Liberal claims of “making life more affordable” since 2015 is hogwash
By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims There was a clash between reality and the federal Liberal Twitter account last week. The self-congratulatory tweet claimed Liberals have been “making life more affordable” since 2015. When Canadians look at gas prices, grocery store receipts and mortgage payments, that claim might raise eyebrows. Does life feel more affordable…
Buckle up your seatbelts, folks
The Trudeau government is planning to hit Canadians with a big new tax on their trucks and sport utility vehicles. The proposed tax would cost an extra $1,000 on a Ford F-150, and a Ram 3500 heavy-duty pickup truck would get hit with a $4,000 tax. This new tax will come as a surprise for…
Living in B.C. is unaffordable for many people and carbon taxes make it worse
Drivers in Vancouver are paying record-smashing prices at the gas pump and taxes are an extra kick in the head. Prices have hit more than $2 per litre for regular gasoline in Metro Vancouver. That’s the highest gasoline price in North America, along with the highest gasoline taxes. Before chuckling at the pipeline-blocking-moon-units getting their…
And taxes are a big part of the problem
The price at the gas pumps has hit a record-breaking $1.82 per litre in Vancouver. That’s the most expensive gasoline in North America. While some readers in Winnipeg and Calgary might chuckle at the karma coming back to bite a city whose mayor personally blocked the building of pipelines, it’s important to remember that bad…
And the Conservatives are giving the government a free pass
It’s bone-chilling cold, carbon tax costs are rising and politicians don’t seem to give a flying fox foot about it. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the biggest carbon tax cheerleader in North America and the Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has grabbed the pom-poms, too. Toronto and Ottawa just got a huge dump of snow, and…
The solution to the housing crisis is to build more homes, not raise taxes
By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims Canadian Taxpayer Federation The federal government is using tax dollars to dream up a new way to hammer homeowners. In 2020, the online news site Blacklock’s Reporter discovered the federal government funnelling $250,000 through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to figure out how to improve housing affordability. The…
The government answer to any problem is to hammer Canadians with higher taxes
By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims Canadian Taxpayers Federation As we head into the third year of revolving government lockdowns, Canadians have every right to be furious. But we shouldn’t let politicians divide us. And we shouldn’t be duped into believing that we are going to tax our way out of a pandemic. “We’re looking…
Kudos from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for uncovering abuse of taxpayers' money
Darryl Plecas has given British Columbians a gift that keeps giving all year long: government transparency. Before you stop reading because that sounds as dry as a Griswold Christmas turkey, remember that if it weren’t for the former speaker of the legislature, we wouldn’t know about the wood splitter and whale-watching party bought on our…
Charging money to access this essential information is an attempt to block people from knowing what the government is up to
If democracy dies in darkness, the government of British Columbia just threw our freedom of information rights into a black hole. Victoria has slapped a brand new fee on requests for public information. Now, when journalists and government watchdogs file freedom of information requests to get government documents, they will need to pay between $5…
Emissions going up despite the province having the highest carbon taxes in North America
Carbon taxes are an expensive failure when it comes to reducing emissions Emissions in British Columbia are going up despite the province having the highest carbon taxes in North America. Think you’ve read this before? That’s because this keeps happening. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again while expecting a…
Premier Horgan really needs to start getting his spending under control
The interest payments on British Columbia’s provincial debt this year could pay the salaries of 4,600 new paramedics for 10 years. But, instead of paying for first responders or providing tax relief to families, a whopping $2.8 billion is being sent to bondholders on Bay Street and Wall Street every year to pay for our…
Using taxpayers’ money for partisan purposes is wrong
If cheating taxpayers out of their money were a card game, politicians would beat the house every time. Politicians in British Columbia have taken around $30 million of your money over the past few years. They’re spending it on attack ads, lawn signs and junk mail. This money taken from taxpayers is officially called the…
It costs about $50 extra in taxes to fill up a minivan in Metro Vancouver, not including the cost of the fuel
As we see the light at the end of the COVID Tunnel of Hell, many families hope to hit the roads to explore beautiful British Columbia this summer. Safe road trips will be essential after the strain many have been under during the pandemic. But, because B.C. drivers are being burned by the highest gas…
$14 billion in extra taxes, with nothing to show for it
Emissions are going up in British Columbia, despite having the highest carbon tax in Canada. Since we all miss going to concerts, let’s put this into a West Coast grunge style. Everything is not Zen if we keep making people pay carbon taxes to reduce emissions while emissions keep going up. Government documents show that…
By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims Canadian Taxpayers Federation Erin O’Toole’s proposed carbon taxes would cost you more to heat your home, put food on the table and drive to work. The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada broke his promise and announced that, if elected prime minister, he’s going to impose his own…