Who would have thought that putting a snowboard instructor could wreck the economy?:
The size of governments in Canada increased enormously during the COVID-19 pandemic, but even before that, the size of the federal government and almost all provincial governments had already grown beyond the optimal point to benefit citizens, a new study says.
“It’s important to understand just how much governments across Canada have grown in recent years, and what impact that might have on our economic recovery moving forward,” said study co-author Alex Whalen, a policy analyst at the Fraser Institute, in a March 17 release.
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At a time when a growing number of Canadians cannot afford housing the PM is hosting a $1675 per ticket fundraising event in Vancouver tonight during a week when Parliament is sitting. pic.twitter.com/By8h2YIvzj
— Dan Albas MP Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola (@DanAlbas) March 29, 2022
That is a $1675 middle finger to Canadians.
Had this been any other country, a revolution would have broken out.
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Look what a war in Ukraine can do:
The Canadian government has chosen the F-35 as its preferred replacement for the air force's four-decade-old CF-18 fighters and will open negotiations with the stealth jet's manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.
It won't happen.
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The polar-class icebreaker project was originally supposed to cost $1.3 billion for the construction of one vessel. Two icebreakers will now be built, but the cost has skyrocketed to an estimated $7.25 billion.
One of the top problems now facing shipbuilders is obtaining the special hardened steel needed for the icebreakers. In a response to questions from the House of Commons, the Canadian Coast Guard outlined the top 10 risks associated with the icebreaker project. Number one was listed as “Challenges sourcing specialized EH50 steel, which may impact cost, schedule and scope” of the project.
Other issues involved the type of helicopter that would operate from the vessels, the capacity of shipyards to do the work and potential design changes. All could contribute to boosting the project’s cost even further.
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Investment in oil projects peaked in 2014 and is now at only half that level despite the oil price having fully recovered since then. This investment-risk aversion, combined with the rise of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing, numerous divestment initiatives, restrictive access to bank lending, and combative energy policy decisions, such as the passage of Bill C-69 in Canada and the ending of the Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S., have all served to perpetuate chronic underinvestment in new projects, resulting in structural barriers to oil production growth.
Further, given still depressed trading multiples, with the average Canadian energy stock trading at only 2.6x its enterprise value to cash flow at US$100 WTI, a significant discount to historical averages of near 7x, as well as trading at a fraction of reserve values, global energy investors are insisting that excess free cash flow go towards share buybacks rather than growth.
Given all of this, it is easy to understand the hesitancy of companies to suddenly expand capital expenditures, especially given the request to do so is coming from the same people who only a few years ago tweeted that oil executives should be thrown in jail due to climate crimes or, more recently, have threatened industry with windfall profit taxes.
(Sidebar: the Western provinces building nuclear reactors sounds quite reasonable right about now.)
Also - why, it's like there is a demand all of a sudden:
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says his government has assured European allies that Canadian energy producers will be able to boost crude oil exports by around five per cent this year to help ease tight oil markets rocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — but the increase won’t come at the expense of Canada’s climate goals.
We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?
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According to a report released on Thursday, PBO Yves Giroux concluded that most households in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario will see a “net loss” resulting from federal carbon pricing in 2030. By then, the carbon levy will have increased to reach $170 a tonne.
“The moment you decide to decarbonize the economy in a relatively short period of time — and we’re talking here less than 10 years to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions — it’s clear that there is going to be a cost,” said Giroux in an interview with the National Post.
As the carbon pricing increases, lower income households should continue to receive rebates, but middle-class and upper-class households should be expecting to pay hundreds, if not thousands according to the PBO, depending on their carbon consumption.
In Alberta, the PBO expects that lowest-income households could expect to receive up to $246 back in their pockets this year, but highest-income households can expect to pay up to $1,925. In the end, Albertans will end up paying $507 per household on average.
In 2030, the PBO calculated that these same households in Alberta could be receiving $660 or paying up to $7,402. The net loss on average would be $2,282 per household.
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Parliament should raise taxes on real estate investors and use the money to subsidize affordable homes, the Commons finance committee was told yesterday. The submission by an ex-Toronto city planner follows disclosures CMHC identified the number of Canadians who own second properties: “We know Canada’s housing system is broken.”
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Quarantine hotel rooms for cross-border travelers cost taxpayers up to $139 a night, according to records. The Public Health Agency as late as February was contracting for thousands of hotel rooms every month: “This is not a success story.”
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The next time some dolt complains that the Americans are obscenely wealthy, remind them what sycophancy and idiocy get you in this country:
The Ontario sunshine list for 2021 has revealed that Sudbury’s chief medical officer of health made $800,726 last year – the ninth-highest public-sector salary in the province, and more than twice as much as any other city’s top doctor.
Dr. Penny Sutcliffe also collected $7,629 in taxable benefits, as shown by the annual list of all provincial employees earning more than $100k.
The 244,000 employees on the sunshine list represent nearly a 20% spike from the approximately 205,000 in 2020. According to the province, 95% of that growth is in the education sector, with teachers’ salaries accounting for almost all of it (92%).
Despite Sudbury being only the sixteenth-largest city in Ontario by population, Sutcliffe’s taxpayer-funded income dramatically outshone those of Ontario’s other top doctors, including provincial chief medical health officer, Dr. Kieran Moore.
Moore appeared twice on the list, making $235,314 for his work as Ontario’s top doctor as well as another $225,709 for serving Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington before June 2021. Combined, Moore’s take of $461,023 represented less than 60% of Sutcliffe’s $0.8 million.
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The number of Ontario teachers on the Sunshine List more than doubled last year.
Publicly-funded elementary and secondary school teachers earning $100,000 a year or more reached 65,581 in 2021, up by 35,606 from the previous year, according to an analysis obtained by the Toronto Sun.
Over 92% of the growth in the annual Sunshine List this year was attributed to teachers entering the six-figure club.
The highest paid teacher in the province worked for the Simcoe County District Board, pulling in $216,559 in 2021.
Two employees with the Toronto District School Board also made the top 10 list for teachers — elementary teachers who made $182,516 and $170,681.
Earnings are usually made up of salary and taxable benefits, although sometimes may include severance or similar settlements.
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Wrong.
They were caused by bureaucracies:
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the federal government will commit another $2 billion to help provincial health systems work through their surgical and diagnostic backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.**
Ontario is dedicating $800,000 to Indigenous health-care teams to help people experiencing trauma as a result of the residential school system.
The government says the money will go to eight Indigenous Primary Health Care Council member organizations to enhance the delivery of culture-based mental health and addictions care.
The funding could be used to hire mental-health specialists, such as psychiatrists, social workers and wellness workers, or for training and education, or to develop models of traditional healing such as sweat lodge ceremonies.
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