On business tax, Liberals need to catch up to the U.S. + MORE Dec 18th

Sarah Press is 41 years old and working as a part-time teacher in Toronto. She also has what she calls some “side gigs” cleaning houses so that she can earn additional income that she hopes will allow her to retire at 50 on a reduced pension. “My true retirement age with the school board is 54 but I’m aiming to go earlier,” says Sarah. “I know retirement at 50 is an ambitious goal for me, especially because I’ve only worked part-time the last eight years. Still, it would be great if I could do it. Teaching is so stressful, and I have so many hobbies that I could retire tomorrow and fill my days with no problem. I love gardening, baking and I’m also very entrepreneurial so spending more time on those interests is what I’m most looking forward to at 50.”
Right now, Sarah earns $55,000 annually—$50,000 annually from her teaching job and another $5,000 in income from her side jobs. Her assets total $775,000 with her largest being her $675,000 condo in Toronto. She’s a few months away from being mortgage free and hopes to put the $8,000 or so annually that she’s paying on her mortgage towards savings in 2018…

Finance Minister Bill Morneau speaks to members of the media as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on at a press conference on tax reforms in Stouffville, Ont., on Monday, October 16, 2017. (Nathan Denette/CP)
If you disliked the sight of your majority government bending the knee for the small-business lobby this autumn, you’d best start reading up on tax policy so you can offer better support in 2018, when the more consequential fight begins.
The Republican majority in Washington is on track to complete a tax overhaul that could one day result in financial ruin. That day won’t arrive before Christmas, however, so President Donald Trump at some point in the next few days will throw himself an elaborate bill-signing ceremony, at which he will add to his impressive collection of lies and exaggerations. It will be his first significant piece of legislation that he signs into law. Many will call it a victory, although I’m not sure that’s the right word for a policy that has the support of only a third of the population…

Such deals which have played a major role in pushing up this year’s overall private-equity investment totals in Canada

TORONTO _ The private equity investment arm of the OMERS pension plan says it and Berkshire Partners are selling plastics firm Husky IMS International Ltd. to Platinum Equity for US$3.85 billion.
OMERS Private Equity says that since buying the Bolton, Ont.,-based injection molding company in 2011 they have increased its earnings by investing in product development and expanding its customer base.
Husky, with manufacturing operations in eight countries and customers in more than 100, develops and maintains injection molding machines for a range of plastic products including drink containers, packaging and medical applications.
Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity says John Galt, who has served as Husky CEO since 2005, will stay on to lead the business.
The deal, still subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second quarter of next year.
OMERS Private Equity had about $11 billion in capital invested at the end of 2016 as part of the assets controlled by the pension plan of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System…

Seventy-three-year-old Warren Shepell originally from Fisher Branch, Man., at his residence in Toronto (Photograph by Cole Garside)

In 2008, the company led by Bill Morneau bought a firm called Shepell.fgi. The namesake was a psychologist from Fisher Branch, Man., who pioneered the concept of employee assistance programs in Canada.

But Warren Shepell would have no connection to Morneau’s new company, which today serves two-thirds of the largest companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (including Rogers, which owns Maclean’s). He’s not even mentioned in the company’s official history. Shepell asked the owner not to use his surname, but lawyers got involved, the Ontario government agreed with Morneau and the company became Morneau Shepell.

He subsequently asked Bill Morneau, who of course is now federal finance minister, to either drop the name or let him work with the company. Morneau wasn’t interested.

This fall, Shepell and his siblings—his brother is a retired construction worker, and his sister sold pierogis for much of her life—started hearing their name slingshot through Parliament as the finance minister faced allegations of conflict of interest…