Bobby Kleinman, FCPA, FCA - Member of the CAGP Government Relations Committee

The Federal Budget has raised much controversy on the plethora of new spending buckets and in some cases the perceived lack of spending in other buckets. There was not much there for CAGP members to get excited about.

Finance Minister Freeland brought down the Federal budget on April 7, 2022. CAGP sent its members an acknowledgement of the Budget with newsletter charity analysis from three law firms, Carters, Miller Thompson, and Norton Rose Fulbright. Terrific reviews, excellently done, and we thank them for their quality work and leadership in the charitable community. There were two chief technical proposals in the budget – the disbursement quota (“DQ”) and charitable disbursements to non-qualified donees (“NQDs”). What is the word which describes the reaction to these proposals? – RELIEF!

Online Will writing is exploding in Canada, fueled by entrepreneurs who see a need in the market, better technology, changing demographics (did you know that the oldest Millennials are now 41?), and of course, COVID-19 making us all more aware of our mortality.

Delving into the first pages of Digital Executor: Unraveling the New Path for Estate Planning triggered a memory of a Skype conversation with my dad a number of years ago. He, in his leather easy chair, camera focused on his face from the nose up, wanted help in copying and pasting content onto a Word document. As a tech-avoidant but somewhat capable user myself, to walk a retired digital newcomer verbally though this very simple process was eye-opening in terms of my own knowledge and patience, and my own digital know-how in working with others. Needless to say, I have a lot of learning still to do in all three areas.