Study: Canadians Experiencing Worst Standard of Living in 40 Years


Posted originally on Jul 31, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

The Fraser Institute conducted a study that found Canadians are experiencing the worst standard of living in the past 40 years. Conditions are beneath what was experienced during the 89 recession, the Great Recession, and even the early stages of the post-pandemic. What is going on in Canada?

Justin Trudeau uprooted Canada’s fiscal landscape and his policies have only further sunk Canada into a decline. I reported that household debt in Canada exceeds 100% of GDPGovernment spending toppled $1 trillion in 2020 in response to the pandemic, decreasing only 7.8% to $969.5 billion the following year. Government spending toppled C$520.17 billion during Q1 of 2024 alone. Justin Trudeau is aiming to turn Canada into a “BUILD BACK BETTER” nation that operates not like a true capitalist society but like the unelected government-driven economy we see in the European Union.

Canada’s immigration policy has become a free-for-all, with its population reaching an all-time high this year after surpassing 41 million. Nearly all population growth (99.3%; 240,955 people) was solely attributed to migrants arriving in Canada. The taxpayers are expected to subsidize the lives of migrants and turn a blind eye to the drastic uptick in crime. Canada was once a safe nation with a high-trust society. Crime has risen by over 40% and the entire landscape of Canadian society is changing. These people are often living in squalor and there are not enough housing units or jobs for all migrants, let alone all Canadians.

BUILD BACK BETTER
Build Back Better

Similar to the US, Justin Trudeau is boosting job postings by ramping up hiring in the public sector, which has grown by over 17% since 2019. For comparison, the private sector only grew by 4% during that same timeframe. The public sector simply does not add to the economy in any meaningful way. These tax-funded agencies simply multiply and deduct from overall GDP.

Similar to other Build Back Better nations, Canada has lost its edge in trade. The countless green initiatives have crippled entire sectors, and rising taxes have made it a less desirable place to conduct business. Canada experienced a 51.2% reduction in mining, oil, gas, and quarrying from 2014 to 2022, as one example. Business investments have decreased by a third under Trudeau, yet he continues to spend.

Build Back Better has failed. As the “Roadmap for a Renewed US-Canada Partnership” details:

‘“Building back better” represents a shared vision for a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery that strengthens the middle class, creates more opportunities for hard working people to join it, and ensures people have good jobs and careers on both sides of the border. Our leaders also recognized the opportunity for clean growth driven by workers, communities, businesses, and innovation.”

These government leaders are utter failures who are incapable of implementing meaningful policies. They destroyed the world economy under COVID and then sought to BUILD BACK BETTER. Instead, they’ve driven away smart money and business, fostered an environment for rising crime, and decreased everyone’s quality of life with inflationary policies. It is time for the voters to wake up and realize that the people they put into office are directly responsible for their deteriorating economic situations.

Trudeau Considers Additional Housing Tax


Posted originally on Jul 11, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Inefficient politicians consistently cite additional taxation as the solution to their nation’s economic troubles. The housing crisis in Canada is has spread to every province. Instead of addressing availability, the disproportionate demand brought on by multiplying the nation with migrants, or any of the countless fiscal policies that have contributed to inflation, the Canadian government believes it is the duty of citizens to subsidize their wealth as a temporary solution.

The Trudeau Administration has been trying to paint the housing crisis as a conflict between the social-economic classes. All those greedy citizens who saved for homes are preventing new homeowners from entering the market. Trudeau basically said this when appearing on the podcast Generation Squeeze, an organization that is pushing to add an annual surtax on homes over C$1 million. They believe houses between C$1 million to C$1.5 million, even if a primary residence, should face a 0.2% surtax that would eventually rise to 0.5%. Homes over C$2 million would face a 1% surtax.

What about older Canadians who have been residing in their family homes for decades? They may not necessarily be rich but they purchased when the landscape was different. Trudeau said those who “scrimped and saved” simply fail to understand that the younger generation can no longer do the same due to the economic environment he helped to create.

“GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS DON’T BUILD HOMES!” – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

I mentioned in a separate post that 13.5% of young Canadians under 24 cannot find entry-level work. Unemployment is on the rise and young people cannot afford to save what little they have. All Canadians are feeling the constraints of inflation, with household debt rising to over 100% of GDP and the debt service ratio surpassing 15.22%. People are paying for the luxury of even having debt.

This thoughtless plan does not count for the fact that home prices are continuing to rise. C$1 million may sound high, but the average home in British Columbia is around C$965,447, with those in Ontario facing an average price of C$853,915. The average home cost around C$657,145 across all provinces in 2023, but that average was only C$391,820 just 10 years ago. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) believes the average home will reach C$$746,410 by next year.

This is not a tax on the wealthy, though that would not be a solution, rather, this is a tax on hardworking Canadians who are struggling to maintain what they have left. This tax is in addition to the countless other grabs that the government is expecting from homeowners. There are federal initiatives that currently spend billions on new construction, such as the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund, which spent C$6 billion toward new construction. What’s the point of increasing the supply when you’re increasing the overall population more rapidly? Trudeau did not offer ANY other solution during his interview because he had none to offer.

The Online News Act Bill C-18


Aemstrong Economics Blog/Censorship Re-Posted Aug 3, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The Canadian government does not want people sharing news stories online. The government should be the sole source of information. The Online News Act (Bill C-18) would require social media platforms and online sources to compensate Canadian news agencies for sharing news online. A report by Angus Reid found that 85% of Canadians do not subscribe to news outlets and primarily rely on the internet for information. The government cannot control what is published online (yet) but they can easily control official news agencies.

Google said the bill “breaks the way the web and search engines have worked for more than 30 years.” It prevents Canadians from freely accessing information, as those costs need to be reacquired somewhere. Any time someone interacts with a news article, the Canadian government wants a cut. In turn, major platforms such as Meta and Google have announced that they will no longer publish news articles by Canadian outlets.

“In order to provide clarity to the millions of Canadians and businesses who use our platforms, we are announcing today that we have begun the process of ending news availability permanently in Canada,” Meta said in a statement. Dictator Trudeau has made a big push toward full media censorship.

“It’s like 1984,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stated. “You have a prime minister passing a law to make news articles disappear from the internet. Who would’ve ever imagined that in Canada, the federal government would pass laws banning people from effectively seeing the news? Who would’ve thought that we’d have a government that would pass a law to manipulate the algorithms of the internet?” Trudeau will continue to usurp as much power as possible at the expense of the Canadian people.