| | Listen to this newsletter Available in English, French or Mandarin | | | | REUTERS FILE PHOTO/Reuters | The federal budget aims to tighten up corporate tax laws rather than reform them, applying rules more strictly and closing loopholes instead of making wider changes to the tax burden on companies. | In several instances, the budget released on Monday takes aim at businesses – most notably multinational corporations – that exploit weaknesses in existing laws to avoid paying taxes. But the government made no broader move to raise or cut core taxes for companies in Canada, even as U.S. President Joe Biden looks to raise rates for American companies and his administration has endorsed a global minimum corporate rate. | | | | More stories below advertisement | | | Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press | In plotting a path for containing Canada’s post-pandemic debt and deficits, the federal Liberal government has embraced the route over which it has the least control. It might ultimately prove to be a wise course. But it’s certainly not a low-risk one. | Monday’s budget features the second-largest deficit in history – $154.7-billion in 2021-22 – exceeded only by the estimated $354.2-billion racked up in the COVID-riddled fiscal year that just ended last month. | It boasts a new three-year, $101-billion spending package aimed at propelling the economy out of its pandemic blues. It features a national child-care plan that promises to permanently add more than $8-billion to Ottawa’s annual program spending commitments. It doesn’t propose any major tax increases to pay for all of this. | | | | Technology, telecom and media | | | | DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail | | |