It's Just Money, Part Deux

Promising things in a speech that went nowhere is as easy as blowing whatever cash this country still has:

According to Stats Canada, 56,296 businesses closed in June, as the economic damage from the CCP Virus Lockdowns continues to spread.

The number of businesses closures was down slightly (5.6%) from May.

However, the number of business closures is still far above normal, with the amount of shuttered businesses up 44% compared to February of 2020.

At the same time, 52,723 businesses opened in June, up 1/3rd from May.

However, the long-term problem is far worse.

Out of all the business that were shuttered in March and April, just 20% have re-opened.

And this year, Canada has lost about 14.1% of all active businesses.

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One of the country’s longest-running federal aid agencies still doesn’t do risk assessments on companies that apply for subsidies, says an audit. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has awarded grants and loans to firms that went bankrupt: “The Agency has limited control.”

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Anyone who quits work to claim new pandemic relief cheques will be disqualified from the $2,000-a month Canada Recovery Benefit, says the Department of Employment. Auditors will also hunt for scofflaws who refuse work: “We believe this is sending a pretty strong message.”

 

(Sidebar: clearly not.)

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Julie Payette’s swearing-in as Governor General in 2017 blew right past its pre-approved budget limit, costing taxpayers $649,000 for a glitzy afternoon and evening, newly released federal documents show.

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But no one asked the government to do any leg work for them:

The federal government says it will soon introduce a free, automatic tax filing system for simple returns — a policy change meant to provide government benefits to qualified people who don't collect them now because they skip filing their taxes.

The promise — a one-line commitment buried in the 6,783-word speech from the throne — could help hundreds of thousands of low- and fixed-income Canadians access benefits that are only paid to people who file tax returns.

 

No, it could help track down errant sources of revenue.

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Serious question. Is this money going to the Chinese National Oil company that just got the approval for exploration drilling in the Flemish Pass Basin? https://t.co/15LK8RnmKH https://t.co/kQ9LqshDeE pic.twitter.com/Knf9BAV4Xi

— Ms. Donna (@DCTFTW) September 26, 2020

 

See, it's alright when SOME people do favours for their friends, even their friend sin the CHinese communist party.

 

 

At least someone cares about Alberta:

Dan Sullivan is a U.S. senator serving Alaska, and Don Young is a Congressman serving the American last frontier. The U.S. president has been sweet on the Canadian oilpatch before, having approved TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline project which had been rejected by the previous president Barack Obama. If it proceeds, the railway project could serve as another important outlet for Alberta’s oil producers who have struggled due to lack of pipeline capacity. However, railway lines are deemed to be a more expensive way to transport oil compared to pipelines.

The proposed 2,570-kilometre A2A railway aims to transport bulk commodities such oil, grain and ore in addition to containerized goods, and aims to develop “a new railway connecting the Alaska Railroad and Alaska’s tidewater, to northern Alberta.”

The project is expected to cost $22 billion, of which $7 billion will be built in Alaska and $15 billion in Alberta, according to the company.

Construction will begin near Fairbanks, where the Alaska Railroad currently ends, and move south and east through Alaska, across into Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and into Alberta.

The proposed route will connect the North American railway network, via Northern Alberta to the existing Alaska Railroad network and Alaska’s deep-water ports.

“This is a world-class infrastructure project that will generate more than 18,000 jobs for Canadian workers at a time when they are most needed, provide a new, more efficient route for trans-Pacific shipping and thereby link Alberta to world markets,” A2ARail founder and chairman Sean McCoshen said in July, as he announced commissioning an engineering firm to start a detailed land survey along the Alberta segment of the railway’s proposed route.

“The new rail line will create new economic development opportunities for a wide range of businesses, communities and Indigenous communities in Canada and Alaska,” the chairman said. “We estimate that A2A Rail could unlock $60 billion CAD in additional cumulative GDP through 2040 and lift household incomes by an average of 40 per cent.”

The company’s president is Jean Paul Gladu, who served as the president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business from September 2012 until April 2020.

The Alaska–Alberta Railway Development Corporation (A2A Rail) is privately owned and funded by its McCoshen, who the company says has spent more than US$100 million through the early phases of the project.