Canadian politics thread

[skiiipi]

Shocked there is not more discussion about this part of the Budget proposal

"The Liberals did lay out some policies, however, that will hit the pocketbooks of Canada’s wealthy. The budget proposes to introduce a tax on select luxury goods — including on the sales of luxury cars and personal aircrafts over $100,000 and boats, for personal use, over $250,000."

If this passes, and it gets layered on with the existing provincial luxury tax...that would mean taxes of up to 35% for a luxury car...that's just robbery.

[whitev70r]

^ ... ah, lots of good choices for < $99,999.99 ... especially slightly used. Might affect what ... 3-5% of us ... if that?

Rich Chinese dads be saying ... 'Sure son, whatever you want, just put it on my credit card'.

[GLOW]

wouldn't it be cash?

[whitev70r]

^ normally yes but Casino's have been closed for the past year so there is no way for them to clean the G's first.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by skiiipi

If this passes, and it gets layered on with the existing provincial luxury tax...that would mean taxes of up to 35% for a luxury car...that's just robbery.

As I understand it, people buying new cars above the $125k mark are often structuring the purchase as a lease in a manner where they are "only" paying the higher taxes on the portion that exceeds the tax bracket price ceiling. Plus, the leases are probably getting written off as a business expense as well.

Originally Posted by skiiipi

Shocked there is not more discussion about this part of the Budget proposal

As to the federal budget itself, I'd say it is a mix of good and bad stuff. I really like the $10 a day childcare proposal, even though I wouldn't be benefiting from it at all. At the same time, I am highly skeptical that the federal gov would be able to meet their timeline of halving childcare costs by 2022.

My major concern continues to be -- how are we going to pay for this? As a fiscally conservative person, I try to avoid doing things that I can't afford. Of course, my impression of Trudeau is the exact opposite -- his knack at spending money that he doesn't have -- that we (Canada) do not have is unbelievable.

[Traum]

On a different note, who would you say deserves the bigger blame in something like this? The federal gov for its incompetence? or the businesses for their greed?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cra...ints-1.5991108

The Canada Revenue Agency has received nearly 1,200 complaints about companies allegedly misusing federal support money designed to protect jobs during the pandemic, CBC News has learned.

Despite repeated threats from the federal finance minister's office to come down hard on companies with large fines and even imprisonment of executives for misusing the Canada emergency wage subsidy (CEWS), the CRA hasn't penalized a single company.

Critics say that's in part because the CEWS program doesn't expressly restrict how companies manage the profits that might result from receiving federal support for wages, so long as the government money was used for that purpose.

Yellow Pages, for instance, the phone book turned digital marketing company, collected $7.3 million in CEWS funds in 2020. It also paid out $8.8 million in dividends, the first such payment to its shareholders in several years. Between August and December, the company also bought back $3.3 million worth of its own stock.

TFI International, a Montreal-based shipping and logistics company with more than 16,000 employees across North America, hiked its dividend twice in 2020, paying out more than $67 million to shareholders while also receiving $52.3 million in CEWS.

High Liner Foods received $3.4 million in CEWS and increased its dividend by 40 per cent citing "improving free cash flow." High Liner Foods paid out a total of $5,518,000 in dividends in 2020.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by skiiipi

Shocked there is not more discussion about this part of the Budget proposal

"The Liberals did lay out some policies, however, that will hit the pocketbooks of Canada’s wealthy. The budget proposes to introduce a tax on select luxury goods — including on the sales of luxury cars and personal aircrafts over $100,000 and boats, for personal use, over $250,000."

If this passes, and it gets layered on with the existing provincial luxury tax...that would mean taxes of up to 35% for a luxury car...that's just robbery.

You can spend more on a personal boat than on a plane? Who has a 249k boat that isn't a luxury item?

[JD¹³]

The pandemic has a lot to do with this, but so does the terrible response to it. This is a staggering statistic. In five years of Trudeau "leadership" we are now in a worse position than Greece was when its government defaulted after 08-09. You know, when assets were frozen and people couldn't even withdraw their own money from national banks?

[Tapioca]

The notion that governments have to eventually pay back debt is somewhat anachronistic. The United States has run deficits for decades, yet they are still seen as the world's reserve currency. The argument is that as long as governments can comfortably service existing and new debt, then that's all that matters as credit-worthiness is maintained.

The far end of the spectrum is Modern Monetary Theory, which is starting to gain traction in political circles:

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2...ment-explained

[Traum]

As you have pointed out, eliminating the federal/provincial debt certainly seems to have fallen out of fashion today, and being able to service that debt is the more important question. The problem is, with Trudeau at the helm, the amount of debt that he has racked up regardless of whether it has anything to do with the pandemic or not is seriously threatening Canada's ability to service that debt.

The US and USD are also a unique case because no other country or currency enjoy the same status as US and the USD do at the moment.

Originally Posted by Tapioca

The notion that governments have to eventually pay back debt is somewhat anachronistic. The United States has run deficits for decades, yet they are still seen as the world's reserve currency. The argument is that as long as governments can comfortably service existing and new debt, then that's all that matters as credit-worthiness is maintained.
[/url]

[Hondaracer]

The US is the world leader in so many fields, they can float debt on innovation alone

Canada had oil, turd ended that. We have nothing to provide to cover our debt

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by JD¹³

The pandemic has a lot to do with this, but so does the terrible response to it. This is a staggering statistic. In five years of Trudeau "leadership" we are now in a worse position than Greece was when its government defaulted after 08-09. You know, when assets were frozen and people couldn't even withdraw their own money from national banks?

LOL I thought I've heard everything now. Now apparently we're worse off than fucking Greece in 2008

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by JD¹³

The pandemic has a lot to do with this, but so does the terrible response to it. This is a staggering statistic. In five years of Trudeau "leadership" we are now in a worse position than Greece was when its government defaulted after 08-09. You know, when assets were frozen and people couldn't even withdraw their own money from national banks?

I hate graphics like this, there's no context and it's completely misleading.

Name one PM in that graph that has had a global pandemic that's now spanned over a year now?

If you go through any major country right now -- all are seeing historically high debt levels never witnessed in their history.

So what's the point of this?

[westopher]

Graphs like that are just made to manipulate people that aren’t smart enough to interpret data.
Consider how irrelevant the first 75 years of Canada’s confederation are to those numbers when a tank of gas was a dollar and a house was 5k.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by JD¹³

The pandemic has a lot to do with this, but so does the terrible response to it. This is a staggering statistic. In five years of Trudeau "leadership" we are now in a worse position than Greece was when its government defaulted after 08-09. You know, when assets were frozen and people couldn't even withdraw their own money from national banks?

Got an actual source on that? I'm curious if they actually adjusted it all to today's dollars or not.

If you look at the debt over time it was pretty much constant til the pandemic hit. $950B in 2016 to $1,083B in 2020. I think that works out to about 3.5% per year. It's only the last year that makes it so high, and that' would've happened (give or take a bit) under anyone.

Meanwhile Stephen Harper brought us from $601B in 2006, down a little, and then up to the $950B in 2016. I think that works out to about 5.8% per year.

https://www.taxtips.ca/statistics/canadadebt.htm

[JD¹³]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

I hate graphics like this, there's no context and it's completely misleading.

Name one PM in that graph that has had a global pandemic that's now spanned over a year now?

If you go through any major country right now -- all are seeing historically high debt levels never witnessed in their history.

So what's the point of this?

I state in the very first sentence that the pandemic is the leading cause It's just amazing to see how much money has been spent while we all see little gain.

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

LOL I thought I've heard everything now. Now apparently we're worse off than fucking Greece in 2008

Serious question: do you know anything about economics? What a debt to GDP ratio is and what it means? How printing money devalues what's already in circulation? How having less buying power affects the economy and the cost of all your goods and services? What it forecasts for interest rates? Do you even know what happened in Greece? I know you're not very good with facts as you've already proven in this thread but here's one for you: Greece's Debt to GDP ratio peaked at 180% resulting in austerity measures in that country that still go on today and will for years if not decades. Canada is sitting around 400% and in a few years we will realize that cost due to the inability to service the debt.

[Manic!]

Not to sure what do think about this.

House of Commons passes bill that would legalize single-game betting

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/single-gam...ized-1.5999028

Lawmakers passed a bill to legalize single-event sports betting Thursday, sending the legislation to the Senate and bringing the country a step closer to looser gaming laws.

The bill aims to amend Criminal Code provisions around gambling on single games of football, hockey and other sports — currently illegal except for horse racing — in a bid to win back customers from offshore sites, U.S. casinos and illegal bookmakers.

The legislation has garnered renewed enthusiasm from MPs in all four main parties. But the private member's bill from Conservative MP Kevin Waugh isn't the first to blaze a trail through the House of Commons before burning out.

Similar NDP legislation zipped through the House with all-party support nearly a decade ago but foundered in the Senate and died when an election was called in 2015.

A second attempt by New Democrat MP Brian Masse also failed after the then-Liberal majority voted down his private member's bill in concert with Conservatives in 2016.

The third time may be the charm, after the Liberals rolled the dice last November on their own legislation, which they subsequently dropped when Waugh agreed to incorporate its protections for the horse-racing industry into his bill.

The legislation, known as Bill C-218, has garnered tentative support from a tight-knit horse-racing industry that remains wary of casinos and foreign gambling sites encroaching on its turf.

Las Vegas-style betting on single games would also eat into the multibillion-dollar black market by legally opening the books to gamblers eager to lay down money on individual games rather than wagering on fixed odds around two or more games.

"It's harder to win on three games," Waugh said in an interview. "You could do the Maple Leafs in the playoffs, or Blue Jays or Raptors.

"This will give provincial authorities full jurisdiction for single-event betting. What this bill does is take a line out of the Criminal Code to let them."

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Not to sure what do think about this.

House of Commons passes bill that would legalize single-game betting

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/single-gam...ized-1.5999028

Moral high grounds aside, it makes no sense for Canada to disallow single-game betting in this day and age. In the Internet age, if none of the Canadian sources would allow for it, people will just go to the internationally accessible avenues instead. The banning of single game betting does not prevent people from single game better -- it just drive them away to do it elsewhere, and along with that, it drives the gambling (tax) revenues away along with it.

[6793026]

You can never win.

1) Gov't opening pockets for loans... people want grants.
2) Gov't can't stop these incentives cause honestly, there are TONS of people who are out of a job.

Look at today... raining.. patios are GAME OVER. Restaurants called their servers 4 hrs before.. "hey, it's raining, don't come in for next 7 days, cause we ain't opening; no one will sit on a rainy patio at 12C"

Rarely are people thankful saying thank you gov't on the subsidies.

[Manic!]

Ipsos Poll: LPC 38%, CPC 27%, NDP 19%, GRN 7%, BQ 7%

cons losing ground. Now a double digit gap. Problem is no one knows there policies.

https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/budget-d...igit-lead-over

[Zedbra]

As the world media is saying, the only thing worse than Trudeau's insults to the Canadian people, is the people voting and believing his lies and ethical breaking of laws and patronage. Enjoy your rights to free speech while you can.

https://fb.watch/58BgABsA_Z/

[68style]

I mean, the video is nonsense, but I'd be stoked if the government got rid of half the people posting or their posts on social media

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Zedbra

As the world media is saying, the only thing worse than Trudeau's insults to the Canadian people, is the people voting and believing his lies and ethical breaking of laws and patronage. Enjoy your rights to free speech while you can.

https://fb.watch/58BgABsA_Z/

All the cons can do is complain. They have no plans for Canada.

[Zedbra]

Originally Posted by 68style

I mean, the video is nonsense, but I'd be stoked if the government got rid of half the people posting or their posts on social media

So you embrace having the government remove other peoples' liberties to satisfy your sense of self security? Unreal. It could be you that the gov deems needs to be made silent one day, and others will be applauding the action, just like you are here.

[68style]

Nah, I just think you’re off your fuckin rocks that’s all lol

Keep hiding in the basement in fear that everyone’s trying to take everything away from you all the time. Don’t you ever get tired? Is your life here that bad man? Lots of other places to go live instead of bitching constantly about the horrible state of everything here. That’s the “unreal” part.

Too busy living in your own mind. If the government deemed me necessary to make quiet it would mean I’m pretty fuckin important and doing something audaciously contrarian to Canadian society, but I’m not and I won’t be, and neither are/will you, so maybe stop thinking you are and you’ll have an easier less stressful day worrying about them coming after you.