Tag Archives: Canadian Jewellers Association

Happy anniversary, CJA: Here’s looking at the first 95 years

“Who will buy ‘old gold’? Is the legitimate jeweller going to get this business?” It’s a question many jewellers today might ask as they consider whether to get into the cash-for-gold game. It’s also the headline of a 1933 article in the Canadian Jewellers Association’s (CJA’s) publication at the time, warning Toronto’s jewellers of an influx of ‘old gold’ operations infringing on their would-be territory and encouraging them to get in on the action.

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A hard-fought battle: CJA’s victory over the jewellery excise tax

At the end of the First World War, the Canadian government imposed taxes on a number of items to defray its substantial costs. Among them were so-called luxury (inelegantly defined as ‘non-essential goods’) taxes that were applied to products such as automobiles, radios, fishing rods (a sport of the privileged?), and all items the government broadly defined as jewellery. This latter tax was referred to as the jewellery excise tax (JET).

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