Roundup: Another CRA overreach?

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It came up in QP at the end of the week, and then on a rare Sunday afternoon press conference, where the Conservatives are accusing the government of going after the disability tax credit, particularly when it comes to diabetics. I’m not sure that this is “the government” per se, and not CRA wielding its authority, especially when you add in the recent furore over the folio on employee discounts, where they were looking to enforce some Tax Court decisions, but not necessarily communicating the specifics in the best way possible. Now, the CRA says that nothing has changed with this particular tax credit, and that they’re in fact trying to make it easier by re-hiring nurses that had previously been fired in order to process these claims, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see if there is a decent response from the government on this (as opposed to some more pabulum around tax fairness for the middle class and so on), but one would trust that they would want to get on top of their messaging for a change, rather than letting the Conservatives keep up with this drip-drip-drip narrative. That said, I’m not sure that “this is another tax grab to pay for Trudeau’s out-of-control spending” is the best message, since most of what these measures collect are mere rounding errors. That said, this might also be CRA flexing its muscles now that it has more resource to do this kind of work, when they were merely treading water beforehand.

https://twitter.com/alisoncrawford5/status/922171824766685184

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/922292502530473984

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/922293916568756225

Good reads:

  • Here is Justin Trudea’s statement on the third anniversary of shooting on Parliament Hill and the death of Nathan Cirillo.
  • Trudeau is also appointing Bob Rae as a special envoy go Myanmar to help deal with the Ronhingya crisis there.
  • There are questions about whether there will be new spending in Tuesday’s economic update, given that the deficit figures are smaller than expected.
  • Ginette Petitpas Taylor says that marijuana edibles regulations could be in place by July 2019.
  • Ralph Goodale is asking his American counterparts to keep a “wary eye” on some US travel permit holders whose sole intention is to come to Canada illegally.
  • Rona Ambrose is railing at the Senate for not swiftly passing her bill on mandatory sexual assault training for judges (which, I should remind you, is very problematic).
  • Here’s a look at the federal government’s options if they want to challenge Quebec’s face-covering ban.
  • The government is auctioning off the last Canadian Coast Guard inshore surveyor ship, which signals the rusting out of some crucial maritime capabilities.
  • The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation will be contacting Residential School survivors to see who wants their records preserved or destroyed.
  • Here is the roundup of Jagmeet Singh’s answers to questions on current events.
  • Trevor Tombe explains equalization and why it’s not responsible for Alberta’s fiscal mess.

Odds and ends:

Terry Milewski offers up the tale of a Canadian diplomat and spy in the Cold War era.