Thought Leaders

Thought Leaders

Only the United States benefits from renegotiating the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade deal

Free trade deals with regular renegotiation requirements such as CUSMA put smaller economies under pressure to lose leverage and surrender policy autonomy
Thought Leaders

Churches don’t pay taxes. Should they?

Many Canadians don’t realize that religious properties are tax exempt, however, this privilege is increasingly being debated as organized religion recedes
Thought Leaders

The ‘tax-free trap’: How a simple phrase skews Canadians’ savings choices

Canadian taxpayers may be sacrificing long-term savings for short-term investments due to heuristic language that simplifies complex decisions
Thought Leaders

A Privilege Primer, Part III: Reconsidering accountants’ tax services as legal services

In the third of a three-part series on the Gaudreau case before the FCA in Quebec, Brian Studniberg of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP concludes his thoughts on situational forms of privilege between tax accountants and their clients
Thought Leaders

Election rumours invite reflections on Doug Ford’s record in Ontario

Reducing taxes and costs to businesses and consumers in the short term is raising questions about the Ontario government’s long term fiscal responsibility
Thought Leaders

‘We remain concerned’: Senate inquiry into PwC tax scandal calls for reform, but overuse of consultants will likely continue

Despite scathing public inquiry reports about the PwC Australia tax consulting scandal, it would take decades to reduce government reliance on consultants
Thought Leaders

DAC Investment and the GAAR: Did the Tax Court of Canada get it right?

Allan Lanthier is unconvinced by the reasoning in a recent Tax Court of Canada decision involving a Canadian-controlled private corporation and the BVI
Thought Leaders

A Privilege Primer, Part II: Where do accountants fit in under existing Canadian law?

In the second of a three-part series on the Gaudreau case before the FCA in Quebec, Brian Studniberg of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP examines the settings in which an accountant’s work product could be protected by legal privilege
Thought Leaders

Why the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion is a bad deal for Canadians — and the world

Taxpayers are on the hook for an economically disastrous Faustian bargain that will burden future generations of Canadians as it contributes to climate chaos
Thought Leaders

Crystallizing capital gains before June 25: What about the GAAR?

Allan Lanthier explains why the General Anti-Avoidance Rule, as amended by Bill C-59, should not apply to a planning alternative to new capital gains rules
Thought Leaders

The new game in town: Capital gains and the alternative minimum tax

The federal government's new capital gains rules have left taxpayers in a pickle says Allan Lanthier. But here's a planning alternative with a deadline of June 24
Thought Leaders

A Privilege Primer, Part I: Gaudreau reminds that there is no accountant-client privilege in Canada. But why?

Can the courts compel Canadian accountants to disclose their tax analysis? In the first of a three-part series, Brian Studniberg of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP looks at the Gaudreau case currently before the Federal Court of Appeal in Quebec