TransForce Income Fund faced a difficult choice. Its units peaked in February 2006 above CAD19, traded just below CAD18 on Oct. 31, 2006, and slid along with the rest of the trust sector after Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s destructive announcement that specified investment flow-throughs (SIFT) would be taxed at the entity level beginning in 2011. Read More

Taiwan is poised to enjoy the view its ascent in the global political and economic scene has made possible. Ma Ying-jeou, the leader of the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) party, was elected president of Taiwan this past weekend. The KMT received almost 60 percent of the vote, a clear indication that the people of Taiwan are ready to end the hostility with China. Read More

Stephane Dion is such a punchless opponent that the federal conservatives—hungry for a real fight—have taken on the liberal provincial government in Ontario, too. Read More

The continued deterioration of the US dollar has left it a laughingstock. Any mention of the US dollar elicits sarcastic comments from simple European folk and deep skepticism from the more sophisticated. And as the last dollar bulls are dragged screaming and shouting into the dollar short trade, you can’t help but think that maybe it’s time for a greenback bounce. Read More

A March 11 Financial Post story labeled Jerry Antoniuk, owner of Edmonton, Alberta-based Polar Ice, a “self-described thorn in the side of the package ice industry.” He certainly brought the heat to Arctic Glacier Income Fund in Canada and seems to have sparked a US Dept of Justice (DoJ) investigation as well as a lawsuit filed in a Minneapolis federal court. Read More

The winning theme for the past two years was bullish on oil, bearish on natural gas. This year, however, that’s reversing. Read More

American policymakers are one step closer to nationalizing mortgages. The Federal Reserve’s latest effort to inject liquidity in the interbank market--the loans will be collateralized by the weakest assets--is clear evidence of this trend. Read More

Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson has written to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warning that an “expansive interpretation” of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 could impede development of Canada’s oil sands because of strict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards included in Section 526 of the law. Read More

“Undue expansion.” That was the ruling from Canada’s Dept of Finance on Colabor Income Fund’s (TSX: CLB-U, OTC: COLAF) takeover of rival food services firm Summit Food Service Distributors. As a result, Colabor became the first trust subjected to the tax on specified investment flow-through entities (SIFT) Read More

Several trusts increased distributions this month, while a few cut. We've also provided trust-specific points to guide you through tax season. Read More