The Importance of Provincial Budgets: Elbows Up and No Bracket Creep!

Some of the right things are happening in Nova Scotia, from the perspective of improving standards of living in that province.  And that’s important news because according to the Fraser Institute, Canadians have suffered the worst five-year decline in their standard of living over the 2020-to-2024 period since the Great Depression.  It notes, our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person decreased by 2.0% (0.4% annually) ; this despite aggregate GDP growth of 1.5% over the period.  Further, all ten provinces are experiencing stagnation, which is unique in our history.  So what’s the good news in Nova Scotia, at this critical juncture?

It’s February and that means it’s officially tax season. If you are going to tackle filing your tax return yourself this year—and every Canadian should try to grasp this life skill at least once—you will want to know more about the basic elements of the T1 General Income Tax and Benefit Return.

According to Statistics Canada, 20.6% of Canada’s total population is foreign born. Between 2006 and 2011, 1.1 Million foreign-born people immigrated to Canada from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Unincorporated small business returns are increasingly in demand as an aging demographic moves from full-time employment to self-employment as a way to leverage time and money.

The Manitoba Financial Literacy Forum is a coalition of organizations and individuals working together to promote lifelong financial education skills to Manitobans. Co-founded by Evelyn Jacks, President of Knowledge Bureau and the Manitoba Securities Commission, the goal is to improve financial literacy of Manitobans.

“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.” -Dale Carnegie

It’s really surprising how many people don’t know when the tax filing deadline is. CRA often mentions two dates: May 2 and June 15. Which is it for you?