The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has warned that Canada’s deficit will likely be higher once the Liberals start implementing their campaign commitments. The PBO says the deficit is on track to reach $23 billion by 2021. In comparison, Canada’s federal deficit was $14 billion for the 2018-2019 period.

The prediction was made in the November 2019 “Economic and Fiscal Outlook” report which downgraded the country’s economic outlook. 

“We have downgraded our outlook for growth in the Canadian economy and we are projecting larger budgetary deficits compared to our June 2019 baseline,” said PBO Yves Giroux in a news release.

“This outlook does not include commitments made by any party during the 2019 general election campaign. It is expected that budgetary deficits will be higher than our status quo projection once these commitments start being implemented,” writes the PBO press release. 

Average deficits are expected to be $1.6 billion larger each year moving forward until they peak in 2020-2021.

The report points to a slowed-down Canadian economy with declining real GDP growth since a high of 1.9% in 2018. 

The PBO has also indicated that it is “unlikely” that the budget will be balanced by 2024 considering the current economic outlook.  

Last month, unemployment stagnated at a national average of 5.5% and the country lost 1,800 net jobs, with a total of 16,100 full-time positions being lost in October. 

In April, it was revealed that nearly half of all Canadians (48%) report that they are $200 or less from financial insolvency on a month by month basis.

The Liberal Senate caucus abolished itself on Thursday, with its membership moving to create a new caucus separate from the Liberal brand.

The Independent Liberal Senate (ILS) caucus announced it is disbanding to pave way for a new body calling themselves the “Progressive Senate Group.”

The exit of the remaining nine Liberal Senators marks the first time since confederation there will be no one in the Senate that identifies with the Liberal Party.

The interim leader of the group, Sen. Joseph Day, hopes that the new brand will attract more support from the rest of the Senate.

“Can we attract new senators or existing senators to this new group? I hope so. We’ll make sure all senators understand our vision, where we hope to go and how we can contribute and complement other groups within the Senate,” Day told CBC News.

Day also said the new caucus will have no connection at all to the Liberal Party.

“It’s not a name change. In fact, we’re creating a new group. The Liberal Party in the Senate is no longer.”

The new Progressive Senate Group will remain broadly left-wing, but the group hopes that the non-partisan identity will garner a wider base of support.

“The reason we’re going to ‘progressive’ is because it’s a broader umbrella … You heard during the election campaign talk of progressive legislation — the NDP, the Bloc and the Greens and the Liberals always talked about ‘progressive’ legislation and we wanted to reflect that changing dynamic in politics,” Day said.

Since taking power in 2015, most Liberal Senators or Trudeau government appointees to the Senate have joined the Independent Senators Group (ISG).

Despite claiming to be independent, ISG Senators have been found to support the Trudeau government more than those in the Liberal Caucus itself.

This is the second new caucus to form in recent weeks, with the Canadian Senators Group (CSG) also forming.

Consisting of former Conservative and ISG members, the CSG is devoted to protecting regional interests. The CGS has eleven Senators from eight provinces.

“Members of the CSG want to see this founding principle maintained and respected so that the will of the majority does not always trump regional interests,” the group said.

The CSG sprung up shortly after the governing Liberals failed to win a seat in most of Western Canada in the recent federal election.

A North York shelter for those who’ve entered Canada seeking asylum will cost Canadian taxpayers one million dollars a month to operate, according to a report in Toronto Sun. 

The shelter is a converted hydro facility that costs $42,000 to rent monthly. According to the city, rent has been paid since January but people have only started using the shelter space on November 12. 

Two hundred asylum claimants are being housed in the facility, which is costing the city an additional $45,000 a month to pay in heating and electricity costs. Each claimant costs taxpayers an average of $140 a day, totalling $840,000 on a monthly basis.

Housing and shelter space for the constant stream of illegal border crossers flowing into Canada has been a growing issue since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s infamous 2017 “Welcome to Canada” tweet. 

Since then, over 45,000 illegal crossings into Canada have taken place, resulting in increased pressure on provincial governments to find suitable shelter space for asylum and refugee claimants.

At the beginning of this year, the federal government announced that it would give the provinces $114 million in extra funding to be put towards temporary housing. 

Toronto has seen several hotels be converted into shelters for asylum claimants. According to an investigation done by True North, four hotels and several motels are being used to house the illegal border crossers. 

Some asylum claimants have also been purposefully staying in the city’s shelter system for six-months in order so that they can score a housing allowance that helps them pay rent for up to four years after moving into permanent housing. 

Toronto last received a $15 million payment from the federal government to address the city’s shelter shortages on January 25, 2019. This payment was on top of the $11 million aid package it received nearly half a year prior on July 16, 2018.

The increased stress on the shelter system has led to shortages for the city’s homeless population. According to estimates from 2018, nearly half of those being processed through the shelter system were illegal border crossers. 

True North has been keeping track of how much Justin Trudeau’s invite to the world’s migrants has cost Canadian taxpayers. 

A man wanted in Texas for being a suspect in a homicide was last spotted in Winnipeg.

Derek Whisenand, 27, is sought in relation to the murder of Eastland, Texas resident Burton Duane Sanborn. 

Police officers found the 78-year-old man dead in his home after suffering “severe trauma to the head.” 

Whisenand is believed to have walked into Canada on or around June 24 after abandoning his vehicle in Walhalla, North Dakota. 

RCMP officers have tracked Whisenand’s movements to Winnipeg, where he was seen in front of a Junior’s restaurant on St. Mary’s Rd. Prior to that, police identified him at a Walmart in nearby Winkler, Man. 

Border authorities have struggled with keeping track of those who make illegitimate asylum claims or are ordered for deportation because of a criminal history. 

CBSA has called for more government resources to deal with the issue, particularly around the non-official borders crossings leading into Quebec at Roxham Road. 

In May 2019, it was reported that authorities lost track of around 400 dangerous Mexican cartel members currently in Canada, including a number of drug traffickers and hitmen. 

The RCMP describe Whisenand as having a pentagram tattoo on his left wrist and a black goatee. Police believe that he’s travelling with a mixed breed German Shepherd-pitbull or boxer dog. 

Those with information about his whereabouts are asked to contact the RCMP Integrated Border Enforcement Team at 204-324-9121 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Former Quebec premier Jean Charest spoke out in support of Alberta, saying the rest of Canada needs to acknowledge the province’s plight to work together as a nation.

Speaking to the Canadian Aerospace Summit on Wednesday, Charest urged Canadians to listen to the West’s concerns.

“Clearly in Western Canada, our citizens are saying ‘listen, we’re suffering and we need this to be acknowledged, and we need the help of the rest of the country to get through this period,’ which is right, they do,” he said.

Charest, a former premier and federal PC cabinet minister, also thought Jason Kenney’s idea to pull Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan was ”interesting,” adding that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should respect any decision Alberta makes.

 “We have much more in common than the differences we have. We’re a country of regions and there are normally differences but at the end of the day, we’re all Canadians.”

Charest’s statement is the near opposite of the current politicians governing Quebec, many of whom appear fundamentally opposed to anything Alberta does.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault has said, “there’s no social acceptability for an additional oil pipeline,” referring to projects like the cancelled Energy East which relieve Alberta’s energy sector.

On Wednesday, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said Alberta should not expect any help from Quebec in pursuing greater autonomy or independence if it continues to produce oil and gas.

“If they were attempting to create a green state in Western Canada, I might be tempted to help them,” Blanchet said.

“If they are trying to create an oil state in Western Canada, they cannot expect any help from us.”

In response, Jason Kenney called out the hypocrisy of attacking Alberta’s industries when his province contributes billions to Quebec through equalization.

“These statements [are] being made a week after Quebec tabled a budget with a $4-billion surplus thanks to a $13-billion equalization payment from Ottawa, which came from the workers that many of you [oil and gas companies] had to lay off,” said Kenney.

“You cannot have your cake and eat it too.”

At a time when Alberta’s economy remains in a slump, Quebec has consistently bought oil from foreign sources. In the past three years, Quebec oil imports from the United States increased from $1.6 billion in 2016 to $4.3 billion in 2019.

Across Canada imports of Saudi oil have increased by 66% to $3.5 billion, and imports of Russian oil increased from zero dollars five years ago to $555 million today.

Kenney believes that considering the $600 billion his province has contributed to the equalization program, Alberta should receive a fairer deal with the rest of Canada for its industries.

“And yet we are going through an economic crisis,” he said. “All we ask is a little bit of fairness — we’re not asking for a special deal, we’re asking for a fair deal.”