Carbon tax pause on home heating oil will cost federal government $755M: PBO

The federal government will forgo $755 million in carbon taxes from Atlantic Canadians over the course of its three-year pause on the heating oil tax, according to a new report from Ottawa’s spending watchdog.

That’s as it gives Ontario a $295-million reprieve, but hardly any break for the western provinces.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has costed out the Trudeau government’s suspension of the carbon tax on home heating oil and doubling of the rural rebate.

While the temporary pause applies across the country, the new data show how the move clearly favours Atlantic Canada over elsewhere.

Nova Scotians are expected to benefit the most: roughly $372 million in carbon taxes now won’t be collected, while $185 million won’t be collected in Newfoundland and Labrador, $135 million in New Brunswick and $63 million in Prince Edward Island.

#energy

🍁 Maple Chronicles

Canadian-made fentanyl is an international problem, RCMP says

The head of the RCMP unit responsible for fighting organized crime says Canada is not just a significant producer of fentanyl — Canada exports it.

Mathieu Bertrand, chief superintendent of Serious and Organized Crime & Border Integrity at RCMP Federal Policing, said that while Canada has a problem with fentanyl imports, domestic production is what alarms police most at the moment.

Most of the 600-plus organized crime groups assessed by the RCMP's criminal intelligence branch are involved in the drug trade, Bertrand said.

Bertrand cited Australia and New Zealand as known destinations for Canada-made fentanyl. Some Asian countries supply key ingredients for Canadian-made fentanyl via shipments through South American countries or the United States, he said.

A law enforcement roundtable in 2021 noted a tenfold increase in precursor chemicals seized by the Canada Border Services Agency, and said that most of the chemicals come from China and Hong Kong.

The toxic drug crisis is killing an average of 21 people every day in Canada. Fentanyl is involved in the vast majority of those deaths.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇨🇴🇭🇹🇻🇪Canada launches new humanitarian migration pathway for Colombians, Haitians and Venezuelans

Amid the ongoing refugee crisis in the Americas, the federal government has announced the launch of a new humanitarian pathway for 11,000 Colombians, Haitians and Venezuelans to find residency in Canada.

Marc Miller, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, announced that this humanitarian pathway, which is now open for applications, will provide “permanent residence to Colombian, Haitian and Venezuelan foreign nationals.”

In order to qualify for the humanitarian pathway, the applicant must be affiliated with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who agrees to support them and their family members for the first year of Canadian residency.

#immigration

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇨🇳 Canada PM Trudeau says he hopes to meet China’s Xi one day once tensions defused

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he hoped to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping once the two sides had put in the work needed to repair badly strained bilateral ties.

Trudeau said he had “a good exchange” with Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit and told the Chinese leader the two sides needed to try to create a constructive dialogue.

China and Canada have had poor relations for years amid disagreements over human rights and complaints by Ottawa about alleged Chinese interference in the last two elections.

#Canada #China

@asianomics

🪖Top general worries about maintaining Pacific fleet on current budget 'trajectory'

Canada's top soldier says the military's ability to keep funding a "persistent presence" of warships in the western Pacific is facing challenges on the current budget.

Gen. Wayne Eyre was speaking during the Halifax International Security Forum Saturday during a panel discussion focused on China's emergence as a military superpower.

The chief of defence staff said Canada currently has three frigates operating in the region on joint naval exercises with Japan and the United States. He noted, however, that those ships are reaching the end of their 30-year lifespan.

He also said he's concerned about keeping the country's maritime patrol aircraft flying, saying "serviceability" is below 50 per cent and they are in urgent need of replacement.

The comments from Eyre are just the latest concerns being expressed about what impact looming budget restraint at the Ministry of National Defence may have on the military.

The department is identifying “proposals for spending reductions” totaling more than $900 million over four years, while trying to minimize the impact on military readiness.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🌱Canada planning $20-billion in subsidies for carbon capture, clean tech

Canada’s government will present legislation this month to start paying subsidies for carbon capture and net-zero energy projects, a source said.

A long delay in state support for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects and for equipment used to produce low-carbon energy prompted industry lobbies to warn in September that some $50-billion worth of investments were at risk if the government did not act soon to provide some certainty for the sector.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will announce the investment tax credit (ITC) funding when she presents the so-called Fall Economic Statement (FES) to parliament on Tuesday afternoon, the source added.

It will be included in the FES legislation to be sent to parliament later this month, the source said. Previous budget documents estimated all five of the ITC programs together would funnel an estimated $27-billion during their first five years in operation.

#energy

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🔋Concerns emerge over NextStar's plans to hire foreign workers for battery plant

NextStar Energy Inc.'s plans to bring foreign workers to help build a heavily subsidized battery plant in Windsor, Ont. has drawn concerns about why the jobs aren't going to Canadians.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he is pushing for a full inquiry into the issue to find out how many workers the company plans to bring in from abroad. The plant is expected to receive upwards of $15 billion in publicly funded incentives.

Trudeau gives $15 billion of your tax dollars for a company to hire 1600 temporary foreign workers. Your money. Foreign jobs.

Poilievre wrote on X.

NextStar Energy is a joint venture between automaker Stellantis and South Korea's LG.

#Poilievre #Ontario #energy

🍁 Maple Chronicles

Canada's inflation rate cools to 3.1% but the cost of living keeps going up

Canada's consumer price index rose by 3.1 per cent in the year up to October, down from 3.8 per cent the previous month but in line with what economists were expecting.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that the biggest reason for the deceleration in the cost of living was a drop in the cost of gasoline, which declined by 6.4 per cent during the month of October alone, and is down by 7.8 per cent compared to where prices were a year ago.

If gasoline is stripped out of the numbers, the inflation rate would have been 3.6 per cent in October. That's slightly lower than the 3.7 per cent non-gasoline inflation rate clocked the month before.

Food prices increased at a 5.4 per cent pace over the past year. While that's still higher than the overall inflation rate, it's down from the 5.8 per cent annual pace seen in September.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇨🇳Michael Spavor blames fellow prisoner Kovrig for Chinese detention, alleges he was used for intelligence gathering

One of the two Canadians jailed by China for nearly three years in a case that was at the heart of a diplomatic crisis is seeking a multimillion-dollar settlement from Ottawa alleging he was detained because he unwittingly provided intelligence on North Korea to Canada and allied spy services.

Michael Spavor alleges that the deception was conducted by fellow Canadian prisoner Michael Kovrig, and it was intelligence work by the latter that led to both men’s incarceration by Chinese authorities.

China arrested Mr. Spavor and Mr. Kovrig in December, 2018, on allegations of espionage in the aftermath of Canada’s detention of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition warrant.

Their arrest caused a major diplomatic incident between Canada and China that was ultimately resolved with their release in September 2021.

#China

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🏠 Kids of homeowners twice as likely to own real estate in Canada

Adult children of homeowners were more than twice as likely to own a home as those of non-homeowners, according to a study by Statistics Canada based on 2021 data.

More than 17 per cent owned homes, compared with about eight per cent for the adult children of non-homeowners. Among adults whose parents owned multiple properties, the homeownership rate was almost 24 per cent.

While home prices have come down, it hasn’t been enough to offset higher mortgage costs and affordability has actually worsened. The Bank of Canada’s own housing affordability index is now near the highest level since 1990.

#housing

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸🇨🇳 Canadian parliamentary delegation visits US Congress to discuss China policies

Members of a special Canadian parliamentary committee on China met with their US counterparts for the first time last week, signaling closer alignment of the two legislatures’ approaches towards Beijing.

Seven members from Canada’s top four political parties met with a bipartisan group of representatives from the US House select committee on China, as well as with members of other House and Senate committees.

Ken Hardie, chair of the Canadian group, suggested that the US and Canada could coordinate on responses to Beijing’s alleged attempts to target the Chinese diaspora and influence education in both countries.

#Canada #USA #China

@asianomics

🇨🇦🇱🇻🪖Canada's Leopard 2 tanks arrive in Latvia to bolster growing NATO mission

The Canadian Armed Forces has completed its promised deployment of 15 Leopard 2 battle tanks to Latvia in an effort to create a combat-ready NATO brigade in Eastern Europe.

The squadron of Leopard 2 tanks arrived in Latvia on Nov. 10 along with a detachment of support personnel and equipment, a Department of National Defence spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. The planned deployment was announced in June.

In July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Latvia, where he committed $2.6 billion to renewing and expanding the Canadian Forces mission to Central and Eastern Europe over the next three years.

#NATO #Latvia

🍁 Maple Chronicles

⚡️🇨🇦🇺🇸Explosion on US-Canada border

An incident involving a car entering the US from Canada via the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls has shut access in both directions.

#US

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸 Erie County, NY, bomb squad is responding to the vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸According to Fox News, the FBI is investigating the vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing as an attempted terrorist attack.

Two people were reportedly in the car at the time of the explosion, both of them were killed. One border patrol agent was injured.

The vehicle was driving from the U.S. to Canada and was attempting to drive toward the border officer building.

Peace Bridge, Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, and Whirlpool Bridge are also closed as the incident is investigated.

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸 Police have determined that reckless driving was the cause of the explosion at the border crossing

🍁 Maple Chronicles

🇨🇦🇺🇸 A population of hard-to-eradicate ‘super pigs’ in Canada is threatening to invade the US

An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate “super pigs” in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion.

In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boar with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that’s spreading out of control.

Pigs are not native to North America. While they’ve roamed parts of the continent for centuries, Canada’s problem dates back only to the 1980s when it encouraged farmers to raise wild boar. The market collapsed after peaking in 2001 and some frustrated farmers simply cut their fences, setting the animals free.

They reproduce quickly. A sow can have six piglets in a litter and raise two litters in a year. That means 65% or more of a wild pig population could be killed every year and it will still increase.

#US

🍁 Maple Chronicles

📔Fall Economic Statement 2023: $40B deficit projected

The federal government's fall economic statement presented by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday includes billions of dollars in new spending and targeted policy measures aimed at increasing Canada's housing supply in the years ahead, with the deficit projected to be $40 billion in 2023-24.

The 2023 fall economic statement outlines $20.8 billion in additional spending over the next six years, beyond what was announced in the 2023 federal budget.

Freeland has announced Canada will be putting billions into building new homes, increasing the number of construction workers, cracking down on short-term rentals and grocery competition, as well as rolling out green investment tax credits.

#Freeland

🍁 Maple Chronicles

📈Canada expects unemployment to rise 211k within months, mostly immigrants

The Fall Economic Statement’s unemployment forecast shows an increase of 0.8 points to 6.5% by Q2 2024. That would see unemployment rise by 170k people to 1.4 million, if population growth is excluded.

If population growth is taken into account, unemployment would rise 17.2% (by 211k) to 1.44 million people.

🍁 Maple Chronicles