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Ottawa, Yemen and Guardian

November 16, 2018

Ottawa, Yemen and Guardian

One has to admire the Canadian government’s manipulation of the media regarding its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Despite being partners with the Kingdom’s international crimes, the Liberals have managed to convince some gullible folks they are challenging Riyadh’s rights abuses.

By downplaying Ottawa’s support for violence in Yemen while amplifying Saudi reaction to an innocuous tweet the dominant media has wildly distorted the Trudeau government’s relationship to the monarchy.

In a story headlined “Trudeau says Canada has heard Turkish tape of Khashoggi murder”, Guardian diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour affirmed that “Canada has taken a tough line on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record for months.” Hogwash. Justin Trudeau’s government has okayed massive arms sales to the monarchy and largely ignored the Saudi’s devastating war in Yemen, which has left up to 80,000 dead, millions hungry and sparked a terrible cholera epidemic.

While Ottawa recently called for a ceasefire, the Liberals only direct condemnation of the Saudi bombing in Yemen was an October 2016 statement. It noted, “the Saudi-led coalition must move forward now on its commitment to investigate this incident” after two airstrikes killed over 150  and wounded 500 during a funeral in Sana’a.

By contrast when the first person was killed from a rocket launched into the Saudi capital seven months ago, Chrystia Freeland stated, “Canada strongly condemns the ballistic missile attacks launched by Houthi rebels on Sunday, against four towns and cities in Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh’s international airport. The deliberate targeting of civilians is unacceptable.” In her release, Canada’s foreign minister also accepted the monarchy’s justification for waging war. “There is a real risk of escalation if these kinds of attacks by Houthi rebels continue and if Iran keeps supplying weapons to the Houthis”, Freeland added.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

In September, Did the Liberals Out-Harper the Conservatives?

October 1, 2016

In September, Did the Liberals Out-Harper the Conservatives?

On climate, foreign workers, and unions, Trudeau government moves this month have rankled progressives.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
At home recently, the Trudeau government’s actions have left many progressive Canadians feeling frustrated and misled. Photo by Chris Wattie, Reuters Media Express.

The key players in Stephen Harper’s government would have been high-fiving after the month Justin Trudeau’s is finishing up.

In September, the Liberal government took a hard line stance with a public union, held steady to the Conservatives’ greenhouse gas targets, approved a liquefied natural gas plant and pipeline assailed by environmentalists and Indigenous groups, and some say signalled it may extend, rather than curtail, powers to spy on citizens granted by the Harper government’s controversial Bill C-51.

For good measure, Trudeau’s Liberals also suggested making it easier for businesses to bring more temporary foreign workers to Canada, taking a position even Harper had backed away from after abuses of the federal program hit the headlines. The Conservatives tightened restrictions on who can hire foreign workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Earlier this month, a Liberal-dominated Parliamentary committee released a report recommending easier access to the program for businesses.

Trudeau rode to victory in October by running to the left of the NDP on many issues. In New York this month, he painted his government, and Canada, as progressive beacons to the world, particularly in welcoming refugees.

But at home, the Trudeau government’s actions have left many progressive Canadians feeling frustrated and misled.

Even Conservatives are concluding that Trudeau’s team has come to embrace Harper’s political agenda.

Conservative Colin Carrie, Oshawa MP and critic for health, says the Liberals’ decision to “copy” Conservative policy shows the Harper government was on the right track.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Federal books in $2.8B deficit over first four months of fiscal year

October 1, 2016

Federal books in $2.8B deficit over first four months of fiscal year

Ottawa ran $1.8B deficit in July 

Between April and July of this year, federal revenues were $2.3 billion lower compared with last year, while program expenses were $6.5 billion higher.

Between April and July of this year, federal revenues were $2.3 billion lower compared with last year, while program expenses were $6.5 billion higher. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

New numbers released Friday show the federal government ran a deficit of $2.8 billion over the first four months of 2016-17 — dropping Ottawa’s fiscal position $8 billion lower than it was over the same period a year ago.

By comparison, Ottawa had a $5.2-billion surplus during the same April-to-July stretch last year, according to the Finance Department’s monthly fiscal monitor.

This year in July alone, the report said the government books showed a deficit of $1.8 billion — down from a $200-million surplus a year earlier. The July data included a $1.4-billion increase in program expenses, an $800-million decline in revenues and a $200-million decrease in public-debt charges.

Between April and July, the numbers show federal revenues were $2.3 billion lower compared with last year, while program expenses were $6.5 billion higher. The government’s debt-servicing costs were $800 million lower over the time period, mostly because of the impacts of weaker inflation on bonds and a lower average interest rate.

Earlier this week, the federal budget watchdog said government spending under the Liberal government over the first three months of the fiscal year reached its highest mark in at least six years.

Higher program spending

On Friday, the fiscal monitor said the bulk of the added spending between April and July was due to a $3.9-billion increase in direct program expenses compared with a year ago — a spike of 11.9 per cent.

A closer look at the increase showed that transfer payments were up $2 billion, or 21 per cent. Finance said the bigger number was a reflection of year-over-year differences in the timing of the payments and an increase in disaster assistance.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Response to Tax Dodging by Rich Will Show Trudeau’s True Colours

May 14, 2016

Response to Tax Dodging by Rich Will Show Trudeau’s True Colours

CRA ties to industry, special deals demand Liberal action.

SmellTestWhatSmell_610px.jpg

Cartoon by Greg Perry.

Note to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

We will not be distracted forever by your explanation of quantum computers and yoga poses. Or even by the admittedly impressive list of low-hanging fruit (most recently, the return of the long-form census) you have picked thanks to Stephen Harper.

It’s a comforting distraction to think that we might actually have a government that isn’t totally in the thrall of Bay Street billionaires and transnational corporations. But everything we know about your party suggests that nothing fundamental has changed. The litmus test will be how you deal with KPMG over an outrageous tax-avoidance scheme, and with the giant firm’s apologists in the Canada Revenue Agency.

By now most people are familiar with the KPMG tax “sham”uncovered by CBC News. The scheme involved at least 26 wealthy clients (minimum contribution, $5 million) for whom KPMG set up shell companies in the Isle of Man, one of many tax havens for the rich and large corporations.

The Canada Revenue Agency initially said the scheme was “grossly negligent” and “intended to deceive.”

Secretive ‘amnesty’ deals

But 15 of the 26 participants would end up getting special treatment. Some of the first ones caught were assessed huge penalties, but later KPMG clients were offered a secret deal. The “amnesty” agreement granted rich KPMG clients immunity from civil and criminal prosecution and freedom from any penalties, fines or interest as long as they paid the taxes they had dodged. Secrecy was written into the agreement: “The taxpayer agrees to ensure the confidentiality of the offer and will not inform any person of the conditions of the offer…”

Dennis Howlett of Canadians for Tax Fairness [disclosure: I am on the board] said KPMG should be charged with facilitating tax evasion. Other tax experts said a criminal investigation is warranted.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Canada goes full Krugman. Finance minister jacks up borrowing and spending, confirms gold sale – Peter Diekmeyer

April 2, 2016

Canada goes full Krugman. Finance minister jacks up borrowing and spending, confirms gold sale – Peter Diekmeyer

Canada goes full Krugman. Finance minister jacks up borrowing and spending, confirms gold sale - Peter Diekmeyer

Bill Morneau took centre stage last week in the Canadian Parliament and didn’t disappoint. The new Liberal finance minister’s first budget jacked up program spending across the board, to be paid for by borrowing and, eventually, presumably, money printing. His rhetoric was coated with suggestions that “economic growth” would solve the country’s problems. The only folks left out were taxpayers and savers.

On the face of it, Morneau’s logic makes sense. With interest rates near zero and the Canadian government’s debts among the lowest in the G-7, why not borrow a bit and invest in infrastructure? Well, there are several reasons – and all of them augur well for the future of gold.

Canadian government debt at record levels

Morneau is technically right. The Canadian government’s debt is at low levels compared to that of other advanced economies. However, those numbers are shaky. For one, they include only federal debts, not provincial debts. If you include all Canadian government debts including the provinces (US states are not allowed to run deficits), things look far worse.

Furthermore, Morneau’s numbers don’t include huge debts that the former Conservative Harper Government never bothered to record as liabilities, such as deferred pension and healthcare costs, a policy Prime Minister Trudeau’s Liberal government is continuing. Canada’s Fraser Institute estimates that such unfunded liabilities totalled nearly $4.1 trillion1 in 2014. Those unrecorded debts alone are equal to more than 200% of Canada’s GDP. Worse, Canadians, whose household debt-to-disposable-income ratios are at record levels, are in no position to finance those additional government obligations.

Sell off gold, spend the cash

During the hours before Mr. Morneau tabled the budget, he wandered into the lock-up room, where reporters were poring over advance copies of the document.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Liberal fiscal plans less transparent than under Harper, Kevin Page says

February 27, 2016

Liberal fiscal plans less transparent than under Harper, Kevin Page saysKevin Page, Canada's former parliamentary budget officer, says the Liberal government is even less transparent on fiscal matters than their Conservative predecessors.

Kevin Page, Canada’s former parliamentary budget officer, says the Liberal government is even less transparent on fiscal matters than their Conservative predecessors. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

 Listen 9:40

Canada’s former parliamentary budget officer says the Liberal government is even less transparent on fiscal matters than the Conservative government it succeeded.

“I don’t think it is [more transparent]. The documents — they’re not better from a government that promised to be better, more transparent … there’s no more information, perhaps even less information, than what we got from the previous government,” Kevin Page said said in an interview CBC Radio’s The House.

“I don’t think we’ve seen the transparency yet,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a pledge to run three “modest” deficits of no more than $10 billion a year. But Finance Minister Bill Morneau released his second fiscal update this week ahead of the March 22 federal budget, and his figures show it will be much higher than that.

The deficit will balloon to $18.4 billion in 2016-17 and $15.5 billion in 2017-18 — and that is before any new spending Morneau outlines in the March budget. Those numbers are drastically different from the $3.9-billion and $2.4-billion shortfalls forecast just three months ago.

“A less ambitious government might see these conditions as a reason to hide, to make cuts or to be overly cautious. But our government might see that the economic downturn makes our plan to grow the economy even more relevant than it was a few short months ago,” Morneau said Monday.

Page, who frequently squared off with the previous Conservative government over their fiscal secrecy, says his concerns about transparency stem from a lack clarity around the deficit figure.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Pipeline Reforms ‘Great Step’ but Don’t Account for Most Emissions, Say Climate Critics

January 28, 2016

Pipeline Reforms ‘Great Step’ but Don’t Account for Most Emissions, Say Climate Critics

Does ignoring downstream impacts export Canada’s responsibilities?

COVERCatherineMcKenna-610.jpg

Canada’s minister of the environment and climate change Catherine McKenna at the COP21 climate summit in Paris, France in December. Photo by Mychaylo Prystupa.

The Trudeau government’s newly announced reforms to pipeline environmental assessments still fail to consider the impact of almost 90 per cent of resulting greenhouse gas emissions, climate experts have told The Tyee.

The government announced a new interim assessment regime Wednesday, saying it will restore public confidence in much-criticized National Energy Board reviews.

The major change will see a pipeline’s upstream emissions included in the assessment. For a pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands, for example, the greenhouse gases produced in mining and processing the bitumen will be included in the environmental assessment review.

But critics say government will still not be considering the much greater downstream emissions as pipeline products are processed and burned in vehicles, factories and power plants.

A recent analysis by Simon Fraser University climate economist Mark Jaccard found these emissions represented up to 89 per cent of greenhouse gases from the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

University of British Columbia climate policy expert Kathryn Harrison says Ottawa is effectively exporting the climate change problem to other countries by ignoring downstream emissions.

IMAGE1.upstream-300.jpg

Analysis of the full greenhouse gas impact of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion pipeline shows 89 per cent is in the downstream GHG impacts overseas in refining and combusting. Source: Mark Jaccard and Associates.

Harrison said under international reporting norms the downstream greenhouse gas emissions are the responsibility of the end-user country. “But the fact is, we’re contributing to that, and we’re making money from it.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Ontarians Urged To “Voluntarily” Pay More Taxes To Cut Province’s Debt

December 27, 2015

Ontarians Urged To “Voluntarily” Pay More Taxes To Cut Province’s Debt

Christmas is a time for giving and that is what Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is asking of her citizenry. With almost $300 billion in debt, and almost 1 in 10 dollars of revenue going to pay interest, and already facing the highest tax rates in North America, The Star reports that Ontario officials are asking that ‘patriots’ voluntarily donate their tax refund or write a cheque to defray the province’s massive debtload.

As The Toronto Sun reports, Canada’s largest province has asked its taxpayers to donate their hard-earned money to the cause of bailing out the much indebted provincial government.

For a mere $21,000 for every man, woman and child in the province, Ontario could be debt free.

No, this is not some kind of holiday joke about the Grinch who stole Christmas.

On top of paying among the highest taxes in North America, and coping with skyrocketing hydro prices — hikes directly caused by the decisions made by this Liberal administration and the previous one — the Wynne government wants more.

Treasury Board Chair Deb Matthews made the bold request last week, and specifically asked folks to donate their tax return rebate to help pay off the provincial debt.

“It’s an unusual thing for someone to do, but I would encourage any Ontarian who wants to make a contribution to feel free to do so,” said Matthews.

A government asking for donations isn’t just unusual. It’s like a stranger taking your car and then coming back the next day to ask if you’ll chip in some money for the gas. Maybe you can pay for an oil change, too?

But the Wynne government is desperate for cash.

For the past decade, they’ve spent and borrowed like there’s no tomorrow and wasted public funds with little concern for taxpayers.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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