G7 is unviable Kremlin
Russia has zero interest in the 'Group of Seven' (G7) format, as it is no longer viable, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated. He explained that the global dominance of the countries making up the group is nearing its end.
Established in the 1970s, the G7 comprised Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the UK. In 1998, with Russia's inclusion the group was expanded to a G8. However, the country's membership was suspended in 2014 following Crimea's reunification with Russia, following a referendum on the peninsula.
On Friday, Peskov said that "our attitude toward the [G7], it's well known. It has long since stopped being an interesting and in-demand format."
According to the Kremlin spokesperson, "Russia does not consider such a format viable because global trends indicate that the G7's share in global affairs and global economy will be inexorably shrinking." The official noted that "this is not seasonal volatility," but a long-term trend.
Alternative formats, such as BRICS, which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia as full members, have already overtaken the G7 in terms of their combined share in global economy, Peskov argued.
The presidential spokesperson's comments echoed those made at the 28th annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2025) by Maksim Oreshkin, the deputy head of President Vladimir Putin's administration, on Wednesday.
"Power centers are changing. The so-called 'Big Seven', which hasn't been 'big' for a long time, is being replaced by new growth hubs," he said, pointing to the rise of countries in the Global South and East.
Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada on Monday, US President Donald Trump expressed regret over the removal of Russia from the group back in 2014.
"I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in," he argued.
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Toronto Sun
9 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
GUNTER: Canada looks weak to U.S. by backpedalling on digital services tax
Canada's Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, left, and Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem arrive to greet fellow G7 finance ministers and central bank governors at the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff on Wednesday May 21, 2025. Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia There are so many things wrong about the Liberals' climbdown from the digital services tax (DST) announced late last Sunday evening. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account For one, they look like they played chicken with U.S. President Donald Trump and lost. They swerved first. That makes them (and the whole country) look weak. Trump will now be back again and again with new demands because he knows he can threaten to cut off trade talks or jack up tariffs and our tough-guy, elbows-up prime minister will fold. Next it is likely to be supply-managed agriculture, mostly in dairy, poultry and eggs, which Trump has railed against since his first term in office. (It would be good to be rid of supply management, but that's another discussion.) The Liberal government looked foolish and dishonest. On the evening of June 29, when Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government was cancelling the DST on billions of dollars of goods and services sold online, he insisted the Liberals had been contemplating cancelling the tax all along. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That is such a lie. There's no gentler way to put it. Hundreds of large Canadian and foreign providers of online goods and services had already filed DST returns and paid tens of millions of dollars in new taxes. The deadline for initial DST payments was June 30. And companies had had to comb back through their books to 2022 to calculate how much they owed. This is as much a foul-up on the Liberals' part as their colossally messed-up attempt to raise the capital gains tax by nearly one-third in 2024. On that occasion, companies and professionals spent millions (perhaps as much as a quarter-billion dollars) paying accountants' fees to realize capital gains in their businesses and retirement plans prior to the June 25, 2024, deadline for the tax to go up. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But the Liberals never passed the tax increase. It was never put in place. Canadians wasted hundreds of millions of their own money trying to comply with the Liberals' wishes. Pulling the plug on the DST last week was similar. Hundreds of companies and their accounts toiled for weeks to get their first DST returns and initial payments ready. Many had already paid. Yet when Champagne announced the tax's demise, he didn't also announce when the paying companies could expect full refunds. He hinted there would be further details on how to apply for their money back, but the Liberals already know who paid and how. Refunds should be as straightforward as the government putting the money back where it came from. With interest. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. If you are late paying your taxes, the Canada Revenue Agency will charge you interest. You might even be liable for penalties. Stiff ones. But the reverse isn't true, even though it should be. Businesses that complied with the DST, that obeyed the rules (even though they may have disagreed with the tax), should not only get their money back — pronto — but should be compensated with interest for the time their money was in Ottawa's grubby hands. In short, going back on the DST at the last second, under pressure from the bully Trump, makes Canada — and specifically Prime Minister Mark Carney — look feeble. But it was the right thing to do. It would have been far better if the Liberals had never introduced the DST. It was one of those fashionable, punitive, anti-business taxes that global 'progressives' think is justified to rob from the 'rich' to give to … well, mostly to give to the internationalist 'progressives,' their governments and pet causes. Not only were the Liberals justified in getting rid of the DST to restart trade talks with the Trump White House, they were smart to get rid of it to preserve Canadian production by online streaming services and sellers, too. It was a good thing. But the Liberals have to stop stepping in cowflops of their own making. lgunter@ Sports Money News MLB Toronto Maple Leafs Editorial Cartoons
Vancouver Sun
12 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Ottawa must pass a law revoking digital service tax before it can issue refunds: CRA
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Edmonton Journal
12 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Ottawa must pass a law revoking digital service tax before it can issue refunds: CRA
OTTAWA — Companies that paid the now-defunct digital services tax will have to wait for Ottawa to pass new legislation before they can get a refund, the Canada Revenue Agency has confirmed. Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney announced late Sunday that Canada was dropping the tax on global tech giants in a bid to restart trade negotiations with the United States. Article content Article content The first payment was due Monday and would have collectively cost American companies such as Amazon, Google, Airbnb, Meta and Uber about US$2 billion. The tax was a three per cent levy on revenue collected by digital firms from their Canadian users and the first payment was retroactive to 2022. Article content Article content A CRA spokesperson said the agency collected some revenue from the digital services tax before Ottawa's reversal but didn't cite an amount. Article content Article content The spokesperson said Parliament will need to pass legislation formally revoking the tax in order for taxpayers to get their money back. Members of Parliament are currently on their summer recess and not scheduled to return until Sept. 15. Article content The CRA waived the requirement for taxpayers to file a DST return ahead of the June 30 deadline and will not ask for any related payments in the meantime. Article content Carney said Canada and the U.S. restarted trade talks Monday morning and are still aiming for a deal by the July 21 deadline he set when he and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Alberta at the G7 summit last month. Article content After Carney announced the end of the digital services tax, the White House claimed that Canada had 'caved' under pressure from Trump. Article content Article content The prime minister said Monday that the move was 'part of a bigger negotiation' and 'something that we expected in the broader sense that would be part of a final deal.' Article content Article content Carney said the decision would provide businesses with some certainty. Article content 'It doesn't make sense to collect tax from people and then remit them back,' he said on Monday. Article content Some businesses reported the last-minute change caused some confusion among companies that were in the process of paying the tax. Article content Tariq Nasir, a partner at EY Canada's indirect tax practice, said Monday that some companies have given instructions to pay the tax, but the payments were not going through at the CRA. Article content He said companies that have made the payments were wondering how to account for the payments in their quarterly statements, due in the next month. Article content
