Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge believes that Tuesday's 2024 federal budget from Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is "likely to be the worst budget" in decades.

I think this is likely to be the worst budget since the [then-finance minister Allan] MacEachen budget of 1982, in the sense of pointing us in the wrong direction as to how we go about raising the incomes of Canadians and actually making Canadians feel better over the medium term.

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💀More than 1 in 4 deaths among young people in Canada were opioid-related in 2021, study finds

Opioid-related deaths doubled in Canada between 2019 and the end of 2021, with Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta experiencing a dramatic jump, mostly among men in their 20s and 30s.

Anyone who sees this horrifying data would want to do anything to make drugs as inaccessible as possible. But for some reason, the Liberal government thinks the best solution is to organize "safe" access to drugs. Drugs aren't safe in any form.

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📈Canada’s inflation rate rose to 2.9% in March on higher gas prices.

Excluding gasoline, inflation stayed the same at 2.8 per cent in March.

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🏠 Homebuilding down for third year, housing agency predicts

Canadian homebuilders are expected to dial back new construction for a third straight year in 2024 as elevated borrowing costs reduce the appeal of starting projects, Canada's national housing agency said on Thursday.

Housing starts will fall to 224,485 units this year from 240,267 in 2023, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation forecast in its Housing Market Outlook document.

#housing
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💰Freeland's new federal budget hikes taxes on the rich to cover billions in new spending

🔹Ottawa to spend $52.9 billion more than planned over the next five years.

🔹Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland projects Ottawa will post a $40 billion deficit this fiscal year.

🔹The budget includes $8.5 billion in new spending for housing.

🔹Freeland will hike capital gain taxes paid by the rich and corporations to collect an estimated $19 billion in new revenue.

🔹The cost to service the growing national debt has increased substantially — it's now about $2 billion more than it was projected to be just a few months ago. The government will spend more on servicing its debt than on health care this year.

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✈️💸 Arrests in $20-million Toronto airport gold heist stem from cross-border gun running plot

Three Ontario men and a person from Florida have been arrested in connection to the $20-million Toronto Pearson airport gold heist after U.S. agents uncovered a cross-border gun trafficking plot linked to the heist.

#US #crime
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🇨🇦🇺🇦 Budget earmarks almost $3 billion in loans, grants for Ukraine

The new federal budget sets aside $2.72 billion in loans and donations for Ukraine in the current fiscal year.

Lending money to a country that won't be able to pay it back is something.

#Ukraine
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Trudeau’s ex-finance minister criticizes capital gains tax hike

Justin Trudeau’s former finance minister Bill Morneau said he rejected the idea of hiking the capital gains tax while in office.

This was very clearly something that while I was there, we resisted. From my perspective, this is clearly a negative to our long-term goal, which is growth in the economy, productive growth and investment.

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Kristian Firth, partner of the company GC strategies responsible for the ArriveCan app says he can't answer questions due to mental health flare ups & being on medication.

How convenient.

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RCMP raid offices of ArriveCan developer

The RCMP has raided the offices of the company GC Strategies, the company that was given $50 million by the Trudeau government to create the ArriveCan app.

Initially, the RCMP did not provide the name of the business being investigated. However, police provided the CBC with the address of the company it had a search warrant for, which was the same one previously listed by GC Strategies.

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💰Canada will start applying a proposed tax on the world’s biggest technology companies this year, despite threats from American lawmakers to carry out trade reprisals against a levy that will primarily hit U.S. firms.

Canada’s parliamentary budget officer has estimated the tax will raise about $7.2 billion over five fiscal years.

Compared to the budget deficit, it's essentially nothing.

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Canadians need responsible leadership right now... Let’s build a country that is stronger, more prosperous and fair for every generation!

Yeah, right. And where is this responsible leadership?

#Trudeau
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💸 CRA paid out $37M to tax scammers, unsealed affidavit alleges

A once-sealed affidavit filed with the Tax Court of Canada details how alleged scammers tricked the Canada Revenue Agency and made off with $37 million of taxpayers' money.

In the document, a litigation officer with the CRA alleges that Toronto-area company Gold Line Telemanagement made "material misstatements" on tax returns and was "part of a group of companies that participated in sham transactions."

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🏳️‍⚧️Trans military chaplain suspended over alleged sexual groping comment

A Royal Military College chaplain who was hailed by the Canadian military as an LGBTQ champion on Transgender Day of Visibility has been suspended following an alleged groping request.

Capt. Beatrice Gale had her chaplaincy revoked and was found to have violated military rules in a summary hearing because of “an inappropriate comment or request to another individual.” Gale was born a biological man but identifies as a woman.

Diversity hire is always a bad idea.

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💉Senior police officers say B.C. is not better off after drug decriminalization

Vancouver police’s deputy chief Fiona Wilson told Ottawa’s Standing Committee on Health that police are finding their hands tied when it comes to problematic drug use unless it’s in one of the areas specifically excluded from decriminalization rules.

We have been raising this issue since before decriminalization. What has happened is exactly what we predicted would happen.

Wilson said.

#BritishColumbia
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💉Poilievre says Eby should immediately end decriminalization pilot project

Justin Trudeau and the NDP premier share the blame. They are the ones that brought in decriminalization. Eby asked for it, Trudeau granted it, and they both put your tax dollars into heroin-grade opioids that can kill people and get our children hooked on drugs. So Eby and Trudeau are to blame for this radical, dangerous policy.

I’m calling on Justin Trudeau and NDP Premier Eby to end the decriminalization and the tax-subsidized drugs and immediately put all our resources into recovery and treatment that will bring our loved ones home drug free.

Poilievre said.

#BritishColumbia #Poilievre #Trudeau
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💰B.C.'s short-term rental regulations include $10K daily penalties for Airbnb, other platforms

Short-term rental platforms that violate B.C.'s pending regulations can face administrative penalties of up to $10,000 per day, officials announced Thursday.

Investigations into non-compliant companies and individual hosts will be conducted by a provincial enforcement unit, which will launch once the new rules take effect on May 1.

The Ministry of Housing said daily penalties will range from $500 to $5,000 for hosts, depending on the infraction, and reach as high as $10,000 for corporations.

#BritishColumbia
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🎓Canadians can’t cope with increasing numbers of international students: survey

A new online survey done out of Toronto shows Canadians believe there are too many international students.

🔹58 per cent of Canadians feel there are too many international students studying in Canada, up nine percentage points from a similar survey conducted in October 2023.

🔹61 per cent agree so many international students are being admitted into Canada due to mismanaged finances by post-secondary institutions in the country.

🔹66 per cent believe Canada cannot cope with the recent increases, including the high number of international students admitted who stay in the country following their education.

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💸 Canadian household debt nears $3 trillion, over 130% of GDP

Canadian households have slowed on borrowing recently, but they still accumulated a whopping amount of debt. Households debt climbed 0.3% (+$10.1 billion) to $2.94 trillion in February. This helped push annual growth to 3.4% (+$96.1 billion), and marks the fourth consecutive month of acceleration.

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🚙Three auto theft convictions should result in three years in prison, Pierre Poilievre says

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says a Conservative government would make sure auto thieves spend at least three years in prison if they are convicted for a third time, and ban house arrest for those convicted of an indictable offence.

#Poilievre
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