In the news today: Canada rescinds digital services tax

Winnipeg Free Press

21 hours ago

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…
Canada rescinds digital services tax
Canada is rescinding its digital services tax and will resume trade negotiations with the United States, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement issued late Sunday night.
The announcement came following a phone call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump, and just hours before the first payment under the tax was going to come due for major tech companies like Amazon and Google.
On Friday Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social he was terminating all trade discussions with Canada because of the tax.
'Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis,' Carney said in a written statement on Sunday.
He also said Canada's negotiations with the U.S. 'will always be guided by the overall contribution of any possible agreement to the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses.
A spokeswoman for Carney confirmed the call with Trump, and also said Champagne spoke Sunday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Here's what else we're watching…
What was the digital tax that Canada killed?
Tech giants will not have to shell out close to $2 billion as expected today, as Canada moved to cancel the controversial digital services tax on Sunday, just one day before the first payment was due.
The announcement from Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne came late Sunday evening, following a phone call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump.
That call concluded a flurry of discussion between the two countries since Trump suddenly announced last week that he was ending all trade talks with Canada and threatened new tariffs.
But the standoff had really been building for years.
While opposition to the tax has been brewing south of the border for years, Trump escalated it abruptly Friday afternoon with an online post.
He wrote he was 'terminating all discussions on trade with Canada' because of the tax and called it a 'direct and blatant attack on our country.' He also complained about Canada's dairy-sector protections that include high tariffs on imports of American milk and cheese.
Carney vowed to eliminate trade barriers. Did he?
Federal and provincial leaders are working to dismantle internal trade barriers that push up the cost of goods and make it harder to do business within Canada.
But anyone expecting all of them to be gone by tomorrow should read the fine print.
Throughout the spring federal election campaign, Liberal Leader Mark Carney repeatedly vowed to 'eliminate' interprovincial trade barriers and create 'free trade by Canada Day.'
With July 1 just a day away, Carney's government has passed its planned changes into law — but it's more like the start of a conversation than the final word.
'It's a starting gun and it's starting a lot more activity and work, which is honestly the really exciting part,' said internal trade expert Ryan Manucha. 'If any of this was easy, it would have been done.'
The rush to break down internal barriers to trade comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war with Canada. One study estimates that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year.
New rules ready as separation talk roils Alberta
As Canada prepares Tuesday to blow out 158 birthday candles, Alberta plans three days later to formalize rules making it easier to have an independence celebration of its own.
Beginning Friday, Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government is officially lowering the required threshold for citizens to initiate a provincewide referendum, including on separation.
Mitch Sylvestre, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a non-profit group touring Alberta promoting independence, says he plans to apply to Elections Alberta that same day to start a petition under the new rules.
The group aims to gather 177,000 signatures within 120 days to put the question on a ballot to voters: Do you agree the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada?
'I would not be surprised if that referendum was held right now that we could possibly even win it,' Sylvestre told The Canadian Press.
Gunman started Idaho blaze and then fatally shot 2 firefighters in ambush attack, officials say
A man armed with a rifle started a wildfire Sunday and then began shooting at first responders in a northern Idaho mountain community, killing two firefighters and wounding a third during a barrage of gunfire over several hours, authorities said.
A shelter-in-place order was lifted Sunday night after a tactical response team used cell phone data to 'hone in' on a wooded area where they found the suspect's body with a firearm nearby as flames rapidly approached, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said.
Officials did not release his name, nor did they say what kind of gun was found.
Sheriff's officials said crews responded to a fire at Canfield Mountain just north of Coeur d'Alene around 1:30 p.m., and gunshots were reported about a half hour later.
Investigators said the gunman acted alone.
'We believe that was the only shooter that was on that mountain at that time,' Norris said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.