Morneau’s new budget can be a wild success: here’s how
OTTAWA—In response to staggering levels of wildlife loss, conservation organizations and federal parliamentarians of all political stripes have asked the Government of Canada to make nature a priority in the looming federal budget by allocating at least $1.4-billion for habitat protections. While spending on nature is a huge need, how any money is spent is […]
Why the world needs a little less Canada in 2018
Barack Obama, then United States president, told Parliament in 2016 that: “The world needs more Canada.” Banners in Chapters bookstores proclaimed the same message in 2017, by way of celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary. But considering the harm to nature that Canadians cause, the inconvenient truth is that the world needs less Canada. Indeed, if the world’s other species could vote on which humans should be voted off Turtle Island, Canadians would be […]
We should tax meat and subsidize fruits and vegetables
Nothing elicits grumbles quite like talking about taxes. Governments around the world tax income, carbon, alcohol, tobacco, sugar, houses, inheritances, even saturated fat. And these taxes can be not insignificant; in Canada, for example, 35 per cent of the pump price for gas is tax. If a group of investors managing trillions of dollars is […]
Minimum wage increase will also affect tipping
TORONTO—There’s a lot of talk these days about the increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour. This legislation will affect all industries, but we’re mainly focusing on the restaurant industry. I would like to talk about another aspect of the restaurant industry, the tipping, and how, or if, this new legislation will have […]
Forthcoming national IP strategy needs incentives to spur Canadian growth
It is well established, both in Canada and abroad, that all forms of intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyright, industrial designs, trade secrets, etc.) are important to business scalability and sustainability. However, for many years Canada has been lagging behind other jurisdictions in taking advantage of this knowledge by failing to establish policy incentives for developing […]
Greed is not a social policy
OTTAWA—When the CBC sought comment about efforts by Tim Hortons heirs Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri Lynn Horton-Joyce to recoup benefits from employees soon to be making $14 an hour, the reporter was told the pair wouldn’t be available to comment because they were at their winter home in Florida. Of course it wasn’t only […]
Finance Committee recommends budget focus on mental health, getting under-represented groups in workforce
After hearing from hundreds of advocacy groups about what should be in this year’s federal budget, the Liberal-dominated House Finance Committee decided last month against recommending spending cuts despite the growing budget deficit, instead urging the federal government to focus on getting under-represented populations into the workforce, addressing mental-health needs, and targeted infrastructure spending. For the […]
‘Certainly a drag on what the federal government can do’: economists split on usefulness of racking up debt for infrastructure spending
The Liberal government has promised to increase the federal debt to invest in infrastructure it says will boost the economy, but economists are divided on whether the increased public debt, and the money spent to pay it off, is worth it. With an improved economy and interest rates expected to rise, the annual cost of […]
Marijuana legislation will not achieve its objectives and should be defeated
It’s difficult to remember the last time the federal government and the provinces came to an agreement on revenue sharing in a single day. But that’s what happened last week when the feds agreed to give the provinces 75 per cent of tax revenue generated by the sale of marijuana. Initially, the Trudeau government was […]
Internal Economy Board approves ‘new standard’ of House spending above $500M
House of Commons spending is on track to remain above the half-billion-dollar mark next fiscal year, as the Board of Internal Economy approved a $507-million budget for Members of Parliament, House officers, and the staff who support them. The committee’s Dec. 7 vote marks the first time House of Commons spending has been approved with […]
