Latest news with #FES
Cision Canada
5 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
CFIB statement on the need for the 2025 budget Français
TORONTO, June 3, 2025 /CNW/ - We're pleased to see talk in Ottawa about advancing a spring budget after all. Small businesses are waiting on word on at least five outstanding measures from the 2024 budget and Fall Economic Statement (FES). They include: The tax status of the $2.5 billion small business carbon rebate delivered in December (CRA says it is taxable until government introduces a change). Changes to and delivery of the $623 million small business carbon rebate for 2024/25 (the FES proposed a new formula and government is now sitting on the rebates). A legislative change to allow businesses to qualify for the earlier carbon rebate by filing their returns for those years before Dec. 31, 2024. A bump in the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) to $1.25 million backdated to June 25, 2024 (introduced but not passed, promised by Prime Minister Carney too). The fate of the new Canadian Entrepreneurs' Incentive (backdated to Jan. 1, 2025) to lower the inclusion rate to 33% on a lifetime maximum of $2 million in eligible capital gains. All of these measures are supposed to be in place today, but were delayed due to the filibuster, prorogation of Parliament and election. Only one is temporarily supported by CRA (the LCGE change). A budget would provide the window for government to introduce the legislation, which should all be ready to go from the last Parliament. Without action, small businesses filing their 2024 taxes in June are required to pay corporate income tax on their share of the $2.5 billion carbon rebate they've already received and spent. Then, CRA is suggesting 600,000 small business owners file an amendment to get the tax back when the legislation change is made. This makes no sense at all. Among the best things the federal government could do to address the massive economic and trade uncertainty facing SMEs is to provide them with certainty on these tax measures. They have all been promised, are ready to go and should be part of a 2025 budget this legislative session. - Dan Kelly, President, CFIB About CFIB The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 100,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners' chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CFIB statement on the need for the 2025 budget
TORONTO, June 3, 2025 /CNW/ - We're pleased to see talk in Ottawa about advancing a spring budget after all. Small businesses are waiting on word on at least five outstanding measures from the 2024 budget and Fall Economic Statement (FES). They include: The tax status of the $2.5 billion small business carbon rebate delivered in December (CRA says it is taxable until government introduces a change). Changes to and delivery of the $623 million small business carbon rebate for 2024/25 (the FES proposed a new formula and government is now sitting on the rebates). A legislative change to allow businesses to qualify for the earlier carbon rebate by filing their returns for those years before Dec. 31, 2024. A bump in the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) to $1.25 million backdated to June 25, 2024 (introduced but not passed, promised by Prime Minister Carney too). The fate of the new Canadian Entrepreneurs' Incentive (backdated to Jan. 1, 2025) to lower the inclusion rate to 33% on a lifetime maximum of $2 million in eligible capital gains. All of these measures are supposed to be in place today, but were delayed due to the filibuster, prorogation of Parliament and election. Only one is temporarily supported by CRA (the LCGE change). A budget would provide the window for government to introduce the legislation, which should all be ready to go from the last Parliament. Without action, small businesses filing their 2024 taxes in June are required to pay corporate income tax on their share of the $2.5 billion carbon rebate they've already received and spent. Then, CRA is suggesting 600,000 small business owners file an amendment to get the tax back when the legislation change is made. This makes no sense at all. Among the best things the federal government could do to address the massive economic and trade uncertainty facing SMEs is to provide them with certainty on these tax measures. They have all been promised, are ready to go and should be part of a 2025 budget this legislative session. - Dan Kelly, President, CFIB About CFIB The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 100,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners' chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business View original content to download multimedia: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Hindustan Times
28-05-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
Kanji Ka Guda: How Aravalli common lands are shared by people, birds and animals
Gogunda: In sharp contrast to some parts of Aravallis where mining and real estate are threatening common lands, in Rajasthan's Gogunda, a network of ponds is being conserved, utilised and carefully rationed by villagers. The rules are clear: use water efficiently for irrigation from wetlands, leave the rest for livestock, wild animals, insects and birds. Gogunda's Kanji Ka Guda is an example of how wetlands, pastures, hills, small streams and sacred groves are carefully managed as 'common' lands spanning around 400 hectares of Aravalli landscape. 'The rule is that villagers can take water only for the Rabi crop. There is enough water for the crop. The rest will be left for livestock, animals and birds because if there is no water, there is no life,' said Bawar Singh (70), head of charagah samiti, a local committee, particularly in Rajasthan, that is responsible for managing and developing pasture land. These wetlands are created through the collection of rainwater in natural depressions and help irrigate crop land where wheat, mustard, chickpeas, fenugreek among others. 'Many animals and birds visit us here. There are big fish in these ponds. Nature is in its bounty because there is water left in these ponds almost all the time. Nobody is allowed to source water beyond the limit among the 100 families that source ,' added Singh. Water is diverted to the village for irrigation through a gravity dam. Those with least or no irrigation facility at all are prioritised in water rationing from the wetland's water. Foundation For Ecological Security has been studying how the network of 10 ponds and the hills here that feed the Banas river create an ecological habitat for birds and insects. They have been monitoring water quality, ecological indicators such as presence of dragon and damselfly and birds. 'We are trying to study and facilitate efficient use of shamlath (common) lands in these parts of Aravallis. This area is significant because it is the Aravallis and a fair usage of commons such as forests, wetlands, hillocks can be seen here among people who are traditionally livestock rearers. The benefits they are getting from the common lands are obvious,' said Vinod Paliwal, senior programme manager, Foundation For Ecological Security. Apart from limited cultivation, livestock rearing and collection of minor forest produce, villagers also depend on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or the 100-day work programme for round the year sustenance. Caste is a dominant factor in all villages here with several social norms determined by caste dynamics. But when it comes to 'commons' the rules are even. 'You may say that caste inequities take a backseat when it comes to common resources,' added Paliwal. Gogunda is largely dominated by scheduled tribes from the Meena, Gametia and Garasia but Rajputs and other general category populations are also living here. FES's monitoring in the region has revealed at least 36 species of odonates including Red Marsh Trotter, Black Stream Glider, Blue Ground Skimmer; Ditch Jewel; Blue Darner; Little Blue Marsh Hawk among others. These findings are soon to be published in a journal. Migratory bird species recorded here include: Greenish Warbler; Garganey; Citrine Wagtail; Siberian Stonechat; Ferruginous Duck; White Wagtail; Western Yellow Wagtail; Green Avadavat; Red-breasted Flycatcher; Bluethroat; Common Pochard; Green-winged Teal; Northern Pintail; Gadwall; Northern Shoveler. 'The idea is that people have enough to sustain themselves, there is also a rich biological habitat that these common lands provide,' explained Paliwal. In the same Gogunda hills which border the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, community forest rights have been recognised in 48 villages. In Kundalawas where women are leading the task of protecting and managing forests, they are awaiting CFR rights to be recognised. They also run a seed bank where several varieties of endemic grass seeds are stored. Here also, the focus is on rationing and efficient utilisation of forest resources. Kundlawas's forests mainly have teak trees. 'We have been waiting for 20 years for official recognition of our rights. But the process was complicated and hence took time. When it comes to forests and 100 day work, our women are leading. Everyone is working,' said Davri Bai (50). Though the notion is that men are decision makers, women are having their say now in gram sabha's matters. The biggest decision that women here have taken is that people will take only as much as they need. Earlier there was a lot of unnecessary tree felling because people took more than they needed and sold off timber, said Davri Bai. 'I helped with the paperwork to file for CFR. It was important and it has given us authority to ration resources, take care of forests,' said Rekha Bai (26) who has studied till class 10. Custard apple and a variety of grasses provide livelihood to most women here. They also rear livestock but rearing camels has seen a sharp decline in recent years. 'There was a camel in every home before. Now there are barely 8 camels in the entire village. There is no value in keeping camels anymore,' said Rekha Bai. Hardly any camels are visible in the hinterlands surrounding Udaipur. Villagers said the Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act which restricts the transport, illegal possession and slaughtering of camels may have led to many abandoning camel rearing. But people here continue to rear goats, sheep, cows and buffaloes. HT reported on April 26 that Income Tax department boards have come up in Faridabad's Mangar village stating that 430 acres of land at village Mangar has been attached by Benami Prohibition Unit, Chandigarh of Income Tax Department. Mangar spread over 4262 acres (of which 3810 acres is hill area) is among the most biodiversity rich areas of the Aravallis in the National Capital Region (NCR). Within Mangar village, Mangar Bani (677.12 acres) is NCR's most sacred grove, and possibly the only patch of primary forest in the region. It is also mostly common land which had been privatised over the years. HT reported on October 3, 2023 that the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023 will benefit real estate companies that own land in what was to be declared 'deemed forest' in Haryana's Aravallis. One of the contentious provisions of the new law is that it exempts unrecorded deemed forests from the modified law on forest conservation and hence leaves areas such as Mangar Bani vulnerable. Jayashree Nandi is a recipient of Promise of Commons Media Fellowship, on the significance of Commons and its community stewardship.
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Yemen: Will US-Houthi ceasefire stop attacks on Israel?
Late Tuesday evening, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X that "following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides". Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The two sides are the US and the Iran-backed , which is designated a terror organization by the US and others. "Neither side will target the other... ensuring and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" in the Red Sea, Albusaidi added in his statement. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that the Houthis had "capitulated" and "announced to us … that they don't want to fight anymore," and that the United States would "take their word." The Houthis are yet to comment on the agreement with the US. However, a recent statement on X indicates that their attacks on Israel, which they say are in support of Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza, are going to continue. The announcement came only hours after Israeli fighter jets had destroyed the country's international airport in Sanaa, and a day after Israel had attacked dozens of targets along the Yemeni coast, in particular facilities in the port of Hodeida, according to the Israeli military's post on X. Last Sunday (May 4), a rocket fired from Yemen was not intercepted by Israel's otherwise very effective air defense systems but landed near Israel's international Ben Gurion Airport. Six people were slightly injured. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by threatening the Houthis and Iran with retaliation. "The Houthi attacks are coming from Iran," Netanyahu wrote on Sunday on X. On Monday, Iran denied that it was responsible for the Houthi attacks on Israel. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now A long way away As the distance between Israel and Yemen is around 2000 kilometers, military operations are difficult for Israel, as well as for its partner, the US. "The attacks of recent months have been successful in some respects," Constantin Grund, head of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) office in the Yemeni port city of Aden, which lies outside the Houthis' territory, told DW. "Previous attacks on the port of Hodeida destroyed thousands of tons of oil," he said, adding that "this is enormous damage that the Houthis have to compensate for." This also applies to the other targets, including many military ones. Nevertheless, the geographical distance between the countries remains a challenge. While Israeli fighter jets only need a few minutes to reach their respective targets in the conflict with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, another Iran-backed militia, it takes Israel hours to reach Yemen. According to security consultant Ari Heistein from the Israeli Counter Extremism Project, and Amos Yadlin, the former head of the IDF Military Intelligence, this makes planning the missions extremely challenging, they wrote in an analysis for the Israeli newspaper Times of Israel. Strike capability hardly affected Until now, the Israeli attacks have mainly been aimed at preventing the smuggling of weapons and fuel from Iran to the Houthis. 'Despite their military superiority, the US and its allies have not seriously degraded the capability of the Houthis to launch attacks, nor their ability to resupply their arsenals," Fabian Hinz, a military analyst from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) wrote in December 2024. According to Hinz, the Houthis now have extremely powerful missiles at their disposal. They can therefore be fired from deep inside the country. The country's mountainous terrain further helps to conceal the Houthi's operations from enemy surveillance. Yemen's communications infrastructure is extremely rudimentary. According to an analysis by the Yemeni think tank Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, the Houthi militia is taking advantage of this very fact. It largely refrains from using digital communication. This renders the monitoring of the Houthis' internal communication difficult for their military opponents. "In their cost-benefit analysis, [the Houthis] want to implement their anti-Israeli, anti-American ideology while taking into account that Israel's ability to hit them is limited," Nachum Shiloh, a research fellow at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC), told Israeli media, adding that "Yemen's impoverished population and under-developed economy make for very few valuable military targets to Israel. " Ground offensive unlikely It will be difficult to end the conflict through air strikes, observers agree. Above all, according to many experts, the Houthis are unlikely to be persuaded to end their attacks on Israel and international shipping in the Red Sea in this way. The question is therefore whether Israel or the US could also launch a ground offensive in Yemen? In view of the rather unsuccessful military fight of the international coalition, led by Saudi Arabia against the Houthis between 2015 and 2023, however, this is hardly an appealing option. At the time, the Saudi-led coalition was "unable to break through the Houthis' defensive positions in the Yemeni mountains in any significant way," according to Constantin Grund. A ground offensive would be a "suicide mission" that could end in a similar way to the international community's involvement in Afghanistan, Grund said, adding that "of course, people in Washington, Berlin, Brussels and other Western capitals want to avoid such a scenario which is another reason why I think an Israeli ground offensive is out of the question."
Epoch Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Credit Rating Agency Warns About Ottawa's Fiscal Plan
Shortly after Liberals secured another minority government, a credit rating agency says the spending plans outlined during the campaign will put pressure on Canada's credit profile. The spending promises made by Prime Minister Mark Carney point to 'considerable fiscal loosening that would exacerbate already expanding fiscal deficits,' Fitch Ratings said in an April 29 Credit ratings are used by investors to help assess the ability of an entity, in this case a country, to repay a debt or meet a financial obligation, such a repaying holders of sovereign bonds. The Liberals' costed platform promises $129 billion in new spending over the next four years and consecutive deficits which would add nearly $225 billion to the federal debt. The previous Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had forecasted a $42.2 billion deficit in fiscal 2025-26 in its last Fall Economic Statement. The Carney Liberals have projected a $62.3 billion deficit next year. This exceeds the Trudeau government's fiscal anchor of maintaining the deficit below 1 percent of GDP. 'Canada's credit strengths offer significant headroom to weather a fiscal or economic shock, but increased structural deficits would pressure its credit profile,' said Fitch. Related Stories 4/30/2025 4/30/2025 The agency said the minority status of the government could lead to actual spending differing from the platform, while adding that 'further fiscal loosening seems inevitable' given the scale of new planned expenditures. 'Canada has experienced rapid and steep fiscal deterioration, driven by a sharply weaker economic outlook and increased government spending during this electoral cycle,' said Fitch. Carney has 'It's an entirely new government, it's a fundamentally different approach,' he said on April 21. He added that Canada is in the 'worst crisis of our lifetimes,' alluding to U.S. tariff threats, and that his fiscal plan 'meets the moment.' Several On the flip side, Fitch had also noted a 'weakened fiscal position' reflecting 'rapid expenditure growth amid a stagnant economy.' 'Top AAA-rated' Canada's strong credit rating had often been touted by the Trudeau government to defend against Conservative Opposition charges that it's taking on too much debt and that the country's economy is faltering. 'We have been there to invest for Canadians responsibly. We still have one of the top AAA-rated economies in the world. Our fiscal plan is sustainable and responsible,' Trudeau Before the mini-budget was tabled later that fall, then-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was asked by reporters whether exceeding her own fiscal guardrails could risk Canada being downgraded by credit rating agencies. 'We do take Canada's fiscal position seriously. Fiscal sustainability is really important to our government,' she said in December 2024. A few days later, as she was scheduled to table the Fall Economic Statement (FES), Freeland resigned from cabinet. In her letter of resignation to Trudeau made public, Freeland said the prime minister had informed her he was removing her from finance and that she was still expected to deliver the FES. In her letter, Freeland also criticized Trudeau for using 'costly political gimmicks' at a time when Canada should be bracing for U.S. tariffs, referring to a two-month sales tax holiday and $250 cheques to Canadians announced at the time. Freeland's position as finance minister appeared to be under threat shortly after Liberals lost the Toronto-St. Paul's riding in a June 2024 byelection, with anonymous sources from the Prime Minister's Office telling media Freeland was to blame for not effectively communicating the government's economic agenda. Asked by reporters at the time if she had received assurances from Trudeau that she would stay on as finance minister, she responded, 'I do have the confidence that I need to do my job effectively.' Freeland also said that as finance minister, 'you have to say 'no' a lot of the time' to proposed spending plans. 'That's how we keep our AAA credit rating,' she said in July 2024. Freeland lost the Liberal leadership race to her longtime friend Carney. She was appointed as transport minister in Carney's first cabinet in March. The prime minister will be announcing his new cabinet in the coming days.
