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Friday, May 16, 2025

Budget office says Freeland’s luxury tax will kill jobs and lead to $604 million loss

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The parliamentary budget watchdog is warning that a 10% tax on private planes, expensive cars and boats proposed by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will lead to a loss of jobs and generate far less revenue than the government estimates. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) slammed the proposed tax in a recent Legislative Costing note, saying that it will cost people jobs once implemented in September. 

“It is difficult to determine the extent of job losses but it is quite clear that with such a reduction in sales there would certainly be job losses,” said Budget Officer Yves Giroux.

The Trudeau government claimed the tax would generate $779 million in revenue by 2027, but according to Giroux it would cut sales of luxury aircraft, boats and cars by $2.9 billion. 

The PBO has also said it would raise $163 million in one year but at the same time cause a $604 million reduction in sales. 

Conservative MP Adam Chambers predicted that revenues would be short $375 million in the next five years due to lost GST on sales. 

“It is going to take down substantially the net impact to the government’s coffers, is that a fair assessment?” said Chambers.

“That’s indeed a fair assessment,” responded Giroux. “Because of the reduction in sales there will undoubtedly be a reduction in sales taxes collected, the extent to which is difficult to estimate because it is a niche market obviously.”

Freeland peddled the tax on vehicles and airplanes over $100,000 and boats over $250,000 in the 2021 budget. At the time she claimed it was a way for the wealthy to contribute to pandemic recovery. 

“If you have been lucky enough or smart enough or hardworking enough to afford to spend $100,000 on a car or $250,000 on a boat, congratulations! And thank you for contributing a little bit of that good fortune to help heal the wounds of Covid and invest in our future collective prosperity,” wrote Freeland. 

Others like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers also predicted earlier this month that the tax would lead to job losses. 

“Are we putting Canadian companies at a disadvantage globally versus competitors? To us the answer is clear: yes,” said general vice-president David Chartrand. “Will this tax generate a loss in sales? Absolutely. Would this translate into job loss? If you’re selling fewer aircraft you’re manufacturing fewer aircraft, you have fewer jobs.” 

Bill S-7 will make it easier for border agents to search travellers’ devices

By
Andrew Kozak
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A new Senate bill would allow Canadian Border Service (CBSA) agents to examine the contents of travellers’ smartphones, laptops and other devices under the threshold of “reasonable general concern.”

Bill S-7 aims to amend the Customs Act and the Preclearance Act, altering search protocol for those wishing to enter the country. 

The threshold for search according to the bill does not offer a precise definition. This is in contrast to the well-established legal standards police must meet to conduct a search or make an arrest, including “reasonable suspicion” and “reasonable grounds to believe.” 

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has said that the threshold of “reasonable general concern” is “very low and legally novel” and does not adequately protect travellers’ privacy from border officials.

“Introducing such a low standard not only fails to protect individual privacy, but also fails to offer protections against racial and religious profiling that may stem from the excessive discretion such a minimalist standard will provide, and may even exacerbate such profiling,” wrote the CCLA. 

Bill S-7 was introduced by Senator Marc Gold on behalf of Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino on Mar. 31. 

The bill was not introduced to the House of Commons before it appeared in the Senate. 

Mendicino stated that “(t)the proposed updates to the legislation will institute clear and stringent standards that must be met before a traveller’s device can be searched, while ensuring that the CBSA can continue to fight serious crimes like child pornography and keep our borders secure.”

A 2017 recommendation from the House of Commons’s standing committee on access to information states that the threshold be “reasonable grounds to suspect” to be required for the search of electronic devices.

In 2020, The Court of Appeal of Alberta ruled that border agents cannot search a person’s cell phone or laptop in the same fashion they do a suitcase or purse. The court ruled that inspecting the “biographical core of personal information” in a “suspicionless and unlimited” way was a violation of the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure as protected by Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Currently, a border official may examine a traveller’s digital device if they have concerns regarding admissibility of goods, identity, or failure to comply with Canadian laws. If asked to have their device examined, travellers are obligated to provide the password to access it. 

Border officers should then put the device on airplane mode in order to disable incoming or outgoing information and will not have access to social media, banking websites or emails. 

According to CBSA data, over 250 million travellers were processed at the border between Nov. 2017 and Dec. 2021. Of these, 33,373 had their devices examined and 12,457 of the examinations resulted in a customs or immigration-related contravention.

Number of working-age Canadians for every senior is plummeting

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

New research by the Fraser Institute predicts that by 2027, there will only be three working-age Canadians for every senior over the age of 65 – almost half of what there were twenty years ago.  

Report co-authors Ben Eisen and Joel Emes write that the shrinking ratio will “put pressures on public finances” in the next few years in funding cash transfers to seniors and paying for healthcare costs. 

Projections were based on Statistics Canada demographic data, with “working-aged” defined as those between the ages of 15 and 64. 

“Workers pay the bulk of taxes, which governments need to fund important services, including health care and income transfers to seniors,”  said Eisen in a press release. “As the relative number of seniors grows, and the relative number of workers declines, government finances across Canada will be put under increasing strain” 

The ratio of seniors to working-age Canadians was 7.8 in 1970, 5.4 in 2000 and 3.4 this year. Additionally, those over the age of 65 represent a bigger portion of Canada’s population. 

Seniors made up 19% of Canada’s population this year and are projected to be a quarter of the population by 2059. 

“This shrinking ratio of workers to seniors in Canada—which is already underway—is a significant headwind to policymakers in their efforts to improve the sustainability of government finances in Canada,” said Eisen. 

The implications for Canada’s economy are numerous, including a declining labour force participation rate, fewer taxpaying workers and slower growth. 

“An aging population will also put increasing pressure, to varying degrees, on a major area of expenditure for each senior level of government in Canada,”  the report explained. “For the federal government, this area is income support for seniors.” 

“The other major spending area is health care, an expense borne primarily by the provinces although notionally shared by the federal government via the Canada Health Transfer’s per-capita block grant and through small amounts of direct federal spending on health care services for small, specific populations.”

Other impacts of the declining ratio include an increase to federal and provincial spending by 2% of GDP over the next few decades, which would mean an additional $55 billion in spending, or $2,700 per worker. 

Doctor gave Covid-19 shot to hundreds of kids as young as six months old

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

A Toronto doctor is facing no professional discipline after admitting to giving the Covid-19 vaccine to at least 500 kids as young as six months old, despite the shot not being approved for children under the age of five. 

According to the Toronto Star, Dr. Christopher Sun from Weston-Mount Dennis stands by his decision and claims he did it “to protect children.”

“I put my neck on the line and did what I wanted to get done, which was to protect children,” Sun told the outlet. “These are worried parents in time of a health crisis and I think it’s wrong to turn away people who know what they are getting into.” 

Toronto Public Health informed Sun to stop vaccinating kids under the age of five, and Sun was reported to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO). Despite being reported, he continued to vaccinate that age group until the month’s end. 

Health Canada has not approved Covid-19 vaccination for children under 5. Some, however, have pushed for vaccination to apply for newborns even. 

Toronto Public Health spokesperson Lenore Bromley also stated that Ontario Ministry of Health guidance explicitly states kids at that age should not be vaccinated. 

“At this time, no Covid-19 vaccine is approved in Canada for children under the age of five years old. The Ontario Ministry of Health guidance does not permit vaccination of children under age five with any publicly funded Covid-19 vaccine,” said Bromley.

The ministry did not respond to questions about how many kids under five have been vaccinated but did say that a report from March indicated that there have been such incidents. 

“A report was run in March 2022 that showed some incidents of children under the age of five being vaccinated,” said spokesperson W.D Lighthall. 

At the Toronto Western Hospital’s family health team, some four-year-olds who were about to turn five were given the shot “when the MoH had opened the dates in the system which allowed for the vaccination of children within their 5th year,” according to the University Health Network.

Covid vaccines for kids under five are not expected to be authorized until at least June, with an expected summer roll out. 

One mother who used Sun’s services said that she could not wait to get her preschool-aged son and toddler daughter vaccinated. 

“With Omicron rising, I grew more and more nervous. I started to really worry for their health and wellbeing,” said Samantha Green, who is also a physician. “We felt it was the best choice for us. I absolutely don’t have any regrets at all.”

According to Sun, he was interviewed by the CPSO about his actions but they were dismissed. 

“Among the factors that would be considered are the nature of the concern, the physician’s willingness to correct that behaviour, and whether there is reason to believe that further intervention is necessary to ensure that patients are not subjected to unnecessary risk,” said CPSO spokesperson Shae Greenfield. 

Supreme Court retroactively strikes down life without parole for mass murderers

By
Harley Sims
-

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has ruled unanimously to strike down life without parole for mass murderers, saying that such sentences go against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that they bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

“(These sentences) are intrinsically incompatible with human dignity because of their degrading nature, as they deny offenders any moral autonomy by depriving them, in advance and definitively, of any possibility of reintegration into society,” read Friday’s ruling

“Sentences of imprisonment for life without a realistic possibility of parole may also have devastating effects on offenders, who are left with no incentive to rehabilitate themselves and whose incarceration will end only upon their death.”

The decision retroactively nullifies a 2011 Criminal Code reform by the Harper government that allowed judges sentencing mass killers to stack up their life sentences rather than impose them concurrently. 

“Parliament may not prescribe a sentence that negates the objective of rehabilitation, in advance and irreversibly, for all offenders,” ruled SCC Chief Justice Richard Wagner.

Friday’s decision came after the SCC reviewed the sentence of Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bisonnette, who murdered six people on Jan. 29, 2017 and injured several others. Bisonette was sentenced in 2019 to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 40 years.

Before the Harper government’s reform in 2011, the maximum sentence Bisonette could have received before being eligible for parole was 25 years. This was the situation regardless of how many people a killer had murdered.

Using consecutive sentencing, Bisonette’s ruling judge had the option of imposing a 150-year-sentence before parole eligibility. 

Saying he felt that sentence would be “cruel and unusual” punishment, however, Quebec Superior Court Justice Francois Huot imposed concurrent sentences of 25 years without parole for five out of the six murders. For the sixth count, however, he added another 15 years, totalling a sentence 40 years before eligibility for parole.

Both the Crown and the defence appealed, with the Quebec Court of Appeal ruling 3-0 that Harper’s amendment was unconstitutional.

Friday’s SCC ruling means that Bisonette will in fact be eligible for parole in 25 years.

The decision also means that several mass killers already sentenced using the Harper government’s amendment – including Moncton shooter Justin Bourque – will have their sentences changed.

Bourque was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 75 years in 2014 for killing three RCMP officers and wounding two others – the longest sentence in Canadian history, which was not appealed by Bourque’s lawyer.

Bourque will now be eligible for full parole after 25 years.

Toronto van attack killer Alek Minassian, who killed 11 and injured 15, will also now be eligible for parole after 25 years.

Nova Scotia shooter Gabriel Wortman – had he not been shot dead by police during his 2020 killing spree – could have seen a 550-year sentence for his 22 murders.  With Friday’s ruling, he too would have been eligible for full parole in 25 years.

Sentencing options and conventions involving mass killers vary across the Western world.

For example, the SCC decision comes days after mass shooter Salvador Ramos killed 21 people – including 19 children – in Uvalde, Texas. Ramos, who was shot dead by police, would if apprehended and charged have been eligible either for the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

This contrasts with the 21-year sentence given to Anders Breivik in Norway, who murdered 77 people and injured 319 in two separate sprees in 2011. Twenty-one years represents the maximum civilian sentence for Breivik’s crimes in Norway – again, regardless of the number of victims involved. Breivik was also given “preventive detention,” however, which allows the sentence to be extended by increments deemed necessary to protect the public.

In 2015, the Harper government had also put forward a bill to remove the possibility of parole entirely for some killers.

Canada abolished its death penalty in 1976 – 14 years after the last executions in 1962.

Conservative MP and leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre responded to the SCC’s decision with a statement on Friday, saying that if elected prime minister, he would use the notwithstanding clause to restore the Harper government’s amendment “so that the worst murderers stay behind bars for life.”

Davos Debrief

By
Andrew Lawton
-

True North’s Andrew Lawton is back in Canada after covering the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. At the meeting, panelists spoke about “recalibrating” free speech, developing carbon footprint trackers, and “painful” transitions away from oil and gas, among other things.

Outside of the sessions, private jets and limousines, fake storefronts and other oddities took over the streets of Davos.

In this live Q&A edition of The Andrew Lawton Show, Andrew breaks down the experience in Davos and takes your questions about WEF.

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Legacy media pushes fake news claiming Trudeau was a victim of “racist slurs”

By
Candice Malcolm
-

The Trudeau Liberals invented a news story that “racist slurs” were being hurled at attendees of a Trudeau fundraiser in Surrey, BC. Unsurprisingly, the legacy media immediately ran the story. There was only one problem – it was never true. Countless legacy media outlets had to backtrack and change their news stories after being called out for fake news.

Plus, it’s been one year since the apparent discovery of unmarked graves found near residential schools and the story still hasn’t been verified. But that hasn’t stopped leftist activists and politicians from continuing to falsely accuse Canada of committing “genocide.”

And in the wake of horrific mass shootings in the US, the left in Canada is exploiting tragedies and importing US culture wars for their own benefit.

It’s Fake News Friday on The Candice Malcolm Show. Candice and True North producer Harrison Faulkner discuss the worst examples of fake news in Canada this week.

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Liberals cite privacy laws when asked which media outlets got its $600M bailout

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Trudeau government is citing confidentiality and “taxpayer information” to hide from the public which legacy media companies accepted money from its $600 million media bailout. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Revenue Agency withheld the details of the cash payments in response to an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons. 

“Since January 1, 2019 how much funding has each outlet received to date?” asked Conservative MP Chris Warkentin.

“Confidentiality provisions under section 241 of the Income Tax Act prevent the Agency from releasing taxpayer information,” replied Revenue Minister Diane Lbeouthillier. 

Very few federal payments to media have been disclosed since the bailout was first crafted. 

Winnipeg Free Press received $1 million a year in payroll rebates despite its former publisher Bob Cox sitting on the panel appointed by Canadian Heritage to design the subsidies. 

Cox defended himself after True North asked him about the apparent conflict in 2020.

“Panel members did not and do not consider any applications that may involve a business conflict,” Cox said. “I was not present for any discussion of applications either from my own company, FP Canadian Newspapers, or any media companies competing in the Manitoba market. I was also not informed of the outcome of panel discussions on these matters. The newspaper editors were informed in the same way and at the same time as other applicants.”

As of last year, the corporation that owns the outlet FP Newspapers Inc has received $6.2 million in taxpayer funds in the form of COVID-19 subsidies and payroll rebates. 

Grants made up a majority – or 54% – of the company’s total revenues in 2021. 

Other outlets including the Halifax Chronicle Herald took the media rebates but ended up firing employees anyway. The legacy media outlet received $13,750 per employee of taxpayer funds, but by September 2020 its owner Saltwire Network Inc. had fired 111 of its staff. 

Critics of the bailout including CWA Canada president Martin O’Hanlon called the program “heavily skewed” toward favoured papers. 

“This is skewed heavily in favour of entrenched newspapers and their managers,” said O’Hanlon. “If this was supposed to be open and transparent, I don’t think that happened here. They chose the people they wanted to get the answers they wanted.”

WEF 2022’s eight most radical proposals to control people’s lives

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

As the World Economic Forum (WEF) comes to a wrap, True North has been reporting on some of the most radical proposals the elites in attendance have championed. 

WEF panels on a range of topics from climate change to the metaverse have revealed some startling and controversial projects, including an individual carbon tracker and global surveillance for viral outbreaks.

“The problem with the World Economic Forum isn’t that it’s some shadowy cabal secretly pulling the strings of world leaders,” True North senior journalist Andrew Lawton said from Davos, where he’s covering the WEF’s annual meeting. “The organization is quite open about its agenda to phase out oil and gas, ‘recalibrate’ free speech, and push for social credit-style carbon emissions tracking.”

1. An “individual carbon footprint” to track travel and what you eat

One of the most explosive announcements at WEF was by the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. Canadian-born Alibaba Group president J. Michael Evans told attendees that his company was currently developing an “individual carbon footprint tracker” to track what consumers are eating and how they are getting around. 

“We’re developing through technology an ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint,” said Evans. “What does that mean? Where are they traveling? How are they traveling? What are they eating? What are they consuming on the platform?”

2. Global surveillance system to detect future outbreaks

On a panel related to pandemics, Illumina Inc CEO Francis deSouza suggested that we should implement a “global surveillance infrastructure” to detect future viral outbreaks. 

“We now know that we are only as strong as the weakest among us so we need a global surveillance infrastructure. The good news is, as we’re deploying this infrastructure around the world, it provides infrastructure not just to fight future pandemics, not just to fight future pathogen outbreaks, but also to help countries deal with other diseases like cancer,” said deSouza. 

3. A “recalibration” of freedom of speech 

Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant called for a “recalibration” of human rights to counter polarization online.  

“We are finding ourselves in a place where we have increasing polarization everywhere and everything feels binary when it doesn’t need to be so I think we’re going to think of a recalibration of a whole range of human rights that are playing out online,” said Grant. “You know from freedom of speech to the freedom to be free from online violence.”

4. Green transition inflation and energy shortages are “worth it”

On the topic of businesses, Norwegian financial services giant DNB ASA CEO Kjerstin Braathen told attendees that the pain caused by transitioning to sustainable forms of energy would be worth it. Braathen cited inflation and energy shortages as examples of those pains. 

“We need to accept that there will be some pain in the process,” she said. “The pace that we need will open up for missteps. It will open up for shortage of energy, it will create inflationary pressures, and we need to start talking about that.”

5. Central bank digital currencies within five years

A panel composed of central bankers and finance executives cheerily discussed introducing central bank digital currencies within five years. 

6. UN regulation and passports for the metaverse

While discussing the metaverse and Web 3.0, United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence Omar Sultan Al Olama proposed UN regulation of the internet and for companies to require passports to access different metaverse platforms. 

“There needs to be a conversation at the level of the United Nations, the ITU or these non-governmental bodies where a certain standard is set. That standard is set on the internet to a large extent,” said Al Olama. 

7. People in power should prevent laws opposing gender ideology

CEO of The Trevor Project Amit Paley told WEF attendees that people in power should push back against laws targeting gender ideology, saying numerous harmful bills have been passed in various states throughout the US. 

“CEOs and companies are extremely powerful, they matter a lot in every country in the world and so when we are seeing things like what we talked about – bills being passed that are targeting the most vulnerable people in our world,” said Paley. “We’re talking trans kids. We need people in positions of power. We need CEOs, we need board, we need executives, we need everyone in companies to say ‘This is wrong. This is harmful. This is unethical and we won’t stand for it.’”     

8. A global 25% corporate tax rate

During a panel on tax reform, Oxfam executive director Gabriela Buncher proposed a 25% global corporate tax rate. 

She also blasted countries that were lowering their tax rates to stay competitive. 

Newfoundland drops vax mandate for provincial employees

By
Harley Sims
-

Newfoundland and Labrador has become the latest province to rescind its Covid vaccination policy for employees, including workers in long-term care homes, fire departments and many other settings.

“Given the current epidemiology of the province, a decision has been made not to extend the policy,” read a statement by Newfoundland’s health department on Thursday.

The decision comes into effect on June 1, and will apply to those who first fell under the mandate on Dec. 17.

Affected employees include “those working with vulnerable populations within sectors such as personal care homes, assisted living facilities, home care, charitable organizations providing services to persons in need, private health clinics, private schools, post-secondary institutions, fire departments, ambulance providers, businesses employing regulated health professionals, organizations providing child care services, and organizations providing therapeutic, supportive and residential services to children, youth and families.”

As of publication time, it was not yet clear whether teachers and healthcare workers – both of which were named in the same health order – were included. 

According to Newfoundland’s finance minister, 32 employees were forced onto unpaid leave after the province’s public-sector vaccine mandate came into effect. A Treasury Board Secretariat spokesperson said all can return to work at the start of next month.

The lifting of the mandate makes good on a promise made by Premier Andrew Fury when he announced the policy in October to review it every six months.

The province also said, however, that it “will continue to monitor the epidemiology of the province and, as with any public health measure, these may be reinstated at any time deemed necessary in the future.”

As provinces began lifting their Covid restrictions in February – including masks and vaccine passports – some municipalities, universities and other organizations have also begun to lift or review their vaccine mandates for employees.

Others, however, continue to implement the mandates (St. John, New Brunswick) or to terminate non-compliant employees (British Columbia).

On Wednesday, Hamilton city council voted to extend its vaccination deadline for municipal employees to Sept. 30.

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