Bills receive Royal Assent and multilateral convention Bill introduced

Today Bill C-45 and Bill C-74 received Royal Assent. Bill C-45, Cannabis Act, legalizes and regulates the sale of cannabis nation-wide. Bill C-74, Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, implemented several tax measures, including:

• changes to the tax on split income rules;
• the passive income changes for private corporations;
• other income tax and GST/HST measures announced in Budget 2018;
• introducing the excise tax on cannabis (plus related GST/HST amendments); and
• the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

Also, yesterday Bill C-82, Multilateral Instrument in Respect of Tax Conventions Act, was read for the first time in the House of Commons. This legislation was recently introduced as a Notice of Ways and Means Motion on May 28, 2018. As the name implies, this Act will implement the multilateral instrument which is a part of the G20 and OECD's project to address base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).