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Saturday, May 10, 2025

NDP MPs vote against Jagmeet Singh’s own words in latest non-confidence motion

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook

The Conservatives were unable to garner support from the New Democrats in their latest non-confidence motion against the Trudeau government, despite Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre using NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s own words as the basis for the motion.

“I rise today in the spirit of non-partisanship, put our differences aside and take a good idea and a good perspective no matter where it comes from,” Poilievre told MPs last week after tabling the motion.

“Too often in this place, we refuse to accept ideas or input from other people and so I thought I would remedy that by taking the words and the message of the leader of the NDP and putting them in a Conservative motion so that all of us could vote for the very wise things that he said.”

The quote in question referred to when Singh called the Liberals “took weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people” when he announced his party would be pulling out of its supply-and-confidence agreement with the Trudeau government in September. 

However, the Conservatives’ motion was defeated just the same, with NDP MPs decidedly voting against the words of their leader. 

Neither Singh nor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were present for the vote, instead casting their votes remotely. 

Following its outcome, Singh told reporters in Ottawa that his party could not support the motion because the Conservatives were “playing games.”

“We’re not going to vote in favour of any of their games because that’s what (the Conservatives are) doing. They’re playing games,” said Singh.

Monday’s vote was the third non-confidence motion brought forth by the Conservatives in recent months and marks the third time that the NDP chose to continue to prop up the Liberal government, despite purportedly being at odds with it. 

“Sellout Jagmeet Singh’s words are worthless,” wrote Poilievre on X in response to Monday’s vote results.

“Jagmeet Singh has voted against his own words to keep Trudeau in power. He’s putting his pension ahead of workers. Singh gets his pension. Trudeau gets power. You (Canadians) get the bill.”

Poilievre’s pension remarks refer to Singh’s House of Commons pension eligibility not taking effect until February 2025, suggesting he has little incentive to risk getting voted out of office before then. 

Dozens of other MPs will become eligible for their pensions in October 2025, although after the currently scheduled federal election date.

Earlier this year the Liberals introduced a bill to alter the Elections Act in a way that would coincidentally allow nearly 80 MPs to qualify for the pension, moving the current scheduled election day from Oct. 20 to Oct. 27, 2025. 

However, the Liberals claim rescheduling the date to a week later is to acknowledge the Hindu religious festival of Diwali, saying that the overall bill is designed to strengthen Canada’s democracy.

While Singh has denied any correlation between prolonging calling an election and his pension eligibility date, the coincidence has not been lost on critics and opponents. 

OP-ED: Jewish anti-Zionists invade Parliament Hill

By
Hymie Rubenstein
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Source: Facebook

It is well known that some Jews are either indifferent to, confused about, or ashamed of their Jewishness.

Underpinning these sentiments is the “progressive” leftist social and political allegiance that has characterized Judaism at least since the Enlightenment. Although funded by wealthy Jewish Americans and Europeans, Israel itself began mainly as a socialist experiment, best symbolized by the egalitarian socialist Kibbutz experiment.

The leftist-inspired indifference, confusion, and shame about their Jewishness, albeit firmly held by relatively few Jews, does not justify converting these feelings to a level of anti-Zionism that approaches or reaches outright antisemitic self-hatred.

This self-loathing was on full display last week when some 130 Jewish Canadians illegally occupied Parliament Hill’s Confederation Building demanding an arms embargo against the sovereign nation of Israel in its never-ending conflict with the people of the non-state spuriously called Palestine.

Three New Democrat members of Parliament – Heather McPherson, Matthew Green and Leah Gazan – joined the protesters who invaded the lobby of the building.

The hour-plus protest ended after 15 to 20 people were arrested. They were released without charges soon after, though issued tickets for trespassing.

“Gazan said that she was so proud to be there as a Jewish person and to come together and community (sic) with all of us,” protest spokeswoman Rachel Small said.

“I’m not trying to speak on her behalf, but I was very touched by that.”

When asked what the group was trying to accomplish, spokeswoman Marlee Wasser, a member of the radical Jewish organization called IfNotNow Toronto, said they were “Jews working to end our community’s support for occupation, apartheid and genocide” by Israel against the Palestinians.

Retired Rabbi David Mivasair, of rabidly anti-Zionist Independent Jewish Voices – “the first national Jewish organization to endorse the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement” – opined Israel was not living up to its identity as a Jewish state.

“So (Israel) is a state of Jewish people. But it’s not being a Jewish state,” Mivasair said. 

“And Canada is still shipping arms to Israel that are being used to kill innocent people and destroy their homes and hospitals. It’s wrong; it needs to stop.”

Mivasair made no mention of the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists who conducted unspeakable horrors, blatant war crimes, and crimes against humanity against the country’s Israeli civilians. The cold-blooded murder of some 1,200 Israelis, the wounding of nearly 3,000 non-combatants, the rape and torture of women, the desecration and parading of dead bodies, the beheading of infants, the violent hostage-taking of elderly people, women and children alike, and the horrific massacre of at least 260 young people at a music festival, much of it intentionally filmed by the perpetrators, provoked the same military response by Israel that any other nation would have undertaken if attacked in the same way.

When asked how the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) should handle Hamas terrorists, Mivasair said the question was “way off.”

“Jews in Israel need to acknowledge that they’re living on Palestinians’ land in Palestine,” he said. 

“They need to make room for the people who were there before the State of Israel.”

He said he wasn’t talking just about Gaza: “No, all. All is Palestine. From the river to the sea has been taken over by Jews. They took it away from the Palestinians who have lived there for centuries. It’s the theft of an entire country,” said Mivasair.

For a former rabbi, Mivasair displays a painful ignorance of the region’s history with these remarks.

The Muslim Arabs now living in Gaza have only self-identified as Palestinians in recent decades, increasingly flaunting this new distinctiveness despite the absence of a unique Palestinian history, culture, or identity since the United Nations approved the re-establishment of the State of Israel in 1947.

Conversely, the Nouveau Palestinians never had a country of their own that was taken from them by alien invaders.

For most of human history, Palestine has only been a Western Christian term to describe the Jewish Holy Land and its ever-present Hebrew and Christian inhabitants. From the beginning of recorded history until nearly 1948, neither foreigners nor residents recognized a unique people — other than the Jews themselves — called “Palestinians” living in a place called Palestine.

On these and other grounds, 19 different Jewish groups quickly condemned the December 3 “Jews Say No To Genocide Coalition” occupation on Parliament Hill, saying the “fringe coalition” is aligned with anti-Israel movements and not representative of the Canadian Jewish mainstream.

“Their actions represent an egregious distortion of Jewish values and a calculated attempt to hijack Jewish identity to serve a hateful anti-Zionist and antisemitic agenda,” the 19 groups said in a joint statement on December 4.

The 19 groups also pointed out that some 91 percent of Canadian Jews believe Israel has a right to exist, citing numbers from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. They said the Jews’ connection to Israel is a core part of their identity.

“We refuse to remain silent as Independent Jewish Voices and their partners recklessly endanger Jewish Canadians by perpetuating lies and fomenting hostility. Their shameful antics today, which trivialize genocide and vilify Israel, undermine Jewish safety and foster the very antisemitism they claim to oppose,” they said in the joint statement.

The 19 groups urged Parliament and Canadians to see the protesters as “fringe activists operating outside the mainstream Jewish community,” an assertion any objective and informed observer would support.

Hymie Rubenstein, editor of REAL Indigenous Report, is a retired professor of anthropology, University of Manitoba, and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Family-friendly dance in Montreal cancelled over race-based ticket pricing

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, True North Wire
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Shake La Cabane 2023 - Source: Facebook

An annual “family-friendly” dance in Montreal was cancelled on Sunday because organisers charged separate admission prices based on the attendee’s race. 

The Shake La Cabane FAM-JAM was scheduled to be held at La Cabane community centre on Sunday, however, organizers decided to cancel the event following public outcry over the ticket prices. Organizers were chargin $25.83 for general admission but only $15.18 for attendees who were black, indigenous, or people of colour.  

Another pay structure for the dance included free entry for white children under the age of two years old, with that same offer granted for black and Indigenous children but with the age being extended to 12 years old.

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon responded to news of the dance with a social media post saying, “What all Quebecers want, no matter their skin colour, is equal treatment without discrimination. That’s exactly the opposite of what this organization is doing.”

The situation was first reported on by La Press on Saturday, which Quebec-based human rights lawyer Juilius Grey called a display of “flagrant discrimination.”

Following news that the event had been cancelled, Grey told True North that this should serve as a wake-up call to others. 

“This is a wake-up call to our society to be less concerned with communitarian goals and more with the intrinsic worth of each individual,” said Grey, who also specializes in constitutional law.

Critics noted that race-based pricing is also likely a violation of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, under section 10, which enshrines “full and equal recognition and exercise of (a person’s) human rights and freedoms, without distinction, exclusion or preference based on race.”

Dance organizers responded to the blowback in a social media post, saying that “The BIPOC Ticket Type” (now called Equity Price Ticket)” was aimed at providing support for “marginalized groups in our community.”

“While we hold that true reparations are to be made by the entities that plundered in order to gain power (the State, corporations), micro-reparations in the name of solidarity, not charity, like these stand to gesture towards ways we can create more access while asking what other ways might we betray supremacies to best serve the collective,” it said. 

Upon announcing that the dance would be cancelled, the group said that it was in response to receiving “SO much hate and misunderstanding about our BIPOC ticket pricing.”

Going forward, organizers said that they plan to continue to practice a stratified pricing structure for future events, however, it would be based on family income instead of the attendee’s race.

The Rachel Parker Show | Libs wanting to STEAL your firearms for Ukraine is nothing but PROPAGANDA

By
Rachel Parker
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Source: Facebook

Today on the Rachel Parker Show, Rachel is joined by Rod Giltaca, the CEO and executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, who breaks down the latest in the Liberal government’s gun grab. Giltaca explains how the Liberals saying they will send the guns to Ukraine to aid the fight against Russia is nothing but propaganda.

He also breaks down the latest in the CCFR’s legal challenge against the gun grab.

Tune in now!

Canadian charitable giving reaches a 20-year low: study

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook

A new study has found that the number of Canadians donating to charity, measured as a percentage of all tax filers, has declined to the lowest point in 20 years.

The Fraser Institute released this year’s Generosity Index, which measures the proportion of Canadians filing donations to charities in their taxes and the amount that Canadians donate as a portion of their income. The index shows that Canada’s rate of charitable giving is on a continued decline.

The study found that in 2022, the last year of comparable data, 17.1% of Canadian tax filers claimed a donation to a charity. In 2004, when charitable generosity peaked in Canada, 25.4% of Canadians donated.

“This decline in charitable giving means that there are fewer resources available to charity, and this is going to make it more difficult for charities to help their communities,” Grady Munro, a policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, told True North in an interview.

The study looks only at the amount of income donated and the number of Canadians donating rather than the average charitable donations of each province to avoid a bias towards provinces with more income.

For example, Alberta donated the highest average amount, $3,438. However, it tied in fifth place with British Columbia for the number of its residents donating to charities, with 16.4%.

In comparison, Quebec residents spent an average of $1,094 on charity. Quebec ranked third in the population, donating with 17.4%, but ranked low in income percentage donated, with 0.26% donated on average.

In the last decade, the percentage of Canadian tax filers donating to charity dropped from 22.4% in 2012 to 17.1% in 2022. The amount as a portion of income Canadians donated also dropped from 0.55% in 2012 of their income to 0.50% in 2022.

Even the highest-ranking province on the list for both measures saw declines in the amount as a portion of income and the number of people donating.

Ranking in first place, 19.3% of Manitobans listed a donation to a charitable organization in their 2022 taxes. However, the number of Manitobans donating still marked a decline of 24.3% compared to 2014 and a decrease of 2.4% from the previous year. 

Manitobans also ranked the highest in the percentage of their income donated, with 0.71% of income donated on average. Despite ranking high in this way, the amount of income donated still represents an 8.2% decline in aggregate donations since 2012, a 3.3% drop from 2021.

Munro said it’s unclear how much taxes played a role in Manitoba’s ranking so high, as it’s measured around the middle of the pack in terms of tax rates compared to the other provinces.

New Brunswick had the lowest number of the provinces, with 14.7% of its residents donating to a charitable organization in 2022—a 28.1% decrease from a decade earlier and 4.6% from the previous year.

When territories are accounted for, Nunavut residents had the lowest donation rate, with 5.2% claiming a donation to a charity in 2022, a record 43.3% decrease since a decade earlier and a 5% increase from the year before.

Although the study didn’t examine why the provinces and territories performed so well in their ranking, Munro noted several likely factors. He told True North that the amount of after-tax income, the population’s age, and the religious affiliation rates all likely play a role in Canada’s charitable decline.

“After-tax income is a big factor,” Munro said. “Past research has shown that governments can encourage charitable giving by pursuing policies that promote economic growth, job creation and higher wages for people.”

He referenced a previous study by the Fraser Institute which found that every Canadian province had less median employment income than each of the US states in 2022.

“So we certainly know that incomes are falling behind, and we know that after-tax income plays a factor in charitable giving,” he said. “But in this research, we can’t say whether or not, for certain, there’s a correlation.”

As the last data available is from 2022, while the economy was recovering from the pandemic lockdowns, Munro remained hopeful that charitable giving in Canada could return during Christmas’s peak giving season.

Kevin O’Leary backing world’s largest AI data centre – in Alberta

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Source: X

A shark has made its way to Alberta.

The province is welcoming a project led by Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary for a massive artificial intelligence data centre, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said this week.

“Wonder Valley,” perhaps a nod to O’Leary’s “Mr. Wonderful” nickname, will span thousands of acres in the Greenview Industrial Gateway in Greenview, Alta., near Grande Prairie.

O’Leary said that the 7,000 acres of land allow technology and nature to unite to power global innovation in a post to X.

The partnership will work to build an off-grid natural gas and geothermal power infrastructure.

The project is set to roll out in phases, according to a press release from O’Leary Ventures. 

The first phase of the power solution will generate 1.4GW of power and cost around $2 billion USD, and subsequent rollouts will generate 1GW of power annually. 

O’Leary said in an interview that power constraints in the United States made American sites less desirable.

He said irrespective of the state, they were handcuffing him on getting the power generation for data centres. Virginia, which O’Leary said hosts 45% of the data centres in the United States, recently passed a law banning the use of backup generators for data centres. He said data centres need to be active 99.99% of the time — a downtime of only 14 seconds per month.

“I don’t care what state you to go to, you go to the power authority there and say: ‘I need this. I just want 100MW.’ Can’t do it. We have no power in America right now,” said O’Leary.

Smith said the $70 billion project will be “the largest investment in Alberta’s history and the largest investment of its kind in the world” in a post to X. “With Alberta’s low taxes, free market, abundant natural gas and skilled labour force, we’re positioned to be a world leader in AI data centres.”

Smith added that as artificial intelligence grows, so will the need for more and bigger data centres. She said that over the last 20 years, the Alberta government has invested over $1 billion to grow its technology industry.

Alberta said it attracted the project through its business climate rather than through corporate welfare.

“While our government isn’t directly contributing to these infrastructure projects, we are doing our best to share our story with potential investors on how this province is the destination of choice for this type of infrastructure in North America,” a government spokesperson told True North. 

While this project is set to be a $70 billion venture, Alberta Minister of Technology Nate Glubish said he believes Alberta could attract $100 billion or more of investment over the next five years across half a dozen AI data centre projects.

O’Leary Ventures CEO Paul Palandjian said the project aims to engage Indigenous communities to foster mutually beneficial relationships and honour the people and the lands for many years.

O’Leary explained what he deemed the “Greenview Model.”

“Alberta’s pro-business policies and attractive tax regime make the (Greenview Industrial Gateway) the perfect site for this project. We want to deliver transformative economic impact and the lowest possible carbon emissions afforded to us by the quality of gas in the area, our efficient design and the potential to add geothermal power as well,” said O’Leary. 

He added that the site will generate 7.5GW of low-cost power over the next five to ten years.

“Given existing permits, proximity to stranded sources of natural gas, pipeline infrastructure, water and a fibre optic network within just a few kilometres of the Greenview Industrial Gateway, we will be in the ground and up and running sooner than any scale project of its kind,” he said. 

The Municipal District of Greenview issued a press release confirming it signed a letter of intent with O’Leary to purchase and develop thousands of acres of land.

“This is more than just an investment in land; it’s an investment in the future of innovation and economic expansion for Canada,” said Reeve of Greenview, Tyler Olsen. “We’re excited to take this step forward, creating lasting benefits not only for our Municipality but for the surrounding communities, and the country as a whole.”

The $70 billion investment includes funding for infrastructure, power, data centres, and ancillary structures.

The Daily Brief | Poilievre says Canada shouldn’t interfere in Syria

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Source: Facebook

What happens next in Syria is not Canada’s concern, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says.

Plus, an Ontario mayor, who defied a Pride group and refused to pay damages ordered against him by a human rights tribunal, has had his bank account garnished. 

And a government-funded small business non-profit goes bankrupt one month after receiving a $2.7 million federal grant.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Noah Jarvis!




LEVY: Ditch the DEI and get your house in order, TDSB

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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Source: Facebook

A new Ontario auditor general report on the Toronto District School Board provides an insightful overview of many of the issues identified under the toxic reign of now-departed activist education director Colleen Russell-Rawlins.

From underreported bullying and increased violence in TDSB schools to the abuse of sick days and the administration’s powers to investigate principals and vice-principals, it is clear that Canada’s largest school board needs a huge overhaul.

Whether that will happen is debatable considering the same leftist union-backed trustees that supported their DEI hire, Russell-Rawlins, are all part of a committee to select the TDSB’s next education director.

To add insult to injury, Education Minister Jill Dunlop — while talking a good game — recently appointed DEI advocate Patrick Case, a close associate of Russell-Rawlins, to review a field trip gone wrong at the school board in September.

That field trip for students as young as eight, which was supposed to provide insights into years of mercury poisoning on the Grassy Narrows reserve, turned into a hate fest against Israel with union members from the Elementary Teachers Federation of Toronto helping to lead the charge.

The TDSB oversees 472 elementary schools and 110 high schools and has more than 40,000 employees. The school board’s budget was $3.6-billion in 2022-23. Despite huge cash outflows from the province, the board has constantly experienced deficits because the money has not been managed well.

The 97-page report, which looks at the period between the 2017 and 2022 school years, found that violent incidents in board schools increased by 67%. It is interesting to note, however, that the audit found the TDSB underreported incidents by 9% during all of those years — likely because principals were hesitant to report them for fear their school would be perceived unsafe.

The audit’s own figures show hate-related or bias-motivated incidents increased by 733% in elementary schools and 500% in high schools over those six years.

It is absolutely astonishing to note that sex assaults in elementary schools jumped 860% during the same time period studied.

The audit found that only a small percentage of bullying incidents were actually being tracked by the TDSB.  A 2022-23 census of 138,000 students in Grades 4 to 12 found that 23% were physically bullied (including being punched, kicked and shoved) while 71% said they were verbally bullied. nother 14% reported that they were cyberbullied.

As I reported earlier this year the TDSB has a tremendous problem with absenteeism.

The audit shows that the average number of sick days increased in seven years by 58% from 12 to more than 20 days per year.

The cost to replace those absent teachers, educational assistants and custodians jumped by 70% from $82-million to $139-million per year.

The AG report concludes that the TDSB has done nothing to manage the out-of-control sick leave and the exorbitant related costs.

In fact, in the final year of the audit period, the school board was not able to cover 20% of the absences and students were likely supervised by staff without teaching qualifications.

As I’ve also reported, there has been a tremendous abuse of the leave provisions to punish school administrators for often ridiculous DEI-related allegations. The audit found that principals and vice-principals were placed on lengthy paid leave for allegations related to discrimination and workplace harassment for up to 1,218 days — which cost the board $4.3-million. 

Nearly half of the investigations took more than the specified 150-day time frame.

And it should come as no surprise to anyone that according to the audit, the TDSB has school buildings in the worst condition of all Ontario school boards.

The TDSB repair backlog is $4.1-billion and the board is said not to have a long-term capital and repair plan for allocating the funding that is available to build new schools or maintain existing ones.

For this reason alone — but also for all of the reasons specified in the audit — the sophomoric union-backed leftist trustees should be removed and the board really should be taken over by an adult capable of taking on the tremendous morale issues, the toxic impact of DEI and the board’s precarious financial situation.

Given that I have no faith in the Ford government or the current minister to do what’s difficult but right, perhaps the first step would be to deny long-time leftist trustee Shelley Laskin the opportunity Wednesday — behind closed doors — to put in a leftist lemming of her own choosing to replace Rachel Chernos-Lin, who won the recent Toronto by-election for council in Don Valley West.

Although a by-election would be more costly, at least it would give someone more fiscally conservative the chance to compete democratically for the seat.

It would also ensure transparency and accountability — both of which are severely lacking at the TDSB.

At the very least, I sincerely hope that the education minister takes to heart the many deficiencies noted in the audit.

Students deserve better. So do most teachers and principals who are not just want to teach, not worry about whether they’re being diverse, inclusive and equity-oriented enough.

Canadians view tax holiday and $250 cheque as political gambit, say it won’t help: poll

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Source: Wikipedia

Canadians aren’t falling for Justin Trudeau’s so-called “tax holiday.”

The intended outcome of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s GST holiday and $250 cheque may be backfiring, with Canadians noting the temporary tax break won’t help them or simply seeing it as a political manoeuvre that will do little more than add to the federal deficit.

An online survey by the Angus Reid Institute conducted between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5 among 4,004 Canadian adults highlighted a negative impression of the tax measures.

The Liberals announced a two-month pause on GST and HST on groceries, alcohol, children’s essentials, toys, board and video games, books, and more from Dec. 14 to Feb. 15.

The federal government also announced a $250 one-time cheque to those who earned up to $150,000 in net income, expected to roll out in Apr. 2025. Combined, the two policies will cost more than $6.2 billion, not including the provincial portion of the HST cut. 

The majority of small businesses oppose the tax holiday due to the administrative complications it’s likely to invite.

Over a quarter of poll respondents, 26%, said they were not eligible for the $250 cheque. 38% said it would have no impact on their household, while 31% said it would help a little. Only 5% of Canadians said it would help a lot.

To be eligible for the cheque, Canadians must have worked in 2023 and earned an income of less than $150,000.

The Canada Revenue Agency will automatically deliver the $250 in early spring 2025.

Even fewer Canadians said that the GST/HST exemption would have a positive impact on their household finances. 

Over half, 55%, said the GST/HST exemption would not help them or their household. Just over a third, 38%, said it would help a little, while 7% said it would help a lot.

Ontario announced a provincial sales tax break to coincide with the federal measure. Ontario’s temporary tax cut and $200 handouts to provincial residents will cost taxpayers $3 billion.

When looking at specific income groups, the lowest income Canadians who make less than $25,000 a year were the most likely to say they’d be ineligible for the $250 cheque, at 38%.

The majority of Canadians considered the GST/HST tax exemption and one-time cheque a political gambit.

The same amount that said it would have no impact, 55%, said the policies were “entirely political.” Almost three in ten, 29%, said they were “mostly political.” Only 1% said it was “entirely genuine help,” while 6% said it was “mostly genuine help.”

Canadians who intend to vote Conservative were the most likely to say it was “entirely political,” at 82%. 

Liberal voters were the only party supporters with more than 1% of people who thought it was “entirely genuine help,” but even only 2% of them felt that way.

“With an election coming sooner than later, most Canadians (55%) see the GST holiday and rebate cheque as a purely political move. Likely Liberal voters are the most likely to believe the policies are ‘genuine help’ at one-in-five, but a majority among that group say the tax relief is mostly about politics,” reads the poll.

The Liberals have been faltering in the polls, but the GST/HST tax exemption and $250 cheque may hurt their cause even further. 

Less than 2% of respondents (excluding those who intend to vote Liberal already) said that the policies would make it “much more likely” that they would vote for the Liberals in a future election. Following this, 3% said it was “more likely.” The majority of Canadians, 55%, said this would make no difference.

However, 8% said these policies would make it “less likely” for them to vote for the Liberals in the future. Over a quarter of Canadians, 28%, said the policies would make it “much less likely” that they would vote Liberal in the future.

Canada’s debt officially doubled under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Aug. 30, 2024. On that day, he officially spent more during his tenure than every other prime minister before him combined. 

Liberals’ GST holiday to cost $2.7b after provincial compensation: PBO report

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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PBO Yves Giroux - Source: ParlVu

The Trudeau government’s temporary GST tax break will cost around $2.7 billion to compensate provinces with a harmonized sales tax, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s latest report.

PBO Yves Giroux released a report on Monday which estimates that this measure will reduce federal revenues by $1.5 billion in 2024-25.

“PBO also examined the potential impact of the Bill on federal compensation to provincial governments that collect the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) under their respective Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreements (that is, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick),” reads the report. 

“If these provinces do not waive the compensation required under these agreements, PBO estimates that the federal cost would be $1.3 billion greater.”

A variety of goods are poised to have their federal sales tax removed from Dec. 14 to Feb. 15 in what the Liberals claim will help Canadians struggling with the high cost of living. 

Certain groceries, restaurant meals, drinks, snacks, children’s clothing, and gifts are all items which have been selected to qualify for the GST reduction. 

Canadians are expected to save 5% or more on selected goods, however, residents in Ontario and Atlantic Canada will save more as their provincial and federal sales taxes are blended into a harmonized sales tax, meaning they will receive a discount of between 13% and 15%.

In the wake of the PBO report, the federal government is asking all provinces to waive their sales tax. 

“We hope all provinces will join us and provide their share of tax relief for their residents over the holidays, as Ontario, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador have done. This tax break will help all Canadians in every province,” said Katherine Cuplinskas, a spokesperson for Finance Minister Christya Freeland in a statement.

Additionally, the government’s temporary GST exemption has brought frustration to many small business owners this holiday season, who are now stuck dealing with how to price certain items.

Retailers and small businesses will have to reconfigure their billing software to accommodate the specified temporary changes.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses criticized the decision, saying the government has created “an administrative nightmare before Christmas” by not providing clear and simple rules. 

“Business owners were given just two weeks to prepare, right in the middle of their busiest season,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB president in a statement. 

“For some small retailers, this has required going through and making judgement calls on thousands of items based on limited guidance from the Canada Revenue Agency. It is going to be a hot mess.” 

Kelly noted that it took the government 10 days to clarify what the tax treatment would be for supplies for model airplanes as an example. 

“Despite the best efforts of the CRA, business owners will be left to make educated guesses on thousands and thousands of items,” said Kelly. 

“Given the confusing set of rules and lack of time, it will be nearly impossible for most retailers to implement this right. Consumers will bring their own interpretation, expecting part-time clerks and store owners to have become sudden tax experts on rules that even CRA is struggling to sort out.”

Federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Franco Terrazzano also said he doesn’t think that the GST holiday showcases any serious concern from the government to make life more affordable for people. 

“It’s good that Canadians will get some relief from Trudeau’s high tax burden,” Terrazzano, told True North. “But as far as tax cuts go, this is a sorry excuse for a tax cut. The tax cut is not permanent, and six weeks after the GST holiday ends Trudeau will crank up his carbon tax again. After hiking taxes on everything all the time, a temporary GST holiday isn’t going to cut it,” 

“If the government was serious about making life more affordable, it would scrap the carbon tax, reverse the capital gains and alcohol tax hikes, stop hiking payroll taxes and cut spending to cut taxes across the board permanently.”

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