In the news today: Liberal leadership deadline, Trump versus Canada’s digital tax

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Deadline arrives for Liberal leadership candidates

The federal Liberal caucus is meeting today and tomorrow on Parliament Hill as the party searches for its next leader.

Candidates who want to run to replace Justin Trudeau as party leader are almost out of time to confirm their bids.

Read More:

• Carney, Freeland, Arya file paperwork to officially run for the Liberal leadership
• Liberal leadership hopefuls distance themselves from carbon pricing
• Hecklers interrupt Freeland’s leader campaign launch

Leadership hopefuls face a 5 p.m. deadline to declare they will run and submit their paperwork.

The party can take up to ten days to officially approve their candidacies — and none of them have been officially approved yet.

Candidates also have four days left to sign up members who can vote in the race.

Liberals elect their new leader on March 9 — 45 days from now.

Canada’s digital tax a likely Trump trade target

The Liberal government has spent years touting its efforts to make tech giants pay. Now, those pieces of legislation could be a target of the Trump administration — particularly the digital services tax that requires large tech companies to make a hefty retroactive payment in June.

The heads of the biggest U.S. tech companies attended Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday. They included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai, as well as Tesla CEO and vocal Trump supporter Elon Musk.

The tax applies to companies that operate online marketplaces, online advertising services and social media platforms, and those that earn revenue from some sales of user data. It imposes a three-per-cent levy on revenue that foreign tech giants generate from Canadian users.

TikTok, Meta ‘chaos’ challenges small businesses

For Monika Scott and Robyn Mair, the last month has brought a whipsaw of emotions every time they log onto social media.

Between a divest-or-ban government ultimatum that downed TikTok in the U.S. for several hours on Saturday and users fleeing Facebook and Instagram over Meta ditching fact checkers, the Ucluelet, B.C.-based entrepreneurs say it’s been stressful to run a business whose sales overwhelmingly come from social media.

“Relying on social media outlets that are run by private billionaires can get a little dangerous,” said Mair, co-founder of Mint Cleaning. The cleaning products company attributes 90 per cent of its sales to Instagram, but is also on TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.

“We’re kind of at the mercy of them in a way because we do rely on (these platforms), and it’s a hard battle for us.”

Government using AI to tackle Phoenix backlog

The federal government is expanding its use of artificial intelligence to clear a backlog of Phoenix pay system transactions as it transitions to a new platform.

Alex Benay, associate deputy minister at Public Services and Procurement Canada, says his team will be able to share a recommendation with the government on whether it should adopt the Dayforce system as its new human resources and payroll platform by the end of March.

Until then, the government is working to tackle a significant backlog of transactions, including with the help of a virtual assistant tool that uses AI to help fix data discrepancies in pay and compensation services.

That tool has been in testing over the last few months, says Benay, and with the help of 30 compensation advisors, has processed over 4,300 backlog transactions.

Top court to decide whether to hear Bill 21 case

The Supreme Court of Canada is set to announce this morning whether it will hear a challenge of Quebec’s controversial secularism law, known as Bill 21.

In 2024, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the law, which prohibits some public sector workers, such as teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols on the job.

Groups, including the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the English Montreal School Board, have sought leave to appeal that decision to the country’s top court.

The Quebec government has long argued the 2019 law is reasonable, and the province’s justice minister has said he intends to vigorously defend it against all challenges.

Federal agency ties betting sites to fentanyl cash

Canada’s financial intelligence agency suspects online gambling platforms are being used to launder proceeds from fentanyl dealing and production.

In an operational alert, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada says there is reason to believe people are depositing and withdrawing funds at online casinos to disguise proceeds from the traffic in deadly fentanyl and other opioids as wagers and winnings.

The newly published alert says known fentanyl traffickers have frequently sent money to digital gambling sites and received funds in return from associated payment processors in Canada, Malta and the United Kingdom.

The federal centre, known as Fintrac, identifies cash linked to money laundering and terrorism by sifting through millions of pieces of data annually from banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers, casinos and others.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2025

The Canadian Press