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Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Alberta fights federal emissions cap by invoking Sovereignty Act 

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Source: Alberta Govervnment

Alberta will invoke the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act to counter the Liberals’ oil and gas emissions cap. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made the announcement alongside the province’s Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz and Minister of Energy Brian Jean on Tuesday. 

“We’ve been very clear that we will use all means at our disposal to fight back against federal policies that hurt Alberta, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Smith. “The cap violates section 92A of the Constitution, which gives provinces exclusive jurisdiction over non-renewable natural resource development.”

The premier explained that the cap will cut 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2030 and that reports have highlighted that 150,000 Canadians will lose their jobs and tens of billions will vanish from Canada’s GDP.

“Ottawa seems to think that they need to save us from ourselves, but they are wrong because we’re not just working with industry to continue to drive down emissions; we’re succeeding at it. Alberta already has a system in place that is working,” said Smith. “Emissions per barrel are declining even as production and contribution to GDP grows. Alberta’s energy industry doesn’t just provide jobs to Albertans but to Canadians all across our country. And it doesn’t just power Alberta’s economy, it powers Canada’s.”

Despite warnings from economists that the emissions cap will have a negative impact on the Canadian economy, the Trudeau government has pushed forward.

A report from the Conference Board of Canada estimates that the cap will result in the average Canadian family having $419 less a month for groceries, utilities, and mortgage payments. The report highlighted that the cap would reduce Canada’s GDP by up to $1 trillion between 2030 and 2040.

An S&P study highlighted that the cap would cut production of oil by two million barrels daily.

Alberta launched a national advertising campaign in Oct., warning Canadians against the consequences of a federal emissions cap. 

Smith said the advertising campaign’s goal was to warn everyone who stands to lose something from the cap—all Canadians—about the risks of the cap. 

She previously called the oil and gas cap “a deranged vendetta” targeting Alberta. 

The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act motion must be passed in the legislature. The motion proposes launching an immediate constitutional challenge against the emissions cap.

The motion seeks to ensure no provincial entity enforces the cap while designating oil and gas facilities as essential infrastructure. It also prohibits unauthorized access to these facilities. It declares emissions data proprietary to Alberta and mandates that disclosure be controlled by the province. Additionally, it establishes royalty-in-kind programs for oil and bitumen. It aims to expand pipeline capacity through collaboration with other jurisdictions.

“If the motion passes, we’ll act fast to get ready for Ottawa’s destructive cap. Albertans expect no less. We’ll defend Alberta’s prosperity, Alberta’s livelihood and our energy industry,” said Smith. “This motion marks an important step in our pushback against federal overreach. We’re telling Ottawa, your cap goes too far. This is not the way federal-provincial relations should be. It’s certainly not the way we want them to be.”

Schulz said that the cap would make life less affordable for Canadians while having no impact on reducing global emissions. In fact, she said that the cap will increase the production of coal and other high emissions energy worldwide.

“After years of trying to reason with this out-of-touch federal government, our province faces a choice: secure our economic future and the livelihoods of all Albertans, or let Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sacrifice our prosperity for his extreme ideological agenda,” said Schulz.

She added that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is telling Canadians to prioritize Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s green agenda over feeding their families or paying their rent.

“The federal government should not be willing to undercut Alberta’s economy just because we don’t vote for them. They seem to just be trying to placate their eco-activist base in Ottawa as they collapse in the polls,” said Schulz. “They are chasing headlines and soundbites while playing politics once again with people’s livelihoods. This is unacceptable. We voiced these concerns to Ottawa many times, only to be dismissed and ignored. We will not be sidelined or silenced.”

Smith said the province will use the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Agency to market its resources directly and independently. The agency was established by Peter Lougheed in 1973 to defend constitutional rights in the war against oil and gas waged by Trudeau’s father.

Immigration Minister expects millions to leave voluntarily once visas expire

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: Unsplash

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that he expects the nearly 5 million people living in Canada with visas poised to expire by the end of next year to leave the country voluntarily. 

“There are many ways that people leave the country,” Miller told the House of Commons immigration committee on Tuesday. “The vast majority leave voluntarily. That is what is expected.”

According to documents tabled in Parliament by the Department of Immigration, 4.9 million visas are going to expire between September 2024 and December 2025. 

Conservative MP Tom Kmiec pressed Miller on the matter, asking? “How will we know how many of those actually wind up leaving?”

Miller responded by saying that the government would “monitor that carefully.”

“There are many measures within our department to monitor these things,” he said, including tasking “the Canada Border Services Agency to investigate and prosecute those who violate immigration laws.”

Kmiec followed up by asking how many foreign students would leave voluntarily, considering they account for 766,000 of the visas slated to expire.

“Are you saying 100% are expected to leave or are you going to send the Canada Border Services Agency to chase all 766,000?” asked Kmiec.

Miller said that he would not be doing that, adding that “some people actually get renewals. Some people get postgraduate work permits.”

The Department of Immigration tallied a total of 1,073,435 foreign students in Canada as of last May.

“There are an increasing number of students making asylum claims, I think with very little hope,” said Miller. “Whether you like it or not they are entitled to due process in this country. I don’t think you would purport to deny it to them.”

In addition to international students, the department estimated as many as half a million undocumented foreigners are currently residing illegally in Canada, according to an April briefing note.

“(Trudeau’s) own published documents show there are 4.9 million people here temporarily that are supposed to leave by Dec. 31 of next year, ” Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa.

“We asked what the plan was to track their departure and (on Monday Trudeau’s) immigration minister said ‘We’re just going to take people at their word.’ He admits two ISIS terrorists allowed into our country. What is the plan to protect our security and reinstate sovereignty over who is in our country?”

Miller announced that Canada would scale back immigration levels to 365,000 people a year by 2027 in response to a growing sentiment that the Trudeau government has let in far more people than Canada can handle.

“These changes will make immigration work for our country so that everyone has access to the quality jobs, homes and supports they need to thrive. We have listened to Canadians, and we will continue to protect the integrity of our system and grow our population responsibly,” said Miller in a statement last month.

“Today’s announcement is the next step in our plan to address the evolving immigration needs of our country. While it’s clear our economy needs newcomers, we see the pressures facing our country, and we must adapt our policies accordingly.”

The 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan projects Canada’s population to decline by 0.2% over the next two years before returning to a population growth of 0.8% in 2027. 

The number of permanent residents will be reduced from 500,000 to 395,000 next year and then to 380,000 in 2026, before reaching a target of 365,000 in 2027.

The Daily Brief | What the heck is a “vibecession?” 

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Sorce: Facebook

Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland suggested that Canadians were experiencing a “vibecession” and that Canada’s economy was doing great. 

Plus, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to secure the borders and unleash the Canadian economy after President Donald Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Canada if it doesn’t cut down on illegal immigration.

And following online outrage over comments about the need to preserve Canadian and Christian values in Canada, the vice-chair of the Vancouver Police Board has stepped down from her role.

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

Government suspends contracts with Boissonnault’s former company GHI

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook

The federal government announced it will be suspending contracts with former minister of employment Randy Boissonnault’s former medical supply company in response to the onslaught of scandals surrounding the business which began this summer.

Global Health Imports has been suspended from “bidding or entering into contracts with the Government of Canada” by Public Services and Procurement Canada for 90 days.

A press release from the agency said the suspension was effective as of Monday. 

“The suspension will last for a period of 90 days and may be extended as necessary until a final decision regarding the supplier’s status under the Ineligibility and Suspension Policy is rendered,” it said.

According to assistant deputy minister of departmental oversight at PSPC Catherine Poulin, the Edmonton Police Service’s investigation into GHI played a role in the decision to suspend the company.

“We have gone through multiple sources of information, including lawsuits … and the information that has been brought to our attention recently concerning an Edmonton Police Services investigation kind of put us at the right level of threshold to take action under the policy,” Poulin told a parliamentary committee.

Most recently there was the issue of GHI sharing a post office box with a cocaine smuggler in Edmonton, which came to light earlier this month.

Boissonnault co-founded the company with Stephen Anderson in 2020 while he was temporarily out of office after losing his seat in the 2019 election. He resigned from the company in 2021 after he regained his seat, however, he remained a 50% shareholder in the company until June of this year. 

Boissonnault initially became embroiled in controversy over a conflict of interest investigation regarding text messages of alleged business dealings done while holding public office.

The messages referred to someone named “Randy” receiving a wire transfer of around $500,000 to secure personal protective equipment from GHI in 2022. 

The former employment minister claimed that these messages were referring to someone else at the company named Randy, however, it would later come out that no one else had that name at GHI, dubbing his alibi as the “Other Randy” scandal.

The story from former partner Anderson would soon shift to the name Randy being referenced numerous times to be the result of a series of autocorrect mistakes.

However, trouble would continue to follow Boissonnault after he stepped away from the company and for entirely different reasons. 

GHI’s name surfaced during an inquiry launched into a government program that was thought to be exploited by companies falsely claiming they were Indigenous-owned businesses. 

GHI was involved in bidding on contracts under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business, a federal procurement program designed to boost the Indigenous economy.

“Global Health is a wholly owned Indigenous and LGBTQ Company,” wrote Anderson in a bid for a contract to supply face masks June 2020.

In a separate bid submission to PSPC for a contract to supply face shields, Anderson again called the company “Aboriginal” twice.

Boissonnault said that Anderson did this without his knowledge and that he intends to take legal action against his former business partner for using his name without his consent. 

However, Boissonnault himself had claimed to have Indigenous heritage many times over his years in Parliament, something that he has since rescinded and apologized for.  

The Prime Minister’s Office announced that he would be stepping away from cabinet in response to the whirlwind of scandals surrounding his former company and false claims of Indigenous heritage last week. 

“The Prime Minister and MP Randy Boissonnault have agreed that Mr. Boissonnault will step away from Cabinet effective immediately,” read the PMO’s statement. “Mr. Boissonnault will focus on clearing the allegations made against him.”

Public Services and Procurement Canada said that one contract with GHI and the government remains active, which was “awarded by Elections Canada through a competitive procurement process that did not include an Indigenous set-aside requirement.”

“Elections Canada has confirmed that no deliverables have been received and no payments have been made against the contract. Moreover, on November 20, 2024, Elections Canada issued a full stop-work order to Global Health Imports Corporation,” it said.  

London Police Chief sounds alarm on “safe supply” drugs fuelling black market

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Source: londonpolice.ca

London Police Chief Thai Truong warned that “safe supply” has exacerbated the illegal drug trade and resulted in unprecedented levels of drug overdoses. 

Truong highlighted that “safe supply” has led to medications being diverted for sale on the black market.

“These diverted drugs are being resold within our community, trafficked to other jurisdictions, and even used as currency to obtain fentanyl, perpetuating the illegal drug trade. Specifically, we are seeing significant increases in the availability of diverted Dilaudid eight milligram tablets, which are often prescribed as part of the safe supply initiatives,” said Truong. “Vulnerable individuals are being targeted by criminals who exchange these prescriptions for fentanyl, exacerbating addiction and community harm.”

He highlighted the stark increase in drug overdoses over the last year, which he attributed to the “safe supply” program. 

In 2021, 73 people in London died of drug overdoses. The following year saw 123 people die from drug overdoses, an increase of 68%. The subsequent year saw the number rise to 142, a further increase of 15%. Fatalities have since decreased marginally but remain well above pre-pandemic levels.

“Tragically, over 80% of opioid-related overdose deaths in London are linked to fentanyl,” said Truong. 

The London police previously warned that “safe supply” drugs were fuelling the black market. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and police in British Columbia issued the same warning. 

Drug seizures by police have also increased at an even more staggering rate.

London police seized 847 hydromorphone pills in 2019, 75 of which were dilaudid eight milligrams. By 2023, seizures increased to over 30,000 pills, with half of them being dilaudid eight milligrams, an increase of over 3,441%.

Truong said that these increases could not be attributed to pharmacy thefts, as only one had occurred since 2019. 

Conservative MP Laila Goodridge highlighted that Dr. Sharon Koivu had previously noted that vulnerable women were being “pimped out” for safe supply drugs. Truong said the police have also seen the trend.

Koivu previously interviewed with True North’s Harrison Faulkner. 

She said that she witnessed people develop paraplegia from injecting Dilaudid. 

The doctor said that safe supply programs at pharmacies are directly related to more homeless encampments, as people were moving into tents to be near them.

Additionally, she said that people were being prescribed up to 40 pills of Dilaudid a day, four times more than the body can handle without seeing a toxic result.

Before safe supply, Koivu said that pills cost $20. Afterwards, they were available for $1 a pill.

“Now, most of the people I see who have started using opioids since 2016 started recreationally and often didn’t know that it was dangerous. It’s called safe supply. So people literally are thinking it’s safe to take, and that they won’t get addicted and safe to inject because it’s called safe supply,” said Koivu. “So my experience has been that I’m seeing a lot more people, young adults, that have addiction.”

Koivu added that after revealing that people were getting spine infections from injecting safe supply drugs, she was suppressed by people calling her a fear monger. She said that other doctors fear similar retribution, causing them not to speak out. 

Conservative MP Todd Doherty warned that Trudeau has not ruled out bringing drug legalization to other parts of Canada. 

Truong advised against it.

“I am not in support of decriminalization of drugs in our community,” he said. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would fix drug crimes and smuggling in Canada following President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs in response to Canada’s weak border.

“I don’t want to stop drug overdoses to please Donald Trump. I want to stop drug overdoses so that there’s not one more mother with her face buried in a pillow, sobbing that she just lost her kid,” said Poilievre. After 47,000 other Canadians have died —that’s more than we lost in the Second World War—a 200% annual increase in drug overdose deaths have resulted from Justin Trudeau’s radical liberalization of drugs.”

Tim Houston’s PCs win second consecutive majority government in Nova Scotia

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

Calling an early election paid off for Tim Houston and his Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives, as Houston won a landslide victory in the province Tuesday.

The leaders of both opposition parties conceded the election within 30 minutes of results being reported as Houston’s victory became clear.

PCs under Houston won 41seats, leading in two ridings out of 55  with 52.8% of the popular vote at the time of publication, moving his government from a majority to a supermajority, compared to his 2021 victory, where the PC’s secured 31 seats and 38.44% of the vote.

The Liberal Party of Nova Scotia lost 12 seats when compared with the last election; the NDP won three, and the PC’s gained nine.

If the PCs maintain their 43-seat lead, they will be elected with the most seats in the province’s history.

In Nova Scotia, a party must secure two-thirds of the seats to gain a supermajority, meaning 37 seats were required. However, to hold its majority after a speaker is appointed, typically chosen from the governing party, a party must win 38 seats.

Houston needed 28 seats to form a majority. With a supermajority, Houston’s PCs can change the House’s procedural rules without working with opposition parties. 

Houston’s party can now prevent opposition parties from filibustering through the use of house procedures. Before the election was called, opposition parties would halt government action by taking full hours to speak, calling for recorded votes, and ringing house bells to suspend business. 

On the campaign trail, he said his main priorities would be building homes, healtchare and taking a stronger stance against Ottawa and that the election results would improve his bargaining power with the federal party.

Houston is the first Premier in Nova Scotia history to win a larger majority in his second term and will be Premier for at least four more years. However, this isn’t Houston’s first historic victory, as he was the only opposition leader to win an election against an incumbent party during the COVID lockdowns in 2021.

”I want to thank Nova Scotians for putting their faith in the PC party and reelecting an even larger PC majority,” Houston said in his victory speech. “We shared a message with (voters), a message of positivity and potential, and tonight, they have sent us a message, and I received that message loud and clear. And that message is very simple, ‘keep going.’”

NDP and Liberal MLAs have recently used these tactics to delay Houston’s government from passing legislation too quickly. However, they employed similar tactics when the PCs were an opposition party.

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender was elected in her riding. Her party will be forming the province’s Official Opposition, replacing the Liberals—the N.S. The NDP secured 8 seats, leading in 1out of 55, with 23% of the vote. The victory makes Chender the first woman to be elected as the Leader of the Official Opposition in Nova Scotia.

“While we had hoped for a different result tonight, make no mistake, our vision for a different kind of government has struck a nerve,” Chender said in a concession speech. “And I am here to tell you that the Nova Scotia NDP is on the rise.” 

Liberal leader Zach Churchill conceded early Tuesday night, calling Houston to congratulate him on his victory. His party garnered 23% support, though it only secured two seats, barely surviving the election with official party status.

Despite having around the same amount of popular support as the NDP, the party lost its official opposition status and was still in danger of losing its official party status at the time of publication.

Churchill lost his Yarmouth seat,by 14 votes,to the PC’s candidate, Nick Hilton. One of the two Liberal seats was won by Nova Scotia’s former premier, Ian Rankin. In the August 2021 election, under Rankin, the Liberals secured 17 seats with 36.55% of the vote in the last election.

The Liberals had only one more seat than the independents. Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin won the only independent seat. Smith-McCrossin won a second time in a row, scoring another historic moment for Nova Scotia, being the first independent to win as such twice.

Ratio’d | True North goes to the town entirely run on Bitcoin – Bitcoin Beach, El Salvador

By
Harrison Faulkner
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Source: True North

Harrison Faulkner explores El Zonte, El Salvador, also known as Bitcoin Beach, the first town in the world to have a fully circular Bitcoin economy. Three years ago, El Zonte was run by dangerous gangs and over 90% of the town was too poor to have a bank account. Today, through local Bitcoin investments, this town is a tourist hotspot where locals are being paid in Bitcoin.

There is probably no other place on earth that is like this right now. Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d from El Salvador with Harrison Faulkner.

Poilievre calls on Trudeau to secure the borders and fix the economy after Trump’s proposed tariffs

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to secure the borders and unleash the Canadian economy after President Donald Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Canada if it doesn’t cut down on illegal immigration.

In response to Trump’s “unjustified” tariff threats against Canada, if it doesn’t secure the border to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling, Poilievre called on the Speaker of the House to permit an emergency debate on the issue.

As two-way trade between Canada and the US accounts for $960.9 billion of Canada’s trade, over 60% of its trade in 2022, and nearly 40% of Canada’s economy, Trump’s imposed tariffs would be catastrophic for Canada.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Poilievre said Canada had an “unprecedented weakness” and called on Trudeau to respond to the tariff threats by making Canada’s economy competitive and securing the border.

“Justin Trudeau must put partisanship aside, not just for the sake of Team Canada, but for the sake of our people, and fully reverse his liberalization of drugs,” Poilievre said. “Ban them, prosecute those who traffic in them, secure our borders against the illegal importation of fentanyl ingredients, put people in treatment and recovery to bring our loved ones home drug free, that is necessary now more than ever.”

He noted that under Trudeau, Canada’s per-capita GDP is smaller than when he took office nine years ago and has dropped more than any other G7 country since the year before the COVID lockdowns. He said Canada now has the most indebted households, the worst housing inflation, and a quarter of its population in poverty, with two million reportedly lining up at food banks.

“Food prices have risen 37% faster in Canada than in the United States of America,” he said. “Our economy is teetering on the brink of collapse, and now we face this renewed threat.” 

He demanded that Trudeau cancel his proposed quadrupling of the carbon tax, cancel his cap on oil and gas, end US tariffs against Canadian lumber, fight against Buy America policies, and fix the immigration system by ensuring terrorists don’t enter the country, and deportations are correctly managed.

“The Prime Minister has to put aside partisanship and, in the spirit of Team Canada, cancel his energy cap, which would see Alberta and Saskatchewan produce 35% less energy at a time when we need those jobs,” he said. “It is our biggest industry and our biggest export.”

He also added that Canada needs to rebuild its military in light of Trump’s campaign promises to withdraw support from Canada if it doesn’t meet its NATO targets of spending 2% of its GDP on defence by 2032. He said one way to do this is for Trudeau to immediately announce a stop to his plan to cut $1 billion from the Department of National Defence budget.

Poilievre vowed to support what he called a “Canada First” response if elected and sympathized with Trump’s desire to do the same for his country.

“President Trump has the right to put his workers and his nation’s security first. I will put Canada’s workers and Canada’s security first,” he said. “We need a prime minister with the strength and the smarts, the brains and the backbone to stand up for this country, to rebuild our security, our military and our economy. That is what I will do.”

Trudeau responded to the tariffs Tuesday, saying he and Trump discussed the issue over the phone and has organized a meeting with Canada’s premiers to address the incoming US administration.

“We obviously talked about laying out the facts and how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth. We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together,” Trudeau said. “It was a good call. This is something that we can do, laying out the facts and moving forward in constructive ways. This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc hosted a press conference on Tuesday to also address Trump’s proposed tariffs.  

Freeland said Trudeau’s phone call with Trump was an opportunity to highlight Canada’s mutually beneficial economic relationship with the US.

“The fact is, we need them, and they also need us. Canada is the largest market for the US in the world, larger than China, Japan, the UK and France combined,” Freeland said. “The things we sell to the United States are the things they really need. We sell them oil, we sell them electricity, we sell them critical minerals and metals, the energy the United States imports from Canada is more important today than ever.”

Freeland affirmed that Canada would come out fine by the end of negotiations, saying it’s survived US tariff threats in the past by threatening tariffs on its own, leaving the possibility of retaliation open.

Poilievre criticized Freeland and Trudeau, saying that they have been saying Canada will be fine since Trump’s election and that they should have seen this coming had they paid mind to Trump on the campaign trail.

The Rachel Parker Show | Canada needs to do THIS to avoid Trump’s tariffs

By
Rachel Parker
-
Source: PM.GC.CA

Today on the Rachel Parker Show, Rachel is joined by Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley who breaks down everything you need to know about President-Elect Donald Trump’s threat of 25% tariffs on all products coming from Canada and Mexico.

Trump says he will implement the tariffs on January 20 unless the Canadian and Mexican governments get serious and stop the flow of illegals and drugs crossing the border into America.

Lilley says he thinks Trump is serious — and explains what the Liberal government must do to stop the tariffs, which would cause a recession in the Canadian economy.

Later on the show, Rachel is joined by former Naval officer Andrew McGillivray who explains why recruits are so low for the navy and the military.

Tune in now!

Freeland says Canadian economy is fine, calls it a “vibecession”

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

Rising housing costs? Unaffordable food? Canadians on the verge of bankruptcy? No, Canada’s economy is actually doing great and better than everywhere else, according to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. 

She suggested as much and claimed that Canadians thinking the contrary wasn’t grounded in reality and was what she brushed off as a “vibecession.”

Freeland made the comments on Monday when discussing the Liberals’ GST cut and the $250 cheque her government would send to Canadians who made $150,000 or less in 2023. Small Businesses Minister Rechie Valdez and Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos joined Freeland. 

“A lot of economists have been talking about the vibecession and the fact that Canadians just aren’t feeling good and that that is having real economic consequences,” said Freeland. “And the Canadian economists making that point are right, that there is a disconnect between the really positive economic news and the fact that the Canadian economy does appear set for a soft landing. That’s good news. But Canadians aren’t feeling it.”

Duclos said that the GST tax break could mean a 5% boost in sales and $1 billion in additional revenue for restaurants and small businesses.

The Liberals’ proposed GST and HST tax cut on groceries, alcohol, children’s essentials, and more is proposed between Dec. 14, 2024 and Feb. 15, 2025. 

Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Franco Terrazzano told True North that the comments prove that the Liberals aren’t serious about making life affordable for Canadians.

“Canadians are not struggling because of bad vibes; we are struggling because of bad policies from a government that takes too much money from us,” said Terrazzano.

On Aug. 30, 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially doubled Canada’s debt, spending more money during his tenure than every other Prime Minister before him combined. 

Freeland also celebrated that the Canada carbon rebate for small businesses would be paid this year. She said the payments would be coming “ahead of schedule.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses previously applauded the federal government for finally issuing the revenues after waiting five years. 

The Liberals initially planned to tax the rebate but backtracked after severe backlash. 

Freeland said that the cheques are necessary because demand is weak. 

“If Freeland is worried about low demand, then she should stop taking so much money from Canadians in the first place,” said Terrazzano. “The government should scrap the carbon tax, reverse the capital gains tax hike, stop hiking payroll and alcohol taxes, and cut its bloated budget so it can provide meaningful tax relief.”

Canadians relying on food banks have increased by 90% over the past five years. Toronto saw a 273% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

A recent PBO report highlighted that Canadians pay more in carbon tax than they receive in rebates, regardless of what province they live in.

The CFIB estimates that small businesses pay approximately 40% of the carbon tax and receive 5% in rebates. The carbon tax costs $65 per tonne of CO2e in 2023 and is set to increase to $170 per tonne by 2030, an increase of 161.5%. 

On top of the Liberals’ continuously rising carbon tax, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault recently proposed a new global carbon tax on maritime shipping. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joined in on mocking Freeland’s comments.

“Hungry? Can’t afford a home? You just need to get with the vibe!” he said. 

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