CEO exports: How U.K. firms are eyeing Canada for corporate talent

TMX Group Inc., owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange, is assessing the “adequacy” of listing requirements to determine whether they address risks associated with companies whose operations are primarily in foreign jurisdictions. In a consultation paper released Monday, the exchange owner said it is considering whether it would be appropriate to draft and implement “new guidance or requirements” for listing on the Toronto and venture exchanges.

This will go down as the year that the Canadian mining industry fully embraced the high-yield debt market. The only question is how long that momentum can be sustained in the year ahead.

While Ottawa agreed in Budget 2013 to extend tax breaks for manufacturers for two years, a request by developers of liquefied natural gas terminals on Canada’s West Coast to receive similar tax savings fell on deaf ears. Before they start crying foul that the West’s energy industry is being shortchanged relative to the Eastern-based manufacturing sector, developers of the new projects should be reminded that their ask showed poor judgment in the first place.

OTTAWA — Canada has moved up three places to eighth in a global comparison of the most advantageous place to pay corporate taxes, placing the country in the top 10 for the first time. The annual study by PwC, in conjunction with the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, shows Canada moving sharply up in a 185-country comparison. Canada placed 28th as recently as 2010, but continuing reductions of the corporate rate both federally and provincially, as well as reduced red tap, has dramatically improved its standing.

The news about the timely death of what's-his-face has dominated American TV, so you may be excused for failing to notice that Canada had a big national election yesterday, and that the results of that election provided further proof that, when it comes to trade and tax policy, Canada is putting its southern neighbor to shame:

OTTAWA — It’s a $60-billion venture for the federal Conservative government. That’s the estimated amount of tax relief Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has offered up to businesses in Canada since taking power in 2006 — reducing the country’s corporate tax rates to some of the lowest in the world. The government maintains the widespread corporate tax relief has been an answer for the sluggish Canadian economy — spurring investment and job creation, while putting tax dollars back into the pockets of business owners, taxpayers and shareholders.

Retail is one of the toughest sectors out there: Customers are fickle, margins are often razor thin and competition is fierce. Oddly, those factors might be what helped the sector stay sharp enough to become the “illuminating bright spot, and the most significant contributor to narrowing the gap in productivity growth [in Canada] since 2000,” according to a recent report from Deloitte about the future of productivity.

This article appears in the May edition of the Financial Post Magazine. Visit the iTunes store to download the iPad edition of this month’s issue.