Promising things in a speech that went nowhere is as easy as blowing whatever cash this country still has:
According to Stats Canada, 56,296 businesses closed in June, as the
economic damage from the CCP Virus Lockdowns continues to spread.
The number of businesses closures was down slightly (5.6%) from May.
However, the number of business closures is still far above normal,
with the amount of shuttered businesses up 44% compared to February of
2020.
At the same time, 52,723 businesses opened in June, up 1/3rd from May.
However, the long-term problem is far worse.
Out of all the business that were shuttered in March and April, just 20% have re-opened.
And this year, Canada has lost about 14.1% of all active businesses.
**
One of the country’s longest-running federal aid agencies still doesn’t
do risk assessments on companies that apply for subsidies, says an
audit. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has awarded grants and
loans to firms that went bankrupt: “The Agency has limited control.”
**
Anyone who quits work to claim new pandemic relief cheques will be disqualified from the $2,000-a month Canada Recovery Benefit, says the
Department of Employment. Auditors will also hunt for scofflaws who
refuse work: “We believe this is sending a pretty strong message.”
(Sidebar: clearly not.)
**
Julie Payette’s swearing-in as Governor General in 2017 blew right past
its pre-approved budget limit, costing taxpayers $649,000 for a glitzy
afternoon and evening, newly released federal documents show.
**
But no one asked the government to do any leg work for them:
The
federal government says it will soon introduce a free, automatic tax
filing system for simple returns — a policy change meant to provide
government benefits to qualified people who don't collect them now
because they skip filing their taxes.
The
promise — a one-line commitment buried in the 6,783-word speech from
the throne — could help hundreds of thousands of low- and fixed-income
Canadians access benefits that are only paid to people who file tax
returns.
No, it could help track down errant sources of revenue.
**
See, it's alright when SOME people do favours for their friends, even their friend sin the CHinese communist party.
At least someone cares about Alberta:
Dan Sullivan is a U.S. senator serving Alaska, and Don Young is a
Congressman serving the American last frontier. The U.S. president has
been sweet on the Canadian oilpatch before, having approved TC Energy
Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline project which had been rejected by the
previous president Barack Obama. If it proceeds, the railway project
could serve as another important outlet for Alberta’s oil producers who
have struggled due to lack of pipeline capacity. However, railway lines
are deemed to be a more expensive way to transport oil compared to
pipelines.
The proposed 2,570-kilometre A2A railway aims to
transport bulk commodities such oil, grain and ore in addition to
containerized goods, and aims to develop “a new railway connecting the
Alaska Railroad and Alaska’s tidewater, to northern Alberta.”
The
project is expected to cost $22 billion, of which $7 billion will be
built in Alaska and $15 billion in Alberta, according to the company.
Construction
will begin near Fairbanks, where the Alaska Railroad currently ends,
and move south and east through Alaska, across into Yukon, the Northwest
Territories, and into Alberta.
The proposed route will connect
the North American railway network, via Northern Alberta to the existing
Alaska Railroad network and Alaska’s deep-water ports.
“This is a
world-class infrastructure project that will generate more than 18,000
jobs for Canadian workers at a time when they are most needed, provide a
new, more efficient route for trans-Pacific shipping and thereby link
Alberta to world markets,” A2ARail founder and chairman Sean McCoshen
said in July, as he announced commissioning an engineering firm to start
a detailed land survey along the Alberta segment of the railway’s
proposed route.
“The new rail line will create new economic
development opportunities for a wide range of businesses, communities
and Indigenous communities in Canada and Alaska,” the chairman said. “We
estimate that A2A Rail could unlock $60 billion CAD in additional
cumulative GDP through 2040 and lift household incomes by an average of
40 per cent.”
The company’s president is Jean Paul Gladu, who
served as the president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal
Business from September 2012 until April 2020.
The Alaska–Alberta
Railway Development Corporation (A2A Rail) is privately owned and funded
by its McCoshen, who the company says has spent more than US$100
million through the early phases of the project.