Justin Trudeau proposes Netflix tax 

The Trudeau government will be reducing government revenue by $3-6 billion in order to cut taxes by roughly $25 per month for working Canadians.

According to a motion tabled by Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Ottawa will increase the personal income tax exemption by $2,000, to $15,000.

The proposed amendment to the Income Tax Act would ensure that Canadians who make under $147,000 a year would pay no taxes on the first $15,000, with benefits being spread out over four years.

Interestingly, given the wording of the motion, a dual-income family earning nearly $300,000 would receive the full tax cut.

While some wealthy Canadians would receive the cut, nearly 1.1 million Canadians would pay no tax at all as a result of the increase.

Based on the government’s own estimates, implementing the cut will cost government revenues of $3 billion in the first year, rising to $6 by 2023.

While any tax cuts will be sure to be received well by Canada’s rather overtaxed population, especially when you look at the average tax rates across our southern neighbour, the timing of the cut may worry deficit hawks.

As of now, Canada is on track to hit a $27.4 billion dollar annual deficit, multiple times higher than what the Trudeau government promised, and on track to balance no sooner than two decades from now.

With 22 years needed to balance, according to the nation’s Finance Department, Canada could be in a problematic situation should a global recession occur.

The items available on Amazon get weirder every year.

You can now purchase a Justin Trudeau Mr. Dress-Up colouring book from the online platform, and join in the PM’s famous and sometimes disastrously controversial love for costumes.

The book includes some of Trudeau’s most known costume choices, including Aladdin in blackface.

Trudeau has notably worn blackface more times than he can remember, including at least three times where video or photos have leaked.

While the content of the book is designed for children colouring, most will likely buy it as a conversation piece to keep around the house.

Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre slammed the minority Liberal government and the media at a Sunday press conference in Ottawa, where he called on Finance Minister Bill Morneau to come up with a plan to “restart” the sagging Canadian economy that shed 71,000 jobs last month.

“Others here in the bubble, inside Ottawa, might be fascinated by the palace intrigue of leadership politics,” replied Poilievre to a reporter’s question about his party leader Andrew Scheer’s viability at the Conservative helm.

“But if you’re one of those 71,000 people who just lost your job in November, you probably couldn’t care less.”

Poilievre and the Opposition Conservatives are calling for on Morneau, “to present an urgent fall economic update to salvage Canada’s teetering economy.”

Last week, Statistics Canada posted the worst one-month job loss numbers in the country for a decade as 71,000 additional people were out of work for November 2019. This included 18,000 in British Columbia and 18,000 in Alberta. It was especially terrible news for Alberta as it has already shed more than 150,000 jobs since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first took office in 2015.

According to the Carleton MP, whose riding is on the outskirts of the “Ottawa bubble”, the update should come with “major tax cuts for entrepreneurs and workers, so they can spend and invest and get out economy moving again.”

The Conservatives also want the government to cut “the insane, high levels of red tape holding (entrepreneurs) down,” said Poilievre. “(And) reassure investors by presenting a reasonable plan to help phase out the deficit in the medium term.”

With just five sitting days in the House of Commons scheduled before the Christmas break, Poilievre took exception with media queries about whether there was enough time to accomplish the task.

“You seem to be suggesting that our prime minister spent his first 10 days after the election surfing rather than working… the election was in October, they’ve had plenty of time,” replied Poilievre, referencing Trudeau’s Tofino trip, a post-election holiday he took after the October 21 vote.

“The storm clouds of our economy have been gathering overhead for a long time (and) the average Canadian wasn’t surfing in November. The average Canadian was worried about his or her job…and then we got a report that south of the border they had a quarter million new jobs.”

“So this is a made in Canada problem. It requires urgent action and we’re calling on the government to take that action by calling for a fall economic update.”

As for Morneau, Poilievre said if the finance minister were “competent, he’s got it already written. But that is not a safe assumption.”

“We’re prepared to work through the Christmas break, if necessary… and I’m sorry if Liberals have vacation plans. Cancel them.”

Asked whether the Conservatives red-tape cutting, lower taxes mantra was in need of an overhaul in light of the previous election result that boosted Conservatives presence in the Commons but failed to unseat Trudeau, Poilievre bristled.

“The trendy pundits that you bring on CBC… they tell us that we need to abandon everything we believe in. That we need to embrace big government, high deficits and high taxes,” replied the Carleton MP.

“That is the absolute worst thing Conservatives could do. That would be an electoral, political and economic disaster for the country if we went down that road. Our goal is not just to fit in with the four socialist parties. Our goal will be to stand out. To stand out as the only voice of taxpayers.”

Conservative MP (Durham, Ontario) and Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Erin O’Toole released a video calling out the Trudeau government for failing to save the two Canadian hostages detained by the Chinese government a year ago in retaliation for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou being arrested on charges from US authorities of fraud, as well as allegations of violating sanctions placed on Iran. The video was released on the one-year anniversary of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor being arrested by the Chinese government.

“This week marks one year since Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were imprisoned by the Chinese state in an act of retaliation for the lawful arrest of a Chinese citizen in Canada,” says O’Toole at the beginning of the video, released Sunday on social media.

“Twelve months the Chinese citizen has been staying in a $13 million Vancouver mansion and she wrote about taking up oil painting. Our citizens are in cells with the lights on for 24 hours. They have half an hour of consular access each month. They are cut off. They probably feel abandoned. Twelve months, two ministers, two ambassadors, zero progress,” O’Toole continues.

Although sources within the Conservative Party of Canada have been saying O’Toole is looking to usurp leader Andrew Scheer’s position, for now it appears he’s put aside his leadership ambitions.

“Conservatives, led by Andrew Scheer, are going to be bringing this debate to Parliament. We need a plan from Justin Trudeau. From his earliest days he’s been naive when it comes to China.”

(Scheer faces a leadership confidence vote from CPC members in April.)

Some political commentators on social media noted that O’Toole came across as more confident and charismatic in the video than Scheer has as leader.

According to a Nanos poll from four months ago, only 10 percent of Canadians have a positive view of China.

Although most political experts in the West believe the two Michaels were arrested for spurious charges, Chinese authorities claim they both threatened China’s national security.