Tourism season in Ottawa coincides with consultation season for the federal government, which means that when Parliamentarians go home to their constituencies, the work of the Legislation and Law Reform department ramps up. We sent in a number of submissions over the course of July and August on diverse topics. We wrote about some of them at greater length, which you’ll find in this newsletter; and here are the rest:
- Income Tax Act: The Joint Committee on Taxation of the Canadian Bar Association and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada commented on proposed changes to back-to-back rules in the Income Tax Act announced in this year’s federal budget, offering their assistance to the Department in developing legislation that “did not give rise to unintended or counterproductive consequences.”
- International assistance review: CBA International Initiatives responded to the public consultation on the review of Canada’s international assistance policies and programs with another call to ensure that rule of law be prioritized across Canada’s assistance efforts.
- Saskatchewan pensions: The CBA’s Pension Law Section responded to the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan’s consultation paper on a proposed regime for negotiated cost pension plans.
The CBA also responded to the news of the day:
- Removal of judges in Turkey: When Prime Minister Erdogan responded to an attempted military coup in Turkey with the wholesale dismissal of judges and prosecutors, CBA President Janet Fuhrer wrote to Global Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion to urge him to call on the Turkish government to respect the rule of law and democratic principles.
Other submissions going out in late August and early September were too late to be featured in this publication, including suggested improvements to the judicial appointments system, a submission from the Real Property Section on federal government relocation contracts, changes to anti-terrorism legislation, judicial discipline and a letter to the CRA on the voluntary disclosure program. In other words, stay tuned for more.