Welcome!
Welcome to the April 2026 edition of the ThinkTalk Newsletter.
What's Inside:
🍁 Federal Spring Economic Update Highlights
💡 April blog posts
🌟 Quote of the Month
📚 Book Recommendation: "Buy Back Your Time"
FEDERAL SPRING ECONOMIC UPDATE HIGHLIGHTS
The Spring Economic Update released on April 28th projects a Canadian economy that has held up better than expected through 2025. Looking ahead, it forecasts modest GDP growth, a gradually declining unemployment rate and slightly higher inflation than forecast in Budget 2025. Key highlights are:
Projecting a $66.9 billion deficit for 2025-26, an improvement of $11.4 billion compared to the $78.3 billion forecast in Budget 2025.
New spending totals $37.5 billion over six years, with 45% of this spending directed to affordability initiatives, including the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, housing supply measures, and a temporary suspension of the federal fuel tax.
Canada Strong Fund, the first national sovereign wealth fund in Canada’s history, will be seeded with $25 billion over three years to attract capital investment into the government’s priority projects.
Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit - Announced in January 2026, this benefit builds on and renames on the GST Credit to provide $11.7 billion in additional support over 6 years. Those eligible to receive the enhanced credit will be receiving a top-up payment, to be issued June 5. Beginning in July, the quarterly rebate will be increased by 25% and remain at this elevated level for five years.
Reduce the Cost of New Homes - To advance the building of more purpose-built rental housing, the government is accelerating over $7 billion in low-cost loans through the CMHC. To make first-time home ownership more affordable, the government is extending the grace period before homeowners must start repaying their Home Buyers Plan withdrawals from their RRSP from 2 years to 5 years for withdrawals made between 2026 and 2028. This extended grace period already applies to withdrawals made between 2022 and 2025.
Proposal to reduce the base CPP contribution rate from 9.9% to 9.5%, effective January 1, 2027. For an employee earning $70,000 a year, the change translates to roughly $133 in annual savings, with matching savings for employers.
Automated Tax Filing - The Spring Update confirms the automatic filing of returns for low-income Canadians by the 2026 tax year, with pre-filled returns for up to 5.5 million low-income Canadians starting in the 2028 tax year.
THIS MONTH’S BLOG POSTS
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“A calm mind, a fit body, and a house full of love. These things cannot be bought. They must be earned.”
— Naval Ravikant
BOOK RECOMMENDATION
“Buy Back Your Time” by Dan Martell
This month, we dive into "Buy Back Your Time" by Dan Martell, with its core lesson being - Stop trying to do everything yourself. Start removing yourself from everything that does not need you.
Key Takeaways
- ⏱ Buy Back Your Time: Your job is not to stay busy. It is to free up time for higher-value work. Delegate, automate, or eliminate anything below your pay grade.
- 🧠 Focus on Your Highest Use: Not all hours are equal. The work that moves the business forward is usually thinking, deciding, and leading. Protect that time.
- 🔁 Replace Yourself Early: Don’t wait until you are overwhelmed. Start documenting and handing off tasks while things are still manageable.
- 💸 Time > Money (Long Term): Spending to free up time feels wrong at first. But time, used well, compounds faster than money.
It sounds like ‘common sense’ until you soon find yourself doing $10 tasks with a $10,000 vision.
Power to you,
Think Team 🙏
(P.S. - If you liked this newsletter, share it with a friend)
