With the minimum wage in Ontario set to leap $2.40 to $14 an hour on January 1, 2018, the Finance Minister, Charles Sousa, told the Legislature Tuesday that the government will cut corporate income taxes on the first $500,000 of profit to 3.5 per cent from 4.5 per cent on the same date. Also, smaller businesses with fewer than 100 employees will get an incentive of $1,000 to hire a young person aged 15 to 29 and another $1,000 if the company retains that worker for six months. Sousa made the pledges in his fall economic statement. The statement is typically a mid-year tweak to the budget, but this edition takes on extra significance the 2018 general election set for June 7. Media reports contain much disdain by small business operators of the tax reduction.
REV. GRETA VOSPER TOLD HER HEARING DELAYED
United Church of Canada minister Greta Vosper, 59, the rogue shepherd of a West Hill congregation, has been told the hearing to decide on her expulsion from the church has been delayed. Vosper has been a source of anger, anxiety and confusion for the church since 2014 when she openly declared her atheism. She has asked to remain a minister of the church. An ecclesiastical court hearing was set for this month but Vosper says she has been told it has been delayed for apparent logistical reasons with no new date in sight.
