Roundup: Backtracking on capital gains claims

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A number of prominent business lobby groups banded together to write a joint letter to the government slamming the changes to the capital gains inclusion rate, claiming it to be short-sighted, that it sows division, and that it will impact one in five Canadians over the next decade—with more apocalyptic language about how this will hamper economic growth. Because, remember, their ability to engage in tax arbitrage is claimed to be a public good, or something.

There was just one problem—their math was grossly wrong, and they needed to backtrack on their claims, and that really, it’s about 0.13 percent of Canadians who would pay higher taxes on their capital gains. Oopsie. Kind of takes the sting out of their apocalyptic doomsaying, and exposes them for trying to mislead people into thinking that they will be exposed.

Meanwhile, the NDP have been banging on about why the government didn’t introduce any kind of windfall tax or other wealth taxes in the budget, pointing to plans by Joe Biden to increase corporate taxes, apparently not understanding how the American political system works and how that’s unlikely to happen because of how their legislative process works. The bitter irony, of course, is that for a party that keeps aping the American Democrats in their talking points, they also have no understanding of American politics either.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukraine’s air force says they downed all ten of the drones Russia fired overnight, but didn’t say what happened to the two missiles launched. A Ukrainian drone damaged a Russian oil refinery a record 1500 km away from border. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the head of the state guards after two of its members were found to be plotting his assassination. Zelenskyy also says that with more Western weapons arriving, they’ll be able to halt the Russian advance in the east. In those eastern towns, Ukrainian rescuers are evacuating the elderly and infirm as the Russians close in;

Good reads:

  • Pablo Rodriguez hosted a National Air Accessibility Summit, but did not threaten penalties for airlines who have failed to accommodate people with disabilities.
  • Carla Qualtrough named former Ontario Court of Justice Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve to head the Future of Sport in Canada Commission.
  • Federal officials held a briefing on the wildfire risk, pointing to another year of above-average risks thanks to climate change.
  • The federal government announced $1.7 million for groups supporting sexual and gender minorities abroad, amid concerns that we’re too slow to roll out funds.
  • Canadian diplomats and RCMP praised a sanctioned Haitian businessman with gang connections for use of his private golf course for airlift evacuations.
  • The federal government is banning water craft from a popular Manitoba lake because of the threat of invasive zebra mussels.
  • The Competition Bureau is opening up a market study on the airline sector.
  • Here is a look at how the war in Ukraine is changing drone warfare for navies, and what Canada is doing to catch up.
  • Chrystia Freeland appeared at finance committee, and was hectored about the carbon levy, the fictional Liberal leadership contest, and corporate taxes.
  • As mentioned in QP, Cabinet minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada spoke about coming to Canada in order to have a safe and legal abortion, as she couldn’t in Chile.
  • Would-be Conservative nominee Sabrina Maddeaux suspended her campaign, citing actions that appeared to show the race being corrupted. (The party disputes).
  • Internal discontent in the Green Party continues as the attempts to change the party’s constitution to allow for co-leaders faces pushback.
  • Northern premiers want a national emergency response system for future wildfires and other disasters—but emergency management is a provincial responsibility.
  • Oh, look—more evidence contradicting Doug Ford’s version of events around the Greenbelt corruption scandal in Ontario.
  • Oh, look—more evidence showing that Danielle Smith’s renewables “pause” wasn’t for any of the reasons she claimed. Funny, that.
  • Alberta is planning to shift their “fixed” election date from spring to autumn, citing the greater dangers of fires, droughts and floods in the spring.
  • My Xtra column looks at the slippery slope of Poilievre threatening the use of the Notwithstanding Clause for criminal matters, and how it rarely stops there.

Odds and ends:

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