Roundup: Who “axing the tax” really benefits

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Economist Trevor Tombe and the CBC have come up with some modelling of the federal carbon levy, and lo, there remains yet more proof that for most households, the price and rebate system do in fact leave people better off. And more to the point, it also proves that removing the price—the “axe the tax” that Pierre Poilievre has been touring the country to promote, would only benefit people making over $250,000/year, which is pretty much the top one percent of income earners in the country.

This should be nothing new—back when they were in government, the Conservatives kept producing boutique tax credit after boutique tax credit that they kept claiming would help “ordinary” Canadians, when in fact they were structed in such a way as to really only benefit the wealthiest households. It’s not an uncommon trick from right-wing parties, particularly as they convince people to vote against their own best interests, but once again, they have created a massive disinformation campaign to claim that the carbon price is what is driving inflation and in particular food price inflation, when it’s simply not true, and that killing it will “make life affordable,” or that people will be able to “eat and heat their homes” again, which again, are not really being made unaffordable because of the carbon price, but other factors at play. And even with this data to prove that they’re lying, they’ll insist that it’s wrong, or that Tombe and the CBC are the ones doing the disinformation (which is why they attack academics and the media), but we need to be calling out that the Conservatives have been lying to the public as a way of rage-farming to drive votes and engagement.

Meanwhile, Tombe has also collaborated on another analysis of carbon prices in BC (which is separate from the federal system, but at the same price level), and finds that lo, they contributed a whole 0.33 percent to the price of food, which is of course what the Conservatives keep claiming is driving up food costs. It’s not—climate change is. Just this week, Statistics Canada released this year’s crop production data, and thanks to drought on the Prairies, crop yields are down this year—not as bad as it was in 2021, but wheat is down 6.9%, barley yields down 10.9%, and oat yields down 49.6%. This is the kind of thing that is affecting food prices, not the carbon price, but Conservatives will keep lying to you.

https://twitter.com/trevortombe/status/1732071690480562570

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian authorities say that they downed ten of seventeen Russian drones in an overnight attack, that hit targets in both the west and east of the country. As aid for Ukraine from the US is under debate, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to cancel a planned virtual meeting with US lawmakers, as the Republicans are trying to tie that aid to border measures. Zelenskyy is slated to meet virtually with G7 leaders today.

https://twitter.com/kyivindependent/status/1732084917708759146

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland says that the government supports the CBC, but won’t say if they’re also being subjected to government-wide budget cuts.
  • Mark Miller says he’s looking at options to help the extended family members of Canadians out of Gaza, but that a Canadian visa isn’t enough to get them out.
  • Bill Blair says the military’s AI strategy is being finalised, and no, it doesn’t involve killer robots or autonomous drones, but things like logistics.
  • Carla Qualtrough is promising some kind of “independent mechanism” to review abuse in sport, but isn’t saying it’s going to be a public inquiry as has been called for.
  • Pascale St-Onge says that because people are finding loopholes around Facebook blocking news links that it could still subject them to regulation. (Hoo boy…)
  • The legislation around pregnancy loss leave shows it would only offer three paid days off from the maximum allowable eight weeks off.
  • A StatsCan survey of the Canadian Forces shows that sexual assault allegations have doubled over the previous two surveys, raising a lot of questions.
  • FINTRAC has fined Royal Bank $7.4 million for not complying with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures.
  • Here’s a look at how the CRTC has been shaking up the telecom sector this past year.
  • The Assembly of First Nations has begun its special chiefs’ assembly to choose a new national chief.
  • Senate Speaker Raymond Gagné ruled that the attempts to intimidate senators over Bill C-234, particularly in the Chamber, were a prima facie breach of privilege.
  • The Senate has censured Senator Michael MacDonald for his profane pro-convoy rant (but it’s entirely a symbolic move with no penalties attached).
  • As the debate over his position was being debated, Speaker Fergus went to Washington DC on a pre-arranged trip, and says he doesn’t plan on resigning.
  • Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu has tabled a bill to declare December to be “Christian Heritage Month,” and I wish I were joking.
  • New Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie says she’s not running for a seat in the near future (and shades of Jagmeet Singh with that one).
  • My column points out that the high-gloss disinformation “documentaries” like the one Poilievre put out last weekend are likely to be the new normal, unfortunately.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look at the new trust account reporting requirements for lawyers, and why there are a lot of unanswered questions about them.

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