Plenty of corruption to go around:
Ex-finance minister Bill Morneau was so close to We Charity his staff ordered a Liberal MP to meet Craig Kielburger to “keep him happy.” The Commissioner of Ethics yesterday cited Morneau for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act in approving a $43.5 million grant to Kielburger’s charity: “Morneau and his family were made to feel as though they had become personal friends with Mr. Kielburger."
But not everyone is keen on letting Pierre's little failure get off the proverbial hook:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family were “closely involved in We Charity’s affairs” and accepted more than $480,000 in benefits but had no real conflict in approving a $43.5 million grant to the charity, the Ethics Commissioner ruled yesterday. An advocacy group said it will challenge the finding in the Federal Court of Appeal: “If this is allowed, what is not allowed?”
I doubt that the unelected judicial activists will rule in their favour but any albatross around Justin's neck is fine by me.
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The Commons yesterday by a 199-128 vote passed a private bill to cut millions in taxes on family sales of legacy farms. The Department of Finance opposed the bill: “This legislation would impact every single constituency in Canada.”
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By contrast, Mendicino announced that of the 400,000 allowed in per year, the breakdown would be 232,000 immigrants in the economic class, or employable people; 103,500 in the family class (mostly parents and grandparents); and 65,000 refugees and protected persons.
Such levels are unjustifiable by many measures. Canada’s unemployment rate is high, at 8.1 per cent, compared to 6.1 per cent in the U.S, and 5.6 per cent in Australia. Canada’s economic recovery is more fragile and will take longer, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund. The U.S. is vaccinating its way back quickly to an estimated 6.4 per cent growth in 2021 and Canada is forecast for 5 per cent growth this year, but that’s impossible given the lockdowns and border closings due to Ottawa’s ongoing vaccine procurement failure.
Besides, the very notion trotted out by the immigration minister that the economy grows because of immigration is fallacious. Plopping lots of people into an economy may increase the GDP but not if they are grandparents, unskilled, cannot find work, or are underemployed.
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As former premier Dwight Ball admitted to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a letter last year: “To put it bluntly, our recent attempts to finalize our borrowing program…. have been unsuccessful. We have no recourse to raise necessary funds to maintain the operation of government, including our health care system.”
That SOS call to Ottawa signalled the death of the “masters of our own house” dream.
But the pain of repairing the province’s finances is going to be felt far beyond its borders.
Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told the finance committee this week that spending in her first budget is “reasonable and sustainable.” But that fails to take into account the fact that spending by many provincial governments is neither.
What are the provinces that gladly put Justin into the seat of power going to do when printed money won't save them anymore?
The party's over:
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