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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

Is the government about to make the Internet even more expensive for all Canadians?

At OpenMedia, we cover a wide range of digital rights issues, and so we’ve really seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly when it comes to policy proposals over the years. And this one’s a doozy: Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly is considering adding a new ISP tax to the monthly bills of Canada’s Internet subscribers.

This new tax will make Internet access even more expensive, despite the fact that Canadians already pay among the highest prices in the industrialized world for this basic necessity. Indeed, fees are already so high that 44 per cent of low-income households do not have a home Internet connection, leaving vast numbers of Canadians excluded from our digital endowment.

The ISP tax is the brainchild of Canada’s large publishers and broadcasters, who have been using government consultations about how to fund Canadian content to push their plan. In a nutshell, they want to burden Canadian Internet users with an ISP tax in order to subsidize industries that are struggling to adapt to the digital age.

If implemented, an ISP tax will have serious consequences for our digital future. Making our sky-high Internet bills even more expensive will make it even tougher for low-income Canadians to surmount barriers to access, excluding them from the benefits of the open Internet. An ISP tax will also force offline low-income Canadian households which are barely managing to afford Internet access, further exacerbating our stark digital divide.

Source: http://rabble.ca/columnists/2016/11/government-about-to-make-internet-even-more-expensive-all-canadians

Jacques Corriveau found guilty on 3 fraud-related charges in Liberal sponsorship scandal

More than 10 years after being described as the “central figure” in an elaborate and lucrative sponsorship kickback scheme, a man once close to ex-prime minister Jean Chretien was convicted on three fraud-related charges.

A jury found Jacques Corriveau, 83, guilty on Tuesday after a trial in which the Crown alleged he pocketed $6.5 million by using his firm to defraud Ottawa in contracts awarded during the sponsorship program.

Crown prosecutor Jacques Dagenais suggested the prospects of recovering the entire sum from the former federal Liberal organizer are slim.

“Less than $1 million, excluding his residence, has been found,” Dagenais told reporters after the guilty verdicts were handed down.

Both the money and the home will be the subject of confiscation requests when sentencing arguments take place, he added.

The crimes occurred during the sponsorship program, which was intended to increase the federal government’s presence in Quebec after the No side’s slim victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.

Source: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/11/01/jacques-corriveau-found-guilty-on-3-fraud-related-charges-in-liberal-sponsorship-scandal.html

Canada Budget Deficit Widens in August from Year Ago

Canada ran a wider budget deficit in August than the same year-ago month as expenses surged on tax breaks for households with children and a ramp-up in the payout of jobless benefits.

The pickup in Canada’s budget deficit reflects a weak economy, and Liberal government efforts to pump up growth through expansionary fiscal policy.

Public-finance data for the first five months of the 2016-17 fiscal year indicate Canada is running a deficit of C$ 5.45 billion, compared to a surplus of C$2.82 in the comparable year-ago period. In the 2016 budget plan, Canada’s Liberal government forecast a deficit in the current fiscal year of C$29.4 billion.

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau is set to unveil the government’s economic and fiscal update on Tuesday, and market watchers expect the deficit forecast to widen amid a downgrade in economic activity. Indicators suggest the Canadian economy remains on a slow-growth track, and is still in the early stages of a recovery after a downturn fueled by the commodity-price swoon.

Source: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/canada-budget-deficit-widens-in-august-from-year-ago-20161028-00558

Jury hearing Jacques Corriveau’s fraud case receives final instructions Thursday

The fraud trial of longtime Liberal organizer Jacques Corriveau is expected to be in the hands of the jury by Thursday.

Corriveau, 83, a former close ally of ex-prime minister Jean Chretien, faces three charges that were laid in 2013: fraud against the government, forgery and laundering proceeds of crime.

Two days worth of final arguments wrapped up Tuesday.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Francois Buffoni told jurors he will give them final instructions on Thursday morning before they are sequestered.

Corriveau did not take the stand at the trial, which began in mid-September.

The Mounties alleged Corriveau set up a kickback system on contracts awarded during the sponsorship program and used his Pluri Design Canada Inc. firm to defraud the federal government.

The program was intended to increase the federal government’s presence in Quebec after the No side’s slim victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum. The Gomery Commission, which looked into the program, found that firms were winning contracts based on donations to the federal Liberals, with little work being done.

Source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1409590-jury-hearing-jacques-corriveaus-fraud-case-receives-final-instructions-thursday

Alberta government officials are carbon tax hypocrites

Alberta’s NDP MLAs sure talk a good game about the environment. They talk the talk, but they aren’t walking the walk.

The government is slapping a multi-million dollar carbon tax on Albertan families and businesses, further taxing people for driving their kids to school and heating their homes in the winter.

Don’t like it? Change your lifestyle, they say. Drive less, or drive a smaller car.

Meanwhile, Alberta taxpayers forked over $2.8 million to purchase vehicles for Alberta government bureaucrats and ministers. Some were luxury vehicles. Most were SUVs and pick-up trucks. Gas-guzzlers.

Taxpayers also pay for the gas, which will soon cost more thanks to the carbon tax.

Why are government officials – so focused on reducing carbon emissions – driving around in pick-up trucks and SUVs? Surely a more fuel-efficient fleet would be more appropriate?

“As someone who spends six hours a week on the QE2, and does that in treacherous road conditions, I need to have a vehicle that is appropriate for the driving conditions,” said Service Alberta Minister Stephanie McLean. “Any minister and deputy minister needs to have a vehicle that is safe and can contend with the treacherous road conditions that we have in the winter.”

Funny. Staying safe on sometimes-treacherous roads is exactly why other Albertans drive trucks and SUVs, too.

Source: http://www.therebel.media/alberta_government_officials_are_carbon_tax_hypocrites

Central Bank Chief Says Canada Can Handle More Infrastructure Investment

The Canadian government has ample fiscal room to increase spending on infrastructure, Bank of Canada Gov. Stephen Poloz said, adding it is required to offer a boost to the country’s tepid growth profile.

“We have plenty of opportunities in Canada to deploy more infrastructure investment,” Mr. Poloz said in an interview with Canada’s Global TV network broadcast on Sunday. “There’s a balance point in all this, but Canada is in a very good fiscal situation so we shouldn’t be worrying about” the impact of higher budget deficits at this time, he added.

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/central-bank-chief-says-canada-can-handle-more-infrastructure-investment-1477243921

Young Canadians should get used to precarious employment: Finance Minister

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says Canadians should get used to so-called “job churn” — short-term employment and a number of career changes in a person’s life.

Morneau made the comment on Saturday at a meeting of the federal Liberal Party’s Ontario wing, days before he’s scheduled to deliver a fall economic update.

The remark also comes just three days after the Bank of Canada delivered bad news for the economy, downgrading the country’s growth outlook yet again.

And when asked about precarious employment the finance minister told delegates that high employee turnover and short-term contract work will continue in young people’s lives, and the government has to focus on preparing for it.

“We also need to think about, ‘How do we train and retrain people as they move from job to job to job?’ Because it’s going to happen. We have to accept that,” Morneau said during a question-and-answer session.

Elsewhere in his presentation, Morneau noted that some people will see their jobs disappear in the years to come — truck drivers and receptionists, for instance.

Morneau said the government has to look at helping out with the “things underneath” disappearing or precarious work.

Source: https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-story/6925075-young-canadians-should-get-used-to-precarious-employment-finance-minister&source=gmail&ust=1477420787900000&usg=AFQjCNHJFHrKhKEZfW7Wm2uR9SFvatip4w

Internet price hikes could be coming as Ottawa reviews cultural policy, critics warn

Like it or not, your internet bill might soon go up to help pay for something you may not care all that much about — Canadian content.

The federal government has launched a massive review of Canadian-made content in the digital age that will include who should be footing the bill.

For decades, cable and satellite TV providers have had to contribute funds to create domestic programs. The idea is simple: if we support Canadian storytelling, we help preserve our culture and identity.

But critics claim an added internet levy is not a wise move for Canada. They believe the fee would be passed on to customers, making a vital service cost prohibitive for some.

“We need to make sure the internet is more accessible to Canadians, not less,” said Josh Tabish with Vancouver-based Open Media, an internet advocacy group.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/internet-canadian-content-government-1.3810251

Provincial Sales Tax continues to be hindrance on B.C.’s economic growth

B.C.’s CPAs are increasingly finding the current provincial sales tax (PST) regime to be hindering business success in B.C. Nearly 60 per cent of CPAs find the return to the PST system has posed a “major” or moderate” challenge to business success, an increase of 6 per cent from 2015, in the latest Business Outlook Survey administered by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC).

Source: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/provincial-sales-tax-continues-to-be-hindrance-on-bcs-economic-growth-2167159.htm

EDC financing satellite construction in California because of ‘direct benefit’ to Canada

Export Development Canada has financed several satellites being built at Space Systems Loral (SSL) in Palo Alto, claiming since the American firm is owned by Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, the funding benefits Canada in the end.

But space industry analysts are questioning how long EDC should continue paying for spacecraft to be built at the California plant since MDA’s management and operations have increasingly shifted to the U.S.

Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/canadian-tax-dollars-paying-for-u-s-high-tech-workers-to-build-satellites-in-california