The 10-fold increase in interest rates since March of 2022 has affected Canadians in almost every area of their financial lives, as individuals and families struggle to cope with the every-increasing bite that interest costs take out of their budgets.
While our health care system is currently struggling with a number of significant problems, Canadians are nonetheless fortunate to have a publicly funded health care system, in which most major medical expenses are covered by government health care plans.
One or two generations ago, retirement was an event. Typically, an individual would leave the work force completely at age 65 and begin collecting Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) benefits along with, in many cases, a pension from an employer-sponsored registered pension plan.
Most Canadians know that the deadline for making contributions to one’s registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) comes 60 days after the end of the calendar year, around the end of February. There are, however, some circumstances in which an RRSP contribution must be (or should be) made by December 31 in order to achieve the desired tax result.
During the pandemic, temporary financial assistance was provided to Canadian small businesses through a number of grant and loan programs initiated by the federal government.
By anyone’s measure, obtaining a post-secondary education is an expensive undertaking. Tuition and other school-related costs are just the start of the bills which must be paid.
When the pandemic began in the spring of 2020, it wasn’t long before it became apparent that the increasing threat was to both public health and to the economy. In response to the economic threat, the federal government launched a wide range of support programs for both individuals and businesses.
The Canadian tax system is a “self-assessing system” which relies heavily on the voluntary co-operation of taxpayers. Canadians are expected (in fact, in most cases, required) to complete and file a tax return each spring, reporting income from all sources, calculating the amount of tax owed, and remitting that amount to the federal government on or before April 30.
The scarcity of affordable housing in just about every Canadian community can’t be news to anyone anymore. Whether it’s in relation to rental housing or the purchase of a first home, the opportunity to secure affordable, long-term housing has become more and more elusive, especially for younger Canadians.
Between 2009 and early 2022, Canadians lived (and borrowed) in an ultra-low interest rate environment. Between January 2009 and March 2022, the bank rate (from which commercial interest rates are determined) was (except, briefly, in the fall of 2018) never higher than 1.50% – and was almost always lower than that.
