Ottawa has a spending problem, with a worrisome deficit and a debt service problem. Canada’s federal debt is about $1.2 trillion - roughly $30,000 per person, over $60,000 per household. Even worse, the debt is growing, with the current Liberal regime forecasting a...
Politicians have a trick of responding to questions on how they are addressing a public policy challenge by listing off the dollar amounts they have “invested.”Looked at closely, this is not answering the question that was asked, but engaging in obfuscation....
There’s a reason Justin Trudeau no longer says, “The budget will balance itself.” It won’t. He made the famous comment in 2013 immediately following a Conservative budget. The full quote is, “The commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget...
The death of Ancient Rome wasn’t so much a collapse as a slow, interminable decay: between the second and sixth centuries AD, its population declined from a million people to just 30,000. Since then, 15 centuries have passed and thousands of cities have been built....
Those of you who are tired of my rants about the demise of our once great health system will be pleased to know that this is my last editorial. I am retiring from the BCMJ Editorial Board; currently, I am the longest-serving member (more than 20 years). I have been a...
Back in the lofty, pre-Justin Trudeau government days of 2014, back when oil was booming, pipelines were planned to east and west coasts, and Alberta and Saskatchewan were swimming in money, around $81 billion was spent in capital expenditures (CAPEX) in the Canadian...
Based on Finance Minister Jennifer Howard's recent update on her government's financial situation, taxpayers should be alarmed. Despite the unexpected tax and fee hikes of the last two years, she not only expects a deficit of close to $500 million for the NDP...
A recent report by the Fraser Institute on economic freedom across all 60 Canadian provinces and US states, has ranked Alberta first, and Saskatchewan right behind in second place. This news received significant media coverage in Saskatchewan and across North America...
The country is shuffling through a very weak recovery, and public opinion remains distinctly negative, with nearly half of Americans saying China has already leapfrogged us and nearly 60 percent convinced the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The Manitoba Liberals may make gains next election, so they should adopt some winning policy ideas.
For the latest evidence of the town-gown divide, look no further than New Jersey, where earlier this summer residents of Princeton banded together to sue the prestigious school in their backyard. The residents argued that Princeton University, which boasts the largest endowment per student in the country, should no longer be entitled to its tax-exempt status because the school makes money—from its scientific patents, ticketed concerts, on-campus eateries and more. The Ivy League school is operating like a business, the plaintiffs say, so the tax code should treat it like one.
“I did a little calculation yesterday,” says Stuart Iliffe, a Canadian working in Hong Kong as chief financial officer of publishing house PPP Co. Ltd. “If I earned $100,000 [all figures Canadian unless noted] in Canada, after tax I would keep $64,000. If I earned $100,000 in Hong Kong, and made use of the married man’s tax allowance, I would keep $90,100.” Those are startling figures – and they don’t even take into account that the former British colony – since 1997 a special administrative region (SAR) of China – has no goods and services tax, harmonized sales tax or value added tax.
Listen to Graham Lane speak about Manitoba Hydro at Lunch on the Frontier here. (61 minutes)
Is it really sustainable for your paycheque to go up by 2 per cent a year, but your hydro bill to go up by 4 per cent, your school taxes by 6 per cent, your property taxes by 3.5 per cent and the provincial sales tax to go up to 8 per cent? Obviously it isn’t sustainable, but that’s what’s going on; government is simply becoming way too expensive for many people.
Taxpayers are either being purposely misled, or the government is simply relying on the public’s general lack of knowledge of government accounting.