This health-care dividend giant has crushed the S&P 500 + MORE Jul 27th

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Potential changes to the “de minimus threshold,” a regulatory item dictating when taxes should be charged on shipments into Canada, has pitted online retailers against the brick-and-mortar variety. Conventional wisdom would suggest that, through whatever choice they make, the government will inevitably alienate one of the two groups. This does not need to be the case, however, as a suite of policy changes could mollify both groups at little financial cost to the government. These changes, if enacted, would significantly reduce regulatory barriers, strengthening Canada’s economy and lowering prices for Canadians.
The de minimus threshold (DMT) is the maximum value a foreign shipment into Canada can have before it is assessed sales taxes and customs duties. In Canada, this limit is $20 Canadian for both shipments via courier and, in theory (but often not in practice), via Canada Post. A recent C.D. Howe report makes the case for raising this level to the $80-200 range…

Finance Minister Charles Sousa delivers the tabling of the budget at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Thursday, April 23, 2015. (Nathan Denette/CP)
TORONTO – Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa says he will be examining British Columbia’s new tax aimed at foreign homebuyers “very closely” as he looks for ways to address eroding affordability in Toronto’s housing sector.
Sousa spoke enthusiastically about an announcement made Monday by B.C. Premier Christy Clark and B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong to impose a 15 per cent tax on foreign nationals looking to snap up homes in Vancouver’s scorching real estate market.
“I welcome what (de Jong) is putting forward, and we’re certainly looking at whatever options can be made available,” he said following a news conference Tuesday.
But, he added, it’s important to consider that any similar policies introduced to cool down Toronto’s heated market could have knock-on effects to other parts of Ontario that aren’t experiencing the same run-up in house prices…

Thanks to its growing pharmaceuticals division, the company is posting solid results and is poised to continue raising its dividend

Canada’s banking regulator is requiring banks to conduct stress tests to determine how they would deal with a 50% downturn in Vancouver real estate prices and a 40% cut in Toronto home prices.