An unserious government for an unserious country:
“We’ve seen that, staff in my office, but we’ve been told explicitly not to disclose it and reference it,” Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Yves Giroux told the House of Commons finance committee June 3.
Mr. Giroux told MPs the analysis “essentially” confirms the report that his office has published. The PBO has assessed that when the economic impacts of the carbon tax are factored in, eight out of 10 households are worse off financially.
“So that’s why I’m comfortable with what we have already published, with the understanding that it provides the impact of the carbon tax and the OBPS [output-based pricing system],” he said.
The PBO came under fire last week with Liberals honing in on a mistake the office made in its analysis of the fuel charge, or carbon tax. Instead of solely using fuel charge data, the PBO also included the OBPS, which is the industrial pricing system for large emitters.
Liberals have said that the inclusion of this data has skewed the results and overestimated the impacts of the carbon tax on households.
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The Trudeau Liberals’ plan to pick the pockets of Canadians of up to $120 million to give 80 newbie MPs a lifetime pension is unravelling.The NDP is so disgusted by the shady arrangement to give MPs the sweetheart deal that they want to scrap the proposal put forward by the senior partner in their parliamentary pact.The question now is whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will reverse course — something he is not good at — or fight to keep the dodgy deal to line 80 MPs pockets at a time when Canadians are finding it hard to buy groceries and pay rent.
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Never hire a "journalist" to do an economist's job:
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday denied federal spending is out of control after she raised the debt ceiling to a record $2.13 trillion. “I love answering questions about fiscal responsibility,” Freeland told the Senate national finance committee.
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The Canada Revenue Agency reported that the average FHSA balance in 2023 was $3,792, although the maximum tax-free eligible annual amount is $8,000 (with a lifetime maximum of $40,000). The median deposit for 2023 was $2,040.
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Canadian real estate prices have surged in almost every market, with a typical home price doubling in many regions. A median household in major cities like Toronto and Vancouver would need to save over 20 years for just the down payment, more than 3x the historic average. Seems absurd? The outlandish scenario was apparently a part of everyone’s retirement plan, according to Canada’s government.
That’s according to statements made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an interview with the Globe & Mail’s City Space podcast. “Housing needs to retain its value… It’s a huge part of people’s potential for retirement and future nest egg,” he explained when discussing affordability.
The statement is shocking. If the intention was to never lower home prices, what was with the tens of billions spent on improving affordability about? We’ve long argued many of the measures implemented were actually to reinforce prices, not lower them. But let’s look past all of that, and get to the most disturbing part of that sentence.
Home prices are based on the liquidity of buyers, provided by the next generation. By arguing elevated home prices are required for retirement, they’re effectively arguing that future generations should be billed for the retirement of older households.
It would make sense if younger generations weren’t already picking up the tab in much more equitable ways. There’s the national pension, the CPP—where the contribution rate has climbed 3x since the 1970s to make up for the fact it underperformed index funds over the past 18 years. There’s also the spending related to Old Age Security (OAS), and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).
In addition, virtually all provinces participate in property tax relief for seniors. BC, for example, allows homeowners 55 or older to defer property taxes at a rate below inflation. The program isn’t means-tested either, so the entrepreneurial senior that owns BC’s most expensive property can defer the more than $200k in annual property taxes owned if they choose, with taxpayers picking up the balance of that deferred cost. The generosity of young adults knows no bounds.
By pretending the burden of home value liquidity is the sole means, they aren’t just ignoring these contributions. They’re compounding the retirement problem for those who don’t own a home into their old age. Policymakers also know the wealth disparity between renters and homeowners exists.
“The difference between someone who’s rented all their lives versus someone who is a homeowner in terms of the money they have for retirement is massive, and that’s not necessarily always fair,” explained the PM on the podcast.
However, the problem appears to be framed as something only young adults face. It appears they’re wilfully ignorant of the fact seniors don’t always own a home. National pensions were supposed to create a buffer so we could shed the Victorian Era concept of only land-holding people deserving prosperity.
While it’s just a few statements, it should be a wakeup to the way policymakers at all levels in Canada view the problem. When it comes to older households, the argument is that elevated home prices are essential for a proper retirement. When it comes to young adults, they’re told they need to get used to the prospect of never owning a home.
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Liz Diachun told CTV News she was planning to give her family two lots on her farm property in Warkworth to help them establish homes. However, her lawyer informed her that despite the land being a gift, it still needed to be appraised at fair market value for tax purposes.The two lots were appraised at $125,000 and $145,000, totalling $270,000, leaving Diachun with a tax bill of about $40,000, an amount she said she cannot pay.“I’m on pension. How am I going to pay for that?” said Diachun. “I’m not one of the wealthy. I’m 93 years old. Who is going to give me a mortgage? Who is going to give me a loan?”Diachun is hopeful she can still find a way to make the gifts happen but the clock is ticking. Beginning next month, the capital gains tax inclusion rate will increase from 50 per cent to 67 per cent for amounts over $250,000.
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The Department of Finance yesterday said it had no choice but to raise the debt ceiling by a trillion dollars in three years. “The increase is a result of the borrowing,” Alexander Bonnyman, director of debt management, told the Commons finance committee.
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Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday denied federal spending is out of control after she raised the debt ceiling to a record $2.13 trillion. “I love answering questions about fiscal responsibility,” Freeland told the Senate national finance committee.
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An unknown number of federal politicians are knowingly working with hostile countries to interfere in Canada’s democracy, according to a national security committee of parliament.
The startling revelation came from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians’ (NSICOP) latest report into foreign meddling in Canada’s democratic institutions, including by countries like China, India and Iran.
It also found that the People’s Republic of China “successfully” interfered in the 2019 Liberal nomination contest in Don Valley North, which had a “significant impact” on Han Dong being selected as the party’s candidate.
The committee reviewed top-secret intelligence reports that suggested sitting parliamentarians are “witting or semi-witting” participants in foreign interference operations, including divulging secrets to foreign governments.
“Some (of the activities) may be illegal, but are unlikely to lead to criminal charges, owing to Canada’s failure to address the long-standing issue of protecting classified information and methods in judicial processes,” the report read.
“Regardless, all the behaviours are deeply unethical and, the committee would submit, contrary to the oaths and affirmations Parliamentarians take to conduct themselves in the best interests of Canada.”
(Sidebar: the most "transparent" government in this country's history will not say who is involved because reasons.)
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Scandalous is not too strong a word to describe what the report reveals, which is a state of affairs that calls into question whether the term “foreign interference” gets at the dilemma that has transfixed Canada since November 2022, or whether what this report discloses is evidence of collusion between leading Canadian politicians and hostile foreign powers.
A clandestine intervention in Canada’s elections is not exactly “interference” if it’s solicited, invited and welcomed, and it’s not precisely “foreign” if the culprits are willing Canadian operatives and proxies in foreign-directed influence campaigns.
This appears to have been the case, NSICOP concludes, in several obliquely-described instances gleaned almost entirely from top-secret reports by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
There’s always the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and the Senate Ethics Officer that could help Parliamentarians figure out how to reduce their exposure to the shadowy maneuvers of hostile foreign powers, the report observes. But these resources will only work against unwelcome advances.
“Unfortunately, the Committee has also seen troubling intelligence that some Parliamentarians are, in the words of the intelligence services, “semi-witting or witting” participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.”
This is not just about China’s vast United Front Work Department, which by strong-arming and influence-peddling has burrowed deeply into ethnic Chinese political activism, the media, the universities and Canada’s political parties, most notably the Liberal Party. Beijing has also disrupted Conservative party leadership races, the report notes (the United Front was especially determined to unseat Erin O’Toole from the Conservative leadership two years ago).
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“A few” parliamentarians have spied on colleagues including one MP known to be an informant for a foreign government, a federal committee said yesterday. Felonies may have been committed, said a report: “I want to be careful not to comment.”
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Uncle David is too close to Justin and his flagging poll numbers:
David Johnston, 82, is out as acting chief of the Federal Leaders’ Debates Commission. Cabinet in a pre-election order did not fire Johnston outright but voted to replace him with an employee in case of “absence or incapacity.”
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It's not like his dad fought in the war:
As the French government reportedly changes tack on a decision to invite Russian officials to a D-Day commemoration next week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says all countries involved in the Second World War victory must be recognized.
That includes Russia, despite Canada’s “extreme disagreement” with its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, as Trudeau put it.
A Nazi says what?
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A propaganda machine can't work if there exists independent media to counter it:
Nine independent publishers and commentators yesterday denounced federal newsroom subsidies. The first organized opposition to media bailouts was initiated by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa think tank.
“Our media companies will not accept the per employee subsidies currently on offer from government and industry,” said an Ottawa Declaration signed by publishers. Annual subsidies paid to cabinet-approved newsrooms are currently worth up to $29,750 per employee.
“We encourage other digital news outlets to sign this Declaration and reject the payroll subsidies,” it said. “In trying to ‘save’ journalism, these subsidies damage the independence of the press, stifle much needed innovation and private investment and fail to rebuild readers, listeners and viewers’ trust in our industry.”
The first publishers to sign the pledge were Holly Doan of Blacklock’s Reporter, Sam Cooper of The Bureau, Rudyard Griffiths of The Hub, Tara Henley of Lean Out, Candice Malcolm of True North, Substack commentator Paul Wells, Derek Fildebrandt of The Western Standard and Claire Lehmann of Quillette. Columnist Andrew Coyne also signed the petition.
None of the publishers previously solicited federal aid. Blacklock’s in an earlier February 19 submission to the Commons heritage committee opposed the ongoing $595 million bailout as wasteful, corrupting and futile.
The Ottawa Declaration represented the first act by a coalition of independent publishers in opposition to News Media Canada, the newspaper lobby that successfully sought taxpayers’ aid. CEO Paul Deegan claimed in 2023 testimony at the Senate transport and communications committee that publishers could not survive without federal money.
“We have a market failure here,” testified Deegan. “It isn’t working so we need a solution. That’s why we have come to the government even though, frankly, we would like to stay as far away from government and the CRTC as we can. But we do need them.”
The Ottawa Declaration yesterday disputed the claim. “The broadly unpopular subsidy regime represents a challenge to our democratic process insofar as it raises questions in the public’s mind about the independence of the press, thereby undermining the perceived veracity of reported news,” it said. “The subsidy regime also creates an uneven playing field whereby some news outlets, primarily legacy media companies, are able to qualify for government support and others are not.”
Privy Council in-house research confirms taxpayers do not support newsroom subsidies and are indifferent to media failure. “Asked whether they felt that protecting and supporting the Canadian news industry should be a priority for the federal government, few agreed,” said a 2023 report Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians’ Views. “Only a small number believed the news industry in general should be a top priority,” it added.
“It was generally felt most Canadians had access to a wide range of news sources on a variety of platforms and there were currently more pressing issues for the federal government to focus on such as housing affordability and the cost of living,” said Canadians’ Views.
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Canadians should beware of federal censorship of social media for partisan gain, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill) yesterday told the House affairs committee. Her remarks followed testimony by two Liberal MPs who complained opponents were uniquely hurtful on Twitter: “You aren’t suggesting the Liberal Party hasn’t made statements that agitated people?”**
ArriveCan is the new Ad-Scam/SNC-Lavalin/Chinese electoral interference ... :
The Department of Public Works yesterday said it sent letters to contractors asking for repayment of at least part of the $59.5 million cost of the ArriveCan program. The department did not specify when it expected an answer: “Letters to that effect have gone out.”**
Treasury Board President Anita Anand yesterday issued a new directive reminding federal executives to read the Values And Ethics Code For The Public Sector. It follows Anand’s testimony she was unaware of ArriveCan irregularities while responsible for Government of Canada contracting: “They shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic every couple of months.”
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It was never about a virus:
The Public Health Agency auctioned $22,000 ventilators as scrap metal for pennies a pound because they couldn’t give them away, documents show. The Agency said the costly StarFish Medical devices were declared surplus within months of their purchase: ‘Why were they sold as scrap?’
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It's an airport.
Living in it is as interchangeable as changing one's socks:
Immigration Minister Marc Miller, you see, hopes to extend eligibility for Canadian citizenship to anyone whose grandparent was born on this country’s soil. He has accordingly tabled Bill C-71, currently in first reading, which would make the necessary changes to the Citizenship Act. Miller hopes to pass the law before the end of June. (Miller is also seeking to legitimize an unknown number of illegal immigrants.)
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Tens of thousands of Canadians are emigrating from Canada to the United States and the number of people packing up and moving south has hit a level not seen in 10 years or more, according to data compiled by CBC News.
There's nothing new about Canadians moving south of the 49th parallel for love, work or warmer weather, but the latest figures from the American Community Survey (ACS) suggest it's now happening at a much higher rate than the historical average.
The ACS, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, says the number of people moving from Canada to the U.S. hit 126,340 in 2022. That's an increase of nearly 70 per cent over the 75,752 people who made the move in 2012.
Of the 126,340 who emigrated from Canada to the U.S. that year, 53,311 were born in Canada, 42,595 were Americans who left here for their native land, and 30,434 were foreign-born immigrants to Canada who decided to move to the U.S. instead.
That Canadian-born figure is notably higher now than it has been in the past. It's up roughly 50 per cent over the average number of Canadians born in Canada who left for the U.S. in the pre-COVID period.
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