It's Just Money

When Pierre Trudeau was prime minister, Canada had two recessions and high inflation so severe that former prime minister Brian Mulroney had to raise interest rates to pay off the debt which further exacerbated the problems left by his predecessor. His socialism damaged the Canadian political and economic landscape. Trudeau doubled the public sector and instituted an unrealistic unemployment insurance program that raised unemployment.

His son seeks to do the same damage to the country:

The current equalization system is expected to cost close to $19 billion in the fiscal year 2018–19. Federal taxpayers pay for the transfers to the so-called “have-not” provinces, chiefly Quebec, which receives $11.7 billion in equalization benefits, more than 60 per cent of the total. The “have” provinces, Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, receive no equalization payments.

The formula is convoluted. Basically, a have-not province is eligible for equalization when its fiscal capacity, measured according to five per-capita tax bases, is less than the corresponding national average. Transfers via the federal government, raised from taxpayers, are then used to then bring a have-not province’s fiscal capacity up to the average.

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In the face of a growing number of calls for Canada to match a recent U.S. corporate tax cut, Finance Minister Bill Morneau has embarked on a "listening" tour of Canadian businesses and is mulling new measures to level the playing field — which could come as early as the fall economic statement. ...

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has cut the top corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent beginning this year.

Canada's combined corporate tax rate hovers above 25 per cent, depending on the province.

(Sidebar: by "listening tour", Morneau means a waste of time that is as opaque and inaccessible as the so-called electoral reforms were.) 

(Merci)

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The Canadian government is preparing new measures to prevent a potential flood of steel imports from global producers seeking to avoid U.S. tariffs, according to people familiar with the plans. The Canadian dollar weakened and shares in Stelco Holdings Inc. soared.

The measures are said to be a combination of quotas and tariffs aimed at certain countries including China, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. The moves follow similar “safeguard” measures being considered by the European Union aimed at warding off steel that might otherwise have been sent to the U.S. It comes alongside Canadian counter-tariffs on U.S. steel, aluminum and other products set to kick in on July 1.

(Sidebar: this is the steel dumping Justin denied was happening.)

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Canadian steel producers are pleading with Ottawa for relief from U.S. import tariffs, with some companies saying Canada’s plan to introduce its own levies next month could further diminish their already battered bottom lines.

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Capital investment is the lifeblood of the economy, and although Canadians like to think they are important, the fact is that Canada is a small fish in a massive ocean full of competitors for that capital.

That means our government has a huge responsibility when it comes to creating an environment that is conducive to risk-taking and attractive to investment, and that our central bank must help back that up by providing an additional layer of economic stability.

Unfortunately, we think that the decisions being made in Ottawa are doing the opposite by de-incentivizing the country’s citizens and corporations from taking risk.

(Sidebar: a lot of Canadians feel that way, actually.)

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In fact, investment outflows reached a record high in 2017, with Canada losing a record $100 billion in investment.

At the same time, 2017 saw a huge drop in investment entering Canada, falling to just $30 billion.

As noted by the Financial Post, while this isn’t all the fault of the Trudeau government (with factors such as US tax cuts and regulation cuts reducing our competitive position), they certainly bear a large portion of responsibility for it:

As the FP says, “However, much blame for this deterioration stems from recent Canadian policies.”

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As reported by the CP, “Until Ottawa clarifies how it plans to account for the spending, there’s a risk the purchase could add 36 per cent to the projected $18.1-billion deficit, according to the study written by Tom Sanzillo and Kathy Hipple. “The principal budgetary action here looks to me like an unplanned expenditure for 2019,” said Sanzillo, director of finance for the institute, in an interview.”

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In his end of session news conference last week Trudeau admitted that he had not spoken to Donald Trump since the U.S. president left the G7 in Quebec, threatening new tariffs on Canada, including on autos.

Shouldn’t that prompt a phone call?

But Trudeau said the pair had not spoken and he had no plans to speak to Trump until the NATO leaders meeting that starts on July 11th.

Considering the 160,000 jobs that could be lost if auto tariffs come in, Trudeau should be making this a priority, calling Trump, lobbying him, visiting Washington if he needs to.

Instead, he is acting as if nothing is on the line.

One would think that one Trudeau was enough to ruin Canada.


Canadians, however, are gluttons for punishment and enjoy being penniless.