Business
Global Affairs Canada goes on real estate spending spree, taxpayers foot the bill
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
By Ryan Thorpe
Records obtained by the CTF show Clark’s lavish condo is just the tip of the iceberg, with the department dropping taxpayer cash on other luxury properties around the world.
Official residences in other countries: $38 million.
Properties in Afghanistan abandoned to the Taliban: $41 million.
Vacant land in Senegal: $12.5 million.
A chancery in Ukraine: $10.2 million.
Those are some of the holdings in Global Affairs Canada’s real estate portfolio, which has cost taxpayers $186 million in the past 10 years alone.
All told, Global Affairs Canada owns more than 400 properties in more than 70 countries, according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“Do we really need the government dropping tens of millions of dollars on official residences half-way around the world?” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Better question, does Senegal not have vacant land available for less than eight figures?
“With the government more than $1 trillion in debt, taxpayers need to know why the government is spending so much of our money overseas.”
Global Affairs Canada is embroiled in controversy after it purchased a $9-million luxury condo for New York Consul General Tom Clark amid a housing and cost-of-living crisis.
The records obtained by the CTF show Clark’s lavish condo is just the tip of the iceberg, with the department dropping taxpayer cash on other luxury properties around the world.
Global Affairs Canada has spent $38.4 million on official residences since 2014, including New Zealand ($2.4 million), Barbados ($3.8 million) and Trinidad and Tobago ($2.5 million), among others.
In London, U.K., Global Affairs Canada spent $58 million on 23 properties since 2015, all of which serve as “staff quarters,” according to the records. All told, Global Affairs Canada owns 65 properties in London purchased for $208 million.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, Global Affairs Canada spent $41 million on three properties in late 2018 and 2019, which have since been abandoned to the Taliban.
Prior to the first property in Kabul being purchased, the U.S. had already begun negotiations with the Taliban for an end to the Afghanistan War.
Seven months after Global Affairs Canada purchased the last property in Kabul, the U.S. struck a deal with the Taliban for the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
On Aug. 15, 2021, Canada pulled its presence from Afghanistan.
“We have … been unable to inspect the state of these properties since that date,” Global Affairs Canada told the CTF in a written statement.
In October 2021, the Globe and Mail reported that “Islamist militants now guard the former headquarters of Canada’s diplomatic mission in the Afghan capital.”
“This is a lot of taxpayers’ money to spend on new property in Afghanistan when our ally had already been clear it was preparing to leave,” Terrazzano said. “Canadian taxpayers are out $41 million and the Taliban now has new digs, so is anyone in government going to answer for the decision to purchase these properties?”
In Kyiv, Ukraine, Global Affairs Canada purchased a chancery for $10.2 million in 2017.
In Senegal, a country in West Africa, Global Affairs Canada bought $12.5 million worth of “vacant land” in 2022.
“Global Affairs Canada’s real estate portfolio is bloated and the taxpayer tab is ludicrous,” Terrazzano said. “Someone in government must explain what value taxpayers are supposedly getting for the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on all these lavish properties in far flung countries.
“And if Canadians aren’t getting real value, then it’s time to sell off properties so taxpayers can recoup some of this money.”
From The Center Square
By
US House committee investigating 60 companies over ESG policies
Blackrock Inc. is the latest to announce it has left a United Nations-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), among several within one month and not soon after Donald Trump was elected president. It did so as it and roughly 60 companies are being investigated by Congress for allegedly colluding as a “woke ESG cartel” to “impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.”
Last month, Goldman Sachs was the first to withdraw from the alliance, followed by Wells Fargo, The Center Square reported. Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan next announced their departure.
According to the “bank-led and UN-convened” alliance, global banks joined, pledging to align their lending, investment and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
Major U.S. banks began leaving the alliance after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to increase domestic oil and natural gas production and pledged to go after “woke” companies.
They also announced their departure two years after 19 state attorneys general launched an investigation into them for alleged deceptive trade practices connected to ESG.
While the companies haven’t appeared to seem daunted by state investigations, Trump’s reelection appears to be a different matter.
“BlackRock has hung in there as long as it could, but the pressure has become too great, and the reputational and legal risks too high, just before Trump takes office. It won’t be the last financial organization to quit a net zero initiative,” Hortense Bioy, Morningstar Analytics director of sustainable investing research, told Bloomberg News.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has expressed skepticism about companies claiming to withdraw from ESG commitments, noting there is often doublespeak in announcements, The Center Square reported. This includes statements made by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Blackrock.
Blackrock claims its “participation in NZAMi didn’t impact the way we managed client portfolios. Therefore, our departure doesn’t change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios. … Our commitment to helping our clients achieve their investment goals remains unwavering,” Bloomberg reported.
Last month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced it was investigating more than 60 US-based asset managers’ involvement in the alliance, including BlackRock, Inc., JP Morgan Asset Management, Rockefeller Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, among others.
The committee also issued a report, “Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing,” saying it found “direct evidence of a ‘climate cartel’ consisting of left-wing activists and major financial institutions that collude to impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.”
Under the Trump administration, the committee will continue to investigate if “existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry.” It also maintains that the companies “must answer for their involvement in prioritizing woke investments over their own fiduciary duties.”
The committee sent letters to dozens of entities in 12 states and the District of Columbia requesting them to provide information by Jan. 10. The majority are located in New York, Massachusetts and California.
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
By Devin Drover
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is demanding the Canada Revenue Agency immediately halt enforcement of the proposed capital gains tax hike which is now estimated to kill over 400,000 Canadian jobs, according to the CD Howe Institute.
“Enforcing the capital gains tax hike before it’s even law is not only undemocratic overreach by the CRA, but new data reveals it could also destroy over 400,000 Canadian jobs,” said Devin Drover, CTF General Counsel and Atlantic Director. “The solution is simple: the CRA shouldn’t enforce this proposed tax hike that hasn’t been passed into law.”
A new report from the CD Howe Institute reveals that the proposed capital gains tax hike could slash 414,000 jobs and shrink Canada’s GDP by nearly $90 billion, with most of the damage occurring within five years.
This report was completed in response to the Trudeau government’s plan to raise the capital gains inclusion rate for the first time in 25 years. While a ways and means motion for the hike passed last year, the necessary legislation has yet to be introduced, debated, or passed into law.
With Parliament prorogued until March 24, 2025, and all opposition parties pledging to topple the Liberal government, there’s no reasonable probability the legislation will pass before the next federal election.
Despite this, the CRA is pushing ahead with enforcement of the tax hike.
“It’s Parliament’s job to approve tax increases before they’re implemented, not the unelected tax collectors,” said Drover. “Canadians deserve better than having their elected representatives treated like a rubberstamp by the prime minister and the CRA.
“The CRA must immediately halt its plans to enforce this unapproved tax hike, which threatens to undemocratically take billions from Canadians and cripple our economy.”
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