Most Canadians don't feel like the economy is doing better, poll finds

Two-thirds of Canadians believe the economy is on the wrong track, Maru Public Opinion found in its March survey, with the negative view widely held across most regions of the country.

Many Canadians don’t expect either the national economy (61 per cent) or their local economy (59 per cent) to improve over the next two months.

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🏠 Alberta premier says she's prepared to take Ottawa to court over housing deals

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith introduced what she called a "stay out of my backyard bill" in the Edmonton legislature. The legislation would require provincial oversight of future housing deals between the federal government and municipalities in the province (and in other areas as well).

Smith said she simply wants to see her province treated in the same way as Quebec, which signed a housing deal with the federal government in October of last year. The deal with the province, rather than individual municipalities, was required by provincial law.

#housing #Alberta #Quebec
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Parti Québécois leader pledges referendum, claiming Ottawa poses ‘existential threat’

Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon reiterated on Sunday his pledge for a third referendum on independence should his party take power in the next election.

Plamondon told some 500 party members that Quebeckers have one “ultimate” chance to secure their language and culture amid what he called an “existential threat” from Ottawa and the province’s declining weight within the federation.

#Quebec
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Ottawa Airport provides tampons and maxi pads in the men's restroom

Why, are they expecting Trudeau any time soon?

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💸 Jagmeet Singh is Canada's most expensive MP, Pierre Poilievre is the cheapest

The latest figures on MP expenses were released in late March, and they show that for the first three quarters of the last fiscal year (April 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023), Singh expensed $533,533 in his capacity as the MP for Burnaby South.

In that same time period, Poilievre claimed $143,201 in expenses related to his role as the MP for riding of Carleton, roughly a fourth of Singh’s total.

Both Poilievre and Singh rack up far higher expenses each year in their capacity as party leaders. But in terms of expenses incurred as individual members of Parliament, Singh charged the most, while Poilievre charged the least.

#Poilievre #Singh
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Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge believes that Tuesday's 2024 federal budget from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is "likely to be the worst budget" in decades.

I think this is likely to be the worst budget since the [then-finance minister Allan] MacEachen budget of 1982, in the sense of pointing us in the wrong direction as to how we go about raising the incomes of Canadians and actually making Canadians feel better over the medium term.

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💀More than 1 in 4 deaths among young people in Canada were opioid-related in 2021, study finds

Opioid-related deaths doubled in Canada between 2019 and the end of 2021, with Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta experiencing a dramatic jump, mostly among men in their 20s and 30s.

Anyone who sees this horrifying data would want to do anything to make drugs as inaccessible as possible. But for some reason, the Liberal government thinks the best solution is to organize "safe" access to drugs. Drugs aren't safe in any form.

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📈Canada’s inflation rate rose to 2.9% in March on higher gas prices.

Excluding gasoline, inflation stayed the same at 2.8 per cent in March.

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🏠 Homebuilding down for third year, housing agency predicts

Canadian homebuilders are expected to dial back new construction for a third straight year in 2024 as elevated borrowing costs reduce the appeal of starting projects, Canada's national housing agency said on Thursday.

Housing starts will fall to 224,485 units this year from 240,267 in 2023, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation forecast in its Housing Market Outlook document.

#housing
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💰Freeland's new federal budget hikes taxes on the rich to cover billions in new spending

🔹Ottawa to spend $52.9 billion more than planned over the next five years.

🔹Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland projects Ottawa will post a $40 billion deficit this fiscal year.

🔹The budget includes $8.5 billion in new spending for housing.

🔹Freeland will hike capital gain taxes paid by the rich and corporations to collect an estimated $19 billion in new revenue.

🔹The cost to service the growing national debt has increased substantially — it's now about $2 billion more than it was projected to be just a few months ago. The government will spend more on servicing its debt than on health care this year.

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✈️💸 Arrests in $20-million Toronto airport gold heist stem from cross-border gun running plot

Three Ontario men and a person from Florida have been arrested in connection to the $20-million Toronto Pearson airport gold heist after U.S. agents uncovered a cross-border gun trafficking plot linked to the heist.

#US #crime
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🇨🇦🇺🇦 Budget earmarks almost $3 billion in loans, grants for Ukraine

The new federal budget sets aside $2.72 billion in loans and donations for Ukraine in the current fiscal year.

Lending money to a country that won't be able to pay it back is something.

#Ukraine
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Trudeau’s ex-finance minister criticizes capital gains tax hike

Justin Trudeau’s former finance minister Bill Morneau said he rejected the idea of hiking the capital gains tax while in office.

This was very clearly something that while I was there, we resisted. From my perspective, this is clearly a negative to our long-term goal, which is growth in the economy, productive growth and investment.

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Kristian Firth, partner of the company GC strategies responsible for the ArriveCan app says he can't answer questions due to mental health flare ups & being on medication.

How convenient.

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RCMP raid offices of ArriveCan developer

The RCMP has raided the offices of the company GC Strategies, the company that was given $50 million by the Trudeau government to create the ArriveCan app.

Initially, the RCMP did not provide the name of the business being investigated. However, police provided the CBC with the address of the company it had a search warrant for, which was the same one previously listed by GC Strategies.

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💰Canada will start applying a proposed tax on the world’s biggest technology companies this year, despite threats from American lawmakers to carry out trade reprisals against a levy that will primarily hit U.S. firms.

Canada’s parliamentary budget officer has estimated the tax will raise about $7.2 billion over five fiscal years.

Compared to the budget deficit, it's essentially nothing.

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Canadians need responsible leadership right now... Let’s build a country that is stronger, more prosperous and fair for every generation!

Yeah, right. And where is this responsible leadership?

#Trudeau
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💸 CRA paid out $37M to tax scammers, unsealed affidavit alleges

A once-sealed affidavit filed with the Tax Court of Canada details how alleged scammers tricked the Canada Revenue Agency and made off with $37 million of taxpayers' money.

In the document, a litigation officer with the CRA alleges that Toronto-area company Gold Line Telemanagement made "material misstatements" on tax returns and was "part of a group of companies that participated in sham transactions."

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🏳️‍⚧️Trans military chaplain suspended over alleged sexual groping comment

A Royal Military College chaplain who was hailed by the Canadian military as an LGBTQ champion on Transgender Day of Visibility has been suspended following an alleged groping request.

Capt. Beatrice Gale had her chaplaincy revoked and was found to have violated military rules in a summary hearing because of “an inappropriate comment or request to another individual.” Gale was born a biological man but identifies as a woman.

Diversity hire is always a bad idea.

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💉Senior police officers say B.C. is not better off after drug decriminalization

Vancouver police’s deputy chief Fiona Wilson told Ottawa’s Standing Committee on Health that police are finding their hands tied when it comes to problematic drug use unless it’s in one of the areas specifically excluded from decriminalization rules.

We have been raising this issue since before decriminalization. What has happened is exactly what we predicted would happen.

Wilson said.

#BritishColumbia
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