Here are five things you need to know this morning:

Budget hikes capital gains tax: The federal budget was unveiled on Tuesday and among the biggest changes for the business and investor community is a change to the capital gains tax inclusion rate. Ottawa is raising the rate from 50 per cent of the gain above $250,000 being taxed to two-thirds. It’s the first change to the capital gains tax regime in more than 20 years and it’s hard to understate the significance of the move. Ottawa’s numbers estimate the change will raise billions of dollars that can go toward paying for various social programs and housing initiatives, but the reaction from the business community has mostly focused on how much it will cost on the other side of the ledger, as a disincentive to invest in the economy. “We’ve got to figure out how to pay for all this stuff we’re creating,” said Walied Soliman, the Canadian chair of law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, on BNN Bloomberg’s The Close yesterday. “Creating new expenses and circumstances where we don’t have the money doesn’t work.” Mark McQueen, the founder of Wellington Growth Partners, says it’s clear the government wants to use the money to fix the housing problem, but “without … new jobs it doesn’t matter what the rent is,” he said. “Without job growth there’s no income to pay for that house.” We’ll have extensive coverage on the issue throughout the day on the air and online, so be sure to check back often.

Digital services tax going ahead: There were numerous other bits of interest in the budget yesterday, and one noteworthy development was the news that Canada is pressing ahead with longstanding plans to introduce a digital services tax on big tech companies. It’s an idea that has appeared in previous budgets, but Ottawa has been dragging its heels as it hoped to discuss with other countries how to tax large companies that shuffle profits between low-tax jurisdictions. The U.S. is the main opponent of the plan since it will target major U.S. firms like Google, Amazon, Apple and others, but Ottawa seems tired of waiting and is moving ahead with their plan to add a digital services tax that they say will raise almost $6 billion over the next five years. Similar taxes are already on the books in various European jurisdictions. The budget is still short on details but makes it clear the new tax will be in force for the current tax year, and may even apply retroactively back to 2022.

Poloz tapped to head pension working group: Also in the budget was news that Ottawa has asked former Bank of Canada head Stephen Poloz to head up a working group to examine what if anything can be done to help convince major Canadian pension plans to invest more in Canada. It’s a topic that has been in the news lately, after a high profile group of CEOs floated the idea in an open letter several weeks ago. Major pension plans like CPP, OMERS, Teachers and others invest far less in Canada than some other pension plans around the world do, which some have argued is harming Canada’s economy. That’s far from a universal view, however, as there are plenty of voices that have argued the opposite in interviews with BNN of late. By tasking Poloz with looking into the issue, Ottawa has clearly weighed in on the debate.

TC Energy pipeline ruptures in Alberta: Pipeline operator TC Energy says a natural gas pipeline it owns in Alberta ruptured on Tuesday, sparking a wildfire. The company says the affected section has been shut down, and there were no reports of injuries related to the incident which is still being investigated. The company says it is working with authorities and regulators and says it will provide updates as they become available. The Canada Energy Regulator also says it is investigating the incident.

Arrests in airport gold heist: There’s a major development in a story that captivated the BNN audience last year. In April of 2023, an unknown individual walked into an Air Canada storage facility near Toronto Pearson Airport, handed over a fraudulent waybill to pick up a cargo package and walked away with more than $20 million in gold bars that had recently been transported on an Air Canada flight from Europe. The haul hasn’t been seen since, and security company Brinks and the airline have been embroiled in a lawsuit over who was to blame for the fiasco. Police haven’t had much to say about the investigation since it happened, but all that is set to change today when Peel police will host a press conference with a major update to the case. They say multiple arrests have been made.