiming capital gains when they should be reporting taxable income or dividends. A capital gain is essentially the increase in the value of a capital asset, such as farmland, above its purchase price. Under Canada's tax system, only 50 percent... Read More
The provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) officially started this week, which had the Canadian trade team in Brussels actually jumping for joy. But the work is far from over, as technical barriers are holding the agriculture and agri-food industry back from reaching their... Read More
The length of time it takes to a new technology to clear regulatory approvals is often seen as a barrier to innovation. In the case of a new wheat variety, for example, there are multiple pieces of federal legislation (ie. the Canada Seeds Act and the Canada Grains Act) and government departments involved in bringing... Read More
The federal government thinks too many Canadians are using private corporations as tax-advantaged personal savings accounts, and so it's proposing having much higher tax rates apply to income that comes from investments made within a company. For an incorporated farm business, this "passive" investment income might include returns from GICs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, or... Read More
Members of Parliament are back at their seats for the fall sitting of Parliament, and tensions are high, with the Conservatives and NDP questioning the Liberals' proposed tax changes announced in July. Farm groups and farmers have also been vocal in criticizing the government's plan. "I don't think the government realized the opposition that would... Read More
The latest three-month exemption to India's rules requiring fumigation of pulse crops is nearing its expiration date, and Canadians are no nearer to an understanding of what, exactly, that might mean. "As of today, we don't know what India's policy is going to be for bills of lading that are dated October 1 or later,... Read More
There's a reason most farms pay accountants to provide tax planning advice. Taxes are complicated. Add multiple pages of new information, unclear definitions, 'tax cheat' accusations, some emotional rhetoric, and it's a challenge, even for accountants, to assess what Finance Minister Bill Morneau's proposed tax changes could mean for an individual farm business. We're going... Read More