Whoa there, Canada*, that crop of gold medals must be going to your head. Refusing to kowtow to global pressure, the country is intending to oppose efforts to impose a global tax on banks. The Canadian finance minister is expected to make a statement on Friday voicing Canadian dissent (preferably while holding a hockey stick).
The reasoning behind such unexpected determination?
Canada sees regulations, not taxes, as answers to financial quandaries. Canada's banks were generally solid through the duration of the crisis, which will give the country sound political capital to use at the upcoming G-20 meeting in June. U.K. PM Gordon Brown is strongly inclined toward the tax, so a Commonwealth showdown looms. And if they don't work it out there, Glasgow is hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014 to clear up any residual anger.
*And mine. Full disclosure: This reporter hails from Manitoba.
Write to Julie Steinberg
More on Canada:
-- RBC Mining for Gold in Vancouver
-- Olympic Losers