Liberals push back against eliminating deferred-tax provision, but say Morneau open to change
The elimination of work-in-progress tax deferrals in the last federal budget will not only be a detriment to lawyers but also impede Canadians’ access to justice, say some Liberal MPs and the Canadian Bar Association who are pushing back against the policy. Yet members of the Liberal caucus say Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, […]
“The Liberal government has introduced a 308-page budget implementation bill. What from it stands out to you most?”
Kate Purchase Liberal strategist “Last week, our government introduced the Budget Implementation Act—the next step in our ambitious plan to invest in the middle class and build an economy that is as inclusive as it is innovative. Here are just a few of the ways the act will prepare Canadians and their communities for the […]
Wynne’s housing plan a potpourri of politics
TORONTO—Ontario’s new Fair Housing Plan is a potpourri of politics with a few good ideas mixed in. If Toronto and surrounding areas are indeed caught up in an irrational real estate bubble, the measures announced Thursday may well burst it. As the Dutch discovered during the tulip craze of the 17th century, bubbles based on […]
Privatizing Canada’s airports is a bad idea
PARLIAMENT HILL—Privatizing Canadian airports is a very bad idea. The problem with privatization is clear: it favours profit over service. The government should seriously consider its options before it completely destroys a model that serves Canada and Canadians well. The current model works because it provides the accountability necessary to ensure that government and airports […]
Liberals ready to sacrifice country’s airports for quick cash
The Liberals have spent the cash and their credit card to the limit and are now looking to sell off the furniture. This means Canada’s major airports may be up for sale. While this asset sale wasn’t announced in Budget 2017, there is no doubt it remains on the table. It is hard to believe […]
Don’t go back on carbon pricing; pendulum policies push away investment
Donald Trump is not much of a believer in human involvement in climate change—neither in its cause (or even just its acceleration), nor in slowing it down. But what he does in his own country clearly has global ramifications. His rejection of environmental policies such as carbon pricing have many on this side of the […]
Proposed PBO changes fall short of promise
Within the 308-page budget bill are proposed changes to the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer that, on the surface, would seem to meet some of the Liberal government’s campaign promises and grant some of the wishes of individuals who have worked within that office. The budget legislation, Bill C-44, among many other things, makes […]
Our misfiring, cartoonish opposition: don’t Conservative, NDP MPs have anything better to do with their time?
GATINEAU, QUE.—Just when you thought politics couldn’t get any more trivial, or annoying, up pops Conservative MP Tony “Gazebo” Clement in Question Period last week to lambaste the prime minister for claiming—falsely, say fake-furious opposition MPs—that he had to accept a free ride on the Aga Khan’s helicopter last Christmas because that was the only […]
This just in: Liberals hiring political staffers for ministers’ regional offices
The Liberal government has hired a number of political staffers to work in regional ministers’ offices across the country in recent months, including five new regional managers, and there are plans to hire more. Previously, under the Harper Conservative government various cabinet ministers were appointed to also serve as regional ministers, with 14 in all. Correspondingly, ministers’ […]
Delayed spending puts communities at risk
Budget 2017, despite its promising title, Building a Strong Middle Class, does leave the middle class struggling with rising costs and record household debt, and only serves the interests of the wealthy and the well-connected. Budgets are about choices and, unfortunately, the Liberal budget contains nothing on a number of key areas, and backloads the funding […]
