Good and hard:
It wouldn’t be a recession without job losses, and this one is expected to feature the usual trends of layoffs and rising unemployment. But the pain is expected to be a lot lighter than usual for the simple reason that this recession will have been immediately preceded by one of the worst labour shortages in living memory.
We're already in a recession.
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You'll have to waste money somewhere else:
Late last year, the provincial government passed Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, which eliminates some fees that municipalities charge to developers in exchange for the right to build certain types of homes — money that municipalities say they rely on to provide things like roads and sewers, public transit, parks and libraries.
CBC News polled all 25 municipal governments in the Greater Toronto Area Dec. 15 and 16, asking how much money they'll lose by not collecting the development charges and how much they believe they'll have to hike property taxes in the years ahead to make ends meet.
The bulk of those municipalities say it's still unclear how they'll contend with the dramatic loss of revenue.
"Obviously we're in a bit of a bind," Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas said. "That's what I'm hearing from other municipalities too."
He said he's looking at a potential six per cent property tax hike in the year ahead, or cuts to services to help make up for a predicted revenue shortfall of $29 million over the next 10 years.
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The RCMP says many tips from Canada’s financial intelligence agency about possible crimes “may not get investigated” due to a lack of policing resources and conflicting priorities.
The Mounties make the candid admission in a briefing note prepared for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on the working relationship between the national police force and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, known as Fintrac.
Also:
Deputy Finance Minister Michael Sabia wanted to ‘keep the heat off the bank branches’ after accounts belonging to Freedom Convoy sympathizers were frozen, according to internal emails. His complaints went to the RCMP Commissioner and cabinet: “This is a MISTAKE.”
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What could possibly go right?:
Cabinet this year proposes to launch its long-promised national buyback of prohibited firearms starting in Prince Edward Island, according to a federal memo. Islanders own few guns and represent a low “risk assessment” before RCMP expand the program nationwide, it said: “Prince Edward Island will be used as a pilot.”**
The Liberal government will announce Monday its plan to spend billions of dollars to buy the F-35 stealth fighter, an aircraft Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once said wasn’t needed and didn’t work.
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There is money for Haiti, though:
At least 2,400 former soldiers, sailors and air crew are homeless in Canada with the actual number likely higher, says the Department of Veterans Affairs. An emergency fund to provide impoverished veterans with winter parkas, food and shelter went over budget last year: “It is minus 40 and all the shelters are full.”
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If you've lived in the US for a number of years and even raised a family there, you are not a refugee. You're a cast-off at best:
Quebec Premier François Legault has pressed Ottawa to shut down the unofficial crossing, saying the province doesn't have the resources to provide for the asylum seekers who are awaiting the outcome of their claims.
The parliamentary secretary for Canada's immigration minister said in December that the federal government was negotiating with U.S. authorities to modernize the Safe Third Country Agreement.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the minister was "saddened" by the death and extended condolences to the man's loved ones. "We will continue to monitor the situation closely while the police of jurisdiction, Surêté du Quebec, investigates further," Audrey Champoux said in an email.
Refugee advocates, meanwhile, have urged Canada to scrap or suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement. They say doing so would encourage asylum seekers to present themselves at official border crossings instead of seeking out irregular passages.
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Be careful, Kishida. Justin can't tell you apart from his Chinese bosses:
Just five months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brushed off a German plea to secure Canadian supplies of natural gas, an energy-starved Japan appears poised to launch a similar campaign of begging Canada to sell more gas.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio will make an official visit to Ottawa on Thursday, where he is expected to make a pitch for Canada to start directing some of its vast natural gas reserves to Japanese ports.Japan is “stuck in a situation where they’re sourcing their LNG from Russia, and they don’t have another option,” Business Council of Canada executive Trevor Kennedy told The Canadian Press in advance of the visit.Liquid natural gas represents roughly a quarter of all the energy consumed in Japan, which is why Japan ranks as the world second-largest buyer of imported LNG (after China).Article content
Japan previously received a good chunk of these imports from Russia, although supplies have been thrown into disarray by the geopolitical aftermath of the latter’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.As Japan heads into 2023, business leaders are panicking that they won’t be able to secure enough of the gas to keep the lights on by next winter. “The LNG procurement environment has changed completely. Procurement can also be said to be in a state of war,” said a recent survey of Japanese companies by the country’s trade ministry.It’s very similar to the fate that has recently befallen Germany. After decades of becoming increasingly reliant on Russian supplies of oil and gas, Germany also saw much of its Russian supplies cut off in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.
Justin would also like to screw over Alberta but its female premier frightens him.
Why does this sound familiar?:
Twenty-five New Democrat MPs will pressure cabinet for legislation this year to regulate legal internet content, Party leader Jagmeet Singh said yesterday. Regulations should include censoring “misinformation,” he said: “It has to be the government.”
Ah, yes:
China suspends social media accounts of Covid policy critics https://t.co/psegEWMwCM
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 7, 2023
Also:
The Department of Public Safety in internal emails complained it had “better things to do” than take reporters’ questions about its use of the Emergencies Act. Records show the department instead wanted news media to focus on discrediting the Freedom Convoy: “Get in on this growing narrative of the truckers.”
As of last count, Israel’s unemployment rate of 3.7 per cent is among the world’s lowest, far outstripping the EU average of six per cent. Its life expectancy of 82.7 years is the planet’s seventh highest. The most recent World Happiness Index had Israel climb to number nine, behind only Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries.It’s a record that most of the developed world can only dream about, including Canada. Despite spending the last 75 years sitting peacefully atop a bottomless supply of everything from petroleum to farmland to hydroelectric power, Canada lags behind Israel on everything from national debt to health care wait times.
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