Welcome Back To Canada Carney: Canada Has a New "Shadow Finance Minister" (Bye Bye "Oh No Morneau")

After empty comments by Justin that the corrupt Finance Minister Bill ("oh no") Morneau who "forgets" to pay back travel expenses to foreign countries under the guise of "charity", will not be fired, Mark Carney, the ex-Governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, has come back and basically is acting as Shadow Finance Minister in name, more than likely has the reins to the actual role.  Bill Morneau has not shown face since his unrehearsed and quick "I have to apologize" apology (July 17, 2020) at a speaking event right after the story came out.  Neither has Justin showed face (to be expected whenever there is a crisis) but he is rumoured to be gallivanting in Georgian Bay at a rich family/Liberal donor's cottage (Westons? The ones that received $12 Million for new environmentally friendly refrigerators). 

I'll go further and say the hiring of Mark Carney signals a change in the Liberal party.  Could he be eventual leader?  If so, it would solve many issues - finance issues as Oh No Morneau has shown his corrupt leanings; ethics issues that the Liberal party cannot seem to figure out and now in its third episode; succession issues if Justin's fall from grace continues since his 2015 election; and, budgetting issues (not just a socks budget but for an entire country and give it more than just an after thought). 

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-the-bus-approaches-bill-morneau/wcm/659c0954-3999-4b8d-ba5c-e242e9257769/

Well, You Don't See Headlines Like This Everyday: "First Nation sues Ottawa, British Columbia Over Oil Tanker Ban"

Looks like "stakeholders" don't have the same opininon as what the Federal Liberals think they should have. 

http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/an-unjustified-infringement-first-nation-sues-ottawa-british-columbia-over-oil-tanker-ban

The Problem with Lightning Rod, Controversial Industries and Projects in Canada? The "Real" Stakeholders Who Will Have the "Real" Benefits Are Diluted Among Foreign Efforts

Yes, "sabotage" is an excellent choice of a word.  Unfortunately it is Canadians that have to live with the negative consequences, not the moral and protesting victory - those are the "non-stakeholder" sources. 

http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/canadians-are-realizing-foreign-groups-sabotaged-our-energy-economy-for-no-good-reason

Fairness, Fairness, Fairness - Maybe if you Say it Often Enough, the Masses Will Believe You; Yet No Notion of "Balanced Books"

Yesterday as The Justin was having his SECOND "me" day after his India debaucle in avoiding an obvious lion's den episode of question period, the budget was released.  Spoiler alert - still no clarity on when our out of control deficits will start to approach a declining trend, or even a plateau.

While claiming "growth is there", in reality, maybe gowth was there for the month of December and/or 4Q2017, but all forecasts are looking towards weaker growth not just for Canada but the world.  This is even more clear as the Liberals participate in their passive-aggressive strategy on pipelines: approving select pipelines yet dragging their feet on actual enforcement and implementation of these economic steroids as well as clearing the legal air as it relates to the BC-Alberta trade spat.

Oh, and as of today, Morneau blames the previous Conservatives for the govenment employees"\' Phoenix payment program, even though the Liberals have been in power for over two years.  It's a payment system - all over the world small, large, public, private, government entitities are issuing cheques! How hard can this be?

http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/morneau-delivers-a-budget-in-deep-denial-about-the-dangerous-territory-were-in

Budget Day Today: Let's See How Loopy Things Become

With various initiatives at play as part of international trade agreements and Canadians at home (gender diversity, human rights, sustainability, abortion rights, carbon taxes, manufactured language such as peoplekind) among flamboyant and unnecessary trips by the PMO, Canada will be watching how much worse tax dollars are being spent and deficits being driven higher by this self righteous, everyone should play nice government.

I am betting there is still no more clarity when Canada will be able to pay off this financial mess.  But more Liberal math to dance around question period like Justin on an India trip in Bollywood attire.

There's Math...And Then There is "Liberal Math"

When someone asks the hypothetical question, "if you could invite anyone over for dinner, who would be your six guests?", I have started to think about the following response - our unethical Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his unethical, over spending, over taxing Finance Minister Bill Morneau and ANY high school accounting teacher. Why don't we throw in Kathleen Wynn and her over spending, over taxing Finance Minister Charles Sousa.

A high school accounting teacher should be enough to clear the definitions of what a "balanced budget" is (hint, it does not involve going $5.0B into debt or recieving ~20% of revenues in handouts from the Feds...Kathleen), and that mult-billion dollar deficits do matter and should be considered in paying them down otherwise over time they will hurt you.

Then once learned, let either i) the revelations or ii) the squirming begin...

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/stephen-gordon-the-liberals-dont-want-to-admit-that-their-fiscal-math-isnt-working

Heads in The Sand: Eloquently Put or Not, Foreign Ownership of Real Estate Is a Much More Colossal lssue than Canadians Tend to Think

Last year, the world’s watchdog into money laundering and terrorist financing — the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) launched by the G7 and United Nations – gave Canada a failing grade because of its legal and real estate loopholes.

Hats off to Diane Francis for putting in print what many know, but the masses (including our elected officials who pass the laws) will not admit.  It is a huge problem that has lead to a lot of complaining around water coolers, barbecues, hockey rinks, Tim Horton's queues and even the Canadian media.  As Canadians, we are now stuck facing this "real estate inflation" that Canada has imported upon itself.  In other words, Canada is to blame for the state of a frothy real estate market and allowed the factors involved to align in this over-heated market that requires a lot of capital from home owners, investors and speculators in many cases, stretching themselves too thin. 

Not mentioned in this article, but the Globe & Mail blew the doors open (c. January 2015) on a little known but legal clause called "assignment of contract" and how rampant it was in Vancouver, whereby many home sellers were ready to close with the buyer they thought they sold to only to find a different buyer upon closing that paid an extra 10% to 20% on top of the price the sellers thought they sold for (see link below).  Did the original sellers receive that extra gain? No way, the "assignment" allowed the thought-to-be buyer to then re-sell within months (usually knowingly from a group of foreign buyer looking to plop down or park +C$1.0M at a time). 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/investigations/the-real-estate-technique-fuelling-vancouvers-housing-market/article28634868/

Now as Canadians, we are left with stress tests that are making it more difficult to enter the market or keeping Canadian buyers out of the market entirely.  Yet the taxpayer CMHC continues to do its dirty work, while non-Canadians benefit from what is arguably good value for a +$1.0M home - rule of law in Canada, no real checking of source of funds (criminal or not), children easily allowed to take spots in post secondary educational institutions, all under the guise of a non-resident for tax purposes. 

And you thought kiwis were just a great fruit!

"Debt? What Debt?" Liberals' Spending Heads in the Sand

http://business.financialpost.com/business/canadas-economic-growth-has-come-at-a-price-its-debt-level-is-now-highest-in-the-developed-world

Maybe, just maybe, some part of that is related to exploding hydro bills in Ontario. 

More Morneau...Oh No.

Do you think he had an idea of where the share price was heading after his little love in with the media yesterday? 

Coincidence Both Were Announced (To Overshadow the Other)? One More Backtracking Example from the Taxing Liberal Party Sprinkled With Morneau Conflict of Interest: That Makes Both the PM and The Finance Minister Hauled Into the Ethics Commissioner's Office

http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/newsalert-liberals-to-trim-small-business-tax-rate-to-stanch-political-bleeding-2

https://www.facebook.com/AndrewScheerMP/videos/1759314834102261/

...And by the smirk on Justin's face, there is little regard for the Ethics Commissioner.

Backtracking or action from "consultations"? Let the (apathetic) Canadian voters decide, "...“When we made the commitment back in 2015 to lower small business taxes, we were very clear about one thing: we would only make this change after we took a look at the tax system. That’s what these consultations of these past months were all about...".  [Insert Justin's smirk, and things are fine.]

How can the Liberals take credit and call this a "tax cut" when in fact it was barely out of the consultation period as the Liberals were dragged through the mud and vilified for the higher rate....and not even passed into legislation yet!

Ah, the Liberal media spin machine.  The people behind it are good at what they do - cunning, bold and ruthless.  

As mentioned, "Trudeau campaigned in 2015 on a promise to reduce the small business tax rate to nine per cent from 11 per cent over three years — but he announced in Budget 2016 he would freeze the rate at 10.5 per cent, cancelling in the process a legislated reduction to nine per cent instituted by the previous Conservative government."