It's Just Money

 Apparently, it can replenish itself:

The Canada Revenue Agency paid pandemic subsidies to 56,000 companies that owed the Agency more than $700 million in unpaid tax, cabinet disclosed yesterday. Figures suggest the Agency grossly underestimated the number of insolvent firms that received the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy: “I think we are doing a very good job.”

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Installing enough fast charging stations to meet cabinet’s electric car mandate will cost about $20 billion, says the Department of Natural Resources. Cabinet since 2016 has already spent $3.3 billion on rebates and subsidies to promote electric cars, by official estimate: “Our overall estimate for public charging infrastructure needs across Canada would represent a total investment of approximately $20 billion.”

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Tips are GST taxable but only if mandatory, says Tax Court. The rare ruling on sales tax treatment of gratuities came in the case of a caterer that charged all customers 15 percent regardless of whether they enjoyed themselves: “To discourage behaviour one taxes that behaviour.”

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Federal debt charges will top $53 billion by 2024, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Costs of interest payments on the federal debt will nearly double federal spending on children’s benefits: “That is something that will have a major impact on public finances.”

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Canada is providing Ukraine with an additional $500 million in military assistance and is adding the names of 23 Russians to its sanctions list, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Monday. 

"This additional military assistance will support Ukrainians as they bravely continue to fight against Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion, while these new sanctions will put added pressure on those who support these acts of war," Trudeau said in a statement. 

 

F--- you, Justin.

Dip into your trust-fund to help some Yazidi rape victims.

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Historically, average economic freedom in all three countries peaked in 2004 at 7.75 then fell steadily to 7.27 in 2011. Canadian provinces saw the smallest decline, only 0.24, whereas the decline in the United States was 0.41 and, in Mexico, 0.59. Average economic freedom in North America had risen slowly to 7.46 by 2017 but still remained below that 2004 peak. (Canada was an outlier in that period, seeing a steady decline since 2014.) Since 2017, average economic freedom has fallen further to 7.31. The vast majority of that decline (80%) occurred in 2020, which reflects the first few months of government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.