Give your all, hope to ‘come out OK’

Jolene Kendrew was emotionally exhausted, mentally drained and — by her own admission — a tad worried at the end of her recent national Uniform Evaluation (UFE) exam. Months of rigorous study, culminating in three taxing days of tests, had taken their toll.

“I felt absolutely awful,” the Victoria, B.C. resident recalls. “But if you don’t feel awful then you probably missed something.”

Turns out, the 25-year-old had absolutely no need to worry. She not only made the national honour roll, but also received the Governor General’s Gold Medal and Chartered Accountants of Canada cash prize of $5,000 for achieving the highest mark on the 2009 UFE.

The prestigious award came as a bit of a surprise — it was the furthest thing from her mind, in fact.

“You come out of those three days with your head spinning and all you really hope is that you don’t have to do it again. That’s what you’re really hoping.”

Uneasiness lingers over revamped tax

As the July 1 deadline looms for the harmonized sales tax (HST) to take effect in Ontario and British Columbia, many consumers there are upset about what they perceive as a tax grab that will see them pay on an additional list of services previously exempt from the existing eight per cent provincial tax in Ontario, and seven per cent in B.C.

This will be over and above the five per cent federal goods and services tax they are currently paying on many services, such as cleaning, haircuts, taxis, airport limousines, club membership fees — even certain professional services like accounting.

“You have a lot of anger and confusion out there because peoples’ first gut reaction is ‘previously I didn’t have to pay eight per cent; now I do,’” says Satinder Chera, director of provincial affairs in Ontario for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. “Our members’ concern is that they, as the front-line service providers, are going to take that backlash.”