True reconciliation means acknowledging our right to develop our lands as we see fit
Speculation has swirled for months that Ottawa is planning to introduce a new Indigenous loan guarantee program, and last week’s fiscal update confirmed that more details will be included in the next federal budget. I am not totally against this idea, as it could help Indigenous groups overcome historical barriers to raising capital, particularly through borrowing. However, there has also been speculation that certain industries could be excluded from loan eligibility, in accordance with the government’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment framework. This is not OK.
If the government follows through with its plan to roll out a new Indigenous-tailored financial program, it should respect our right to self-determination, which encompasses our autonomy to make investment decisions based on our own, internally defined objectives.
For instance, we are well within our rights to pursue investment opportunities in the energy sector, which offers a path to prosperity for many Indigenous communities. Indigenous-Canadians who work in oil and gas extraction currently make almost three times more than their peers. Quite frankly, it would be irresponsible for us to not seek out new energy investments, given the potential for good-paying energy jobs to lift scores of Indigenous families out of poverty.
A new loan guarantee program would, in theory, provide Indigenous nations with the resources to build our own path forward. But if the loan program were handled by the Canada Infrastructure Bank, as budget 2023 suggested, loans for oil and gas development may be excluded. Applying ESG requirements to the program would have a similar effect.
Such conditions would put remote communities at a disadvantage relative to those located near large urban centres. And communities that are dependent on energy projects for their economic well-being would be left in the lurch.This would be a step away from reconciliation. The federal government should not be able to pick and choose for us which projects we partner on — this is paternalism of the worst sort. Decisions about our lands and the projects built on them should be ours to make — and ours alone.
We have long made decisions about projects in our territories — decisions that balance economic development with stewardship of land and water. The Trudeau government has pledged, repeatedly, to value mutual respect and restorative justice. We need to remind them of that.
Right now, the most important thing the federal government can do is respect the right of all Indigenous communities to self-determination. We have a limited window of opportunity to persuade the Liberal government to include oil and natural gas extraction projects on the list of eligible loan guarantees, and make sure that our inherent right to make decisions about projects on our lands is respected.
This is also an opportunity to forge a much-needed and long-overdue relationship between the Tsimshian, Nisga’a, Haida, Haisla, Heiltsuk, Wet’suwet’en, Gitxsan, Tahltan, Tse’Khene, T’exelcemc and Carrier Sekani people, and build an Indigenous economic corridor stretching from British Columbia to Newfoundland.This loan guarantee program could help lift thousands of Indigenous-Canadians out of poverty, and bring prosperity to our people for generations to come, through inter-generational knowledge and wealth transfer. When our communities prosper, Canada prospers, but we cannot do that without the rest of the country’s help.
This is an opportunity for the federal government to bridge the divide and make Canada the economic powerhouse it ought to be. This loan guarantee program can serve as a much-needed catalyst. We should have the opportunity to invest in any project that has the potential to bring prosperity to our communities, including projects in the oil and gas industry.
Indigenous communities want to be a part of Canada, not apart from Canada. Give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.
Chris Sankey is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a businessman and former elected councillor for the Lax Kw Alaams First Nation.
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Plan incentivizes municipalities to cut building taxes while taking sales tax off for $100,000 savings per home.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that on top of axing the sales tax on new homes, a Conservative government will incentivize municipalities to cut building taxes, for a total savings of $100,000 on an average home in Canada’s big cities. For every dollar of relief a municipality offers in development charges, a Conservative government will reimburse 50%, up to a maximum of $50,000 in savings for new homebuyers.
Poilievre already announced his plan to eliminate the sales tax on new homes under $1.3 million, which will save homebuyers up to $65,000. Combining the two policies will lower the cost of a new home by up to $115,000. For an average home in the GTA or Vancouver, the savings will be approximately $100,000. Conservatives will also require cities to publicly disclose their development charges and explain how the federal reimbursement will be used so Canadians can hold municipalities accountable when they build bureaucracy instead of homes.
“After the Lost Liberal Decade that saw housing costs double, it’s time for a new Conservative government that will provide affordable homes for Canadians,” said Poilievre. “The Liberals have broken the promise that hard work buys an affordable home in a safe neighbourhood. Conservatives will restore it by building more, taxing less, and lowering costs for homebuyers to save $100,000 on a new home.”
Taxes and development charges are now more than 30% of new home costs in Ontario and British Columbia. In Toronto, development charges skyrocketed from under $30,000 to nearly $140,000 during the Lost Liberal Decade, and across Canada, they’ve increased by $27,000 in just two years. These government charges are passed on to homebuyers, turning the dream of homeownership into a nightmare for everyday workers and young Canadians.
Instead of standing up to municipal gatekeepers who jacked up development charges to fund bureaucracy, Liberals rewarded them. After the Liberals gave the City of Toronto $471 million, the city increased charges 42%, leading to a 39% drop in housing starts. Ottawa and Victoria also raised taxes after receiving Liberal funding. In Victoria, housing starts fell by 55% even as development charges went up by 258%.
During the Lost Liberal Decade, with Mark Carney as their economic advisor, housing costs in Canada doubled, rising faster than in any other G7 country. It now takes longer to save for a down payment than it does to pay off a mortgage. And 80% of Canadians now believe homeownership is only possible for the rich.
Mark Carney is recycling the same old Liberal promises that didn’t work for the last decade. He says these Liberal policies will make housing affordable, but under the Liberals, costs have doubled. As usual with Liberals, Carney thinks more government is the answer. He says he wants the government to build homes, but his plan will just add more bureaucracy to a government that can’t get anything built and can’t even issue passports on time. Carney and the Liberals have no plan to actually help people buy their own homes.
“Mark Carney doesn’t understand the struggles everyday Canadians face being priced out of their communities and losing the dream of homeownership to taxes and inflation,” Poilievre said. “We can’t afford a fourth Liberal term of government run by out-of-touch elites. Only a new Conservative government will put hard-working Canadians First–For a Change–and restore the promise of homeownership by building more, taxing less, and bulldozing bureaucratic barriers.”
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told reporters Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s goal was to have major trading partners agree to negotiate after Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for many countries after dozens reached out to the administration.
Trump announced the pause via a Wednesday post on Truth Social that also announced substantial increases in tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States, saying 75 countries had asked to talk. Bessent said during a press event held alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that Trump had obtained “maximum leverage” to get trading partners to negotiate with the April 2 announcement of reciprocal tariffs.
“This was his strategy all along,” Bessent told reporters during an impromptu press conference at the White House. “And that, you know, you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They, they responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors. And, and we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate. It wasn’t a hard message: Don’t retaliate, things will turn out well.”
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China imposed retaliatory tariffs on American exports to the communist country Wednesday, imposing an 84% tariff on U.S. goods after Trump responded to a 34% tariff by taking American tariffs to 104%.
“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump said. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
“They kept escalating and escalating, and now they have 125% tariffs that will be effective immediately,” Bessent said during the press conference.
Bessent said that China’s actions would not harm the United States as much as it would their own economy.
“We will see what China does,” Bessent said. “But what I am certain of, what I’m certain of, is that what China is doing will affect their economy much more than it will ours, because they have an export-driven, flood the world with cheap export model, and the rest of the world now understands.”
The Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 2,962.86 points Wednesday, with the NASDAQ climbing by 1,755.84 points and the S&P 500 rising 446.05 points, according to FoxBusiness.
