How Maclean’s marked Canada’s anniversary over the last century + MORE Jun 30th

Maclean’s has been alive for 112 of Canada’s 150 years. Over the decades, the magazine used various anniversaries to reflect on the country. Our editorialists, columnists and journalists recounted achievements and failures. They offered both words of praise and words of caution for the nation and its leaders. Their words reflect events of the time from wars to civil unrest to financial hardship. What follows are excerpts taken from articles published in the magazine on previous national milestones, offering some context for the challenges we’ve overcome—and the ones we still face.
50th anniversary: The story of Confederation
By Thomas Bertram, July 1917

EXCERPT: The logical start for a story of Confederation is perhaps the dramatic moment when John A. Macdonald and George Brown, political opponents and personal enemies of long standing, met on the floor of the assembly in Quebec and solemnly shook hands on a pact which had for its immediate object the breaking of the deadlock in the government of Upper and Lower Canada, but which in reality was a first step toward the main objective—the union of all British colonies in North America…

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Canada’s gross domestic product expanded 0.2 percent in April, following an outsized increase of 0.5 percent the previous month, Statistics Canada reported June 30.
More importantly, Canadian companies are spending again. A separate release from the Bank of Canada suggests business confidence is as strong as it’s been at any point since the end of the financial crisis. More than 65 percent of 100 companies surveyed by the central bank said they intend to hire over the next 12 months, a record.  
Why it matters: The data help explain why the central bank suddenly appears so anxious to raise interest rates. Growth is strong, which means inflation is coming.
The trend: Monthly GDP contracted four times in 2016 as growth sputtered. But as of April, the economy had expanded six consecutive months, posting larger-than-usual gains in three of them. That has executives believing again. Business investment had been extraordinarily weak, as the collapse of oil prices in 2014, and then worries over what U…

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Would-be retirees are often dismayed when they look at retirement projections based on today’s low interest rates and are told their choice is simply to work longer, increase investment risk and/or scale back their expectations of retirement. Sadly, champagne aspirations on a beer budget are not the recipe for a happy retirement.
But working longer need not be as unpalatable as it might seem on first blush. Governments around the world are doing what they can to encourage workers to stay in harness just a few years longer. They have our interests, as well as their down, at heart. They’ve seen the rising life expectancy stats and would prefer that we work longer and keep feeding tax coffers, while at the same time deferring the moment when we start drawing on our government retirement benefits.
The Stephen Harper Conservatives even tried to bump the qualification age for Old Age Security to 67 from 65, although this was later reversed by the Justin Trudeau Liberals. The Tories were on the right track; fact is, we are living longer and healthier lives, which is both good news and bad…

Sears Canada has piled up losses and seen its stock nosedive in last year

While I love Canada, like any self-deprecating Canuck I sometimes accentuate the negatives of our home and native land. Google some of my old articles and you may find me using the phrase “the land of snow and high taxes.”
This aphorism can hit home for Canadian retirees fortunate enough to establish an annual “snowbird” routine. Typically, that means closing the Canadian home the moment winter threatens, and hibernating down south until the Blue Jays start training camp. While the chosen southern clime may be in Latin America, we’ll assume here a U.S. sun destination, typically Arizona, California or Florida.
Being a snowbird certainly allows you to escape those harsh Canadian winters. But taxes? Not so much. Purely from a tax perspective, your finances would be a lot simpler if you simply hunkered down in Canada for the winter, or moved to Victoria, B.C.
Fortunately, if you can afford to fly south every winter, you can probably also afford the expert financial planning and tax advice you most certainly will have to avail yourself of if you wish to avoid the ire either of the Canada Revenue Agency or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS…