It's Just Money

The most "transparent" government in the country's history is not yet finished wasting taxpayers' money:

New documents suggest the bills for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s troubled trip to India in February exceed $1.5 million.

The latest figures released by the government include $323,000 for hotel stays, $485,070 to fly and staff the VIP Airbus for 43.7 hours over the nine-day trip, $5,235 for cell phone fees, $5,100 to buy Canadian wines for use at official events and $17,044.21 to fly Vancouver Chef Vikram Vij to India, where he cooked a dinner for a meeting and an official reception at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi.

This chef:

One of those expenditures was for $17,044.21 to bring Vancouver-based celebrity chef Vikram Vij to help prepare a pair of Indian-inspired meals at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi. Vij, an Indo-Canadian restaurateur and vocal Liberal supporter, had his transportation, accommodation, per diems and incidentals covered by the federal government. That figure does not include the cost of the meals he helped prepare.”

** 

After news got out about the large amount of taxpayer dollars the Trudeau government was spending on perks for Justin’s family, many started to focus on one expense in particular: A $7,500 swing set.

As swing sets go that’s pretty expensive, and it’s certainly not something that taxpayers should be covering.

And yet, the Trudeau government spent that much on a swing set, and the elitist Trudeau didn’t use his own money to pay for it – he used taxpayer dollars.

As long as Justin isn't spending the money on the economy:

A recent report notes that the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters is warning that the investment situation in Canada is very concerning.

Technology and equipment investment is down, and foreign investment in Canada is down. Meanwhile, investment is surging in the US as they have made tax changes that give them an investment advantage over Canada.

The president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters said “A tax advantage is critical for Canada. We are a smaller and less attractive market than the U.S. and we have many non-tax costs of doing business through regulatory red tape.”
He added, “One of the things we really were struck by is that our exports of manufacturing goods (have) grown at less than the rate of inflation.” 

They have been calling for Canada to cut business taxes and “allowing companies to deduct 100 per cent of their investments in new machinery, technology and other capital assets.”

** 

Canada’s economy showed unexpected weakness in the second quarter, recording sluggish readings for both inflation and retail sales.

The consumer price index recorded an annual pace of 2.2 per cent in May, unchanged from April and well below economist expectations for a 2.6 per cent gain, Statistics Canada said Friday. In a separate report, the Ottawa-based agency said retailers recorded a 1.2 per cent sales drop in April, also unexpected.

The reports — which come on the heels of other disappointing data — raise questions about the underlying strength of the economy and could cast some doubt about how quickly the Bank of Canada proceeds with future rate hikes.

Xi, livid that Trump is playing hardball, vows to retaliate against $200 billion in tariffs:

Trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies intensified, with China vowing to retaliate “forcefully” against President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on another US$200 billion in Chinese imports.

“If the U.S. loses its senses and publishes such a list, China will have to take comprehensive quantitative and qualitative measures,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce. It labeled the move “extreme pressure and blackmail,” and said it would retaliate with counter measures.

Trump ordered up identification of US$200 billion in Chinese imports for additional tariffs of 10 per cent — with another US$200 billion after that if Beijing retaliates. While the US$50 billion in tariffs already announced on Friday were mainly on industrial goods, the broader move would push up prices for toys, tools, t-shirts and a lot more for U.S. shoppers.

Again - why was China opened to the West? Is it a more fair trading partner, a democracy open to trade on reasonable terms?






It's just Wilfred Laurier University's money:

University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson has launched a $1.5-million defamation suit against Wilfrid Laurier University, two of its professors and a former gender and equity manager for suggesting he was “analogous to Adolf Hitler.”

The statement of claim, prepared by lawyer Howard Levitt and filed Monday, says Peterson was falsely labelled as incompetent, sexist, misogynist, dangerous and racist in a now infamous disciplinary meeting with Wilfrid Laurier University teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd.

Shepherd was disciplined during the meeting for showing students a TV clip of Peterson discussing gender-neutral pronouns, something the university later apologized for, but Peterson told the Toronto Sun Wednesday he believes the university failed to properly respond to the incident.

“So I think this is a warning, let’s say, to other careless administrators and professors who allow their ideological presuppositions to get the best of them to be a bit more careful with what they say and do,” he said.

Peterson’s lawyer said the U of T professor cannot allow a university to viciously slander him, let alone compare his comments to a speech by Hitler, when he has spent his life and career teaching against the evils of the Holocaust and despots.
 

I do hope Professor Peterson wins and the result is a university than cannot afford to be so rigid in its thinking and monstrous in its characterisations.