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The Department of Finance Canada is the federal government's main engine of research, advice and analysis on national economic and financial affairs, including fiscal policy, debt management and taxation.

Canada Savings Bonds differ from other government bonds in that they can be cashed at any bank for the face value plus accrued interest. They cannot be sold by the original buyer but must be held until cashed or until they mature (usually in 7 years) from the time they were bought.

Crop Insurance An all-risk crop-insurance program is available to Canadian farmers under the authority of the federal Crop Insurance Act (of 1959) and through concurrent and complementary legislation enacted by each province.

Gluskin Sheff + Associates (GSA) is a small, personalized investment management firm overseeing investment portfolios of $3 million or more. Its clientele includes "high net worth" individual and institutional (eg, pension funds, charities) investors from North America and beyond.

A credit card is a card authorizing the holder to make purchases on credit. Credit cards are issued by financial institutions and non-financial businesses (eg, department stores, gasoline companies).

Capital Formation The "capital stock" is one of the basic determinants of an economy's ability to produce income for its members.

Chartered banks, sometimes known as commercial banks, are public corporations that are licensed by the federal government to operate a banking business within Canada. By issuing these licenses (or charters), the Canadian government regulates and controls the country’s economy by influencing the amount, availability and distribution of money, and the terms or cost of accessing and distributing that money (interest rates). Chartered banks are regulated by the federal Bank Act and supervised by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. Chartered banks in Canada accept deposits from the public and extend loans (such as mortgages) for personal, commercial, and other purposes. Banks also own and operate trust companies, securities dealers and insurance companies and offer such services as investment banking, international banking and more.

Bankruptcy is a legal process, governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, that provides financial relief for debtors and a protection for creditors.

Municipal finance is concerned with the revenues and expenditures of municipalities. Revenues are secured from local taxes (see TAXATION) and other local revenues and from provincial and federal grants.

Income trusts present an opportunity for investors to participate in a cash-flow stream generated by certain assets of an operating company.

An investment company may have many different mutual funds, each fund possessing different objectives and asset classes. The objectives, trading activity and asset classes of mutual funds vary widely but must be clearly stated to the investing public in a fund's prospectus.

A bailout consists of providing financial help to a business or to the wider economy during times of trouble.

The balance of payments, or balance of international payments, is an accounting statement of the economic transactions that have taken place between the residents of one country (including its government) and the residents of other countries during a specified time, usually a year or a quarter.

The Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund was established in 1976 by an Act of Legislature with initial resources of $1.5 billion in cash and assets from the General Revenue Fund. Its purpose is to save and invest revenues from Alberta's oil and gas.

Accounting is the process of measuring and reporting on the financial activities of organizations. Accountants must select from a large number of events those which affect an organization and can be measured financially; the events selected and measured are then presented in financial reports.

The relative importance of government expenditures in the Canadian economy has risen dramatically over the past 70 years, from 15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the late 1920s to 40% of GDP in 1980 and 50% in the early 1990s.

Insolvency is a financial state defined by either of two situations. One is when a person, business or country cannot meet their obligations as they become due. The other is when the value of a person’s liabilities exceeds their assets.

Equity is the monetary value of a business or property, beyond any liens or related debts. The term generally refers to “shareholders’ equity.” Shareholders’ equity is an ideal figure that stands for the amount of money that shareholders would get if the company liquidated its assets and paid its debts. In informal usage, the term equities has evolved to mean publicly traded stocks.

In economics, capital traditionally refers to the wealth owned or employed by an individual or a business. This wealth can exist in the form of money or property. Definitions of capital are constantly evolving, however. For example, in some contexts it is synonymous with equity. Social capital can refer to positive outcomes of interactions between people or to the effective functioning of groups. Human capital refers to people’s experience, skills and education, viewed as an economic resource.