Take delight in the gradual and now very-obvious ruin of a once-viable economy and the corrupt people who brought it about:
The federally incorporated, not-for-profit citizen’s group released its annual report on Tuesday highlighting the varied tax changes across Canada. This includes federal tax increases like the rising payroll, alcohol and carbon taxes, as well as a second Canada Pension Plan tax and increases in maximum pensionable and insurable earnings.Citing data from the Fraser Institute, the report notes that the average Canadian family pays 46.1 per cent of its budget in taxes after adding up income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes and all other taxes.
Federal interest payments on debt soared more than 37 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 over the previous year, new data published by Statistics Canada show, as rising interest rates collided with Ottawa’s record borrowing to drive the cost of maintaining public debt to new highs.
General government debt, including subnational governments, increased a combined 20.7 per cent, as provinces and territories experienced a more modest 10.7-per-cent average growth in interest costs.
The federal government spent $11.3 billion in interest payments during 2022’s third quarter, compared to $8.3 billion the same quarter in 2022.
“Over the quarter, federal government devoted 10.1 cents for every dollar of revenue to the payment of interest,” the Statistics Canada report said. The provinces and territories on average paid 7.7 cents out of every revenue dollar toward debt interest.
The ratio of interest expense to federal government revenue rose “significantly” over the year, from 7.9 per cent to 10.1 per cent, it said.
Former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge had proposed a 10 per cent ratio as a fiscal guardrail which would keep debt service charges below one-tenth of revenue, but this report from Statistics Canada means the government has already blown through the hypothetical guardrail.
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But with the government, it is going swimmingly:
The Gordie Howe International Bridge is now slated to open in September 2025, a delay of 10 months from its original targeted completion date in 2024.
The new targeted opening date means the international border crossing will now cost $6.4 billion Cdn, up from the original $5.7-billion cost estimate — a cost that will be borne entirely by the Canadian government, a Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority spokesperson said.
"The project is still entirely funded by the Government of Canada," said Heather Grondin, the chief relations officer for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA). "So that does include this increase in the contract value."
Bridging North America, the private-sector partner on the project, would only absorb costs like fluctuations in the exchange rate or construction increases that are not caused by an unplanned event like the pandemic, Grondin said.
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Former Gender Equality Minister Maryam Monsef, now a motivational speaker, won a single government client last year, records show. Monsef lost re-election in 2021 following mid-campaign remarks in which she called the Taliban “our brothers.”
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Costs of most foods went up not down after Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne claimed to “stabilize” prices, Statistics Canada figures showed yesterday. Champagne promised “the best possible deal for Canadians” at supermarket check-outs following a September 18 meeting with grocers: “What does that mean?”**
The Canada Infrastructure Bank lost almost $900,000 in consultants’ fees on a failed climate project, records show. The Commons transport committee has recommended the Bank close as a costly failure: “You haven’t got it done.”
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This estimate, presented to the Senate of Canada in mid December 2023, recommended a total spending of $134,868,514 for the coming fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025. It’s $8,174,128 more than the 2023–24 amount of $126,694,386.This is “[t]o provide the best possible environment for Senators to effectively contribute to federal legislation and public policy issues in the best interest of all Canadians,” the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration (CIBA) wrote in the Executive Summary of its 2024–25 budget, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter on Jan. 5.
Canadians are indifferent to pharmacare and see more pressing health care problems, says in-house Privy Council research. The federal polling predated cabinet’s decision to renege on a vote pact with New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh to pass a pharmacare bill by December 31: “Few felt this to be a significant issue.”**
“The Minister’s ongoing violation of his legal duty to implement the Commissioner’s binding Order issued under the Act is contrary to the law,” says the notice of application filed on Dec. 18.It adds that the lack of responsiveness is an “abuse of process” undermining the credibility of the access to information system.
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The estimated net cost to the public is $1.4 billion from 2023 to 2032 — admittedly chump change for this government given how it spends our money.
As for greenhouse gas emissions, the government says while there will be a net reduction of 1.8 million megatonnes annually, some substitutes for plastic will actually have a higher negative climate change impact, as well as negative effects on air and water quality.
Finally, the six single-use plastics the government is banning account for a minuscule amount of plastic waste — about 160,000 tonnes annually — less than 4% of the 4.4 million tonnes the government says Canadians throw away every year.
Of that, 86% ends up in landfills, 4% is burned, just 9% is recycled — so much for all those years of faithful blue box recycling — and 1% is discharged into the environment as litter with a tiny fraction of that 1% ending up in our waterways, the government’s major justification for the ban.
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All of this could be solved if the carbon tax was repealed:
If the province does ultimately decide to remit carbon tax revenue to the federal government, it will pay for it with either the general revenue fund, SaskEnergy earnings or both, the minister responsible for the Crown corporation says.
"All of this could be solved if the prime minister just did the right thing and provide that fairness to all Canadians, including people in Saskatchewan," Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskEnergy, said during an interview on CBC's Morning Edition on Thursday.
Saskatchewan should not be the only province and territory to fight against this living tax.
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Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson’s wife Tara has stepped up trading in oil and gas stocks, records show. The family’s fossil fuel investments continued even as Minister Wilkinson pledged to lead the “fight against climate change.”
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Callers to the Canada Revenue Agency typically spent 15 minutes or more on hold last year despite record spending on call centres, figures show. Cabinet in 2018 approved millions in 1-800 upgrades on a promise of prompt service: “We’re still going to see these crappy results coming out of Canada Revenue Agency.”
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Yay:
Job growth stalled in December as the total number of jobs in Canada was virtually unchanged for the month and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 per cent for the final month of the year.
Statistics Canada said Friday in its monthly labour force survey that the economy added a total of 100 jobs in the final month of 2023.
The result came as the number of full-time jobs fell by 23,500 in December, offset by a gain of 23,600 part-time jobs.
Oh, but that's not all:
Immigration Minister Marc Miller allowed 807,000 foreign students to work unlimited hours in Canada without any research on how it would impact Canadian jobseekers, records show. Miller said foreigners were not “taking jobs away from other people” but never asked his department for data: “Right now we have nil response.”
This means that you no longer have ready access to your money:
The Bank of Canada has taken its first steps toward trademarking a “digital Canadian dollar,” records show. The move comes despite the central bank saying last year that its future actions on a digital dollar would be decided by voters.The Bank of Canada (BoC), in a December filing under the Trademarks Act, has claimed ownership of any “digital dollar” launched within the country.“Whether and when a digital dollar will become needed is uncertain,” the Bank said in a Nov. 29 statement. “Ultimately the decision to go ahead with a digital dollar belongs to Canadians through their representatives in Parliament.”
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The Bank of Canada has quietly taken steps to control a “digital Canadian dollar” despite public claims it has no interest in the scheme, records show. The Bank in a Christmas filing under the Trademarks Act staked ownership of any “digital dollar” launched in Canada: “In terms of digital currency, it is not under the current legal framework.”
And amidst all of this is China's pool-boy:
The prime minister, in an interview with the CBC, sympathized with people who were having trouble buying groceries and paying bills and said he hoped young people could still “aspire” to buy a home. “Canadians are facing tough times,” he said. “But we are doing what we always do as Canadians: we roll up our sleeves.”He then jetted off to the Caribbean to stay at a villa that is fully staffed by “butlers, cook, gardener, housekeeper/laundress,” according to the resort’s website. (Note: butlers, plural.)
Upon returning home from that spring vacation, which cost Canadian taxpayers at least $162,000, Trudeau defended the trip and accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of struggling “with the concept of friendship.”
The estate previously belonged to Sir Harold Mitchell, the late father-in-law of Peter Green, who became a friend of Pierre Elliott Trudeau in the 1970s. Both the Green and Trudeau families have taken multiple vacations together in past decades, National Post previously reported.
“My father was godfather to one of their kids, their father was godfather to one of my brothers. This is 50 years of friendship,” said Trudeau. “But, of course, we worked with the ethics commissioner to make sure all the rules were followed.”
The PMO said that Trudeau had reimbursed “the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for his personal travel and that of his family” but did not detail those costs, or state if he had reimbursed other expenses, such as the costs of the rooms.
The vacation arrived at a time when most Canadians are cutting back on expenses as they deal with inflation and the high cost of living, prompting NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to also weigh in.
“I think that this vacation shows just another example of a prime minister who doesn’t understand the realities of everyday Canadians,” said Singh.
Then why do you prop him up, @$$hole?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office clarified that his latest, 10-day trip to a luxury Jamaican villa that rents for $9,360 a night, came “at no cost.”The privately owned villa is part of Prospect Estate, a resort that belongs to the family of Peter Green. Green is a businessman with ties to the Trudeau family dating back to the 1970s.
Justin was never the average Canadian. He was always the elite and let every Canadian know it.
Had this been Romania, there would be a revolution by now.
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