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Opinion: How Alberta’s small businesses can navigate U.S. tariffs
The recent one-month suspension of a 25-per-cent tariff by the United States on most Canadian imports has thrown many Alberta small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into a state of uncertainty. While the intent behind these tariffs seems to be to not only protect American jobs and industries by taxing goods consumed within the U.S., but also to motivate action on border issues such as illegal migration and the movement of the deadly drug fentanyl, the ripple effects are being felt keenly north of the border.
The recent one-month suspension of a 25-per-cent tariff by the United States on most Canadian imports has thrown many Alberta small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into a state of uncertainty. While the intent behind these tariffs seems to be to not only protect American jobs and industries by taxing goods consumed within the U.S., but also to motivate action on border issues such as illegal migration and the movement of the deadly drug fentanyl, the ripple effects are being felt keenly north of the border.
Alberta’s Pre-Election Budget Biggest Surprise? Fiscal Prudence!
Pre-election budgets are rarely admirable. Money is spread around like pixie dust to curry the support of voters and to knee-cap opposition parties by borrowing their ideas. To a certain extent, the pre-election good news budget that Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews delivered Tuesday follows this time-honoured political path, helped by $27.5 billion in oil and gas revenues in the 2022/23 fiscal year. And so, it is easy to chide the budget for populist policies like freezing insurance rates and capping post-secondary tuition fee increases at 2 per cent and for industrial policy measures for politically favoured industries (such as agricultural processing and film and television production). And there is the usual scattering of minor tax credits instead of a general cut in personal taxes – with no mention of a tax review geared to major reform, which the United Conservative Party proposed when it took office.
Pre-election budgets are rarely admirable. Money is spread around like pixie dust to curry the support of voters and to knee-cap opposition parties by borrowing their ideas. To a certain extent, the pre-election good news budget that Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews delivered Tuesday follows this time-honoured political path, helped by $27.5 billion in oil and gas revenues in the 2022/23 fiscal year. And so, it is easy to chide the budget for populist policies like freezing insurance rates and capping post-secondary tuition fee increases at 2 per cent and for industrial policy measures for politically favoured industries (such as agricultural processing and film and television production). And there is the usual scattering of minor tax credits instead of a general cut in personal taxes – with no mention of a tax review geared to major reform, which the United Conservative Party proposed when it took office.
