Banks unite to donate $1M to help support Syrian refugees arriving in Canada + MORE Dec 7th

Sliding oil prices have forced many to consider changing industries or leaving the region entirely to regain their financial footing

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Chipotle shares extended their slide Monday after the company said an E. coli outbreak is expected to lead to its first sales decline since going public in 2006.
The stock fell further in after-hours trading after Boston College said it was working with local health officials to determine whether the outbreak was also responsible for sickening several of its students, including members of its men’s basketball team.
Chipotle noted that none of the cases reported so far by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been in Massachusetts. It said it closed its restaurant in Boston’s Cleveland Circle anyway while health officials investigate.
Chipotle’s stock fell 6 per cent to $518 in after-hours trading, after closing down 1.7 per cent Monday. The stock is down more than 20 per cent since mid-October when reports of the E. coli outbreak began to surface.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, Chipotle said sales have been “extremely volatile” since early November as a result of the outbreak…

Finance Minister Billl Morneau outlines the Liberal’s new tax strategy during a briefing in Ottawa on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The new Finance Minister Bill Morneau is in a bind: does fulfilling his big tax-cut promise mean breaking his deficit ceiling promise? The Liberals promised $10 billion a year in deficits, but the finance minister is now careful to avoid repeating that promise. When asked directly if he will need higher deficits to meet his promises, he cites his target of lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio instead. Is he signalling higher deficits to come?
Morneau does, however, refuse to back down from the promise that the Liberal government will balance the books by 2019. That promise has also been questioned. The parliamentary budget officer has called his forecast “optimistic” and suggests the deficits are now structural. Morneau admits he is “an optimist,” but he is short on details as to how he will achieve balance, other than to stimulate growth through more investment…

OTTAWA – High-income Canadians looking to minimize their federal income tax should look at taking any bonuses they may be due or big capital gains this year to avoid paying more when Ottawa’s new top rate kicks in next year.
Tax experts say if you are lucky enough to find yourself in Ottawa’s new top bracket — those earning $200,000 or more — you shouldn’t defer any income that you can take this year because you’ll pay more if you do.
Mariska Loeppky, director of tax and estate planning at Investors Group, said if you’re in the top bracket you can save yourself four per cent in federal tax for every dollar you can push into 2015 compared with 2016.
“In a high-income tax rate environment you’re going to want to look at all the things that can help you save tax,” she said.
Loeppky also suggested people may also want to defer claiming this year’s RRSP contribution until the 2016 tax year to maximize the benefit. She estimated that those in the top bracket could save $800 by deferring the deduction on a $20,000 contribution…

TORONTO – Canada’s five biggest banks say they’ll collectively donate $1 million to the Canadian Red Cross to support Syrian refugees arriving in Canada.
BMO Financial Group, CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group say customers can also make donations to the Canadian Red Cross at their local branch, effective Thursday.
In last week’s throne speech, the new Liberal government promised to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of February 2016 and about 10,000 privately sponsored refugees are likely to be in Canada by year’s end.
Canadian Red Cross president Conrad Sauve says more than four million Syrians have been displaced as a result of internal conflict.
Sauve says the donation will help refugees begin their transition into new communities and provide essential services and basic needs assistance in the form of clothing, personal care products, food, and family reunification.
In September, Canada’s five largest banks donated a total of $1 million to the Canadian Red Cross for essential relief items and first aid to help with the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe…