Five-in-ten Canadians believe they won’t have enough money to retire, according to a new survey by Pollara Strategic Insights.
The BMO Annual Retirement Study released on Tuesday found that after two years, Canadians believe they need to save an additional $300,000 to retire – raising the total average retirement fund from $1.4 million in 2020 to $1.7 million near the end of 2022.
Less than half (44%) are confident they will have enough money as planned.
For many, that fear was tied to rising costs and inflation. Seven-in-ten said they are concerned about how the changes will impact their finances.
The study was conducted in November 2022 on behalf of the Bank of Montreal.
As True North reported last November, inflation has been top-of-mind for many Canadians.
In a Nanos Research survey that month, 60% said they adjusted grocery habits by purchasing cheaper food, and 17% said they responded to inflation by eating less food.
Statistics Canada later released data showing food prices up about 11% in one year.
The Pollara Strategic Insights study released this week by BMO found 22% of Canadians plan to retire between the ages of 60 and 69.
CBC chief executive officer Catherine Tait has said in an effort to “stay relevant,” Canada’s state broadcaster will be pivoting away from traditional radio and television broadcasts and adopting a streaming model. Except she offered no concrete plans for such a transition and said it won’t happen within the next decade. In the same interview, Tait took aim at Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s pledge to defund CBC, accusing him of “CBC bashing” and taking aim at the belief that CBC is a “mouthpiece for the Liberal government.” True North’s Andrew Lawton says CBC can’t stay relevant when it is already irrelevant to most Canadians, who have to keep footing the bill for a service they don’t use.
Also, Justin Trudeau is giving provinces $46 billion more in healthcare transfers over the next decade, which premiers aren’t happy with but are taking anyway. Former Ontario Medical Association president Dr. Shawn Whatley joins the show to discuss whether this money could be the cure for what’s ailing Canadian healthcare.
Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe promoted an all-ages drag queen storytime for kids which features a performance by an x-rated entertainer.
As reported by True North, several drag queen storytimes are being advertised to children during the capital’s ongoing Winter Pride festival including one at the National Arts Centre (NAC).
In a tweet, Sutcliffe said the event celebrated Ottawa’s status as a welcoming and inclusive city.
Happy Winter Pride! Ottawa will always be a welcoming and inclusive city that celebrates our diversity.
Joyeuse Fierté Hivernale! Ottawa sera toujours une ville accueillante et inclusive qui célèbre notre diversité. https://t.co/yMV0rNEjrt
Performer Cyril Cinder’s public social media accounts feature a variety of explicit and adult content including images of male prosthetic genitalia.
In response to Sutcliffe’s tweet, several people took issue with the mayor’s public stance on the issue.
“Children do not belong at drag shows,” wrote Twitter user Marek Tymowski.
Another questioned what parents were bringing their children to such events.
“What kind of parent takes their kids to a drag story time? Bizarre,” tweeted Lisa Wilson.
Last week, Heritage Canada also advertised a Feb. 11 outdoor drag storytime featuring two local drag queens.
One of the entertainers, Genesis, also features racy content on their profile including a reference to Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
“Did you hear? The Queen is dead! Which means the crown (and sceptre) is open for the taking,” writes Genesis on Instagram.
Drag queen storytimes for children have sparked controversy worldwide over concerns that the subject matter of such performances are not appropriate for school-aged children.
In 2021, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board also hosted a drag storytime during a youth forum.
It also held an event on “decolonizing gender” for parents and staff.
“The 16th Annual Rainbow Youth Forum will include Decolonizing Gender, Drag Storytime, Workshops for Students and Staff, Chill Zone and a Rainbow Spring Fling Dance! This interactive virtual event will allow participants to ask questions and share their thoughts,” the school board wrote at the time.
Several drag queen story times throughout Canada have garnered protests from both supporters and opponents.
In January, a British Columbia library saw dueling protests erupt outside.
A transit driver in Quebec is accused of killing two children and injuring six by crashing a city bus into a daycare on Wednesday morning.
CTV News reported that driver Pierre Ny St-Amand was arrested after witnesses and parents said he accelerated through the Garderie Educative Sainte-Rose parking lot and crashed head-on into the daycare, exited the vehicle screaming, and removed all of his clothes.
Six other children injured in the crash were hospitalized and are expected to survive, according to CBC News.
A witness said he physically struck St-Amand to get him under control.
“He was just yelling, there were no words coming out of his mouth,” Hamdi Benchaabane told CTV News.
Benchaabane said he rescued one child from the daycare before firefighters told him to leave due to concerns about the unstable roof.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault responded to the event during a news conference, saying his thoughts are with the children and their families.
“As a father, I am shaken,” he said.
Public Safety Minister Francois Bonnardel wrote online that emergency services have secured a perimeter around the daycare. He says officials know little about the crash, but that it’s tragic.
“Our hearts go out to the families concerned.”
Bonnardel said he would visit the location with the minister of families, Suzanne Roy.
According to Noovo Info, St-Amand faces charges of homicide and reckless driving.
Former Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick says politicians and media are not focused on the right issue when it comes to the McKinsey and Company contracts scandal.
In an op-ed penned for Policy Options, Wernick said the government’s rising use of outside contractors should pose questions about a deteriorating public service, rather than allegations about corruption.
“Opposition and the media are drilling wells hoping for a political gusher,” he wrote. “Can they find something untoward in the contracting process? Can they find something troubling in the relationship?
“The more interesting angles […] are about whether the use of outside contractors is a sign of weakening capacity by the public service.”
Wernick said government contracting is normal in many ways, but the current growth might be a sign that Canada’s government is becoming too dependent on outside contractors.
“There is nothing new about governments at every level acquiring services from outside suppliers,” he wrote. “For me, the issue is not whether to use outside suppliers […], but how to use them to best effect.”
If critics want to reduce government spending on these suppliers, he said, they’ll have to invest the money elsewhere. Wernick suggested critics invest in public servants – such as by doubling the resources allocated for training.
The former public servant of more than 30 years said employees should also be more free to take assignments across departments.
Wernick’s comments about a declining public service come while a union of public service employees at the Canada Revenue Agency demand higher pay and begin voting to strike this tax season.
As True North reported, the union representing more than 35,000 workers refused contract negotiations after its requests for nearly 30% in pay raises and a work-from-home policy were denied.
At the same time, the Public Service Alliance of Canada has announced strike votes for roughly 120,000 public-sector employees in the departments of Programs and Administrative Services, Operational Services, Technical Services, and Education and Library Science.
Conservative politicians have focused on the contracts McKinsey has received from the Trudeau government, requesting an investigation into a roughly thirty-fold increase since the former government.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday the government is prepared to spend $46.2 billion to improve healthcare systems across all provinces and territories.
Plus, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki confirmed the RCMP has not charged anyone in its ongoing investigation into four alleged Chinese-led police stations operating in Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area.
And did you receive a $40,000 pay raise during the pandemic? Probably not – unless you’re Canada’s governor general. According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the governor general salary rose to roughly $340,000 after three years of the pandemic – courtesy of Canadian taxpayers.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Andrew Lawton and Rachel Emmanuel!
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday the government is prepared to spend $46.2 billion to improve healthcare systems across all provinces and territories.
Trudeau met with provincial and territory leaders in Ottawa, as the leaders looked for ways to deal with Canada’s overwhelmed healthcare system.
The new fund includes $19 billion in unconditional annual payments, and $25 billion for bilateral agreements between the provinces and the feds.
The funding will span 10 years – but $2 billion is marked for immediate release to help struggling healthcare systems today.
The announcement also included a five-year 5% yearly increase to the federal government’s automatic annual Canada Health Transfer (CHT) payments. The increase amounts to roughly $17 billion.
While the CHT funds come with no conditions, the same cannot be said for the bilateral agreements between the provinces and Ottawa.
According to the report, each agreement with the province will need to be centered around four priorities set out by the federal government – improving family health services, reducing backlogs and supporting healthcare workers, improving access to mental health and substance use services, and implementing standardized health data and digital tools.
Participating provinces and territories will need to track their investments and report the results back to Ottawa.
In an interview with CBC last December, Trudeau said many provincial and territorial healthcare systems need more than money to fix.
“If I were to send people all the money they need in the provinces, there is no guarantee that […] folks would be waiting less time in the hospitals,” he said. “One of the only levers I have is saying ‘I’m not giving you this money with no conditions.’”
Some of Canada’s premiers believe the feds’ conditions are an overstep.
“We don’t want conditions,” said Quebec Premier Francois Legault. “What we want is to be able to apply our plan. We already have a plan for healthcare in Quebec.”
Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford took issue with the amount of funding.
He said the funding was a starting point – and that he’ll have questions moving forward.
“This is the beginning,” he said. “I always look at it, you know, the glass is half full.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston echoed that sentiment.
Houston said he appreciated the year’s incoming funds to Nova Scotia – around $154 million – but bleakly compared the funds to Nova Scotia’s provincial budget of $6 billion.
Canada’s healthcare system has been plagued by a number of issues – including a backlog of surgeries, lack of family doctors and overwhelmed hospitals.
In August, the president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) Alika Lafontaine said the system was broken.
The CMA also released a statement, saying Canada should invest in a new system rather than pouring money into the status quo.
The Department of National Defence (DND) spent nearly $50,000 on workshops to weed out “xeno-racist and white supremacist elements” from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
According to grant records, DND dished out a total of $48,768 to University of Alberta researchers for “two workshops exploring the topics of xeno-racism and white supremacy in relation to the Canadian Armed Forces.”
The federal government paid the University of Alberta nearly $50K for two workshops on "xeno-racism and white supremacy" in the Canadian Armed Forces.
"Xeno-racism" means "prejudice that resembles racism, exhibited by members of a racial group towards members of the same group." pic.twitter.com/nvOtMjZgMZ
The grant agreement spans from May. 13, 2022 to May 13, 2023.
“Xenoracism” is defined as a combination of xenophobia and racism, or a “form of prejudice that resembles racism but is exhibited by members of a racial group towards members of the same group who are displaced and dispossessed in some way.”
Funding was distributed via DND’s Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program which seeks to influence military policy by consulting “experts” in the field.
A key part of MINDS is a mandate to promote “adaptive, diverse and inclusive” recruitment, “culture change” and “addressing hateful conduct, radicalization and systemic racism.”
“Political and identity polarization, social and economic inequality, and disinformation including through social media have prompted efforts within DND/CAF to address hateful conduct and potential radicalization,” explains the federal website.
“It is also recognized that historical racism and discrimination have left a legacy of systematic biases in Canadian institutions including DND/CAF.”
The CAF has seen a cultural shift towards woke ideology in recent years. In 2022, the military updated its dress code which now permits soldiers to wear fake nails, dyed hair and don face jewelry.
In May, a defence ministry panel deemed that systemic racism and white supremacy were the biggest problems plaguing the CAF.
The report also recommended that the military not hire members of certain religions as chaplains for not being inclusive enough.
“If the Defence Team rejects gender discrimination, anti-Indigenous discrimination, and racialized discrimination in every other area and is working hard to remove systemic barriers to the employment of marginalized people, it cannot justify hiring representatives of organizations who marginalize certain people or categorically refuse them a position of leadership,” claimed the panel.
An Indigenous-led oil sands company has welcomed Alberta energy veteran and former Suncor Vice President Mike Macsween onto its board of directors as it prepares to become an industry leader in development and support.
On Tuesday, the McKay Métis Group (MMG) announced Macsween’s appointment at a time of booming growth.
“MMG’s growth has been exponential. Our objective is to be the top provider for multiple oil sands services and support. Mike’s expertise and connections in the industry will play a vital role as we implement this strategy,” said company President and CEO Crystal Young.
Prior to the appointment. Macsweeen worked with Suncor for nearly three decades. Since beginning with the company in 1996, he held several senior posts, including as vice president of upgrading, vice president of strategy and development and more.
Macsween retired from his role at Suncor last year.
According to Macsween, he hopes to see MMG expand even further into the oilsands business.
“MMG has been a remarkable success story. An Indigenous business that has seen phenomenal growth and has become central to the operation of the oilsands,” said Macsween.
“The prospects for future diversification and expansion are all about deeply connecting MMG skills and energy into the firms that manage the oilsands. I look forward to helping to facilitate that.”
MMG is owned by the Fort McKay Métis Nation and uses its profits to help provide affordable housing, education and other services to First Nations members.
Last year, Fort McKay was part of a landmark deal with Enbridge alongside nearly two dozen other Indigenous communities to acquire partial ownership over seven pipelines in northern Alberta.
The $1.12 billion deal saw the First Nations community gain 11.57% interest in the Enbridge projects.
Alberta’s energy sector has seen growth in recent month and several major companies have announced plans to expand operations.
As reported by True North, oil and gas companies were among the top rated employers in the province.
The question of whether Canada is broken has become a contentious political debate between Pierre Poilievre and Justin Trudeau. Poilievre has continued to point out the brokenness of Canada, which Trudeau claims is not just wrong, but offensive. True North’s Andrew Lawton says you have to be delusional to not see the system breakdowns taking place across the country, though he doesn’t think any politician can fix it.
Also, former member of parliament Stella Ambler has launched a new watchdog group, Municipal Watch, which takes aim at costly and wasteful policies being pushed by municipal governments. She joins The Andrew Lawton Show to talk about the local battlegrounds of Canadian politics.
