It's Just Money

Not the individual Liberals' money, but, you know ... :

The cost of living has overtaken years of progress in lowering poverty rates, says a federal report. The Department of Social Development counted almost a half million Canadians who fell into poverty due to inflation: “Inflation coupled with lagging household incomes has led to affordability pressures.”

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“If Canadians paid all their taxes up front, they would work the first 164 days of this year before bringing any money home for themselves and their families,” said Jake Fuss, the Fraser Institute’s director of fiscal studies.

“Tax Freedom Day helps put the total tax burden in perspective and helps Canadians understand just how much of their money they pay in taxes every year.”

In order to determine Tax Freedom Day, the study combines all forms of federal, provincial and municipal taxes, fees and levies.

This includes income taxes, payroll taxes, health taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, profit taxes, tobacco and alcohol taxes, amusement and other excise taxes, auto, fuel and motor vehicle licence fees and carbon taxes, import duties, natural resource levies and other charges, not all readily visible to the public.

The Frasier Institute study finds families, including unattached individuals, with an average cash income of $112,235 this year will pay $48,830 in taxes or 43.5% of their total income.

 

(Sidebar: does that count goods and services? Because I don't think that statement takes that into account.)

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Gross domestic product per capita in Canada has lagged other advanced economies for decades – cumulatively growing just 6.8% between 2007 and 2023, compared with 21.4% in the US, 19.6% in Australia and 11.8% in the euro area, Dodge and his co-authors write in the mid-year economic outlook published by the law firm Bennett Jones.

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Yet Trudeau’s government has not prioritized productivity growth during its nearly nine years in power, Dodge said in an interview.

“The overriding objective of federal and provincial governments going forward has got to be to raise the productivity of workers,” said Dodge, who was central bank governor from 2001 to 2008 and now serves as a senior adviser at Bennett Jones.

Dodge and his co-authors, including former premiers Christy Clark of British Columbia and Jason Kenney of Alberta, are the latest to sound the alarm over Canada’s sluggish productivity. The Bank of Canada has called it an “emergency,” with Governor Tiff Macklem warning Wednesday that “everything is going to be more difficult” unless Canada raises output per worker.

The report authors call for a comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem. This plan must have a medium-term horizon and ensure that the actions of government are predictable and coherent to send clear signals to investors, they say.

Investments in energy and resource infrastructure, as well as in research and development and innovation, require a consistent policy framework, they write. Governments must also have credible fiscal plans under which promised services are realistically budgeted for and paid for from current revenues, the authors add.

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In its latest announcement on the capital gains tax increase, the Liberal government presents as a “quick fact” that it’s “increasing capital gains taxes on 0.13 per cent of Canadians, in any given year.” There are three problems with the 0.13 per cent figure. First, it is misleading; second, it is incomplete; and third, it ignores tax incidence, which is the concept that the economic burden of a tax falls on different people — in fact, on very many more people — than simply those who face a higher tax bill.

Let’s take the three problems in order. First, the 0.13 per cent figure is misleading because of the phrase that follows: “in any given year.” The taxpayers who are part of this 0.13 per cent in one year are different than the taxpayers captured in this group in another year. For many Canadians, reporting an annual capital gain in excess of $250,000 is a once-in-a-lifetime event — or an immediately-after-lifetime event if the capital gain threshold is triggered when a deceased person’s assets are liquidated.

This means that even if only 0.13 per cent of Canadians pay this higher tax rate every year, a much greater percentage of Canadians will be hit with this tax hike over the course of their lives. Economist Jack Mintz crunched the numbers and concluded that, “As a share of Canada’s tax filer population, those impacted by the new capital gains proposal on a lifetime basis is 1.26 million or 4.3 per cent of tax filers compared to the budget estimate of 0.13 per cent.”

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MPs yesterday agreed to spend months reviewing Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s proposal to raise capital gains tax revenues by $18 billion. New data show tax filers who report gains from the sale of farms, commercial buildings, vacation homes and other equity typically show profits under $50,000: “The government in an effort to start a class war has made a mistake.”

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An Angus Reid Institute survey of British Columbians released on Monday found 36 per cent agreed with the sentiment “I’m seriously thinking of leaving British Columbia because of the cost of housing here.”

Similar polls have emerged from Canada’s major urban centres. In April, a Leger poll commissioned by Postmedia found that more than half (54 per cent) of Metro Vancouver residents have considered moving out of the region — with 24 per cent “very” or “somewhat” likely to leave within the next five years.

When these numbers are applied against the Metro Vancouver population, that’s equivalent to 1.5 million residents of the Lower Mainland who would prefer not to be there.

Last year, a report by the Ontario Real Estate Association found that more than 40 per cent of recent post-secondary graduates were thinking of leaving the province due to affordability concerns.

As far back as 2018, another Angus Reid Institute survey found that 58 per cent of renters in the Greater Toronto Area would consider leaving if they could.

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After years of denying the negative impact of the carbon tax on the economy, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has released data confirming the tax is a net cost for the economy, contradicting previous claims of revenue neutrality and job creation.

Blacklock's Reporter says the figures show the carbon tax will cut economic production by $20 billion to $30 billion annually, equivalent to $1,200 per family in extra annual costs, as noted by Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Guilbeault attempted to downplay the findings.

"This analysis does not take into account the benefits of investing to fight climate change."

“By acting to fight climate change we will avoid $23 billion of climate impacts,” said Guilbeault.

That claim was ridiculed by the Opposition.

“How many fewer droughts have we had as a result of the carbon tax?” asked Conservative MP Michael Kram (Regina-Wascana) in the House of Commons.

“How many fewer floods have we had as a result of the carbon tax?”

The data release confirms past Budget Office findings and predictions by the Bank of Canada that the carbon tax would lower demand for Canadian goods and services, leading to higher prices and lower GDP.

"This is a rotten policy, and it's finally been exposed," said Poilievre. "The carbon tax is a job killer, and it's making life more expensive for Canadian families."

The admission comes after years of denial by cabinet members, including former Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, who claimed the tax would create 19,000 jobs.

The tax is currently worth 12¢ per litre of propane, 15¢ per cubic metre of natural gas, 18¢ per litre of gasoline, 20¢ per litre of aviation fuel and 25¢ per litre of heating oil. A 23 percent increase is due next April 1.

The carbon tax is set to increase by 23% next April 1, further exacerbating its negative impact on the economy.

 

(Sidebar: see here.)

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This morning, Liberals were forced to release their own economic report showing what we all knew - that the carbon tax is driving up the cost of everything and Canadian families are losing $1800 a year.

It's time for this Environment Minister to resign for misleading Canadians. pic.twitter.com/8dINU2HQL8

— Dr. Leslyn Lewis (@LeslynLewis) June 13, 2024

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Canada’s EV-building strategy could cost taxpayers some $6billion more than the private companies themselves are investing, the federal parliamentary budget watchdog says.

A new report released Tuesday by Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux says a total of $46.12 billion in private investment across the nascent electric vehicle supply chain has been announced.

The PBO estimates the total public support exceeds that — pegging capital and operating subsidies offered by federal and provincial governments at up to $52.45 billion, which is $6.33 billion or 14 per cent higher.

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Taxpayers out millions’ worth of sweetheart corporate subsidies have a right to expect their money back, Deputy Industry Minister Simon Kennedy said yesterday. Kennedy’s testimony followed an investigation that counted 186 conflicts at the board of Sustainable Development Technology Canada: “Funding was provided and it needs to be recovered.”

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Housing Minister Sean Fraser’s “affordability” target is short hundreds of thousands of new homes according to figures released yesterday by cabinet’s own Housing Advocate. Builders have warned even the lower target is farfetched: “We need measurable results.”

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Our population is up roughly 600,000 people or 1.5% over the last six months alone and the Trudeau government shows no sign of slowing things down.

They have announced automatic permanent residency for people coming to Canada as caregivers. They have extended work permits for international students and are doing the same for asylum seekers.

All of this will only add to Toronto’s rising unemployment.

That’s not blaming immigrants minister, that’s blaming your policies, which have lifted the checks and balances in the system, opened the flood gates and, in the words of your boss, allowed people in faster than we can absorb them.

It’s not fair to the people already in Toronto, including many immigrants, and it’s not fair to the people you are bringing here.

It’s time to get a handle on your file Minister Miller.

 

This particular douche:

If British Columbia and other Western provinces want a slice of the federal immigration funding pie, they need to take in even more asylum seekers. 

That was the message from Immigration Minister Marc Miller after complaints from Western premiers, including B.C. Premier David Eby, about Ottawa committing $750 million for Quebec’s immigration pressures.

Miller says B.C. largely accepts immigrants on economic programs that contribute to the province’s economy. 

“When you talk about volumes, it’s important to disaggregate it because not all of them are necessarily comparable. Let’s not confuse apples and oranges,” Miller said. 

“We need provinces like British Columbia to step up when it comes to actually apportioning asylum seekers.”

 

(Sidebar: see this.)

That's extortion, douche-tool.

When do you get voted out?

 

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This is awfully expensive for a war:

A senior government source says Canada is prepared to contribute $5 billion toward a loan to Ukraine that will be based on future revenue from frozen Russian assets.

The source, who is not being named because they are not authorized to discuss details publicly, says G7 leaders are finalizing details of the loan.

Leaders of the G7 countries have agreed to engineer a US$50-billion loan to help Ukraine in its fight for survival that would use interest earned on profits from Russia’s frozen central bank assets as collateral.

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 There are kitchen sponges that are less absorbent:

An NDP MP who frequently joins parliamentary proceedings remotely from her riding billed the House of Commons for a trip she took to reportedly meet with "stakeholders" over the Christmas holidays in Quebec — travel that included bringing her husband and kids along at taxpayers' expense.

Parliamentary travel records indicate NDP MP Niki Ashton was only in Ottawa on one occasion for four days during the fall 2022 sitting.

But on Dec. 21 of that year, Ashton flew from Thompson, Man. to Ottawa — five days after the House of Commons had already risen for its Christmas break.

Ashton's partner Bruce Moncur, a former NDP nomination candidate, and their two children also made the trip with the MP to the nation's capital.

Then, on Christmas Day, 2022, the family of four travelled to Quebec City. Ashton billed the Commons for some of the expenses they incurred along the way.

Social media posts show Moncur and the children took in some of Quebec City's winter attractions, including an ice slide and snow tubing at Village Vacances Valcartier outside the city centre.

Ashton is also seen in those posts skating with her children and visiting the city's German Christmas Market.

In an Instagram post, Ashton thanked "progressive activists" for sharing their "inspiring work."

The trip cost taxpayers $17,641.12, including $13,619.90 for airfare and other transportation, $2,508.39 for accommodations and $1,512.83 for meals and other incidentals, according to Commons records.

Ashton justified billing taxpayers for the trip by claiming she was going to the provincial capital to "attend meetings with stakeholders about business of the House" over the holidays, according to House of Commons travel records.