Freeland to table big bill to implement fiscal update measures, but not AirBnB crack down

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling an omnibus bill to pass measures she promised in last week's fall economic statement. Missing from the package are the government's promised plans to crack down on short-term rentals, while the Liberal promise to double the carbon tax rural rebate top-up, is included.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling an omnibus bill to pass measures she promised in last week's fall economic statement, framing the incoming legislation to advance "the government's economic plan."

Missing from the package are the government's promised plans to crack down on short-term rentals, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to double the carbon tax rural rebate top-up, is included.

On Tuesday, the senior Liberal cabinet minister offered an early preview of what the bill will contain, when she tabled notice of what's known as a "ways and means motion," in the House of Commons.

This motion, spanning 527 pages, outlines all of the tax and legislative measures that the government plans to include in the bill – titled the "Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023—coming on Wednesday if MPs allow. 

Among the economic policies and promises this bill will seek to implement are:

The bill will also advance Trudeau's pre-fall fiscal update promise to double the rural top-up on the pollution price rebate, from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. Targeted towards Canadians in small and rural communities who face higher energy costs, this Climate Action Incentive Payment boost is to come into effect as of April 2024.

Senior government officials, speaking to Canadians on a background, not-for-attribution basis confirmed that the bill will also look to move on measures first promised in the 2023 federal budget presented in the spring, but until now hadn't been acted on.