Latest news with #FrancoisPhilippeChampagne
National Post
7 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
Canada won't pause digital services tax despite pressure from U.S., finance minister says
OTTAWA — Canada won't put a hold on the digital services tax on big tech companies set to take effect on June 30, the finance minister said Thursday. Article content Article content Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Thursday the legislation was passed by Parliament and Canada is 'going ahead' with the tax. Article content Article content 'The (digital services tax) is in force and it's going to be applied,' he told reporters before a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill. Article content Article content It will apply retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion US bill due at the end of the month. A June 11 letter signed by 21 members of Congress said U.S. companies will pay 90 per cent of the revenue Canada will collect from the tax. Article content Canadian and U.S. business groups, organizations representing U.S. tech giants and American members of Congress have all signed letters in recent weeks calling for the tax to be eliminated or paused. Article content It's set to take effect just weeks before a deadline Canada and the U.S. have set for coming up with a new trade deal, following months of trade conflict between the two countries. Article content Rick Tachuk, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, said the plan to go ahead with the tax 'undercuts those talks and risks derailing the agreement.' Article content Article content 'A retroactive tax like the DST, weeks before a new deal is supposed to be done, isn't a bargaining chip. It would likely be viewed as a provocation,' he said in an emailed statement. Article content Article content The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and other organizations have warned retaliatory measures in a U.S. spending and tax bill could hit Canadians' pension funds and investments. Article content Champagne said Canada isn't the only country that could be affected by those retaliatory measures. Article content David Pierce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's vice-president of government relations, said in an earlier interview his organization fears Canada could 'aggravate an already very tricky trade discussion with the Americans' if it goes ahead with the tax and the retroactive payment requirement. Article content Matthew Holmes, the chamber's executive vice-president and chief of public policy, said in a statement that a Liberal government announcement on counter-tariffs to protect the steel and aluminum industries Thursday was 'geared toward the 30-day deadline, so we see no reason why DST's timeline shouldn't be as well.'
CTV News
17 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Champagne says Canada won't pause digital services tax
Minister of Finance and National Revenue Francois-Philippe Champagne rises during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, June 2, CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada is going ahead with its digital services tax on big tech companies that is set to take effect on June 30. Pressure has mounted on Ottawa to put the tax on hold ahead of trade discussions with the U.S. More coming. The Canadian Press
CTV News
09-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Canadian safety institute announces research projects as global focus shifts to AI adoption
Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, right, and founder and scientific director of MILA-Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute Yoshua Bengio answer media questions following the launch the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute in Montreal on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi OTTAWA — The Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute will fund research projects focusing on misinformation, generative AI and the safety of autonomous systems. It says the initial 10 projects will receive $100,000 each from its research program. They include an initiative led by AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio that will look at the hidden reasons driving decisions by large language models, a type of generative AI focused on text. The Canadian AI Safety Institute was launched last year, part of a global network of publicly backed safety institutes that emerged following a wave of calls from experts for AI regulation. But there has been a global shift towards focusing on AI adoption over safety initiatives in recent months. In Canada, the Liberal government plans to prioritize AI's economic potential as it hosts the upcoming G7 summit, and new AI minister Evan Solomon has said nothing so far about his job description. Article by Anja Karadeglija.
Al Jazeera
23-05-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
G7 threatens further sanctions if Russia fails to agree Ukraine ceasefire
Finance officials from the Group of Seven (G7) nations have threatened they could impose further sanctions on Russia should it fail to agree a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine. Ending their G7 meeting in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where foreign ministers were also convening this week, the finance chiefs said on Thursday night that if efforts to end Russia's 'continued brutal war' in Ukraine failed, the group would look at how it could push Moscow to step back. 'If such a ceasefire is not agreed, we will continue to explore all possible options, including options to maximise pressure such as further ramping up sanctions,' a final communique following three days of meetings read. The G7, comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, also pledged to work together to ensure that no countries that financed the war would be eligible to benefit from Kyiv's reconstruction. Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that point was a 'very big statement', calling it a key pillar. However, the group shied away from naming countries, including China, which the West has previously accused of supplying weapons to Russia. The communique added that Russia's sovereign assets in G7 jurisdictions would continue to be blocked until Moscow ended the war and paid reparations to Ukraine for the damage it caused to the country. 'I think it sends a very clear signal to the world … that the G7 is united in purpose and in action,' Champagne told the closing news conference. However, the statement omitted mention of US President Donald Trump's tariffs that are disrupting global trade and supply chains and swelling economic uncertainty. Differences were also apparent in the approach to Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump has unnerved US allies by sidelining them to launch bilateral ceasefire talks with Moscow, in which US officials have adopted many of the Kremlin's narratives regarding the conflict. In the statement, the description of the war was watered down from October's G7 statement, issued before Trump's re-election, that called it an 'illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine'. According to European Commission executive vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, the ministers discussed a proposal to lower the $60-a-barrel price cap to $50 on Russian oil exports since Russian crude was selling below that level. However, the official G7 communique did not present the plan as the US was 'not convinced' about lowering the price cap, an unnamed European official told the Reuters news agency. Hours before the G7 meeting, the European Parliament also greenlit tariffs on Russian fertiliser imports. According to the European Union bill, duties will be enforced from July 1 and gradually increase over three years, from 6.5 percent to about 100 percent, halting trade. As international entities continue to place sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, diplomatic efforts to end the war have increased after the two sides held their first face-to-face meeting last week. However, Moscow appears set to continue to stall, as it has been doing since the US launched its push to broker a truce. The Kremlin said on Thursday that new talks were 'yet to be agreed' after reports that the Vatican was ready to host a future meeting to discuss a ceasefire. Still, Russia and Ukraine are trading attacks. On Friday morning, Russia's Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems had downed 112 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 24 over the Moscow region. A day earlier, Russia said it had fired an Iskander-M missile at part of the city of Pokrov in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region.
Asharq Al-Awsat
23-05-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
G7 Glosses over Tariffs, Pledges to Cut Global Economic Imbalances
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven democracies papered over their differences on Thursday, pledging to tackle "excessive imbalances" in the global economy and saying they could increase sanctions on Russia. There had been doubt before the meeting whether it would issue a final communique, in light of divisions over US tariffs and Washington's reluctance to refer to Russia's war on Ukraine as illegal. But after three days of talks, participants signed on to a lengthy document devoid of previous language on fighting climate change and which also softened references to the Ukraine war. "We found common ground on the most pressing global issues that we face," Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told the closing press conference. "I think it sends a very clear signal to the world ... that the G7 is united in purpose and in action." The officials, who met in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, called for a common understanding of how "non-market policies and practices" undermine international economic security. The document did not name China, but references by the United States and other G7 economies to non-market policies and practices are often targeted at its state subsidies and export-driven economic model. The G7 statement omitted mention of US President Donald Trump's tariffs that are disrupting global trade and supply chains and swelling economic uncertainty. Champagne downplayed the lack of communique language on tariffs, but said ministers "were not skating around" the issue and had discussed its impact. Canada seeks a deal to eliminate Trump's tariffs of 25% on many goods, such as steel and aluminum. "We're trying to enhance growth and stability," he added. "And obviously tariffs are something in that context that you can't avoid discussing." The gathering sets the stage for a summit of G7 leaders from June 15 to 17 in the nearby mountain resort area of Kananaskis. Trump will attend the summit, the White House confirmed on Thursday. The G7 communique called for an analysis of market concentration and international supply chain resilience. "We agree on the importance of a level playing field and taking a broadly coordinated approach to address the harm caused by those who do not abide by the same rules and lack transparency," the grouping said. It also recognized an increase in low-value international "de minimis" package shipments that can overwhelm customs and tax collection systems and be used for smuggling drugs and other illicit goods. The duty-free exemption for packages of value less than $800 has been exploited by Chinese e-commerce companies, such as Shein and Temu. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa said it could not immediately comment on the G7 statement. 'BRUTAL' WAR The G7 finance chiefs condemned what they called Russia's "continued brutal war" against Ukraine and said if ceasefire efforts failed, they would explore all possible options, including "further ramping up sanctions." The description of the Ukraine war was watered down from October's G7 statement, before Trump's re-election, calling it an "illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine." Trump has diminished US support for Ukraine and suggested that Kyiv was to blame for the conflict as he tries to coax Russia into peace talks. But the G7 ministers pledged to work together to ensure no countries that financed the Russian war would be eligible to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine. "That's a very big statement," said Champagne, calling it a fundamental pillar of the communique. It did not name China or other countries the West has accused of supplying critical components to Russia in defiance of sanctions. Russia's sovereign assets in G7 jurisdictions would remain immobilized until Moscow ended the war and paid for the damage it has caused to Ukraine, the communique said. European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the G7 ministers discussed a proposal to lower the G7-led price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil exports, since Russian crude is now selling below that. But the plan was not mentioned in the communique, partly because US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was not convinced it was needed, a European official said. Brent crude currently trades around $64 per barrel. A European official said the United States is "not convinced" about lowering the Russian oil price cap. A US Treasury spokesperson said only that Bessent's G7 engagements "were both pleasant and constructive, and we look forward to our future engagements with all of our G7 partners on issues of mutual interest." Bessent came to Banff to the relief of many participants after he skipped a G20 finance meeting in February in the South African city of Cape Town. G7 officials described his interactions as "constructive" and "flexible" and said some initial stiffness gave way to jokes over dinner. "We had a feeling that it was a discussion between friends and allies," a French official said. But Bessent took an unusually low profile for a US Treasury secretary at the G7 meeting, holding no news conference and largely operating out of sight of the press. "I had a very productive day," he told a reporter on Wednesday, in his only public comment to the media.
