Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Thursday rejected calls from some of his peers for global taxes on bank bonuses, saying his government is not interested in imposing punitive taxes on a prized sector of the Canadian economy.

Mr. Flaherty said he expects Canadian banks will comply with international rules aimed at encouraging more responsible bonus schemes, but ruled out calls from Britain and France to expand those rules to include a tax on bonuses.

“We want to grow Canada as a financial centre, so we don’t want to impose punitive taxes on anybody. But at the same time, we expect compliance with the G20 standards,” Mr. Flaherty told reporters in Ottawa.

Mr. Flaherty will host the next meeting of Group of 8 finance ministers in Iqaluit in February. The finance minister said at the last such gathering, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed a tax on all international financial transactions.

“That is not something the Americans are in favour of. I expressed our view that we’re not interested in new taxes in Canada. We want to grow the sector,” he said.

As for the general guidelines that have been agreed to – designed to discourage excessive risk-taking for short term gain – Mr. Flaherty said he does expect Canadian banks to comply.

“The banking industry, the financial industry in Canada is a federally regulated industry and the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is monitoring the compliance with the financial stability board’s G20 standards with respect to executive compensation, so we fully expect compliance,” he said. “I wrote to the CEOs of the financial institutions some time ago. I’ve had some discussions with them. I expect compliance. I don’t expect we will have non-compliance with the G20 standards in Canada. But if we do, through the regulator, certain steps can be taken.”