PM Justin Trudeau's Canada

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[B]Dale Smith[/B]‏ @[B]journo_dale[/B] 27m27 minutes ago
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He just can't risk losing that support base to the PPC.

Meanwhile, Singh and Trudeau didn't mince words in their speeches. I particularly liked how the PM called out people who play footsie with racists to get their votes.

 

[Jasmine18]

He just can't risk losing that support base to the PPC.

Meanwhile, Singh and Trudeau didn't mince words in their speeches. I particularly liked how the PM called out people who play footsie with racists to get their votes.

Frankly I think its best for the country if Trudeau gets a minority govt.

It would keep the Tories from going full alt-right, Trudeau would likely govern better and with less arrogance.

I just have this sense that Trudeau continues as he has, his successor will be a Ford/ Trump type in the 2020s. I know in the progressive urban centres of the country Trudeau brand stays strong but I am starting to sense a disdain for Trudeau that reminds me of Kathleen Wynne here in the burbs but he can still recover.

I know people say we are 'too smart in Canada' for that but if people get angry at something in Canada, people generally don't look much into what they are voting for.

The Ford Brothers have disproven this notion of the 'wise canadian voter'

 

[TheKingEast]

Frankly I think its best for the country if Trudeau gets a minority govt.

It would keep the Tories from going full alt-right, Trudeau would likely govern better and with less arrogance.

I just have this sense that Trudeau continues as he has, his successor will be a Ford/ Trump type in the 2020s. I know in the progressive urban centres of the country Trudeau brand stays strong but I am starting to sense a disdain for Trudeau that reminds me of Kathleen Wynne here in the burbs but he can still recover.

I know people say we are 'too smart in Canada' for that but if people get angry at something in Canada, people generally don't look much into what they are voting for.

The Ford Brothers have disproven this notion of the 'wise canadian voter'

You are absolutely right but I think it’s too late.

 

[BurlOak]

The Ford Brothers have disproven this notion of the 'wise canadian voter'

No - Wynne, and Trudeau himself, disprove the notion of a 'wise Canadian voter'.
I suspect if Trudeau stays on as PM (majority or minority), we will have an Alberta separation referendum.

 

[Northern Light]

No - Wynne, and Trudeau himself, disprove the notion of a 'wise Canadian voter'.
I suspect if Trudeau stays on as PM (majority or minority), we will have an Alberta separation referendum.

 

[steveintoronto]

I just have this sense that Trudeau continues as he has, his successor will be a Ford/ Trump type in the 2020s.

Sometimes I fall victim to optimism...I think JWR has a good shot as next Fed Lib Leader. I think chances are good for a Lib minority, and that being an unstable one, and Trudeau either steps aside before or after the election. Before would allow someone like JWR to have a good chance of majority result.

She stands incredibly high in polling results, albeit at this point in time, it's one one issue. How wild is my optimism? If Doug Ford and others can get elected as 'populists' with a nasty agenda (and most of those who voted for them know that), then imagine what a populist with a positive documented agenda could do.

I'm quietly hopeful on this...

 

[Northern Light]

Soooo,

I just read the Federal Budget...................sigh..............

A document long on verbiage and making money disappear, and low on substantive investments in a fairer and more prosperous society.

There are investments in 'affordable home ownership' that largely accomplish nothing useful.

A program for first-time buyers would see CMHC participation in their mortgage, resulting in modestly lower carrying costs (I believe the aim was just $300 per month less for a typical qualifying mortgage).

Except, that in so far as this gooses the housing market it will drive up prices, largely erasing the benefit.

For a nation that has relatively high housing costs and surprisingly high home ownership levels notwithstanding that fact, this is not only an unnecessary move, but also an unhelpful one.

***

Support for ongoing education includes a new leave program of up to 4 weeks under EI.......(wow, lots of degrees and diplomas that'll help with)........

Also an expensive new education 'account' of sorts with the gov't depositing $250 per year on your behalf to a limit of 5k.

This does nothing tangible to reduce the cost of education in general nor is its sufficiently targeted at those for whom the cost is an acute barrier.

***

Seniors get a new exemption on GIS income....if its working income............WTF, why are we qualifying......you don't get GIS unless your total income is relatively low. I don't care how you get it or who you got it from or why.

The object should simply be to raise the threshold where it starts being taxed back! That's it! One simple, easy to understand, no hassle to access change.

***

Claims of enhanced tax fairness are mostly gibberish, doing little or nothing to curtail myriad legal tax shelters that predominantly benefit the wealthy.

The one somewhat useful change reduces the scope of a tax credit for stock-based compensation.......by limiting it to a max value of 200k!

This is not a screed about taxing the rich or anyone else more, its that fairness demands simplicity and transparency in taxes.

Its hard to have an honest conversation about who is paying what and whether that is fair, when the tax code is muddled beyond recognition with variable rates and loopholes.

Clean this bloody crap up. The size of the tax code can and should be cut by 90% (at least). Then a simple, streamlined, progressive bracket system will make everything clear as day.

***

Pharmacare gets a mention........some funding for a new agency for joint purchases which may be helpful; but no new money to actually help anyone purchase any drug before 2022-23 (500M)
with funding targeting rare/expensive diseases.

We could all debate at some length what can and should be funded, and how to do most effectively; but if we agree the above could be useful, given the inordinate and larger than needed size of this year's (2019-2020) deficit, it would
be nice if it paid for something more tangible, like the above, this year.

***

Given current projected revenues; it appears the government was on pace to have a deficit under 10B for the current year, with a reasonable shot at balance in the year ahead.

Instead, we are going to rack up more debt for at least another 4 years; which I might be able to support if I could see that it was achieving a great deal of tangible benefit........

but I can't.

***

How genuinely disillusioning.

Feel free to depress yourself with the source material here:

Archived - Budget 2019: Download PDFs

Homepage for Budget 2019 and related information.

budget.gc.ca

 

[jje1000]

Sort of feels like the budget the Wynne Liberals tabled before the Ontario election- forget the deficit and hope voters are enticed by goodies.

Given current projected revenues; it appears the government was on pace to have a deficit under 10B for the current year, with reasonable shot at balance in the year ahead.

Instead, we are going to rack up more debt for at least another 4 years; which I might be able to support if I could see that it was achieving a great deal of tangible benefit.

Trudeau spends budget windfall on 'laundry list' for voters

Justin Trudeau got a windfall and spent it, delivering a pre-election budget that leaves Canada’s deficit track largely unchanged.

Tuesday’s plan is aimed at key voting groups like seniors, students and young families. The budget is littered with pledges to support the middle class, and the wide-ranging spending measures include new funding for home buyers, infrastructure and indigenous communities.

“It’s more of a microeconomic budget,’’ said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Trudeau got billions in new revenue and “they’ve essentially allocated that money to a laundry list of items.’’

The good thing though- not that much, but I hope our transit projects can tap into those funds.

Trudeau’s plan includes $2.2 billion in new funding for municipalities to spend on infrastructure projects, and indicates the government’s existing multi-year infrastructure fund is largely unchanged.

Trudeau spends budget windfall on 'laundry list' for voters - BNN Bloomberg

Justin Trudeau got a windfall and spent it, delivering a pre-election budget that leaves Canada’s deficit track largely unchanged.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

No plan for balanced budgets even if Trudeau wins second majority

Even if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wins a second majority mandate in the fall, his government has no plan to return the federal books to balance.

Released on Tuesday, Budget 2019 lays out a plan for $4.2 billion in new, unannounced spending but keeps federal accounts in deficit until at least 2023-2024.

While that ratio might not seem as bad as some other countries, economists say the lack of action to get it down to where the government had promised could be a risk combined with other demographic changes facing Canada in the coming years.

He pointed specifically to the aging Baby Boomers, their anticipating draw on social services and the diminishing tax base the government will have as older Canadians opt out of the workforce.
All of those will likely see provinces requiring more money in transfer payments and less revenue coming into government coffers, making continued deficit levels risky in the longer term.

As well, economists are not ruling out a recession within the next 12 to 18 months, which could impact the underlying projections the budget is based on.

The government is predicting GDP growth of 1.8 per cent over the next year.


Private sector economists, on the other hand, are forecasting growth between 1.4 and 1.2 per cent and warning of the potential for a downturn around fall or winter of this coming year.

No plan for balanced budgets even if Trudeau wins second majority - National | Globalnews.ca

Even if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wins a second majority mandate, there is still no plan in sight to balance the budget before a second term would wrap up.

globalnews.ca

Also I guess the Liberals are hoping that everything's done and said for:

Liberals drop SNC-Lavalin study at justice committee

The Parliamentary Justice Committee has ended its study on the SNC-Lavalin issue with what NDP MP Murray Rankin called a "transparent effort to change the channel."

The justice committee convened behind closed doors Tuesday to plan the next steps in its study of alleged political interference in the corruption case of Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. While opposition MPs planned to fight for former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to testify before committee for a second time, the Liberals made it clear in advance of the meeting that they had no intention of granting the request. The night before the meeting, Liberals published a three-page letter laying out their plan to quash the study and leave investigation of the issue to the ethics commissioner.

Liberals drop SNC-Lavalin study at justice committee

The Parliamentary Justice Committee has ended its study on the SNC-Lavalin issue with what NDP MP Murray Rankin called a "transparent effort to change the channel."

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Videodrome]

Michel Boyer
@BoyerMichel

Just In: Senate Ethics Officer finds Sen. Lynn Beyak breached ethics rules when she posted racist letters on her website. She has been ordered to remove the letters from her website, formally apologize and complete a cultural sensitivity course.

Remember this lady?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Will a Trudeau government ever post a balanced or surplus budget?

 

[Northern Light]

Will a Trudeau government ever post a balanced or surplus budget?

It would seem unlikely.

If you believe the budget as presented; and he gets reelected in the fall; then certainly not through the end of the next term.

 

[TrickyRicky]

Northern Light, I think your assessment of the budget is a good one. It’s Wynne’s Ontario all over again.

I also particularly like your comment on the tax code. I really dislike the ever increasing complexity and web of programming. Social engineering through the tax code versus simple programs administered through direct subsidy is anti-progressive. Low income citizens need simple direct programs. High income people don’t need higher taxes they need less credits, exemptions, and tax loopholes.

 

[narduch]

I don't know, the Wynne budget was way worse. She made tons of promises she knew she wouldn't have to keep. Her situation was way worse.

This budget feels like something that would come form a governing party in their 6 year of power just going through the motions. I thought they would be more audacious in an Election year.

And the housing relief is a joke, as usual.

Trudeau still has an outside chance. Wynne was already toast.

 

[steveintoronto]

I thought they would be more audacious in an Election year.

What's troubling for me is that they gave everyone a biscuit and no-one who really needed it a meal. Infrastructure spending has massive multiplicative results, and it barely scored a mention. As some commentators have mentioned, the budget is a set-up for election goodies to follow, rather than an election budget in itself.

As to what will sink Trudeau et al is not the budget, but his fudge-it on SNC-L. There's a lot more to play yet on both.

 

[TrickyRicky]

The stakes are less high but it’s kind of putting people in the same position they had after the first Wynne mandate in Ontario. You can vote for the status quo of ever increasing government largesse and cynical vote buying but there’s a catch: The fiscal situation may very well deteriorate in the next number of years. That sets us up for a potential hard swing to the right in the next election. Ontario chose a second Wynne majority and so necessitated a swing to strong cost cutting and the obliteration of the Ontario Liberal Party in the next election. The wisdom of the crowd I think in this scenario would best chose a deadlocked minority to rule.