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Federal Politics

I believe I heard heating oil is the only heating option for most who end up having to use it, and its price has gone up significantly more than other heating options, hence the relief from tax. Not sure if there are holes to poke in that, but that is the validity behind the policy that I have heard. I find it pretty hilarious that so many people are up in arms over it to be honest. Doesn't seem like that big of an issue to me, but then again, I'm not poor, so this issue doesn't really affect me.
 
^
except the carbon tax is not based on the price of fuel oil (or any other fuel for that matter).

the carbon tax is calculated based on gigajoules per litre and is completely independent of the price of the fuel.

if high heating costs because of rising fuel prices was really the concern, the pm could have looked at some other mechanism including the gst which does increase with the commodity price to provide some relief. this is exactly what alberta did by suspending its gas tax so would be a lot harder for them and poilievre to campaign against.

using the carbon tax as the tool was just a huge political blunder that will have far reaching negative consequences politically and economically all to satisfy the pm’s ego and need to be liked above all else.
 
Randy B should be here sooner than later to give us a boatload amount of cash for housing....thought it would be today for a double duty on Christening the valley line....
 
jason403 said:
I believe I heard heating oil is the only heating option for most who end up having to use it, and its price has gone up significantly more than other heating options, hence the relief from tax. Not sure if there are holes to poke in that, but that is the validity behind the policy that I have heard. I find it pretty hilarious that so many people are up in arms over it to be honest. Doesn't seem like that big of an issue to me, but then again, I'm not poor, so this issue doesn't really affect me.
Click to expand...
Yes, heating oil is quite a bit more expensive and the people who use it generally are in an area where there is no other choice. This has been noted in some of the media coverage, but I am not sure a lot of people elsewhere realize that even after removing the carbon tax they will still paying more than people elsewhere are for other heating fuel. So its not like they are getting some fantastic deal like some are making it out to be.
 
Yah if the GoC dropped the Carbon tax on home fuels. We would not see it reflected. We saw that with Gasoline. We saw that the prices didn't drop when the GoA dropped some of their taxes.

I do thing the GoC may come up with an alternate solution. They just can't drop the CO tax, or it will look like the CPC win.
 
If the GofC drops the carbon tax on natural gas in Alberta we absolutely will see a reduction in our natural gas bills. Carbon tax is a separate line item within the natural gas bill and would be $0 if the carbon is eliminated.
 
Interesting article by Breakenridge. Lest we forget, Alberta had its own carbon tax, before the UCP axed it so the Feds took over. Even more oddly, at the time UCP seemed to go around and saying they actually got rid of it, I'm quite sure we're actually still paying it.

edmontonjournal.com

Breakenridge: If Alberta wants to go it alone, a carbon tax is the place to start

Instead of posturing, why doesn't Alberta follow precedent and set our own carbon tax like Quebec or the one the NDP had in place.
edmontonjournal.com edmontonjournal.com

In hindsight, we can see some problems with this. If Alberta still controlled it, we would have more flexibility so it wouldn't matter so much what the Feds did or didn't do.
 
David A said:
Yes, heating oil is quite a bit more expensive and the people who use it generally are in an area where there is no other choice. This has been noted in some of the media coverage, but I am not sure a lot of people elsewhere realize that even after removing the carbon tax they will still paying more than people elsewhere are for other heating fuel. So its not like they are getting some fantastic deal like some are making it out to be.
Click to expand...
It's not that the Liberals removing the carbon tax from home heating oil is a fantastic deal, it's the fact that it was done transparently because Trudeau's party is trying to curry favour in Atlantic Canada. They know they will be losing seats in Ontario in the next election if current polling trends continue, and they are attempting to shore up their base in the East. For crying out loud, a Liberal MP (Gudie Hutchings) even stated that if other Canadians wanted a similar break on their heating bills, they should elect more Liberal MPs.

Yes, home heating oil is more expensive than some other fuels but that's not the core issue here. The point is that the Liberal government is using tax policy to try and shore up its base, while denying that same tax break to other areas of the country where there are fewer Liberal MPs. That's favoritism that has nothing to do with protecting the environment or encouraging a shift to greener energy, which is supposedly why the carbon tax was implemented in the first place.
 
MacLac said:
www.ctvnews.ca

'Take your job seriously': Employment Minister tells Alberta to stick with Canada Pension Plan

Federal Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault says he is against any attempt by the Alberta government to leave the Canada Pension Plan.
www.ctvnews.ca www.ctvnews.ca

There's our man Randy B!!!! Going after her Wolshipfulness' CPP pull out.
Click to expand...
I'm still skeptical about the idea of replacing the CPP with an Alberta pension. But if it's so absolutely positively vital that the provinces all stick together in the same plan, why isn't the federal government concerned about the fact that Quebec has never been part of the CPP? Alberta is simply exploring the concept of having what Quebec has had for decades. You can't extend a right to one province without offering a corresponding right to the others.

We're constantly being told that the CPP performs solidly in terms of ROI, that it is the envy of many other countries. So why would it be such a crisis if one province chooses to withdraw? Are the foundations that shaky?

Then again, the CPP Investment Board were the same geniuses who partnered with a private equity firm to buy bricks-and-mortar retailer Neiman-Marcus, which proceeded to go bankrupt.
 
TravellingChris said:
Alberta is simply exploring the concept of having what Quebec has had for decades. You can't extend a right to one province without offering a corresponding right to the others.
Click to expand...

The federal government has been clear that Alberta is free to leave - they are just arguing that it's not a good move for Canada or Alberta.

The federal act that created the Canada Pension Plan allows provinces to leave. And any province that is not part of CPP must offer a comparable pension plan.

Alberta is permitted to leave if it chooses, by giving three years' written notice.

Quebec, unlike the rest of the provinces, opted out from the beginning. Any province had that option.
Quebec's return versus the premiums people there pay has not been as strong as CPP, one of the best rated funds of its kind.

Of course if Alberta left, it would mean a large chunk of assets/investments would have to be withdrawn from CPP to pay Alberta out. That's going to have impact whether it was Ontario, BC or Alberta.
 
TravellingChris said:
It's not that the Liberals removing the carbon tax from home heating oil is a fantastic deal, it's the fact that it was done transparently because Trudeau's party is trying to curry favour in Atlantic Canada. They know they will be losing seats in Ontario in the next election if current polling trends continue, and they are attempting to shore up their base in the East. For crying out loud, a Liberal MP (Gudie Hutchings) even stated that if other Canadians wanted a similar break on their heating bills, they should elect more Liberal MPs.

Yes, home heating oil is more expensive than some other fuels but that's not the core issue here. The point is that the Liberal government is using tax policy to try and shore up its base, while denying that same tax break to other areas of the country where there are fewer Liberal MPs. That's favoritism that has nothing to do with protecting the environment or encouraging a shift to greener energy, which is supposedly why the carbon tax was implemented in the first place.
Click to expand...

It's interesting that Atlantic Canadians weren't actually paying the carbon tax on their heating before this summer - those provincial governments were sheltering them from it through other measures. But when that ended and the carbon tax then kicked in this summer, it added a lot to already the most expensive type of heating in Canada. It was especially noticeable for them because, unlike here where the carbon tax has gone up incrementally, it went from zero to the top rate in one shot. And that created a major uproar from residents in a short amount of time and the MPs felt it.

Given how expensive and environmentally unfriendly that heating is, it would have been nice if the government had just offered this heating pump incentive a few years ago to get people off of heating oil.
 
TravellingChris said:
It's not that the Liberals removing the carbon tax from home heating oil is a fantastic deal, it's the fact that it was done transparently because Trudeau's party is trying to curry favour in Atlantic Canada. They know they will be losing seats in Ontario in the next election if current polling trends continue, and they are attempting to shore up their base in the East. For crying out loud, a Liberal MP (Gudie Hutchings) even stated that if other Canadians wanted a similar break on their heating bills, they should elect more Liberal MPs.

Yes, home heating oil is more expensive than some other fuels but that's not the core issue here. The point is that the Liberal government is using tax policy to try and shore up its base, while denying that same tax break to other areas of the country where there are fewer Liberal MPs. That's favoritism that has nothing to do with protecting the environment or encouraging a shift to greener energy, which is supposedly why the carbon tax was implemented in the first place.
Click to expand...
If you are the one paying for heating oil, I suspect how expensive it is, actually is the most important issue. Oddly this got very little coverage, but I heard it went up over 100%, almost 10 times the increase for natural gas.

So, yes you can imagine those consumers were probably really pressing their MP's for whatever relief they could get.
 
The feds announced a continuation of funding for affordable housing ($1 billion) and low interest loans to incentivize developers to build more rentals ($15 billion) from funding already in place and being announced currently.

canada.constructconnect.com

New housing, construction labour mobility highlighted by Freeland in Fall Statement - Daily Commercial News

Federal Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland announced a modest set of new government programs to support homebuilding today (Nov. 21), with significant new financing through a renamed rental housing plan but most of the other housing pledges reiterating
canada.constructconnect.com canada.constructconnect.com

Former Mayor Don Iveson seems to be doing well - he was on CBC National today providing analysis of today's announcement as Co-Chair of the new Housing and Climate Task Force. The task force includes former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt and Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney (who is possibly a future PM in waiting).

housingandclimate.ca

Housing and Climate

Getting 5.8 million right
housingandclimate.ca housingandclimate.ca
 
The current marathon stallfest by the Federal Conservatives is maddening. There are better ways to go about doing this, stop playing US-style political games...
 
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