The Justin and His Merry Band of Taxing Federal Liberals: You Know It Is Bad When Even a Left Leaning, On Line Rag "Reports" It Is So

Never one to highlight or source such amateur journalism rife with non-Canadian spelling, text message type grammar and petty themes (how many articles can you produce on food trucks and beer festivals?); however, this made me perform a double-take at my laptop this morning....

I have not heard of research firm MARU/Matchbox, so, for what the results are worth you can read below; however, the message is becoming vocalized rather than just conversations in the confines of home or whispering chatter around the water cooler.

"Almost half of Canadians think the Liberals under Justin Trudeau should no longer be running the country, according to a new poll."

http://dailyhive.com/toronto/trudeau-liberals-political-survey-september-2017

Now if we could only have the same company perform a similar poll for Kathleen and the Ontario Liberals.

...And More and More and More Liberal Scandals and Gaffes: Canadians Must Be Politically Blind

Failing Canadians caught in Irma, hasty marijuana legalization and implementation, bungled pipeline and provincial energy policies, on trial for meddling with patronage positions, egregious tax reforms backlash, uncalled for minimum wage hikes, a refugee claim policy created on the fly - a political party's scorecard after its entire term? Nope just another one day of headlines for the provincial and federal Liberals.

As I "opened" the online version of the Financial Post and National Post, I was welcomed by the no less than a dozen articles of how wrong the latest Federal Liberal policies are, what these choices are going to cost Canadians and just general scandal (as in Ontario and it's energy play thing the Liberals have been tinkering with to the tune of tens and tens of billions of dollars). 

Either Canadians are 1) politically blind, 2) apathy takes over and they just believe the left focused media is always right, or 3) everyone is so wealthy in Ontario that no on needs to care (oh wait, what was that minimum wage idea the Ontario Liberals proposed?).

Whatever the reason, this ruthless, wasteful, over spending, lacking understanding of the energy industry, mathematically challenged group is likely to be voted in again.

Choose any of the following 14 articles for a mere taste of what is happening in Ontario, among "elected" officials...

http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/today-judgment-day-finally-comes-for-the-ontario-liberals-gas-plant-scandal

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-much-delayed-trial-related-to-ontario-gas-plant-scandal-finally-reaches-court

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/chris-selley-lost-in-the-weeds-at-sudbury-byelection-trial

http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/legalizing-marijuana-wont-shut-down-black-market-rcmp-official

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/stephen-gordon-middle-class-canadians-dont-understand-how-upper-class-they-are

https://www.google.ca/amp/nationalpost.com/news/canada/jonathan-kay-why-canadas-refugee-policy-may-actually-be-doing-more-harm-than-good/amp

http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/trudeaus-sad-legacy-billions-in-energy-infrastructure-spending-scuttled-on-his-watch

http://business.financialpost.com/investing/medical-marijuana-producers-bristle-at-ontarios-planned-monopoly-on-recreational-cannabis-sales

http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/agriculture/farmers-furious-over-ottawa-tax-changes-but-too-busy-harvesting-crops-to-mount-a-fight

http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/joe-oliver-one-sign-trudeau-wants-to-use-regulation-to-strangle-energy-east

http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/0908-biz-dk-cfib-fpe

http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/caroline-mulroney-named-progressive-conservative-candidate-for-ontario-riding

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/kelly-mcparland-trudeau-a-rich-man-sure-seems-to-hate-the-rich

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/jonathan-kay-why-canadas-refugee-policy-may-actually-be-doing-more-harm-than-good

Minimum Wage and the Damage Done: Ontario's $15/hr Minimum Wage Hike and Your "Inflationary" Liberals at Work

At what point do we stop tipping for this "minimum" wage?

Combined with higher interest rates from the Bank of Canada, it is obvious the Ontario Liberals have a different math system and do not understand what "inflation" is, combined with an already fragile housing market in Toronto.

(The damage done in politics for the sake of a few votes...shocking)


http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/matthew-lau-layoffs-bankruptcies-higher-prices-its-ontarios-plan-for-minimum-wage-prosperity/wcm/96c72b45-5e77-48ae-98fb-bf42c47a7e56

Liberal Looney Tunes: Where is Premier Wynne - In Her Office? No, the Courthouse in Sudbury

Thanks to bribery charges related to Pat Sorbara, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Gerry Lougheed Jr. involving a by-election in Sudbury (where Andrew Olivier was to stand down and make way for Glenn Thibault....out of the goodness of his heart?) this episode of "Liberal Looney Tunes" will be playing out in a Sudbury courthouse where The Kathleen will be on the stand defending her underhanded, tax everyone incredulously to pay for their pensions and the pensions of those unionist groups that support the reality challenged Liberal way of environment, labour, economics and debt.

How can a party this low be elected? Sadly, with Canadians' empathy to elected officials, the Liberals will likely win the next election.

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/chris-selley-kathleen-wynne-witness-for-the-prosecution/wcm/e11eab81-52cd-415a-901b-b03720afef39

Oops: Your Foolish Ontario Liberals and Waste of Tax Dollars at Work....

Well, there it is. The Kathleen's "vision" all represented on a nice cartoon like diagram.  Simple, idyllic, truthful and easy to understand, right? Who knows how much this study cost (I will do some digging); however, the depiction is out of touch with the simplest of realities - a road grader versus a tractor for farming. Now the updated picture has been doctored and neither grader nor tractor is there.

Here is your Ontario for the future - electric cars, gardens and quiet, carbon free trains all co-existing in the same little neighbourhoods (if someone agrees to "in their backyard").

The question is - who and how is this going to be paid for? I suppose it will be "balanced" budgets where The Kathleen and her Merry Band of Taxing Liberals will borrow more and receive more and more federal handouts.  Somehow, that is "balanced".

http://nationalpost.com/g00/news/canada/ontario-climate-change-report-weirdly-shows-a-highway-grader-destroying-a-farm/wcm/2e4ea165-9b46-4d96-808f-b8f3a6110a31?i10c.referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fnationalpost.com%2Fg00%2F%3Fi10c.referrer%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Ftu9srvbirvvtmjekbmf0aw9uywxwb3n0lmnvbq00.g00.financialpost.com%252Fg00%252F2_YnVzaW5lc3MuZmluYW5jaWFscG9zdC5jb20%25253D_%252FTU9SRVBIRVVTMjEkaHR0cDovL25hdGlvbmFscG9zdC5jb20v_%2524%252F%2524

Hydro One: Trading Aftermath

Upon announcement of the proposed transaction, Hydro One (TSX:H) shares felt the usual acquiror pain on the first day of trading. However, since then the shares have recovered and are not "basically flat" but are "exactly flat".

Very unusual in trading that such a steady share price has been maintained. What does this mean?

First of all, the dividend for shareholders will be maintained.  That means the business of Hydro One will have to be managed with this in mind. However, this is where things become curious.

Don't forget the Ontario Liberals headed by " The Kathleen" and her Merry Band of Taxing Liberals are also a shareholder. As such, the Ontario government will also receive dividends in addition to the extra delivery charges, carbon taxes etc that are showing on your bill every month.

The Ontario government also controls, sets and allows the prices to be charged for a utility (ie electricity). As a shareholder, will the Kathleen allow a dividend to be forgone for the greater good of Ontarians?  In other words, the Kathleen will allow and approve price increases such that Hydro One (and its Ontario territory) is guaranteed a profit and even further allowed operate without the loss of jobs as most "real" businesses ( publicly listed companies ) have to face when dealing with a "real" income and cash flow statement.

Buy Hydro One for the safety of the dividend because you might as well benefit from the higher rates coming to support this conflict ridden, pseudo - communist operating regime that we see in countries like China and Russia. 

Hydro One on the Acquisition Trail? "The Kathleen" and Her Merry Band of Taxing Liberals Must be Breathing Easier

The trend is there for Canadian public companies acquitting other utilities in the US; however, although Hydro One is public, it is not your average publicly listed company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It is majority owned by the Ontario government with Ontarians screaming either for "those are the Assets of the people of Ontario!" or "great, it's public now pay me a dividend!".

Either way the culture of bloated pensions and benefits, a cozy club of "sunshine list" earners (greater" than  $100,000/year) and from many reports, rarely a full 8hr work day worked, continues throughout.

The fact an acquisition was made gives the Ontario Liberals another angle of shirking any responsibility as now the government's position will have been diluted and they will argue out of both sides of their mouths to Ontario voters that they have a vastly reduced say or influence as a significant shareholder going forward, so throwing their hands up in the air...yet claiming they did the right thing originally in floating Hydro One as a public entity (thereby pleasing leftist union supporters and reality based capitalists).

As reported, no layoffs are expected at Avista Corp. which for any acquisition is rare, further exemplifying the Ontario Liberals' tentacles and "hire everyone, fire no one" approach are still lingering.  Also, at first pass, it seems there is little in the way of any synergies as the operating territories do not overlap. Conclusion,  Investment Banking 101 would seem this announcement is a head scratcher.

If closed, going forward one of two things are going to happen: the new US subsidiary will either morph into the old Ontario Hydro culture that still permeates the public company today, or Hydro One will actually have to start behaving like a real business and have a more stringent view on compensation and take a hard and close review of the long term pension obligations.

We will see which result wins. I suspect the real winner is the firm raising the US$1.1B in equity and the US$2.6B in debt will be the horse to back.

Another Canadian Utility Nabs U.S. Assets in a $3.4 Billion Deal
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-19/hydro-one-reaches-5-3-billion-deal-to-buy-u-s-utility-avista

Power Struggle in Ontario: No not for Monetary, Political or Authoritative Reasons - We're Talking Energy

I do not read much of Rex Murphy, but this one was too good to pass up.  Credit due to for his plain anecdotes and comparisons.  

For those not living in Ontario, we are outrageously "taxed" (well, our fearless Premier "The Kathleen" would not call it a tax, but "necessary extra charges" to fund her dictatorship green energy policies and make up for all the contract gaffes of past Liberal energy policy mistakes).  

As an example, after having recently moved back from Vancouver, my BC Hydro usage for a ~1,000 sq ft, two bedroom condo was between $26 to $28 per month.  And the total cost of that usage?.....$26 to $28.  Here in Ontario, the same "usage" becomes approximately three times higher.  Even if I burned candles all month, unhooked all of my appliances, turned the thermostat down and ate out for every meal I would still be on the hook for a fixed amount of say at least $50 to $60/month. (As such, thanks to Premier Wynne, in Ontario we never say "win-win"). 

Rex has a couple of gems, and I would like to quote and give credit to him here...

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/rex-murphy-actually-witchcraft-is-a-pretty-good-explanation-for-all-thats-happening-in-ontario

First up from Rex, "A businesswoman I met recently — on her way, incidentally, to meet with a spiritual adviser — showed me the energy bill for her company. She was distraught and clearly frightened. And with good reason. For very clearly on her bill was a charge for the power she used — the electricity cost. And it was a mere (she employs nearly 40 people) $5,000. There it was on the bill: electricity charges $5,000. But when she forced her wary eyes to the Total Due, the amount had swollen to a terrifying and inexplicable $42,000.  How can this be? she cried… How could the add-ons cost SEVEN times more than the power actually consumed? It was like buying a low-end car for $20,000 and being charged $80,000 for the clock in the dash..."

Secondly, "It occurs to me that witchcraft in Ontario could explain a great many things. The curious gyrations of the Ontario government in its long embrace of its green plans, for one thing….What reason would bring in contracts lasting for decades with built-in guarantees for ludicrously overpriced power? What government would produce power, at great expense, to then sell it at a loss in a virtual voluntary subsidy to the ratepayers of neighbouring jurisdictions? What government would, on the premise of saving the planet, find itself in 2016 cutting off all power to 60,000 homes? What province would so engorge itself with taxes on its power that it now reaches into those same taxes it has extorted under this wild scheme to “rebate” them to the very people its plan has impoverished? It was bad enough when Ontario robbed Peter to pay Paul, now it’s then robbing Paul to pay back what it just stole from Peter..."

My favourite, "Finally, what province would but days ago ladle a couple of hundred million dollars to Ford Motor Company, in part for the building of V8 engines — the very villains of carbon production so decried in all the government’s other proclamations — some of which we may assume will go towards, directly or indirectly, Ford’s inflated power bill. Surely some superior dark force has a hold on Ontario...."

Wynne's Shuffle Kerfuffle: More of the Same Nonsense From the Kathleen and For Ontario

news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robyn-urback-how-many-cabinet-shuffles-would-it-take-to-redeem-ontarios-liberal-government

It has been said the Federal Conservatives were in "too long" (which I wholeheartedly disagree with as a voting consideration or strategy).  Then lets look at Ontario for a second and hope this does not spread to the Federal level. Otherwise at this rate there won't be anything left to spend on those forecasted +$30B deficits.

As published in the National Post...

"... When a government has been in power as long as the Ontario Liberals, it becomes important to mix things up every now and again, lest the narrative of who-screwed-up-what becomes a little too easy to follow. A cabinet shuffle is arguably the best instrument for muddying that narrative, while at the same time providing a diversion from whatever malignant blemish happens to be currently occupying the opposition’s attention (was it the Liberal’s atrociously received “climate change action plan,” or the investigation into Pan Am executives deleting their computer hard drives?).

Premier Kathleen Wynne delivered this diversion Monday, adding seven new members to make a swollen cabinet of 30. Growing the size of the executive council is another shrewd way to steer the discussion toward one about the composition of the cabinet, rather than taking a tough look at the cabinet members themselves, though a larger cabinet does come with the obvious disadvantage of increasing the likelihood that someone will have his or her eyes closed during the executive council “class photo.”

It goes without saying that the most challenging aspect of a good cabinet shuffle is matching the most capable person to the right ministry. Take, for example, the Treasury Board, which has been assigned to former education minister Liz Sandals. During her three years on the education file, Sandals skilfully finagled “net-zero” deals with teachers’ unions that turned out to not actually be “net-zero;” she oversaw millions of dollars in secret payouts to teachers unions, which were only discovered following an investigation by the Globe and Mail; and she literally ran from reporters when the auditor general revealed that the cost to re-open negotiations with teachers in 2013 was $468 million. Those experiences will indeed come in handy for Sandals’ new role as president of the Treasury Board, which is tasked with “leading the government’s efforts on accountability, openness and modernization.” Bring your running shoes, Liz!

Moving on, former citizenship and immigration minister Michael Chan has moved to the new Ministry of International Trade, less than a week after he defended China’s human rights record following a visit by that country’s foreign minister, who berated a Canadian reporter for asking a question about it. As minister of international trade, Chan will be expected to look past all sorts of human rights abuses to see to Wynne’s $2.5 billion worth of agreements with Beijing, all while telling Chinese media that, “the inner meaning of human rights is very broad.” Indeed, we should all take a moment to ponder whether imprisoning dissidents really is a human rights abuse, or if it’s not actually that bad because, as Chan says, China has come a long way compared to where it used to be.

As for the others: Bob Chiarelli moves from energy to infrastructure, which allows him to build instead of just blow money aimlessly; Glenn Thibeault graduates to minister of energy, with the stench of his contentious Sudbury byelection still trailing behind; and Indira Naidoo-Harris takes over the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) file, to work alongside former Pan Am Games CEO Saad Rafi — under whose watchful eye the Games ran $342 million over budget according to a recent report by the auditor general — and has been rewarded for his competency in his former position with a new role leading the ORPP.

Meanwhile, a few familiar faces remain where they are, including Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins, who will continue to try to embarrass doctors by spilling their earnings during theatrical press conferences, and Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, who adds “minister responsible for digital government” to her title, which suggests she will be tasked with figuring out those pesky hard drives while removing the “delete” button from executive-level  computers. The Liberal government thus offers Ontario the same dysfunctional, scandal-plagued cabinet but arranged in a slightly different order, and a couple more female faces on the executive council to boast about come election time. Hopefully next time the Wynne government plans to stage a diversion, we’ll get more beer options in grocery stores..."