They are ramping up the corruption, theft and incompetence:
Pollara Strategic Insights’ class identity survey, involving 3,000 adult Canadians, showed that optimism has reached its lowest point in nine years. Less than 31 per cent of respondents said they are optimistic about the future of Canada’s middle class, marking a significant drop from 53 per cent in 2020.
About 43 per cent of self-identified middle-class respondents reported that they are merely managing to get by without any savings, and an additional 15 per cent are struggling to keep up with monthly expenses.
The majority of respondents identified themselves as middle-class, though that definition ranged considerably. Households earning incomes higher than $150,000 considered themselves middle-class, as did households earning less than $50,000.
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“Tax hikes will give Canadians a hangover in the new year,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “Canadians need help with the rising cost of living, but the feds will be reaching deeper into our pockets with major tax hikes in 2024.”
Payroll taxes: The federal government is raising the mandatory Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance contributions in 2024. These payroll tax increases will cost a worker up to $347 next year.
For workers making $73,200 or more, federal payroll taxes (CPP and EI tax) will cost them $5,104 in 2024. Their employer will also be forced to pay $5,524.
Carbon tax: The federal carbon tax is increasing to more than 17 cents per litre of gas and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas on Apr. 1, 2024. The carbon tax will cost the average household between $377 and $911in 2024-25, even after the rebates, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Alcohol escalator tax: Alcohol taxes will increase by 4.7 per cent on Apr. 1, 2024. Taxes already account for about half of the price of beer, 65 per cent of the price of wine and more than three quarters of the price of spirits. This tax hike will cost Canadians almost $100 million next year.
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The Conservative’s last-ditch attempt to strip amendments from a contentious farm heating bill died in the House of Commons Wednesday, one day after the hobbled private member’s bill passed third reading in the Senate.
A motion tabled in the House Wednesday afternoon called on MPs to reject amendments added to Bill C-234 by the Red Chamber — amendments that both Opposition MPs and senators allege were whipped into the bill at the behest of the Trudeau Liberals.
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While the U.S. might get off with a soft landing, Canada, with its high household debt and dependence on the housing market, likely won’t be so lucky.
“Recession risks are higher north of the border, with a bumpier landing in store,” said Toronto Dominion economists led by Beata Caranci.
Canada’s growth will hit a low point in the first half of next year as the drag of higher borrowing costs continue to pull on the economy.
“Cushy soft is not how we would describe Canada’s outlook, which is clearly bumpier due to a more exposed consumer,” said Bank of Montreal’s chief economist Douglas Porter.
“Famously strong population growth of now nearly 3 per cent is papering over an even rockier performance on the ground, while also pressuring shelter costs and pushing up the jobless rate.”
Consumer belt tightening is expected to reach a peak in the first half of the new year, slowing spending to below 1 per cent, said TD.
With businesses also pulling back, it expects growth to slow to 1.1 per cent this year from 3.8 per cent in 2022, and then hit its trough at 0.5 per cent in 2024.
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Canada’s job market saw a notable erosion in opportunity as fewer job openings are advertised. Vacant roles fell 9% to 706.1k in Q3 2023, representing 254k fewer openings than last year. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of decline since the peak in Q2 2022.
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Middle class Canadians were disappointed with cabinet’s Strong Middle Class budget, says in-house Privy Council research. Participants in federal focus groups said they were overtaxed and disillusioned with cabinet: “No participants felt the Government of Canada currently devoted enough attention to the middle class.”
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They're homeless:
But Mayor Jeff Leal said that in 2024, he anticipates operating costs such as electricity for the cabins, staffing and garbage pickup in the Rehill lot.
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Everyone remember Peterboroughs cabin project? These units ccame with a price tag of $100k each. We found links where you can buy them for $4k built, delivered. So I did an inquiry to Peterborough under FOI, they sent me a letter stating it will cost $400 for them to "research"… pic.twitter.com/yAoNRsso7R
— Thundercat 🇨🇦🇷🇺 (@Thundercattttt0) December 14, 2023
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The Canadian government likely owes Indigenous people almost $76 billion for currently filed land claims and lawsuits, recent official reporting says — a sum that's nearly seven times greater today than when Justin Trudeau became prime minister.
In 2015, Ottawa counted $11 billion in "contingent liabilities," which are potential legal obligations recorded only in cases where the probability of future payment is considered "likely," according to the 2023 public accounts of Canada.
This year's fall economic statement showed the vast majority of these liabilities — 95 per cent — stem from Indigenous claims against the Crown.
It's a spike the non-partisan parliamentary budget officer, who provides lawmakers with spending analysis, calls disconcerting.
"It is very, very significant," said Yves Giroux.
"It's a bit surprising to see these being multiplied by seven."
From the Liberal government's perspective, the increase means progress, according to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree.
"I'm not surprised by it," he said.
"It is, I think, a part of the reconciliation process that we've undertaken. We have been consistent in ensuring that past harms are resolved."
No, that's taxpayer-bilked greed, you @$$hole.
A majority of Canadians again said in December that it’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step aside from this role and as leader of the Liberal Party, but most don’t believe he will do it.
And over half of Canadians think there will be an election next year.
As long as the Chinese continue funding his dad's foundation, the narcissist is going nowhere.
Imagine where such narcissism will go:
For those 72% of Canadians who eagerly await the next election to rid us of Justin Trudeau, per the latest Ipsos Reid poll, you may also wish term limits were in place so he would be disallowed from even running again.
But the reality is that we are unlikely to ever have term limits in Canada to help us avoid prolonged spells of poor governance by a single prime minister. And the potential for serious electoral reforms to alter how we vote parties into office is also very low, even though the Liberals came into office with promises of tackling the topic.
The last national poll on term limits dates to 2019 when Angus Reid reported that 54% of Canadians supported them, with a total of eight years being the most popular duration. Given the current heat in our political climate watch for a fresh poll on the matter in 2024 where it’s an easy prediction that support for the idea will be much higher. But term limits is not a topic that often rises beyond an occasional panel discussion with political pundits or agitation on social media. Perhaps this reflects the slim reality of it ever occurring, though it could be done.
This reality is based on our British parliamentary system of governance where we do not vote directly for a prime minister, but rather for a governing party to lead Parliament who then tow along their attached leader. Our first past the post system grants government status to the party with the most MPs in the House of Commons independent of their popular support – evidenced by the Liberals achieving the lowest historical popular vote in 2021 at 32.6%.
The natural limitations of a minority government are meant to temper thin mandates, but as we are experiencing, post-election coalitions to upgrade to majority status (let’s stop with the nonsensical supply and confidence agreement terminology) are also constitutional, though undemocratic in tone.
In short, a rigged game no one will fix.
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A gratuity is meant to encourage and reward good service, not fill out a pay cheque or puff an undeserved sense of entitlement:
Borja says Canadians are feeling what's come to be known as tipping fatigue. According to Decision Lab's own research, roughly three in five Canadians they surveyed felt pressure to tip more than they'd like to, while more than 80 per cent said tipping culture needs an overhaul.
Those findings echo polling done by the Angus Reid Institute earlier this year, which found roughly two in five Canadians feel the pressure to tip is pushing them over their spending threshold.
It's tempting to claim that Canadians are cheap b@$#@rds whose built-in socialism demands that someone else fund their personal license and deal with the world's problems (because they are) but there has been an unforgivable trend to fund these tips automatically without any thought to what the customer may think.
I am happy to reward good service and am mindful of the hard work for low pay may endure, but I'm not going to be guilted into it.
The US believes that Canada will come through with defense:
The United States is confident Canada will soon be spending enough on its military and defence that it will be able to respond to threats as they arise, regardless of whether it ever meets its NATO commitments, the U.S. ambassador to Canada says.
In an interview with Mercedes Stephenson that aired Sunday on The West Block, David Cohen said he has heard assurances in Ottawa that the long-delayed defence policy update will include increases in spending that will address concerns being voiced by top military leaders about shortfalls in equipment, personnel and overall readiness.
He added that spending must allow Canada to boost its capabilities and fulfil its obligations to continental defence in the Arctic — a responsibility it shares with the U.S. — and European commitments, even if the defence budget doesn’t match two per cent of GDP as NATO has urged its members.
“That’s the way I prefer to focus on the steps Canada is taking: not by the percentage of Canada’s GDP that it’s spending on defence, but by an identification of specific threats and requests for assistance and whether Canada will take steps to respond to those threats,” he said.
“That is what Canada has demonstrated a willingness and an ability to do over the last year or so, and it’s what gives me confidence that the assurances we’ve received — that Canada is aware of its responsibilities and its need to enhance its defence capabilities — (is) why we should be patient and wait for the defence policy update.”
Canada currently spends about 1.3 per cent of its annual GDP on defence.
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