Federal Election 2021

[The Green Barbarian]

Sabrina Maddeaux: Trudeau can't ignore the inflationary mess he helped create

Mere days away from the federal election, Statistics Canada dropped an economic bomb: the consumer price index, which is used to calculate inflation, rose 4.1 per cent in August compared to a year earlier. It marks the fifth month in a row that inflation has surpassed the Bank of Canada’s (BoC) target rate of two per cent and the country’s highest rate since March 2003.

This likely didn’t come as a surprise to the average Canadian. Prices are clearly up on everything from chicken to couches and cars. Yet the Liberals refuse to take the problem seriously, at least not publicly, with their leader, Justin Trudeau, infamously dodging the topic last month by saying he doesn’t “think about monetary policy.”

Voters seem to disagree. While Trudeau likes to paint the pandemic and climate change as the top issues, polls show the economy is actually the most influential issue of the day. More specifically, voters are most concerned about the rising cost of living.

The question Trudeau refused to answer in August is now more important than ever: with the BoC’s five-year inflation-targeting mandate up for renewal at the end of the year, Canadians deserve to know whether the Liberal leader believes it is in need of a change. Indeed, it’s getting harder to argue that inflation is just “transitory,” and with the current rate more than double the bank’s target, this is a topic that deserves serious attention and debate.

Inflation is on the rise around the world and, yes, much of it can be attributed to the pandemic. However, this shouldn’t distract from the very real ways in which Trudeau’s government exacerbated the problem and his continued reluctance to so much as acknowledge that it exists. It brings to mind his refusal to utter the words “housing crisis” until the Conservatives took it on as a key issue and public anger became too loud to ignore.

The real estate prices Trudeau allowed, and some would say encouraged, to spiral out of control are one of the largest drivers of inflation. The average price of a home in Canada increased a staggering 32 per cent between July 2019 and July 2021.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstor ... d=msedgntp

[The Green Barbarian]

John Ivison: Jagmeet Singh's crafted play on 'selfish' Trudeau may serve NDP well in election

TORONTO – Another day, another gross invasion of privacy as a political candidate (and the travelling media circus) expropriated someone’s lawn for a photo op.

Jagmeet Singh was in the Davenport riding, just west of Toronto’s downtown, to hammer home his party’s affordable housing plan. “Families can’t afford Justin Trudeau’s housing crisis and billionaire handouts any longer” was the message of the day – one Singh hopes will resonate in a riding the NDP held between 2011 and 2015; a riding that was lost by just 1,500 votes in 2019.

If the New Democrats do take this riding on Monday, it probably means Trudeau will be looking for new accommodation.

The leader stood alongside a graph that simply read: “Trudeau’s housing crisis”, with a red line that rose from bottom left to top right, with no information on what it portrayed. The message was as clear as the details were vague. But that could be said about the NDP writ large.

That big ticket item is part of a platform that would spend $215 billion (on top of the $100 billion in the last Liberal budget) on programs like universal pharmacare, student grants, dental coverage and Indigenous children’s welfare.

The platform would be funded, in part, by $166 billion of new revenue, generated by an “excess” profit tax, an increased top marginal tax rate, a rise in the corporate tax rate, a crackdown on tax havens and a wealth tax the party suggests will generate $60 billion over five years. The Parliamentary Budget Office was asked to validate that claim, which it did with the caveat: “A behavioural response is expected, reducing total exposure to wealth taxation. To account for this behaviour, each economic family’s net worth was reduced by 35 per cent”. Why 35 per cent? Who knows.

I asked Singh why Canadians should trust such vague calculations. “We are proposing things that haven’t been done in a long time. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” he said, which sounded like a tacit admission the party has no clue whether this proposed tax will raise $60 billion or 60¢.

The nation’s billionaires – all 47 of them – will be relieved to know their ill-gotten gains (in the NDP’s eyes, all wealth is a sin) is probably safe. The New Democrats are polling near historic highs but are not going to form government next week.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/j ... d=msedgntp

[The Green Barbarian]

Adam Zivo: Justin Trudeau has failed LGBTQ Canadians

Whether shedding tears in Parliament or giving pretty speeches, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau really wants you to know that he supports the LGBTQ community. Yet his government’s record on LGBTQ rights has been lacklustre at best.

When they first came to power, it seemed as if the Liberals actually cared. They passed Bill C-16 in 2016, which amended the Canada Human Rights Act to explicitly protect transgender Canadians from discrimination and hate crimes. This had a positive impact on the well-being of countless LGBTQ Canadians, as it gave them a legal shield against violence and harassment.

But things went downhill after that.

In 2017, Trudeau dramatically wept as he apologized for historical injustices perpetrated against LGBTQ people — such as when thousands of gay people were purged from the civil service and military from the 1950s through the ’90s. He simultaneously introduced legislation to allow the victims of homophobic laws to apply to have their criminal records expunged.

But LGBTQ historians and academics called the legislation a “slap in the face,” noting that the Trudeau government, in its haste, had neglected to actually consult the community it was ostensibly helping. As a result, victims faced immense financial barriers to expunge their records and, as only a very narrow set of offences were eligible, the majority of potential applicants were left out in the cold.

Because of Trudeau’s lazy and performative policy-making, only nine men have had their records expunged so far.

SNIP

For a government that swathes itself in social justice rhetoric, you’d think it would do more — and also not wait for an election to take action. But votes have to be bought with token investments, I guess.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/a ... d=msedgntp

[blueliner]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/r ... hp&pc=U531

Rex nails it.

Vanity election, called by a smug and dictatorial elitist who has no clue about the ordinary Canadians he uses for his own purposes.

Yes Rex once again NAIL IT for sure .
Sure the Liberals Casatanet seal clappers will jump rite in and defend Justin and his total lack of class to a world class " Female " reporter

[The Green Barbarian]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... l?EdNo=202

And once again, the idiot Obama provides foreign interference in our democracy, in favor of our current dumb-Dumb Justin. I expect the Left, who are always so concerned about our democracy, to march in the streets and be angered by this affront to our democracy.

[rustled]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... l?EdNo=202

And once again, the idiot Obama provides foreign interference in our democracy, in favor of our current dumb-Dumb Justin. I expect the Left, who are always so concerned about our democracy, to march in the streets and be angered by this affront to our democracy.

I laughed out loud when I read what Obama said about Trudeau. Utter malarkey.

[The Green Barbarian]

I laughed out loud when I read what Obama said about Trudeau. Utter malarkey.

Obama endorsement of his 'friend' Trudeau might not prove helpful, politics professor say

Former U.S. president Barack Obama endorsed Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau Thursday, calling him an “effective leader and a strong voice for democratic values.”

Obama said in a Twitter post Thursday that he wishes his friend Trudeau “the best in Canada’s upcoming election,” and that he is “proud of the work we did together.”

The high-profile tweet comes as the Liberals remain locked in a neck-and-neck battle with the Conservatives in the polls, just days away from the vote, on Monday.

The former Democratic president’s endorsement could help sway some progressive voters to cast their ballots for the Liberals instead of the NDP, given that Obama is a “progressive icon” who remains popular across Canada, said Daniel Béland, a professor of political science at McGill University.

“The NDP is a threat to the Liberals and the Liberals want the NDP to stay where it is or even decline in the polls, so they will want to frame this as a major endorsement that could sway progressives,” Béland said.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/ob ... d=msedgntp

[PoplarSoul]

All the much loved and respected Trump has to do is to endorse Mr. O'Toole and voilà ..

[The Green Barbarian]

All the much loved and respected Trump has to do is to endorse Mr. O'Toole and voilà ..

Why? That's foreign interference in our democracy, which is disgusting and just plain evil. Shame on Obama for again pulling this horrible and disgusting action. It's just so gross and awful.

[hozzle]

If any one has an hour to spend, here is a very interesting discussion... If your political stance is left, right, or center... pls listen, and do some fact checking, then make up your own mind.

https://youtu.be/C3mZn5nimaU

[nucksRnum1]

Oh yes he’s also in love with the CCP.

Have you ever heard the saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" ? China has become an economic superpower and is on course to surpass the US as the world's biggest economy before the end of this decade. Do you think it's wise to be on their "naughty" list ? O'Toole and the CPC in their blustering and sabre-rattling will not benefit Canada or Canadians. The fate of the two Michaels is wound tightly with with the diplomatic mess surrounding the extradition of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and is best left to diplomats, not self-serving politicians.

THIS up here!

[Treblehook]

Today I heard it reported on news radio that past President Barack Obama endorsed Justin Trudeau as the best candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Canada. Apparently this is the second time he has done this; and apparently he thinks it is appropriate for him to meddle in Canada's domestic affairs. Of course I vigorously disagree and think he should keep his nose out of Canadian politics. Like all narcissists, I guess he thinks his opinion is so correct and important that anyone would be grateful for his having expressed it. Me thinks the USA has enough political and governance problems to occupy this has been President for the foreseeable future. Take off eh.

[nucksRnum1]

Today I heard it reported on news radio that past President Barack Obama endorsed Justin Trudeau as the best candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Canada. Apparently this is the second time he has done this; and apparently he thinks it is appropriate for him to meddle in Canada's domestic affairs. Of course I vigorously disagree and think he should keep his nose out of Canadian politics. Like all narcissists, I guess he thinks his opinion is so correct and important that anyone would be grateful for his having expressed it. Me thinks the USA has enough political and governance problems to occupy this has been President for the foreseeable future. Take off eh.

This is incredibly ironic. Obama can't offer an opinion in regards to Canadian politics - and yet Canadian conservatives offer opinions about everyone they feel at every opportunity. In the spirit of the "law" conservatives are placing on Obama - perhaps they should be as silent as they say others should be. For instance - in regards to Russia - or China - or other countries they think are holes.

[GordonH]

*removed*

[nucksRnum1]

Albertans shooting themselves in the foot and blaming Trudeau now that their hospitals are above capacity is ridiculous. And the molasses thick whininess from the Alberta candidate makes me absolutely sick. Why does Alberta have to be so special? Albertans question this every time they can about Quebec - and yet they want special treatment too? What about the maritime provinces? Or the territories? Or Yukon? You never hear these provinces moan even a tiny iota as much as the Albertan did in 3 minutes of her share of airtime. It's gross. Especially blaming everyone else for what their Premier did in Alberta single-handedly July 1st for the stampede. And then on top of that, you have the conservative MO of "we will give you a carrot - after the next/next election". So if you really want the conservative perks - you have to wait and see if federal conservatives don't screw up as bad as Kenny did. So people die needlessly in the meantime if conservatives win.