Taxpayer watchdog warns Canadians to fight against ‘guaranteed income schemes’

The House of Commons recently rejected a New Democratic Party-led bill that would have allowed for a universal basic income instead of ‘cutting taxes and letting Canadians keep more of their own money,’ said Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Canada’s most respected taxpayer watchdog group called on citizens to oppose as much as possible the policies and laws pushed by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and opposition parties.

“Taxpayers must stay vigilant and keep pushing back against this extremely costly scheme,” Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), told LifeSiteNews.

“Bad ideas never seem to go away in Ottawa, so taxpayers must stay alert and continue to push politicians to fight against guaranteed income schemes.”

In recent weeks, the House of Commons voted down an extreme New Democratic Party-proposed law that would have allowed for a universal basic income (UBI) for all Canadians and refugee claimants.

Instead of focusing on handouts, Terrazzano noted, the government should instead be “making life more affordable by cutting taxes and letting Canadians keep more of their own money.”

“The government is broke and is more than $1 trillion in debt so this expensive scheme would mean massive tax hikes for average Canadians,” he told LifeSiteNews.

Terrazzano observed how the New Democratic Party’s UBI “scheme” would have been a “disaster for taxpayers, businesses and our economy, and all politicians should fight against this.”

“It would make it harder for Canadian businesses to find and retain talent because if the government pays people not to work, fewer people will work,” he said.

While the New Democratic Party’s attempt at passing a UBI bill into law failed, there is another similar bill before Canada’s Senate that, if passed, would establish “a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income.”

The cost of living in Canada has risen dramatically over the last few years under the Trudeau government, which continues to overspend and promote its ideologically charged agenda.

In June, LifeSiteNews reported that decades of progress in lowering the poverty rate in Canada has been wiped out in the last few years under Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Terrazzano previously told LifeSiteNews that he urged the Trudeau government to cut spending, balance the budget and “completely scrap” the “carbon tax,” as the best way to help struggling Canadians financially.

Related Topics:#AnthonyMurdoch #CanadianTaxpayersFederation #FrancoTerrazzano #LifeSiteNews UniversalBasicIncome

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Economy

Federal government should listen to Canadians and trim the bureaucracy

Published on October 2, 2024

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Jake Fuss and Grady Munro

Under Prime Minister Trudeau the government has introduced sweeping national programs in the areas of dental care, daycare and pharmacare, increased cash transfers to some Canadians while also spending billions on corporate welfare.

Under the Trudeau government, the number of federal government employees has grown substantially, and new polling shows that many Canadians would prefer to see that number decline. This would be a step in the right direction, as the growing size of government imposes costs on Canadians with little to no evidence suggesting they’re better off because of it.

Specifically, from 2015 (the year Prime Minister Trudeau was first elected) to March 2024 (the latest month of available data), the number of federal employees grew from 257,034 to 367,772. In other words, in nine years the Trudeau government has increased the size of the federal bureaucracy by 43.1 per cent, nearly three times the rate of population growth (15.2 per cent) over that same period.

In response, many Canadians believe the government should begin cutting back. According a recent poll, when made aware of this increase, nearly half (47 per cent) of respondents said the federal government should start reducing the number of employees while only 7 per cent said the government should hire more.

The growth of the federal public service is part of the Trudeau government’s approach to governance, which has been to increase Ottawa’s involvement in the economy and day-to-day lives of Canadians. Under Prime Minister Trudeau the government has introduced sweeping national programs in the areas of dental care, daycare and pharmacare, increased cash transfers to some Canadians while also spending billions on corporate welfare.

In other words, the Trudeau government has vastly increased the size of government in Canada.

One way to understand the size of government is to measure government spending as a share of the overall economy (GDP), which shows the extent to which economic activity is directly or indirectly controlled by government activities. From 2014/15 to 2024/25, total federal spending (as a share of GDP) will increase from 14.1 per cent to a projected 17.9 per cent—meaning federal bureaucrats now control a larger share of economic activity than they did before the Trudeau government came to power.

Of course, Canadian taxpayers ultimately foot the bill for a larger federal government, and 86 per cent of middle-income Canadians now pay higher taxes than in 2015. Yet for all this increased spending and taxation, it’s unclear Canadians are better off.

In fact, inflation-adjusted GDP per person (a broad measure of living standards) has been in a historic decline since mid-2019, and as of the second quarter of 2024 it sat below the level it was at the end of 2014. And recent polling shows that 74 per cent of respondents feel the average Canadian family is overtaxed, while 44 per cent feel they receive “poor” or “very poor” value from government services.

Clearly, the federal government should break from the status quo and take a different approach focused on smaller and smarter government. A good first step would be to listen to Canadians and trim the number of bureaucrats.

Authors:

Jake Fuss

Director, Fiscal Studies, Fraser Institute

Grady Munro

Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute

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Economy

Minister Wilkinson’s flawed crystal ball

Published on October 1, 2024

Todayville

From Resource Works

The federal minister of energy and natural resources’ statements are at odds with the energy industry’s leaders and economists.

Meet Canada’s new expert on the global oil-and-gas market, and the world’s future demand for those commodities.

He is (surprise) Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s federal minister of energy and natural resources, who has announced this outlook for oil:

“Oil and gas will peak this decade. In fact, oil is probably peaking this year.”

The world oil market now eats up some 102.21 million barrels per day, so Wilkinson’s anticipated peak this year would be around that much.

But that’s not what market-watchers and oil-sector experts see:

Goldman Sachs Research: “While some prominent forecasters have predicted oil demand will peak by 2030, our researchers expect oil usage will increase through 2034.

“That’s in part because of demand for oil from emerging markets in Asia and demand for petrochemicals. We think peak demand is another decade away.”

The 2024 outlook of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (12 of the world’s major oil-exporting nations) says simply: “There is no peak oil demand on the horizon.

“For oil alone, we see demand reaching over 120 million barrels a day by 2050, with the potential for it to be higher.”

“What the Outlook underscores is that the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas bears no relation to fact. Combined they make up well over 50% of the energy mix today and are expected to do the same in 2050.”

In an outlook for 2024-2050, one scenario from energy giant BP sees this: “Oil continues to play a major role in the global energy system over the first half of the outlook, with the world consuming between 100-80 Mb/d of oil in 2035.

“Oil demand declines over the outlook but continues to play a significant role in the global energy system for the next 10-15 years. This requires continuing investment in upstream oil (and natural gas).”

Greg Ebel, CEO of Calgary-based Enbridge, says global oil consumption will be “well north” of 100 million barrels per day by 2050 — and could exceed 110 million barrels.

“You continue to see economic demands, and particularly in the developing world, people continue to say lighter, faster, denser, cheaper energy works for our people. . . And that’s leading to more oil usage.”

Even the optimistic International Energy Agency sees global demand increasing to 105.4 million barrels a day by 2030.

So take Minister Wilkinson’s crystal-ball outlook, of oil “probably” peaking this year, with at least a barrel of salt.

Then there’s Wilkinson’s contention that continuing to rely on oil and gas “will leave Canada uncompetitive and poorer on a go-forward basis.”

If so, why did his why his government invest $4.5 billion of your taxpayer money in 2018 to buy the Trans Mountain oil pipeline system and its TMX expansion?

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland: “Because we knew it was a serious and necessary investment — one that is in the national interest and will make Canada and the Canadian economy more sovereign and more resilient.”

And from Prime Minister Trudeau: “By moving forward with TMX, we’re creating jobs, opening new markets, accelerating our clean energy transition, and generating new avenues for Indigenous economic prosperity. . . .

“This project isn’t about expanding our production. It’s about expanding our options. TMX will reduce our reliance on our single customer, the United States, and give us access to the growing markets of Asia.”

All of that seems to have escaped Minister Wilkinson and his flawed crystal ball.