“We make Canada better:” Canada Revenue Agency

True North Wire
-
0
“We make Canada better:” Canada Revenue Agency

According to an Access to Information document, senior management at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) praised the government finance agency as “an important part of the engine that helps Canada operate.”

“We make Canada better. We contribute to the quality of life in Canada by striving to deliver world class tax and benefit services that touch the lives of over 36 million Canadians,” management said. 

The remarks were made in response to a contest application to be named one of “Canada’s Top 100 Employers” in 2020. The winners were chosen by MediaCorp Canada Inc. of Toronto.

In their application, the CRA listed a number of employee benefits including, eighteen weeks’ paid maternity leave, 5% bonuses for executives, up to six weeks’ paid vacation, fifteen paid sick days a year, 45 hours of family-related paid leave annually, an annual barbeque and a certificate signed by the Prime Minister for ten years’ service.

In September, as a large swathe of Canadians remained out of work due to the ongoing pandemic, 29,000 CRA employees received a retroactive salary increase. 

The tentative agreement, which was negotiated by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, will give CRA employees an average annual raise of 2.2% retroactively.

In November, the CRA also refused to elaborate on a spike in audits of small businesses who benefited from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

Despite calls from the Conservatives to pause audits on small businesses, the CRA would not provide further information on where auditors have been allocated since relocating 3,000 of them to focus on coronavirus programs on April 21.

KNIGHT: Trudeau’s complete disregard for the taxpayer

Leo Knight
-
0
KNIGHT: Trudeau’s complete disregard for the taxpayer

Justin Trudeau has racked up the biggest deficit in Canadian history in a matter of two months. Our deficit is nearing $400 billion and our national debt is a whopping $1.4 trillion.

To make matters worse, there is no oversight and no accountability for this historical amount of spending. Even the Parliamentary Budget Officer has acknowledged that there is a lack of information available to the public.

True North’s Leo Knight hopes the Trudeau government treats the taxpayer better in the new year – but he highly doubts it.

Free lunch buffet for MPs during pandemic cost $891 a day

True North Wire
-
0
Free lunch buffet for MPs during pandemic cost $891 a day

Free lunch buffets in the House of Commons lobby for MPs during emergency parliamentary sittings cost taxpayers $891 a day.

According to government documents obtained by Blacklocks Reporter, the cost for eleven days of emergency sittings during the coronavirus pandemic totaled $9,806 or the equivalent of $891 daily. 

This is the first time in 29 years that the costs of the free lunches were disclosed to the public.

In addition to the free buffet in the lobby, MPs are allotted a $21 per diem for lunch.

According to Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski, many MPs would treat themselves to the free lunch buffet despite not being on House duty. Many MPs would pocket their $21 per diem at the same time. 

“There are many, many, many MPs that have lunches at committees, lunches in the lobby, and still claim the full per diem,” “You are supposed to, by the rules, if you have a lunch in the lobby, eliminate that lunch from your daily per diem. I don’t know how many Members are doing that,” said Lukiwski during an operations committee meeting in November.

“If we’re going to talk about cutting down on costs, let’s go all the way. I mean, let’s really talk about saving taxpayers’ dollars.” 

As MPs enjoy their free meals, many Canadians are struggling to make ends meet as a result of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns.

According to Canada’s Food Price Report 2021, Canadians are expected to pay up to $695 extra for groceries next year. The growing cost of meat, bread and vegetables will contribute to an 3% to 5% increase in food. 

Further, food bank usage has increased across Canada. According to Feed Ontario, Ontario has seen a 26.5% increase in first-time visitors at food banks across the province since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. 

FUREY: Are lockdowns the only solution?

True North Wire
-
0
FUREY: Are lockdowns the only solution?

Since the pandemic began, politicians across Canada have worked tirelessly thinking of ways to curb the coronavirus – and so far, the only solution they can think of is closing down small businesses and locking Canadians down.

Are lockdowns the only viable solution to combat the coronavirus? Or is there a better way?

Anthony Furey hopes politicians across the country take a break this holiday and gain some perspective.

ESKENASI: Is it offensive to say “Merry Christmas?”

Sam Eskenasi
-
0
ESKENASI: Is it offensive to say “Merry Christmas?”

Almost every year we hear about people being offended by someone saying “Merry Christmas.”

Sam Eskenasi, an Orthodox Jew, says that’s silly and that the real offence comes from people who say “Happy Holidays.”

Watch Sam’s Christmas message and find out why he doesn’t have a holiday tree and isn’t getting Chanukah presents from Santa this year.

LAWTON: The Liberals take aim at True North

Andrew Lawton
-
0
LAWTON: The Liberals take aim at True North

Despite Justin Trudeau’s many proclamations about the importance of press freedom, his actions show it’s not a liberty he cares about in practice.

After True North’s Andrew Lawton did a year-end interview with Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, the Liberals sent out a fundraising email maligning True North as “far-right” and “anti-immigration.”

This isn’t just an attack on True North, but on all those who view and support True North’s content, Lawton says

Support True North and our fight for press freedom.

ESKENASI: Do we live in a free market anymore?

Sam Eskenasi
-
0
ESKENASI: Do we live in a free market anymore?

Provinces across the country are imposing stricter lockdown measures as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise. For many Canadians this has meant that their only major shopping choices are ‘big-box’ stores or online.

This has had a crippling effect on the economy and put many small companies out of business, but what has it done to the free market as we understand it?

Sam Eskenasi says that the free market in Canada has not only been substantially harmed, but that rationale for doing so simply isn’t borne out by the data.

Second carbon tax expected to increase gas by 50 cents a litre by 2030

True North Wire
-
0
Second carbon tax expected to increase gas by 50 cents a litre by 2030

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Trudeau government’s second carbon tax could increase the cost of gasoline by 50 cents by the year 2030. 

The government’s recently unveiled Clean Fuel Standard aims to reduce the carbon content of liquid fuels — including those used in transportation and heating homes.

The Canadians for Affordable Energy (CAE) is raising the alarm about the potential harm such an increase would have on low and middle-income households.

“This is extremely cruel. It’s a real mess and it’s completely self-inflicted. I have been in government, and I have never seen a government inflict this kind of cost on consumers,” said CAE President Dan McTeague, who is also a former Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs. 

“This is a bad day for consumers. They just got hit with a hammer. This will have a cascading effect on costs that will impact everybody.”

The new regulations which require the ethanol content to increase from the current rate of 5% to 13%, are expected to take effect in 2022 with further proposed hikes over a seven-year period. 

A notice by the Department of Environment even acknowledged the fact that the hike would disproportionately impact ordinary households and those currently struggling with “energy poverty.” 

“These impacts will not be distributed evenly,” claimed the Department of Environment notice. 

“[An increase] would disproportionately impact lower and middle income households.” 

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled an increase to the federally imposed carbon tax scheme. Under the latest hikes, Canadians can expect the carbon tax to reach $170 a tonne by the year 2030 with $15 a year spikes each year until it hits that target. 

In an interview with True North for the four-part documentary series Green Hypocrisy, Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Aaron Wudrick told Candice Malcolm that the carbon tax scheme would harm Canadians who are reliant on gasoline for their daily lives.

“Things like gasoline are pretty inelastic so if you have to drive to work or you live in a place where there’s no transit, you have to pay for gas,” said Wudrick. 

“So even if the price of gas is $1.00 a litre or $1.50 a litre, you’re still going to do it so you don’t actually reduce the emissions but you do increase the cost to use.”

Watch Green Hypocrisy at www.greenhypocrisy.ca.

Indian pastor murdered after baptizing new believers

True North Wire
-
0
Indian pastor murdered after baptizing new believers

An Indian pastor was shot dead on his way home from baptizing five new converts to Christianity.

According to International Christian Concern, Pastor Salim Stephen Surin was on his way home in India’s Jharkhand state when he was confronted and shot by three men.

“They killed my husband in front of my own eyes,” Pastor Surin’s wife Tarsis said. 

“I was terrified seeing my husband collapse having been shot in the chest. I started to think about my children and loudly cried out to God to save me and take care of my [two] children.”

The baptisms took place in the village of Putikda, where Hindu extremists have reportedly threatened the Christian community in the past. Pastor Surin and his wife made regular trips to Putikda to support the growing number of converts.

The attackers also attempted to kill Tarsis before she escaped.

“I ran into the thick bushes and the nearby forest. I probably walked for more than 10 hours to reach my home. I purposely did not take the road to avoid the attackers.”

Open Doors USA ranks India as the tenth most dangerous country for Christians. There have been multiple instances of Christians and churches being attacked this year. Many of these Christians belong to tribal communities who also suffer discrimination based on their social status by higher-caste Hindus.

The Christian Post reports that in November, a mob attacked a tribal Christian community close to Putikda, injuring 27.

Earlier in December, Pastor Shelton Vishwanathan in neighbouring Bihar state was beaten and locked in a shed, nearly dying of dehydration in the process. In the past Pastor Vishwanathan has been threatened with human sacrifice.

KNIGHT: Residents of Ontario should tell the government to go pound sand

Leo Knight
-
0
KNIGHT: Residents of Ontario should tell the government to go pound sand

Footage of Calgary Police arresting a man on an outdoor skating pond for not following the city’s COVID-19 rules was offensive.

Calgary Police greatly exceeded their bounds in this incident and their explanations to the contrary should fall on deaf ears and they should be derided for their performance.   

In the first few months of the pandemic, public officials told us that the safest place to be to avoid virus transmission is outdoors. It’s hard to figure out a better or broader outdoor area than a frozen pond where folks were skating and playing hockey. 

Unfortunately, incidents of power-hungry public servants are happening across the country. 

When news of the pandemic first emerged in late March, various governments demanded a full lockdown to “flatten the curve” so that the hospitals could get the opportunity to ramp up. 

We obliged and we locked down – but it lasted far longer than the initially requested 15 days. 

Governments in the west can only maintain their hold on power “with the consent of the governed.” We consented to the original lockdowns and the bulk of society abided the requests for months. 

Do the various governments still maintain the consent of the governed? 

It’s an interesting question given the Ontario government recently plunged the province back into another lockdown. 

I find it astonishing that the people of Ontario will accept this new lockdown. If I owned a small business in Ontario and had barely survived the last lockdown, I would have no choice but to ignore the government’s orders.

The Constitution Act guarantees certain rights to all Canadians including the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

I don’t see any language in there that says Ontario can suspend those rights on a whim. 

Ontario is using their Health Protection and Promotion Act as their authority to make these sweeping orders. 

The act in Ontario is primarily designed to protect the water supply and to provide the authority to shut down establishments with proper notice and a valid reason. For example, the government can close a swimming pool if it is deemed a health hazard or close a restaurant providing the health officer posts a notice explaining why. 

The Health Protection and Promotion Act contains no provision for a sweeping lockdown of all restaurants in the province. 

The bottom line is if the residents and business owners in Ontario simply said “no,” there would be no lockdown. It would be merely a suggestion by the government. 

A suggestion that tells the bullies in government to go pound sand. 

1...1,1231,1241,125...1,460Page 1,124 of 1,460
© True North 2025 | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy