Sunday News Roundup 25.06.15: DST bargaining chip, RVH auditing, and more Canadian accounting news

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TORONTO, June 15, 2025 – World leaders landed in Alberta today in preparation for three days of intense economic and political discussions. It is highly likely that Canada’s Digital Services Tax will be mentioned during a meeting scheduled between Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump scheduled for Monday. Coincidentally, we’re just two weeks away from the first deadline (June 30) to pay the DST, which applies retroactively to 2022. 

Rather predictably, the business community is lobbying Carney to pause the DST, according to an article from the Globe and Mail. While opinions may differ on the efficacy or even legality of the DST, we recently published an article that provides an historical and global context for the DST, from an Australian perspective. But the article leaves a few points unsaid. 

True, “treaty renegotiation is slow and complex,” so the DSTs established by many countries, including Canada, were seen as a solution to revenue loss. But left unsaid is that the Trump administration has no interest in honouring tax treaties, as we have seen with CUSMA, which Trump in fact negotiated. 

Further, as the article states, the “US sees its penal tariff plans as a useful negotiating tool.” One might ask why these business “leaders” are therefore so eager to take a bargaining chip off the negotiating table — even prior to scheduled negotiations. Indeed, Australia might now regret its timidity, having lost leverage in its own negotiations with the United States. 

(By the way, Canadian Accountant has published many articles over the years on accounting in Australia, as the post-colonial, middle power, mirrors Canada in so many ways. These articles include Meltdown Under, about the governance scandal at CPA Australia; PwC Australia ethics breach, about differences in Canadian and Australian CPA regulation; and tax redistribution, comparing Australia and Canada.) 

And now, on to the rest of the news from the past week in Canadian accounting. 

Renfrew Victoria Hospital changes auditors, OPP investigating

Earlier this week we published an article from Renfrew County, just west of Ottawa, on the “disturbing misallocation of millions of healthcare dollars” at the Renfrew Victoria Hospital (RVH) and its “related entity,” Renfrew Health (RH). While the article focused on the findings of Supervisor Altaf Stationwala — a healthcare executive with an economics and business background appointed by the provincial government — it’s useful (though disheartening) to read his final report. 

RVH “used the same auditors for over 35 years — a poor financial practice in itself — that further propagated these questionable activities.” (While the auditors are not named in the final report, signed financial statements are available online.) The firm, according to the report, “had questionable audit practices.” Concerns raised by citizens prompted Ontario Health East to hire KPMG to conduct a forensic review of financial transactions at the hospital.

New auditors have been hired, a new senior management team is in place, and an investigation by the anti-rackets branch at the Ontario Provincial Police is “ongoing.” 

CPA Canada’s Steer and FP Canada’s Batstone sign deal

If you’re a CPA interested in financial planning and wealth advisory — as so many CPAs are — you’ll soon have access to more continuing education and credentials. This past Wednesday, CPA Canada and FP Canada signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU), providing for stronger collaboration between the accounting and financial planning professions. 

Expect to see, for example, some cross-promotion of FP Canada’s annual conference, which takes place in November, if you’re planning to attend CPA Canada’s The One in September. 

You can read the official CPA Canada press release here. But Michelle Schriver at Advisor.ca does an excellent job at reporting on the deal, at least from the perspective of wealth advisors, and even refers to some inside-baseball stuff about the leadership at the two organizations. 

For the record, Tashia Batstone, the president and CEO of FP Canada, is an FCPA who worked at CPA Canada for more than a decade, most recently as senior vice-president of external relations and business development. Before that, she was the CEO at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Batstone and Pamela Steer, president and CEO of CPA Canada, have a “longstanding relationship, with mutual respect for each other’s organizations and members,” reports Schriver. Says Batstone: “We trust each other. We have similar leadership styles, similar philosophies in terms of working [and] collaborating, which makes moving forward with a MOU like this … easier to execute.” 

Quick Hits: Articles of Interest  

Canadian
Alberta man sentenced to jail, fined nearly $800K for fraud and tax evasion (CTV)

International

Accountants expect 20% staff cuts in next five years (Yahoo Finance)
UK accounting watchdog fines KPMG $1.7 million for Carr’s Group audit breaches (Reuters)
Big Four Layoffs Hit Amid Uncertain Time for Accounting Pipeline (Bloomberg Tax)

By Canadian Accountant staff.