NDP MP Niki Ashton sent out a press release yesterday calling on the minister of national revenue to create a special committee to crack down on tax avoidance by billionaires. I have my doubts about just what a parliamentary committee could do on its own. Asking them to recommend solutions seems like a fairly inefficient way to go about it because there are changes put forward every year to close loopholes, and the tax avoidance experts find new ones. 🎶It’s the circle of life! 🎶
Also, Parliament’s resources are extremely tight, especially around committees, because MPs have opted to make hybrid sittings permanent, while not actually addressing the crisis around interpretation, so I’m not sure how this justifies the resources required.
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 25, 2023
My deeper suspicion is that this is mostly just about performing for the cameras, which MPs are increasingly using committees to do rather than doing serious work, and Jagmeet Singh was trying to get in on that in a big way over the past few months, such as his little dog and pony show with the stack of papers that were supposedly all questions he was going to ask Galen Weston, and then promptly did not. Additionally, however, parliamentary resources are constrained because of hybrid sittings, and the injury and burnout rate for interpretation staff, and in the most bitter of ironies, Ashton is one of the worst offenders for abusing hybrid rules, and has pretty much opted to almost never show up in Ottawa. (She may deign to visit once every six to eight weeks, and only if she is required for some kind of media event).
Because economist Lindsay Tedds is one of the foremost tax policy experts in the country, I pointed this out to her, and well, she had thoughts.
https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1695109929902993636
https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1695104974353842372
The one thing that every government for the past two or three decades has absolutely refused to do (while they load up the Act with more boutique tax credits). https://t.co/Kxa7bwBD2O
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 25, 2023
Ukraine Dispatch:
Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces are regrouping in occupied territories in the country’s east, and will likely try another offensive push. Ukraine is also saying they hit a Russian military base deep in occupied Crimea as part of their operation earlier in the week. The Ukrainian government has also dismissed the head of its State Emergency Service after an inspection, but haven’t said what the reason was.
During this week, 1,792 explosive items were removed and neutralized as reported by Command of the Support Forces of the Armed Forces of 🇺🇦 .
"Each defused mine is someone's life saved," sates the message.📸: Command of the Support Forces pic.twitter.com/w7wBBAqeR3
— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) August 25, 2023
⚡Ukraine's defense minister promises to resign if dishonest scheme in procurement of military clothing is proven.
Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Aug. 25 that he is ready to resign if the accusations of summer jackets procurement instead of winter ones are…
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 26, 2023