Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week snack-pack ...

 

 So goes St. Paul .... :

The fact the Liberals were willing to short-circuit the democratic process paradoxically underscores the importance they ascribe to the race. They know the other parties will throw everything they have at LaSalle—Emard—Verdun: NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is already there campaigning with Sauvé. The Liberals can’t afford to lose, because the riding is a double-referendum on Trudeau: both as leader and as a Quebecer. If he can’t pull off a win in his home province, on the island of Montreal where Liberals won every seat but one in 2019 and 2021, then all bets are off for 2025.

But the NDP and Conservatives have a lot on the line as well. If the NDP pulls off an upset in Quebec, they will be seen as giant killers. However, they need to also defend Elmwood—Transcona to deflect a blue wave that threatens to eat into their blue-collar base in Manitoba and across the country.

 

 

It's just money:

Cabinet billed taxpayers $600,000 to subsidize 10 days’ worth of stand-up comedy in Montréal, accounts show. Federal managers had refused to disclose the cost when first contacted by Blacklock’s July 10: “I am proud.”

In a real country, Harjit Singh would lose his job:

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan lobbied in April for the Canadian Armed Forces to send about 100 soldiers to act as backdrops at a Vancouver concert by Punjabi pop star Diljit Dosanjh, one of India’s most popular singers and actors.

Mr. Sajjan’s office confirmed that he received a request on April 15 from the singer’s manager, Sonali Singh, for Canadian soldiers to participate in his April 27 sold-out performance at BC Place. The following day, Mr. Sajjan sent a letter, dated April 16, from the manager, “along with his endorsement,” to Defence Minister Bill Blair, Mr. Sajjan’s press secretary Joanna Kanga said.

Sure, Marc, you "lost track of them":

Undocumented foreigners in Canada could number as many as a half million, according to estimates by Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s department. The figures do not include lawfully landed immigrants or permit-holding students and migrant workers: “We have made a conscious decision to be an open country.”

No, you made a conscious decision to flood the country with the worst sort of people who will then vote Liberal.

Hey! Does everyone remember this chick?:

Who is the vicious Vicki Campbell @merry123459, a so-called "55-year-old Liberal Grandmother" on Twitter (X)?

She is actually a 34-year-old hard-left NDP activist Jill Piebiak.

(She's Jill Piebiak on Facebook).

She lives in Overbrook, an urban neighbourhood located in the… pic.twitter.com/hwNRhLdXl8

— Conservative Non-Conformist (@AlbertaBound9) July 31, 2024

You bet you do:

I’ve never wore Blackface and I’m calling Leslyn Lewis a racist too. And a Nazi sympathizer. Fukk her and victim card.
Resign Lewis. https://t.co/Kj8k3hwFDv

— Vicki Campbell🇨🇦 (@merry123459) February 25, 2023

When will this guy be released?:

The sentencing of Calgary terrorism sympathizer Zakarya Rida Hussein was adjourned again Tuesday, this time so his lawyer can deal with a new “wrinkle” in the case.

Defence counsel Alain Hepner asked Justice Harry Van Harten to delay sentencing submissions to September, so he can deal with the latest issue with his client and the offender’s family.

A large contingent of supporters were present in Calgary Court of Justice as Hussein, 21, made a brief appearance in the case.

Hepner told Van Harten that although he was able to speak to Hussein Monday night at the Calgary Remand Centre, he still needed more time to deal with the latest development.

“There has been a wrinkle in the joint submission,” Hepner said, of a proposed agreement between himself and Crown prosecutors Kent Brown and Domenic Puglia.

“I’m dealing with the entire family, who’s behind me,” he said of his client’s relatives seated in the courtroom gallery.

Hepner said the unspecified problem only arose in the past two or three days.

“There’s just some issues that I have to resolve,” he said.

“I need to spend more time with my client and the family.”

Hussein pleaded guilty last Dec. 1, to a charge of facilitating a terrorist activity.

 

Also:

RCMP say a father and son who were arrested in Richmond Hill on terrorism charges last week were "in the advanced stages of planning a serious violent attack in Toronto."

At a news conference Wednesday morning, RCMP officials said an Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) became aware of the threat in early July.

"On July, 28 2024 GTA INSET arrested a father and son at a hotel in Richmond Hill who were in the advanced stages of planning a serious violent attack in Toronto," Assistant Commissioner Matt Peggs, Commanding Officer for Ontario told reporters.

RCMP moved in to arrest the pair at a hotel room they were renting in Richmond Hill that night after the men allegedly acquired an axe and a machete.

And - dare I say it? This is what you vote for:

Trudeau’s Canada, where if you post the truth on social media that the Government doesn’t like, they’ll send the police to your home to intimidate & interrogate you. Unbelievable.
pic.twitter.com/ViXGAVPajb

— Ryan Gerritsen🇨🇦🇳🇱 (@ryangerritsen) July 31, 2024

 

 

Perhaps Parks Canada can explain the purpose of its funding. 

If one knew that forest fires could level a city, it stands to reason that action should be taken, yes?:

Parks Canada managers four years ago said fire risks at Jasper National Park were a “big concern.” The agency yesterday would not explain why it failed to take all measures needed to save the Town of Jasper from a July 24 wildfire that destroyed 358 buildings: “What is the fire emergency plan?”

 

A man pretending to be a woman is livid that he cannot force the taxpayer to pay for his cosmetic surgeries:

A transgender woman has lost her appeal to have Ontario pay for surgery to soften her masculine facial features.

Facial feminization surgery can provide results that can’t be achieved with hormones alone, surgeons have reported, and can allow trans feminine individuals “to be recognizable as women to others.”

But critics say governments must draw the line somewhere.

 

If you're not going to pay for cancer treatments, you shouldn't pay for this guy. 

These things happen:

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, and said it was investigating.

In a statement carried by Iranian media, Pezeshkian said Iran would “defend its territorial integrity, dignity, honor, and pride, and will make the terrorist occupiers regret their cowardly act.”

I would say that cowardly is murdering children and hiding behind families.

The Britons got what they voted for, and what they voted for was a mewling, whinging, deflecting gas-bag who would rather project than admit that the new normal for his country is child-murder:

A violent crowd of several hundred hurled bricks and bottles at riot police and set garbage bins and vehicles on fire in Southport, hours after a peaceful vigil for the girls, aged 6, 7 and 9, who were killed during a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class. The ambulance service said it treated 39 police officers for injuries, 27 of whom were taken to hospital.

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “thuggery” and said the protesters “hijacked” the community’s grief.

 

Rather, they amplified it. 

If Starmer had his way, no one would talk about this ever again.

Celebrities live dull, pointless lives and nothing about them - save their idiocy, and only as a warning to others - should be taken seriously:

Supermodel Bella Hadid posted a statement about her recent involvement in an Adidas campaign that relaunched a shoe from the Munich Olympics in 1972, when Israeli athletes were killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists.

“I would never knowingly engage in any art or work that is linked to a horrific tragedy of any kind,” she wrote in an Instagram story.

“In advance of the campaign’s release, I had no knowledge of the historical connection to the atrocious events in 1972. I am shocked, I am upset, and I am disappointed in the lack of sensitivity that went into this campaign. Had I been made aware, from the bottom of my heart, I would never have participated.”

 

You wouldn't knowingly do anything because you don't know anything.

A Word On Kamala Harris

The unserious bobblehead whose tenure in the Oval Office included lying about her boss' mental decline and whose policies are highly suspect (to say the least):

Let me try to be as diplomatic and restrained as I can:@kamalaharris is a vacuous, lobotomized, shallow, inauthentic imbecile. She knows nothing. She has achieved nothing. She has used every non-meritocratic tool to climb the political career. She is a racist; she is… https://t.co/Gk4I4lOxaV

— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) July 25, 2024

Some People Are "Special"

No doubt about it!:

Bill C-38 aims to restore Indian status to thousands of First Nations people who lost it because a male family member gave it up under a process known as enfranchisement.

Revoking one's Indian status and treaty rights was considered voluntary by the federal government, but the plaintiffs argue their families were coerced as it was the only way to obtain certain rights like Canadian citizenship or the ability to vote and own property.

 

Now about that: 

The Diefenbaker government’s key achievement in Aboriginal affairs was the extension of the franchise (or the right to vote) in 1960.  First Nations people before this time, as federal “wards” were not allowed to vote in federal elections. Following the two World Wars, veterans were enfranchised, but only if they gave up their Indian Status  – only 250 voluntarily accepted the offer.  Diefenbaker felt strongly about providing all First Nations people the right to vote, as was his government, especially Senator James Gladstone (the first Aboriginal person appointed to the Senate). In 1960, his government changed the section of the Indian Act which denied First Nations people the vote.  

However, some members of the First Nations community viewed enfranchisement negatively.  They believed that by voting they would be giving up their distinct Status and become assimilated.  In particular, they were concerned that gaining the franchise would lead them to lose the reserve lands which were guaranteed by the Crown.

Numerous leaders and Chiefs wrote to the Diefenbaker administration, objecting that the changes were taking place without the First Nations people’s consultation and endorsement.  In response, the Diefenbaker government reassured the First Nations people that the right to vote was in fact an additional benefit to living in Canada; nothing would be taken away from them.  It was a personal choice whether or not to vote and, regardless of their decision, none of their rights would be altered or rescinded.  This characterization of Indigenous rights was later summed up in the phrase "Citizen Plus."

Once the franchise was granted to First Nations people, they were able put their new right to vote to use for the first time in the 1962 Federal Election.  Despite the concerns certain leaders had raised, First Nations people went to the polls in higher numbers than expected.  This step by the Diefenbaker government was the precursor to many more which attempted to correct the historic political marginalization of Aboriginal people in Canadian history.

 

I guess some people would rather aboriginals shut up and take hand-outs than vote as free men.

**

The federal archives must release all relevant records to determine how many children died at Indian Residential Schools, the Senate Indigenous peoples committee said yesterday. The recommendation follows contradictory evidence regarding “unmarked graves.”

**

Every day that passes without exhumations casts more doubt about the validity of the Kamloops story. If the narrative is true, then refusing to confirm it is an outrageous offense against the indigenous children lying in these graves. If false, then it is an outrageous offense against any indigenous person who reports a true atrocity in the future and is received with greater skepticism due to Kamloops. If false, then Kamloops also provides shade for real genocides around the globe. The CBC reportedon June 22, 2021, “On the same day Canada helped to launch an international effort at the United Nations to demand that China allow free access to Xinjiang to investigate reported human rights violations, China and its allies have called on the UN to investigate crimes against Indigenous people in Canada.” When genocide becomes a game of political chess, it loses its connection to truth or justice.

The politicization of Kamloops also prevents genuine healing for those involved because healing rests on understanding, not lies. As it stands, there is deepening antipathy on the part of the main parties: the white Christians accused and the indigenous people. Since May 2021, at least 33 Catholic Churches have burned to the ground, with 24 being confirmed as arsons.The Catholic Register on June 5, 2024, noted, “Over 100 Canadian Christian churches have been vandalized, damaged by fire or outright burned to the ground since the Kamloops’ claim first came to light.” (A map of vandalized or destroyed churches is here, valid as of February 2024.) To some, it feels like open war has been declared on Christianity, especially Catholicism.

For their part, how can indigenous people join hands with white Christians when the latter are portrayed as the murderers of their children who bury the evidence in unmarked graves? The residential system has ceased to be the historical shame it truly is and has become, instead, a multigenerational burden of guilt that stretches forward forever.

It does not have to be this way. The continuing turmoil is created by those to whom it brings power and money. The Epoch Times is correct in stating, “It’s absurd that people can claim a site contains the bodies of hundreds of murdered children yet refuse to allow further investigation into the issue. Only when we have confirmed what did or didn’t happen in Canadian residential schools will we be able to close the door on that chapter of our national history. Until there are excavations at the Kamloops site, the myths will continue to be spun and national healing won’t happen.” In the most literal sense, it is time to start digging for the truth.

 

No Country For Anyone

I think that it is time for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop trying to reason with the countries pitted against him and do what he must to protect the Israel, the country he was elected to serve:

Hamas is filming the torture of Israeli hostages in anattempt to force Israel to ease conditions for Palestinian prisoners.

In one video, members of the terrorist group directly address Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister who controls prison policy, two Israeli officials told The Telegraph.

The video shows hostages being tortured while Hamas warn that harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel are affecting the well-being of hostages in Gaza.

There will be a time when Canadians rue being contrary for the sake of it:

Canada’s acceptance of Palestinian refugees from Gaza is setting off alarm bells south of the border.

In a letter Wednesday to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, United States Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) expressed concern over the program, which he warned could lead to an increased risk of allowing individuals with ties to terror groups easy access to the United States.

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“On May 27, 2024, the Government of Canada announced its intent to increase the number of Gazans who will be allowed into their country under temporary special measures,” Rubio wrote in his letter, which was signed by five other Republican senators.

“We are deeply concerned and request heightened scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should any of them attempt to enter the United States at ports of entry as well as between ports of entry.”

Cosigning the letter were fellow senators Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Mike Braun, Joni Ernst and Josh Hawley.

Last month, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a five-fold increase in the number of Gazan refugees let into Canada, upping the program’s cap to 5,000 people.

(Sidebar: the Liberals want October 7th to happen here.)

The government’s initial cap on Palestinian refugees was 1,000.

As well, Palestinian refugees will be able to apply for work and study permits without charge.

 

These Palestinians:

• The Hamas document [which purports to explain why it massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023] lists a number of reasons, all of which can be easily refuted, as to why the terrorist group launched its attack on Israel.

• This claim is totally untrue: there are absolutely no Israeli "plans" to split the Al-Aqsa Mosque into a Jewish and Muslim area or to convert it into a Jewish site.

• The purported "plans" exist only in the imagination of Hamas and other Palestinians. It is simply part of a Palestinian campaign of defamation against Israel to try to justify the murder of Jews.

• According to the "status quo," formulated by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in 1967, Jews would not be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount but would be able to visit the site.

• While Israel has respected the status quo, Muslims have consistently violated it in an apparent attempt to deepen their hold on the holy site.

• It is also important to note that Hamas and many Palestinians consider all Jews "settlers," regardless of whether they live in Tel Aviv, or in a settlement in the West Bank, or in New York.

• Hamas further claims that it launched its attack because of "thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails who are experiencing deprivation of their basic rights."

• Most of the "detainees" Hamas is referring to are convicted terrorists who were imprisoned for murdering or attempting to murder people (usually Jews). For many years, these terrorist prisoners have enjoyed comfortable conditions, especially when it comes to entertainment and leisure. A variety of exercise equipment – including ping-pong tables, stationary bicycles and pull-up bars (in addition to chess) – is available. Each prison cell is equipped with a television, and the prisoners have access to at least 10 channels. Palestinian prisoners, in addition, are entitled to family visits and unlimited access to lawyers.

• In contrast, both the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip have been accused by human rights organizations of "systematically torturing critics" in detention. A report published by Human Rights Watch in 2022 said: "PA and Hamas security forces routinely taunt and threaten detainees, use solitary confinement and beatings, including whipping their feet, and force detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods, including hoisting their arms behind their backs with cables or rope, to punish and intimidate critics and opponents and elicit confessions..."

• As of October 7, 2023, an estimated 18,000 - 18,500 residents of the Gaza Strip held work permits issued by the Israeli authorities to enable them to work in Israel, where their pay is five times higher than in Gaza. As noted last month: "Many of those workers to whom Israel opened its doors were apparently working in Israel by day, and by night returning to Gaza and providing Hamas with highly detailed maps and drawings of every house in Israel's border communities, and reports about everyone in them, including the pet dogs."

• Israel can only conclude that "no good deed goes unpunished."

• Hamas also claims it launched its attack on Israel because of the "seven million Palestinians living in extreme conditions in refugee camps who wish to return to their lands." If the "refugees" are living in extreme conditions, it is because their leaders have failed to permit the building of new homes for them or to improve their living conditions. There is no reason why "refugee camps" continue to exist under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, under Hamas in the Gaza Strip or anyplace else.

• The same abuse applies to the Arab countries hosting Palestinian "refugees": Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. What have these countries done to incorporate their Palestinian brethren? Nothing. There is no reason why a Palestinian living in an Arab country should be treated as a "refugee" or a second-class citizen.

• Hamas, in its document, is actually stating that it sent its men to murder, rape and kidnap Jews because Israel refused to open its borders to millions of Palestinian "refugees" who are told to murder Jews and destroy the only Jewish state.

• Finally, Hamas argues that it launched its attack because of the international community and world powers seeking to "prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state." This claim, of course, is completely false. In fact, most of the international community, including the United States, the EU, Russia and China, have long been pushing hard for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

• If anyone is to blame for the failure of the "two-state solution," it is Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The leaders of the PA were presented with multiple opportunities to create a state of their own, but each time declined Israel's offer of peace without so much as a counteroffer.

• [I]is laughable to hear Hamas lament the failure of the "two-state solution." This is an organization whose charter openly calls for waging Jihad (holy war) to obliterate Israel... "Resistance and jihad for the liberation of Palestine will remain a legitimate right, a duty and an honour for all the sons and daughters of our people and our Ummah." – Article 23, of the "new, improved" Hamas Charter of 2017.

• Hamas's attempt to defend its crimes against Israelis should be seen as part of its attempts to mislead and fool the international community.

• The October 7 massacre was orchestrated by Hamas with the sole intent of slaughtering as many Jews as possible as part of its Jihad to destroy Israel. Period.

**

The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced early Thursday morning that troops had recovered from the Gaza Strip and returned to Israel on Wednesday five bodies of hostages.

The hostages are Maya Goren, Sgt. Kiril Brodski, Staff-Sergeant Tomer Achimas, Oren Goldin, and Warrant Officer (res.) Ravid Aryeh Katz. 

The joint operation in Khan Yunis was conducted based on precise intelligence information obtained, among other things, from Shin Bet investigations of terrorists, the military said. 

 

 

Oh, f--- off, Canada!:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for Israel to "respond substantively" to the top United Nations court's recent advisory opinion that Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and that it should end.

The International Court of Justice's non-binding opinion released last week was an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel's rule over the lands it captured 57 years ago.

Trudeau responded to the court's advice as part of a joint statement from Canada, Australia and New Zealand on Friday, calling for the reversal of settlements in the West Bank.

The statement, released by the Prime Minister's Office, calls on Israel to "ensure accountability for ongoing acts of violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers, reverse the record expansion of settlements in the West Bank which are illegal under international law, and work towards a two-state solution."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denounced the non-binding opinion last week, and insisted the territories are part of the Jewish people’s historic homeland.

 

You're not even important enough to get a phone-call returned.

 

We Don't Have to Trade With China

Let's cut off the global octopus:

In 1960 Trudeau (a known Marxist sympathizer) was invited by Beijing to undertake a Potemkin Village tour of a China wracked by the worst famine in human history. Trudeau not only wrote an entire book saying it wasn't happening, but said claims to the contrary were racist. https://t.co/V21WFdYTBN pic.twitter.com/lMPM6v5uYP

— Tristin Hopper (@TristinHopper) July 24, 2024

 

Yeah, that douche-tool has a whole history of communist activity.

** 

Take Canada’s latest high-profile foreign-policy initiative, for instance. After media reports and a public inquiry uncovered massive evidence of blatant Chinese interference in our affairs, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s visit to Beijing last week ranks as one of the most ill-conceived and self-defeating Canadian foreign-policy initiatives in recent memory. It is one thing to convey concerns to Chinese officials on the fringes of an international conference in a neutral venue in another country. But for our foreign minister to travel to China and meet her counterpart on Chinese territory – on their home turf, under these circumstances – makes Canada look like a weak supplicant, reinforcing the view that Canada lacks a clear sense of its own strategic interests.

 

(Sidebar: this trip.) 

**

According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), it was the first time a Chinese H-6 bomber had penetrated Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

An ADIZ is a buffer region surrounding a nation’s sovereign airspace. Sending military planes into another nation’s ADIZ is not an act of war, but it is considered provocative, especially since fighters will usually be launched to monitor the incoming aircraft and ensure they are not a threat.

China frequently sends warplanes into the ADIZ of Taiwan, for example, forcing the much smaller Taiwanese air force to exhaust itself in response — a tactic known as “gray zone” warfare.

NORAD noted that Russian bombers have entered Alaska’s ADIZ before, most recently in May, but this appears to be the first time Chinese bombers have accompanied them.

NORAD said it “detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two PRC [People’s Republic of China] H-6 military aircraft” in the Alaskan ADIZ. The U.S. sent F-16 and F-35 fighters to monitor their activities, while Canada launched CF-18 fighters, the Royal Canadian Air Force version of the American F/A-18 Hornet.

“The Russian and PRC aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” NORAD said.

“This Russian and PRC activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen as a threat, and NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence,” the statement added.

A source told Air & Space Forces Magazine on Wednesday that the Chinese and Russian bombers were on a joint patrol and launched from the same Russian airbase.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Zhang Xiaogang confirmed the “strategic joint air patrol” in a press conference on Thursday.

“This is the eighth air strategic joint patrol organized by the two militaries since 2019. It further tested and improved coordination between two air forces and deepened strategic mutual trust and substantive cooperation,” said Zhang.

“This operation did not target any third parties and was in line with relevant international law and practice and had nothing to do with the current international or regional situation,” he insisted.

China has declared itself a “near-Arctic state,” a term Beijing created to give itself a greater role in exploiting Arctic resources. It has spoken of incorporating the Arctic into its infrastructure scheme as a “polar Silk Road” or “Silk Road on ice.”

The Pentagon said on Monday — before the Russian-Chinese joint bomber patrol flew into Alaska’s ADIZ — that it was troubled by growing Russian and Chinese cooperation in the Arctic.

“While significant areas of disagreement between the PRC and Russia remain, their growing alignment in the region is of concern,” a Department of Defense (DOD) report said.

The report said China wants to leverage “changing dynamics in the Arctic to pursue greater influence and access, take advantage of Arctic resources, and play a larger role in regional governance.”

 **

Most significantly, the People’s Liberation Army Navy sent two strike groups into the South China Sea. The larger, centered on the Shandong aircraft carrier, operated off the main Philippine island of Luzon before transiting into the Western Pacific for blue water flight operations. The other is an Expeditionary Strike Group led by a Type 075 Yushen-class amphibious assault ship, one of China’s largest and most advanced. Four of China’s Type 055 Renhai-class cruisers, described as “the most lethal surface combatant in the world,” escorted the two strike groups.

China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has been on its third set of sea trials.

China and Russia began “Exercise Joint Sea-2024” at the Zhanjiang port in southern Guangdong province, the headquarters of the Chinese navy’s South Sea Fleet.

 

Who Did You Vote For, Canada?

Is it obvious now?:

A majority of Canadians consider themselves overtaxed by a federal government that spends too much and unwisely. And Quebecers are the ones who most feel the Trudeau government is “investing” too much.

An Ipsos-MEI poll published on Thursday shows that 63 per cent of Canadians think the federal government’s spending is either “too high” or “much too high,” which is a sharp increase compared to a similar poll ran by Ipsos last year. They also feel the government isn’t transparent or accountable enough for the spending spree.

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In Quebec, 74 per cent said the Trudeau government spends too much, which is significantly more than those who said so in Western Canada (64 per cent), Ontario (56 per cent) and Atlantic Canada (55 per cent).

“Quebecers, I think, are reflecting the fact that they feel they aren’t getting the value from all those taxes they pay,” said Sean Simpson, senior vice-president at Ipsos.

He points out the fact that Quebec being one of the most heavily taxed jurisdictions in the world could influence the results.

 

Just squeeze more money out of Alberta, Quebec.

That's the way!

**

The majority of Canadians say the government spends too much money, takes too much money from our paycheques and wastes money on the wrong priorities. That’s according to a new Ipsos poll commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute.

The poll shows 72% of Canadians think income taxes are too high.

Forty-eight per cent of Canadians oppose the carbon tax, while only 39% support it. Opposition to the carbon tax has increased since last year, while support has declined.

**

The Fraser Institute released its latest Consumer Tax Index on July 30. The index has been documenting Canada’s tax burden since 1961.

“Considering the sheer amount of income that goes towards taxes in this country, Canadians may question whether or not we’re getting good value for our money,” Fraser Institute director of fiscal studies Jake Fuss said in a statement.

 **

Canada had the third-lowest growth in GDP per person from2014 to 2022 among 30 advanced economies, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“In terms of GDP per person, a broad measure of living standards, Canada’s performance has weakened substantially in recent years,” said Alex Whalen, director of the Fraser Institute’s Atlantic Canada Prosperity Initiative and co-author of We’re Getting Poorer: GDP per Capita in Canada and the OECD, 2002–2060.

The study, which examines Canada’s historic and projected GDP per capita growth compared to similar OECD countries, finds that from 2002 to 2014, Canadian income growth as measured by GDP per person roughly kept pace with the rest of the OECD, but from 2014 to 2022 Canada’s growth rate stagnated.

In 2002, Canada’s GDP per capita was higher than the OECD average by US$3,141. By 2022, it had fallen well below the OECD average by US$231.

Canada lost ground compared to key allies and trading partners such as the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia between 2014 and 2022.

For example, Canadian GDP per person in 2014 was $44,710 (80.4 per cent of the US total of $55,605) but by 2022, Canada was only at $46,035 versus $63,685 in the US.

In other words, the gap had grown from $10,895 to $17,649 by 2022 (all measures in inflation-adjusted US dollars).

“Canada has been experiencing a collapse in investment, low productivity growth, and a large and growing government sector, all of which contribute to reduced growth in living standards compared to our peer countries in the OECD,” said Lawrence Schembri, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and co-author.

**

Many Canadians are unhappy about the carbon tax. Its proponents argue it’s the cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is true. But the government’s problem is that even as the tax hits the upper limit of what people are willing to pay, emissions haven’t fallen nearly enough to meet the federal target of at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Indeed, since the temporary 2020 COVID-era drop, national GHG emissions have been rising, in part due to rapid population growth.

The carbon tax is only part of the federal GHG plan, however. In a new study published by the Fraser Institute, I present a detailed discussion of the Trudeau government’s proposed Emission Reduction Plan (ERP), including its economic impacts and likely GHG reduction effects. The bottom line is that the package as a whole is so harmful to the economy it’s unlikely to be implemented — and it still wouldn’t reach the GHG goal even if it were.

Simply put, the government has failed to provide a detailed economic assessment of its ERP, offering instead only a superficial and flawed rationale that overstates the benefits and waves away the costs. In contrast, my study presents a comprehensive analysis of the proposed policy package and uses a peer-reviewed macroeconomic model to estimate its economic and environmental effects.

The ERP can be broken down into three components: the carbon tax, the Clean Fuels Regulation (CFR) and various other regulatory measures. There is a long list of the latter, including: the electric vehicle mandate; carbon capture system tax credits; restrictions on fertilizer use in agriculture; methane reduction targets and an overall emissions cap in the oil and gas industry; new emission limits for the electricity sector; new building and motor vehicle energy efficiency mandates; and many more. The regulatory measures tend to have high upfront costs and limited short-term effects so they carry relatively high marginal costs of emission reductions.

The cheapest part of the package is the carbon tax. I estimate it will get 2030 emissions down by about 18 per cent compared to where they otherwise would be, returning them approximately to 2020 levels. The CFR brings them down a further six per cent relative to their base case levels and the regulatory measures bring them down another 2.5 per cent, for a cumulative reduction of 26.5 per cent below the base-case 2030 level, which is just under 60 per cent of the way to the government’s target.

But the costs of the various components are not the same.

The carbon tax reduces emissions at an initial average cost of about $290 per tonne, falling to just under $230 per tonne by 2030. This is on par with the federal government’s estimate of the social costs of GHG emissions, which rise from about $250 to $290 per tonne over this decade. I believe these social cost estimates are exaggerated but even if we take them at face value, they imply that while the carbon tax policy does pass a cost-benefit test the rest of the ERP does not. It involves per-tonne abatement costs that are much higher: the CFR roughly doubles the cost per tonne of GHG reductions; adding in the regulatory measures approximately triples them.

The economic impacts are easiest to understand by translating these costs into per-worker terms. I estimate that the annual cost per worker of the carbon-pricing system — net of rebates and accounting for indirect effects such as higher consumer costs and lower real wages — works out to $1,302 as of 2030. Adding in the government’s Clean Fuels Regulations more than doubles that to $3,550, while adding in the other regulatory measures increases it further to $6,700.

The policy package also reduces total employment. The carbon tax results in an estimated 57,000 fewer jobs as of 2030; the CFR increases job losses to 94,000 and the regulatory measures increase losses to 164,000 jobs. Claims by the federal government that the ERP presents new opportunities for jobs and employment in Canada are unsupported by proper analysis.