The Daily Chase: Budget fallout continues, Lion Electric cutting jobs again

Here are five things you need to know this morning.

Morneau weighs in on budget: Chrystia Freeland released her federal budget this week, and while the document has had its fair share of critics, the Liberal finance minister is taking some heat from a surprising source on Thursday: a former Liberal finance minister. One of the biggest takeaways from the budget for the business community has been a proposed increase to the inclusion rate on capital gains over $250,000. Presently, 50 per cent of those gains are taxed, but under the proposed new rules, as of June, 66 per cent will be. Speaking at a budget reaction webcast hosted by KPMG, former finance minister Bill Morneau said the move was “very troubling for many investors.” Morneau said that during his stint as finance minister, any suggestion of making capital gains taxes more onerous “was very clearly something that … we resisted,” because of the chilling impact it would have on growth and investment. “We resisted it for a very specific reason: concerned about the growth of the country,” said Morneau. “From my perspective, this is clearly a negative to our long-term goal, which is growth in the economy, productive growth and investment.”

TD AGM could be testy: Speaking of taking heat, TD Bank is hosting its annual general meeting in Toronto today, and the bank could be set to face some shareholder ire of its own. The bank has had a bumpy year, with the botched takeover of Memphis-based First Horizon Corp. still leaving a bad taste in investors’ mouths. The bank is still expecting to pay a fine that could be in the range of US$1 billion related to a regulatory probe into how the bank handles suspicious customer transactions. Bloomberg reports that there are problems in the leadership ranks too, as senior executives are unhappy with the bank’s succession plan. CEO Bharat Masrani has been in the top job for almost a decade, which is typically a tenure by which time a clear heir has been identified. That’s not the case at TD right now, and people want answers. “The uncertainty is the biggest source of consternation,” said Dan Rohinton, portfolio manager at iA Global Asset Management. “That uncertainty is weighing on the stock,” said Nigel D’Souza, an analyst with Veritas Investment Research Corp., referring to the regulatory fine. “And then you have questions about succession planning as well.”

Lion Electric cutting jobs: Montreal-based electric car and bus maker Lion Electric is slashing 10 per cent of its work force. The TSX-listed company said in a release Thursday morning that it is cutting a number of overhead and product development jobs based in Canada. The move comes after the company already cut about 100 employees in February and 150 in November. The cuts will bring the company’s work force to 1,150. The move announced Thursday will save the company about $40 million, it said.