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Harmonized sales levy is the lesser of tax evils

It isn’t often that political leaders take policy actions they know will be highly unpopular. The decisions by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell to harmonize the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax are rare shows of political courage.
The unpopularity of harmonized sales tax (HST) arises almost entirely [...]

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Downturn in oil price has its blessings

While the oil sands business remains challenging because of low oil prices, business conditions are improving thanks to lower costs, more productive labour and hungrier service providers, developers said at an investment conference Wednesday.
“The big change we have seen as an operator is that (staff) turnover is way down,” said Christopher Slubicki, CEO of OPTI [...]

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