You’re paying 50 cents of every rental dollar to CRA. Maybe more. And most Canadian landlords don’t even realize it — because they never bothered to understand how rental property taxes in Canada actually work at a high income. That’s not a tax problem. That’s an ignorance problem. Fix it here.
Along with RRSPs, proper understanding and deployment of a tax strategy here can really make a difference.
Continue readingThe Carney government tabled its 2026 spring economic update today. The headlines are friendly. The math is messier. Here’s what’s in it — and what a sovereign Canadian should actually do about it.
BY SOVEREIGN CANADIAN·APRIL 28, 2026·10 MIN READ
The Liberals walked into the House of Commons today carrying what they called “good news.” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled the Spring Economic Update 2026 — Carney’s first since flipping the budget calendar and moving the main budget to fall. The backdrop is chaotic: a U.S.-Israel war on Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices are surging, the trade war with the United States is still grinding, and Carney now has a majority government after sweeping three April byelections. He’s not asking permission anymore.
The headline: the deficit is coming in lower than projected. The fine print: it’s still a deficit. And they’re already planning to spend the savings before you can blink.
Let’s start with the number everyone’s watching. Carney’s November budget projected a deficit of $78.3 billion for the fiscal year that just ended March 31. The fiscal monitor through February showed the deficit sitting at $25.5 billion over the first eleven months — well below the trajectory. March typically blows up the number, but even accounting for that, most analysts expect the final figure to land materially lower than the $78.3B projection.
Carney called this proof that his team are “good fiscal managers.” The opposition called it a lucky break from surging oil revenues tied to the Iran conflict. Both things can be true.
ORIGINAL DEFICIT PROJECTION (2025-26)
$78.3B
Carney’s Nov. 2025 budget forecast
DEFICIT THROUGH FEB 2026
$25.5B
11 months of 12 — well ahead of pace
PROJECTED ANNUAL DEFICIT (5-YR AVG)
$64B
Declining from 2025 budget horizon
CANADA STRONG FUND
$25B
Initial federal contribution — new sovereign wealth fund
What didn’t happen: any credible path to a balanced budget. Poilievre demanded Carney cap the 2026-27 deficit at $31 billion and present a balanced budget timeline. He didn’t get it. The Conservatives are screaming “credit card budgeting.” The Liberals are calling it nation-building. You’re paying interest on all of it either way.
“We were determined to get spending down with a lot of very difficult decisions. You can’t do everything at the same time.”— PM MARK CARNEY, APRIL 27, 2026
The marquee announcement dropped yesterday, one day before the update: Canada now has its first sovereign wealth fund. The Canada Strong Fund launches with a $25 billion federal endowment. It will invest alongside the private sector in nation-building projects — ports, mines, LNG, critical minerals, trade corridors, energy infrastructure. There’s also a retail investment product planned so everyday Canadians can buy in directly.
Sounds compelling. But there are legitimate questions here that don’t have answers yet.
Norway’s Government Pension Fund — the model everyone cites — is funded by oil surpluses, not borrowed money. The Liberals are launching this fund while running a nine-figure deficit. One economist from the MEI put it bluntly: a sovereign wealth fund should be funded by budgetary surplus, not debt. When the fund makes returns, great. When it doesn’t, Canadian taxpayers absorb it.
The governance structure is also still being designed. “Further details to follow in the coming months” is not a business plan. Fifteen major projects have been referred to the Major Projects Office since September 2025, representing over $126 billion in investments. LNG, nuclear, nickel, graphite, tungsten, transportation infrastructure — these are real assets with real potential. But government-directed capital allocation has a long history of political interference crowding out better private decisions.
Watch this closely. The concept is sound. The execution will determine whether this is Norway’s oil fund or Ontario’s Hydro One. History is not kind to the latter.
The Liberals came with a bag of immediate relief items. The federal excise tax on gas and diesel is paused until Labour Day. That’s roughly 10 cents a litre on gasoline saved at the pump. At $2.4 billion in foregone revenue, it’s real money — and it’s the right move given that oil market chaos from the Iran war is squeezing Canadians at the pump.
Also announced: a GST benefit boost for lower-income households landing in June, and a one-time grocery benefit arriving in July. These are targeted at the bottom of the income distribution, which is where the pain is most acute.
Here’s the tension. Every dollar of relief announced is a dollar added back to the deficit — or subtracted from the “better than expected” fiscal position Carney is touting. Champagne acknowledged that “volatility is omnipresent.” He’s not wrong. But you can’t cut the deficit and spend the savings simultaneously. The Liberals are trying to do both, and the update essentially confirms it.
Context matters. The global economy is in the middle of a significant shock. The U.S.-Israel military action against Iran has effectively choked oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz. Canada is a net energy exporter — that means higher oil prices are a revenue windfall for Alberta and the federal government, even as they punish consumers at the pump. Crude near $100/barrel is the kind of fiscal tailwind that makes deficit numbers look better than the underlying spending discipline would justify.
On the trade front, the U.S. tariff war has accelerated Canada’s export diversification. Non-U.S. exports rose 11.2% in 2025. Canada’s merchandise exports to countries outside the U.S. were 10.9% higher in the second half of 2025 compared to the first. Energy exports to countries other than the U.S. rose 22.3% to $28.8 billion. That is real structural progress, though it started from a high base of U.S. dependence and has a long way to go.
Foreign direct investment into Canada is reportedly outpacing all other major economies — Carney’s framing. The Desjardins take is more measured: Canada remains one of the “cleanest fiscal dirty shirts” among advanced economies, which is a diplomatic way of saying we’re less bad, not actually good. There’s no credit downgrade imminent, but the fiscal trajectory isn’t something to celebrate.
GDP growth was 1.7% for 2025. The slowest since COVID. The Bank of Canada is holding at 2.25%. Business confidence is low. Private sector employment is declining in early 2026. These are not the numbers of a booming economy. They’re the numbers of an economy holding on while the world rearranges itself around it.
Forget the political theatre. Here’s what this update actually tells you about the environment you’re operating in.
The fuel tax cut is real money in your pocket — but temporary. If you drive for business, own vehicles, manage logistics, or run any operation with fuel costs, Labour Day is your deadline. Plan around it. Use the savings now; don’t build your financial model around them persisting.
Oil is the new X factor. If you hold Canadian energy stocks, REITs with Alberta exposure, or commodities — the Strait of Hormuz situation is your most important variable right now, not the federal budget. The fiscal tailwind for Ottawa comes directly from your fuel bills. This is wealth transfer in real time.
The Canada Strong Fund is worth watching as an investor. If a retail product launches that lets individual Canadians co-invest in LNG terminals, transmission corridors, and critical mineral projects — that is a genuinely interesting asset class. It’s not a registered account trick. It could be real infrastructure exposure at scale. Wait for the design details before getting excited. But don’t dismiss it because Liberals announced it.
Deficits at this scale are inflationary pressure, slowly. Inflation is currently within target (1-3%) — Carney is right about that. But structural deficits averaging $64 billion annually are a long-term currency debasement story. If you’re holding large amounts in Canadian dollars, or long-duration Canadian fixed income, understand what you own. Hard assets, income-producing real estate, and globally diversified equity are your hedge.
The trade diversification is actually the most important story. Nobody in the media is leading with this, but Canada rewiring its export relationships — less U.S., more Europe, Asia, and emerging markets — is the single biggest structural shift happening in the Canadian economy right now. For business owners, this is a decade-long tailwind if you position into it. For investors, watch the sectors benefiting: LNG, potash, uranium, gold, aluminum.
A majority government changes the legislative risk environment. Carney doesn’t need anyone’s permission anymore. Capital gains inclusion rates, housing policy, investment rules, resource regulations — all of it can move faster. Stay close to what’s coming in the Fall 2026 budget. That’s when the real policy agenda arrives.
The Liberals walked in today with a smaller deficit and a bag of relief measures. The media will call it a good day for Carney. Maybe it is.
But here’s what doesn’t change: the government spent $25 billion on a wealth fund it doesn’t technically have. It borrowed to cut your gas tax. It projected $64 billion deficits for the next five years. It handed out GST cheques and grocery benefits funded by oil revenues that could evaporate the moment the Strait of Hormuz reopens.
This is not a government that trusts you to manage your own money better than they can. Every benefit, every fund, every cheque is a dependency mechanism. The sovereign move is to note where they’re spending, get out of the way of the opportunity it creates, and build financial structures that don’t require Ottawa’s permission to sustain your family.
The fund you actually control is more powerful than anything Champagne tabled today.
The question isn’t whether the Liberals had a good fiscal day. The question is: what are you doing with the information? The macro environment is clear. The policy direction is known. What’s your move?
Carney made the Canada Strong Fund announcement on April 27, 2026, the day before his government’s Spring Economic Update. The fund is designed to give all Canadians a direct stake in the Build Canada agenda, with a mandate to achieve commercial returns and build the wealth of Canada.
Big words. Let’s cut through them.
The government seeds the fund with $25 billion over 3 years on a cash basis. That’s the starting capital. The fund grows through investment returns and asset recycling — gains get reinvested rather than spent, and additional government assets can flow in over time. Canada Strong Fund — Official Government Backgrounder
It operates at arm’s length as a new Crown corporation, guided by a CEO and a qualified independent board of directors. Think CPPIB, not a ministerial slush fund. That’s the stated model. Whether it holds to that standard is what you watch for.
The mandate is straightforward: invest in strategic Canadian projects and companies alongside private investors, focused primarily on equity, with a goal of delivering market-rate returns.
This is where it gets interesting for anyone who actually cares about Canada’s economic backbone.
Since September 2025, 15 projects have been referred and six transformative strategies are in development by the Major Projects Office. The sectors: nuclear, LNG, critical minerals — nickel, graphite, and tungsten — and transportation infrastructure.
The Canada Strong Fund targets major Canadian industrial projects across energy, infrastructure, mining, agriculture, and technology.
Read that list again. Nuclear. LNG. Critical minerals. Transportation. These are the hard assets that create durable national wealth. Not apps. Not subsidies. Real stuff in the ground and in the grid.
Carney’s framing is historically accurate — transformative projects like the CPR, the oil sands, and the Trans-Canada built generational wealth. The question is whether this fund replicates that discipline or becomes a vehicle for politically convenient pet projects.
The Major Projects Office is the gatekeeper. They’re processing the pipeline of candidates, and the government is assessing projects for potential designation under the Building Canada Act, which fast-tracks regulatory approvals. That matters — regulatory gridlock has killed more Canadian resource projects than any shortage of capital ever has.
Here’s where it gets philosophically interesting.
Norway’s Government Pension Fund — the gold standard globally — distributes wealth back to citizens over time. Alaska does it annually through the Permanent Fund Dividend. Every Alaskan gets a cheque from oil revenues. Every year. Full stop.
Canada is gesturing in that direction. The government will launch a retail investment product, giving Canadians a direct stake in the nation’s long-term prosperity and a share in the returns.
The key phrase: share in the returns. That’s the Canada Dividend concept, even if they’re not calling it that yet.
The details are still being designed through consultation over the coming months, with additional specifics expected in the Spring Economic Update 2026. What we know conceptually is promising: as the Canada Strong Fund succeeds, investors share in the upside while their initial invested capital is protected.
Principal protection plus upside participation. If that holds, it’s a genuinely interesting instrument.
This is the part that should matter most to readers of this site. And I’m watching this closely to see if it is a good addition to my RRSP and other investing.
The government will offer Canadians the opportunity to participate directly through a new retail investment product — broadly accessible coast to coast, easy and simple to purchase, hold, and transact.
Carney compared it to a government bond where the initial investment is protected. Think: government-backed capital protection plus direct exposure to the upside of major Canadian industrial projects.
Here’s how to think about it as a sovereign-minded individual investor:
What’s potentially good: Direct exposure to the asset class that has historically built real wealth in this country — energy, infrastructure, critical minerals. Not through some mutual fund with a 2.5% MER skimming your returns. Direct participation. And if principal protection is real, your downside is bounded.
What you need to watch: Design details haven’t been released. “Principal protected” can mean a lot of things. Is it inflation-adjusted? What’s the lock-up period? What fees are buried in the structure? How do you exit? A bond-like structure that protects nominal dollars but erodes purchasing power in a 3% inflation environment isn’t actually protecting you.
The deeper question: Is this RRSP/TFSA eligible? If yes, this becomes a genuinely interesting domestic asset class for investors who want to stop exporting capital to US equities. If no, the tax drag changes the calculus considerably.
None of that is answered yet. The Transition Office will consult on these specifics over the coming months.
Poilievre’s critique isn’t wrong on its face. Canada is running a projected $78-billion deficit — countries need wealth to have a wealth fund, and this is effectively sovereign debt being recycled into equity investments.
That’s a real tension. Norway built its fund from oil surplus revenues. Canada is building this from borrowed money. The math only works if investments generate returns above the cost of that debt. The C.D. Howe Institute made exactly that point — the fund needs to outperform its financing costs just to break even.
That’s not impossible. But it’s a tighter rope than the announcement language suggests. You need the fund generating 7–9% real returns while financing debt at 4–5% and clearing fees and operational overhead. That requires a genuinely skilled investment team executing equity deals in complex infrastructure. The CPPIB does it. Not every Crown corporation does.
The Canada Strong Fund is the most interesting structural development in Canadian finance in a generation. The concept is right — pool national capital, deploy it into hard assets, and create a mechanism for ordinary Canadians to participate in their country’s resource and infrastructure wealth.
The execution will determine everything.
Watch the Spring Economic Update for structural detail. Watch the Transition Office consultation — that’s where the retail product gets designed. And watch which specific projects get funded in the first wave. That tells you whether this is a genuine commercial vehicle or a political instrument wearing a financial suit.
Canada has been exporting its resource wealth for a century. The question was always whether we’d build institutions to capture a bigger share of that value domestically. This is an attempt to answer that question.
Whether it succeeds depends on whether the arm’s-length structure holds under political pressure, whether the investment team is genuinely world-class, and whether the retail product is designed for Canadian savers — not Canadian optics.
Stay tuned. More detail will follow.
Are you considering putting money into the Canada Strong Fund when the retail product launches? Drop it in the comments.
You were smart. You maxed your RRSP and kept your taxes down. But RRSP withdrawal tax in Canada doesn’t care how disciplined you were on the way in. You can arrive at retirement with a six or seven-figure balance and a tax bill that, in the wrong circumstances, looks worse than the one you were dodging while you worked.
The RRSP itself is not the trap. For most Canadians it is one of the best deals the tax system offers. The trap is building a very large RRSP without ever modelling the other end of the transaction. You optimize the front end, the deduction, and never run the numbers on the back end, where RRIF minimums, CPP, OAS and everything else collide.
I’m in this boat right now. Here’s what I’m seeing.
Continue reading
Over the years of being a firearms enthusiast and activist, I’ve never actually purchased an AR platform rifle. That changed yesterday…
I think the main reason why I hadn’t was due to the obvious impracticality of owning an AR (and really any restricted firearm in Canada). You can’t take it anywhere except to your range, a gun smith, etc. Between moving multiple times, living in apartments, and being too busy with work to spend time at a range, I figured non-restricted firearms are the best use of my money. And I still do.
But really, with all the negative propaganda from the Libtards, now is the time to put my money where my mouth is.
The only cure for firearms ignorance is an increase in the number of law-abiding gun owners, and an increase in the number of theses ‘scary black rifles’ nationwide.
It seems that every time Turdeau, Tory-Dory, or another of the media-seeking attention-whores opens their mouth on gun bans, well the AR-15 supplies nation wide seem to dry up. It sure is sweet, sweet irony that Fidel Jr. has ended up being Canada’s best gun salesman ever. Now with the Covid-19 Corona Virus issue, and the again increased interest in firearms nationwide, I was very pleasantly surprised to see Bullseye had (when I looked) 20 of the Smith & Wesson M&P15 Sport II units in stock:
Bullseye London Link S&W M&P15 Sport II Semi Auto Rifle
Yes there is a very legitimate future risk of bans. Whether that means confiscation, buybacks, grandfathering, or prohibition from using at all remains to be seen. But as an advocate I need to be a participant in the middle of this process.
I will write more on why I chose this as my entry level AR, my initial thoughts, and a review later. But perhaps my new purchase will help to convince me to get out the range more!
The propaganda, leftist populism, and ignorant outrage surrounding the discussion on banning handguns in Canada is disappointing – at best.
In looking at my fantastic local gun store: Bulls Eye London (https://www.bullseyelondon.com), I came across the link to a website providing information on how to petition this move and how to make your voice heard.
Please visit: http://www.nogunbancanada.ca
This latest discussion is exactly the slight-of-hand stuff that the Liberals love. Costs us a lot of money, makes it look like they are solving a problem that was never there, ends up solving nothing, and it only harms us law-abiding Canadians. And then it costs us more money than they initial led us to believe.
Just say no to a Handgun Ban in Canada.
Tomorrow I am heading up to Lake Simcoe with a couple of buddies to go fishing.
Other than my high-school, backwoods, carp fishing, catch nothing but a buzz days, this is my first time fishing in Ontario.
The plan is to rent a boat and go fishing for bass and pike out on Cook’s Bay. Not a bad way to spend a day eh.
So I thought I would do myself a favour and look up the regulations, etc.
Here are the good resources I found:
Fish ONline – Reference for fish and limits
Hunting and Fishing Licence Issuers