Halloween Week: Coda

All frightening things must come to an end ...


 
But not all:

“Former officials say there has been less talk publicly than there should have been about privacy implications — something they expect will change as Statistics Canada moves on initiatives far larger than the banking information project.”

Quelle surprise.



How many people support this?:

A government document quietly posted online confirms what many have long suspected: that the government is eyeing raising the federal carbon tax beyond the current ceiling of $50 per tonne.

On Wednesday, amendments to the federal carbon tax legislation were posted on the Canada Gazette – the government’s official newspaper – and the document describes how the already controversial $50 per tonne price that comes into full effect in 2022 may be just the beginning following a five-year review that could very well call for steep increases.

“The overall approach will be reviewed by early 2022 to confirm the path forward, including continued increases in stringency. The review will account for progress and for the actions of other countries in response to carbon pricing, as well as recognition of permits or credits imported from out countries,” reads the text. This text does not make its way into the actual legislation but is rather part of the “regulatory impact analysis statement” that explains the amended legislation.

Rebates don't cover GST/HST but I am sure Canadians knew that:

The federal government's impending national carbon price could bring in more than $250 million in GST revenues next year but Ottawa doesn't intend to account for those funds in its rebate program.

A spokesman for Finance Canada says the government doesn't believe Ottawa will see a "significant rise" in its net GST take even though the GST will be charged on top of the carbon levy.

"Most consumers would have spent the related funds on other GST/HST taxable goods and services," said Jack Aubry in an emailed statement.

Businesses can offset any additional GST they pay on the carbon levy through existing input tax credits, Aubry said.

Individuals will pay the GST on top of any carbon price built into the cost of goods and services, either directly on fuels like gasoline or natural gas, or indirectly as businesses pass on their carbon levy costs to consumers.

Just as their household debt will climb and climb.



It gets better and by better, I mean worse:

Tony Will, the CEO of CF Industries – a U.S. nitrogen producer based in Illinois – says the Trudeau carbon tax makes it tough for him to invest in Canada, and will likely shift production to China.

His favourite country. This China:

China’s treatment of citizens in the majority-Muslim region of Xinjiang has veered from hostile to totally totalitarian.

Far from simply seeking integration, China has put up to one million people in mass internment camps, depriving them of any bit of freedom they once had.


And the internment camps are spreading.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, satellite images show that the “footprint of 28 interment centers has increased significantly since 2016.”

That sounds familiar:

Kang Cheol-hwan, a North Korean defector, was confined at the Yodok concentration camp, otherwise known as Camp 15, used to imprison so-called enemies of the state.

It is hidden in a mountainous region around 110km from the capital, Pyongyang. ...

Last year, Amnesty International released satellite imagery of the country's network of political prison camps, stating the government - now under the rule of Kim Jong-un - was continuing to maintain and invest in the facilities.

The report documented torture, rape, the killing of children, deliberate starvation and executions in the camps.

Also - #MeToo extends only so far:

Women remain particularly vulnerable in a country where the police, market inspectors and soldiers are predominantly male. While Kim has pledged to focus more on developing North Korea’s economy, the black markets that have become a vital source of income for many families are one place where sexual violence is rampant.

Oh Jung-hee, a trader interviewed by Human Rights Watch, described the prevalence of abuse where market guards and police “considered us [sex] toys”.

“It happens so often nobody thinks it is a big deal,” she said. “We don’t even realise when we are upset. But we are human, and we feel it. So sometimes, out of nowhere, you cry at night and don’t know why.”