When Canada Lowers the Bar, Part Trois

Canadians are getting the government they richly (an adverb used to emphasise extent, certainly not wealth) they deserve:

Under legislation passed in 2005 to de-politicize parliamentarians’ pay, salaries paid to MPs and senators increase automatically on April 1 each year, based on the average increase negotiated by major bargaining units in the private sector.

This year, MPs are entitled to a 2.1 per cent hike, which will increase their base salaries by just over $3,750 to $182,656.

By law, senators are paid $25,000 less than MPs. Hence, they’ll each pull in a base salary of $157,656 this year, a 2.4 per cent hike.

(Sidebar: before everyone gets up in arms about Bad Man Harper, Chretien was the prime minister for this pay raise debacle. Harper just didn't repeal it, which he should have done.)




I really hope that this is an April Fool's Day joke:

DISCLOSED YESTERDAY: Cabinet granted itself power to borrow $350,000,000,000 - more than entire fed budget. Approved in Bill C-12 passed by MPs in 15 minutes without reading legal text. https://t.co/DTKqGEPq1P @Bill_Morneau @FinanceCanada @markstrahl #covid19Canada #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/dwEXOH48Jw

— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) April 1, 2020

Expenditures in the 2019 federal budget stood at $22.8 billion with a deficit of $19.5 billion.

The government is going to borrow (thanks MPs who didn't read this bill) $350 billion from where?
 
Who knows?

That is $350 billion that children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have to pay back if there is a Canada left.

Oh, and the carbon tax (based on junk science) has risen:

In a statement Tuesday, Edmonton Conservative MP Tim Uppal called on the Trudeau Liberals to scrap all planned tax increases during the pandemic, including the carbon tax.

“Too many Canadians are already worried about how they will pay their rent this month or put food on their tables. The last thing they need is a 50 per cent increase to the Liberal carbon tax, which will only increase the cost of gas, groceries and home heating,” Uppal said.

However, Trudeau noted that the federal government is also paying rebates that are intended to give Canadians more money than they pay in the carbon tax.

“The price on pollution has been designed as to put more money in household pockets, more money in the pockets of the middle class while we do the things that are necessary to fight pollution and protect our planet,” he said Monday.

But it does none of those things.

Carbon taxes add extra costs to every good and service purchased.

In an economy that is completely ruined, where the the promised seventy-five percent wage subsidy (at a price tag of $11 billion) nor loans will not save small businesses, this added and unnecessary tax will ruin households.


People voted for this.

I can't believe it.


Also:

"2/3 Trudeau said a company must have lost 30% of revenue to qualify for the wage subsidy. That is not in the law his government wrote. Trudeau said “all employers” will get help.”

And - priorities:

Arts organizations are injecting funds to help cultural institutions and creators stay financially afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canada Council for the Arts says it will issue $60 million in advances by early May to 1,100 organizations it supports with long-term funding to help cover their bills and settle outstanding payments to workers.

Bill Morneau is a scumbag.

But don't take my word for it:

When Finance Minister Bill Morneau sought sweeping legislative powers last week to raise taxes at his will, opposition members called the move a “power grab.” But several Ottawa insiders say he had a specific calculation in mind: using those powers as a whip against Canada’s Big Six banks if necessary.

The National Post spoke to nearly a half-dozen sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations leading up to the emergency funding bill that passed through Parliament last week. All of them were granted anonymity so they could discuss internal government affairs.

The original draft of the bill offered “unprecedented” power to Morneau as the government deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably: the power to increase, reduce or add taxes without Parliament’s approval until Dec. 31, 2021.

The oil sector is the reason for prosperity in good times and insurance in bad times:

The Government of Alberta and TC Energy have come to an agreement to finance the Keystone XL pipeline.

The deal announced on Tuesday will see Alberta invest $1.5 billion into the pipeline project and offer a $6 billion loan to TC Energy. Construction on the pipeline will begin immediately.

In a statement, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said that the province could not afford to see the project postponed.

“We cannot wait for the end of the pandemic and the global recession to act,” he said.

**

“After we get through #Covid_19, the world will have a choice. Respond with an economic & jobs recovery stimulus that jumps starts the clean economy & creates meaningful jobs .. or not.”

Uh, not, Climate Barbie, because "green" energy is an expensive scam.




If money was set aside, then there is no need for the carbon tax, is there?:

“Incredible: Trudeau now claims he “set aside for a rainy day”. He did not pay off one penny of debt or put one penny in a rainy day fund of any kind. In fact, he added about $70B in new debt before the first COVID case hit our shores. He started this year w a $27b deficit”

I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned with:

The bank expects property values to fall briefly on the back of surging unemployment and the market’s illiquidity, which could make some squeezed sellers to make concessions.

“We think the recovery will come in stages — taking buyers up to a year to regroup and rebuild confidence amid high unemployment,” RBC economist Robert Hogue said in a note earlier this week. “Based on these assumptions, we project home resales to dive by nearly 30 per cent this year in Canada to a 20-year low of 350,000 units.”

Oh, this won't be temporary.

**

Germany and Canada are among the world’s major economies most exposed to coronavirus-related shocks because of their dependence on trade, according to a recent report published by analysts at ING Group.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. and the subsequent economic fallout could pose “significant problems” for Canada, the report said. Canada imported US$453 billion of goods such as cars, machinery and oil from the U.S. in 2019, according to data from the Geneva-based International Trade Center. ...

Nations whose exports represent a proportionately small portion of their overall production -- like the U.S., India and Brazil -- will suffer less than countries that are most dependent on foreign demand -- like Ireland, Hungary, Singapore and Vietnam, according to the report.

(Merci)