Your Wasteful, Worthless, Contemptuous, Lying Government and You

A real country would have turfed these people ages ago:

More than 110,000 federal employees—approximately one-third of the total workforce—took home six-figure salaries in 2023, according to an advocacy group focused on taxpayers’ interests.

The number of federal workers reached 357,247 in 2023, marking a roughly 37 percent increase compared to the 262,817 workers reported in 2013, according to government data.

The payroll information obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) through an access-to-information request indicates more than one-third of the total bureaucracy is earning six figures.

The CTF also noted a 7.6 percent growth in bureaucrats earning six-figure salaries, reaching 110,593 in 2023, up from 102,761 in 2022. This segment of the federal workforce has more than doubled since 2015 when 43,424 earned six figures.

With the increasing number of bureaucrats receiving at least $100,000 in base salary, the total federal payroll has surged, rising from $5.5 billion in 2015 to $13.9 billion in 2023, representing more than 150 percent growth.

“Taxpayers are tapped out and can’t afford more bureaucrats taking six-figure salaries,” CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano said in a press release. “Enough is enough, it’s time for the feds to take some air out of the ballooning bureaucracy.”

The total cost of federal payroll reached a record high of $67.4 billion in 2023, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) revealed in a recent report.

The PBO also noted a 6.6 percent growth in personnel spending during the first eight months of fiscal year 2023-24 compared to the same period last year, reaching $44.4 billion in November 2023.

“My office and I have observed a significant increase in the number of public servants over the past few years,” PBO Yves Giroux said when testifying before the House of Commons Government Operations Committee last October. “Since about 2016, the number of public servants has gone up dramatically, and payroll spending has gone up proportionally in part because there are more employees and in part because compensation is higher.”

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“Did your paycheque look smaller over the last couple of months? It’s probably because of Justin Trudeau’s sneaky new payroll tax,” she said in a recent video posted to X, formerly Twitter. “While you’ve been struggling to pay your bills, Justin Trudeau increased the premiums you pay into certain government programs. For job creators struggling to keep their businesses afloat, this could also mean increases of how much they pay to the Liberal government and could actually cause job losses.”

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The changes taking effect this year are part of a broader initiative that began in 2019, aiming to enhance the CPP and the Quebec Pension Plan with increased financial support in retirement. The rate paid by both employers and employees on employment income in 2023 was 5.95 per cent, up from 4.95 per cent in 2018. ...

The ceiling for earnings eligible for the CPP has risen, leading to increased contributions from both employers and employees. For earnings exceeding $68,500, each will contribute $3,867, an increase of $113 over the previous year.

Additionally, a new CPP2 tax will be applied to earnings between $68,500 and $73,200, with a maximum tax amount of $188. For those earning $73,200 or above, the total CPP contribution (including CPP and CPP2) will rise to approximately $4,055, an overall increase of $301.

Freelancers and self-employed individuals are responsible for both portions.

Employers are required to match their workers’ contributions, including the new CPP2 tax, and the increase could affect overall payroll costs for businesses.

The higher contribution rates may impact financial planning for businesses, particularly in terms of cash flow management and employee compensation strategies. Employers will need to consider these higher pension costs when planning salaries, bonuses and overall employee benefits packages.

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On the other hand, the changes are designed to enhance retirement benefits for workers, which could improve employee satisfaction and retention in the long term.

Originally, the CPP aimed to replace about 25 per cent of a retiree’s eligible earnings with pension payments. The recent changes are set to increase this figure, aiming to replace about 33 per cent of a retiree’s eligible income with CPP benefits.

This means that those who contribute to the CPP over their working life can expect to receive a higher proportion of their pre-retirement earnings as pension income.

By boosting the replacement rate from one-quarter to one-third of earnings, the CPP adjustments aim to help Canadians maintain a more comfortable standard of living during their retirement years.

 

No one asked for the CPP nor can employers opt out of it.

Who will they hire when it is too expensive to do so?

Oh, and the CPP is also considered income and, therefore, taxed.

So there's that.

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The Canadian government awarded two of the largest medical supply contracts of the pandemic to importers participating in an invitation-only federal program rather than to Canadian manufacturers offering lower prices, according to a Global News investigation.

The Toronto-area suppliers, BTNX and Switch Health, received contracts adding up to an estimated $2 billion for BTNX and $365 million for Switch Health, when they were participating in the Accelerated Growth Service (AGS), an initiative that helps small Canadian businesses become billion-dollar multinationals. This fast-lane conduit connects participants with officials across all levels of government.

BTNX’s price for a Chinese company’s kit, including fees and taxes, was 85 cents higher than a Canadian manufacturer’s, according to federal documents Global News obtained. The company received orders for 404 million tests, or the largest federal medical supply deal of the pandemic.

Switch Health’s price for a South Korean manufacturer’s kit was $6.45 to $10 higher than the lowest-priced product from a Canadian manufacturer. It received orders for 60 million tests, or the fifth-largest federal medical supply deal.

A spokesperson for Switch Health told Global News, “The pricing and financial data you have provided is not accurate.” The company did not comment further and declined a request for an interview.

Switch Health also won more than $602 million in federal contracts to provide laboratory tests for COVID-19 to international travellers, bringing its gross revenues to nearly $1 billion for 2021.

Ordering the tests from the two importers instead of domestic producers cost taxpayers an additional $56 million or more.

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You will NEVER keep warm in winter!:

Health Canada may ban some indoor electric heaters following comments from a consultation opened last week.

The consultation is seeking comments from the public, NGOs and other stakeholders to get a complete picture of the severity of the risk of these products.

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This comes as Health Canada says it is aware of 252 incidents involving electric heaters, including five reported deaths and 10 reported injuries that have occurred between Jun. 20, 2011, and Sept. 30, 2023. Injuries include burns and smoke inhalation.

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International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen’s office confirmed late Wednesday that Canada is working to airdrop humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.

Olivia Batten, a spokesperson for Hussen, specified that no airlifts would happen using Canadian military aircraft.

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Hussen said earlier on Wednesday that Ottawa was exploring new options to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

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He said “airdrops of aid into Gaza, in partnership with like-minded countries like Jordan,” was on the table.

“I just came back from the region, and Canadian aid is making a difference,” he told reporters on Parliament Hill.

After visits to Jordan and Egypt last week, Hussen said the provision of aid to Palestinian civilians is nowhere near what’s needed.

He said a tedious inspection process at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza was slowing down the movement of supplies brought in by truck.

Canada has put $100 million toward aid for the besieged territory since the start of the conflict, including $40 million committed last month.

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"I'm too stupid to do my job!":

Treasury Board President Anita Anand yesterday said ArriveCan contracts “did not cross my desk” when she was Minister of Public Works responsible for federal contracting. Anand’s remarks came as the Commons outvoted Liberal MPs 170 to 149 for full disclosure of ArriveCan costs: “Did you know about any of this?”

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Oh, look - Arif Virani is paranoid again:

The Freedom Convoy posed a “risk of serious violence” that justified emergency measures, says Attorney General Arif Virani. His remarks came five weeks after a federal judge ruled use of the Emergencies Act against peaceful demonstrators was unjustified and unlawful: “There was a risk of serious violence.”

Now, about that:

Police said no incidents of violence or injury was reported at the event, despite being loud and disruptive.

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The Liberals’ anti-hate, security and youth-engagement monies also lavished $3 million over three years on an organization that hosted a conference two years ago featuring speakers known for arguing that homosexual acts should be punishable by death, that it’s okay for a man to beat his wife, and that Christian Arabs who protect Jews from murder are traitors.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network similarly secured Heritage Canada anti-racist action program funds totalling $268,400 to produce a guidebook on how K-12 teachers should monitor and discipline students, and how schoolchildren should keep an eye out for “problematic affiliations” among their fellow pupils. Pride flags: good. The Red Ensign, the flag Canadian soldiers carried into the Second World War: bad. A symbol of white racism, apparently.

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Then there’s the matter of genocide, which Prime Minister Trudeau says is ongoing in Canada, in the matter of missing and murdered indigenous women. Shouldn’t someone be in prison for this, for life?

Going by the balance of probabilities in place of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, might Trudeau himself not be guilty of the Bill C-63’s standard of “vilification” of identifiable groups and incitement to hatred and acts of violence?

Three years ago, over the the May 29-30 weekend, Trudeau took the momentous step of lowering the Canadian flag on Parliament and on all government buildings across Canada on the pretext that a “mass grave” had been discovered at the site where a Roman Catholic Indian residential school once stood, in Kamloops, British Columbia. There was no mass grave.

The flags remained at half-mast for months on end. Throughout the summer and fall of 2021, Trudeau persisted in a series of melodramatic pronouncements and performances, including one particularly memorable act of stage management: Trudeau posed for the cameras while kneeling with a Teddy bear at what was purported to be the unmarked grave of a residential schoolchild, one of hundreds at the site. In fact, Trudeau was kneeling in a neglected and long-disused Catholic cemetery on an Indian reserve in rural Saskatchewan.

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You could say Trudeau played a leading role in a mass social panic without precedent in the history of religious bigotry in Canada: dozens of churches across the country were desecrated, vandalized or burned to the ground. The wave of arson was “understandable,” Trudeau infamously insisted, adding the caveat that of course he wasn’t endorsing these crimes.

It’s not like he was to blame, we were all meant to understand. And after all, it’s not like Catholics comprise what the Trudeau Liberals would call an “equity-deserving group,” so no big deal. Meanwhile, the current Liberal justice minister and his immediate predecessor have both openly expressed an openness to criminalizing any public notice of the absence of an archipelago of secret graves adjacent to residential schools across Canada. “Residential schools denialism” would be equivalent to Holocaust denial, which was specifically criminalized in 2022.

All this is just to offer a glimpse of the delightfully dystopian opportunities that could open up with a Trudeau-appointed online safety commission keeping an eye on the way Canadians talk about the affairs of the world.

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Excellent!
Retroactive crime!

Thanks @JustinTrudeau
That's an evil I hadn't considered before!

Sincerely,
Satan 👿 @ezralevant https://t.co/sZ3EEPG0fP

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) February 29, 2024

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Whatever Quebec wants ... :

The federal government is reimposing some visa requirements on Mexican nationals visiting Canada, senior government sources tell Radio-Canada and CBC News.

The new rules will take effect on 11:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Quebec Premier François Legault has been calling on the federal government to do more to slow the influx of asylum seekers into his province. Last week, he said Ottawa should bring back the visa requirement for Mexican travellers.