MARK MACDONALD
BRITISH COLUMBIA – It is startling to see that musings and calculated estimations for the future written in this space are coming to pass.
In January, 2020, my Business Examiner column warned Canada that this country could become Venezuela – an oil-rich country that becomes impoverished due to its persistence in locking its resources underground.
Here’s a portion of the column:
“Venezuela has the largest oil reserves of any country in the world, with over 300 billion barrels of proven reserves. With a population of just under 32 million people, it was the wealthiest country in South America up until the 1980’s.
“Since then, a combination of pseudo-democratic – read socialist – government and fluctuating oil prices has created economic chaos that had produced runaway inflation and millions of people leaving the country. The state controlled oil and gas sector now produces less and one third of what it did during prosperous times.
“There’s a real warning for Canada in their story.”
So here we are above the 49th parallel, with out-of-control deficit spending, massive inflation, serious infrastructure deficits and a broken health care system that cries out for more funding – even though money is not their biggest problem. Getting some of those resources to market became a bit easier with the completion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, but even that remains a marker of government ineptitude. The private sector that left largely due to government interference was going to build it for an estimated $4.5 billion. Once Ottawa took the project over and pushed it forward at a glacial pace, the final price tag was a whopping $34 billion.
In December, 2022, I wrote that perhaps the Trudeau government’s chosen mode of reaching its self-imposed climate goals was to bring Canada’s economy to a screeching halt. The reasoning? Less industry, less pollution.
Here’s the excerpt, quoting Elmira Aliakbari, Director of Natural Resource & Environmental Studies at the Fraser Institute, from a Carbon Tax session of a Fraser Institute seminar in Vancouver.
“Further, she noted that this tax will shrink Canada’s economy by 1.8% if it results in reducing carbon output by 25%. It will reduce employment by 1.1% in Alberta, and household income by 2.5%. Total job losses are projected to be a staggering 184,377.
“This policy will shrink Canada’s economy, reduce jobs, raise $10 billion less revenue from income tax (where the federal government receives the lion’s share of income), and produce significant deficits.
“Aliakbari pointed out that “Even if Canada shuts down, it won’t have a material impact on global carbon dioxide emissions.”
“As Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan, opined recently: “The Carbon Tax doesn’t reduce emissions. It reduces jobs.”
“As I mulled and mused the presentation, I wrote down my own summary, then spoke it out loud: “Is the real, unstated goal of the carbon tax to slow the economy? And by so doing, through less productivity, create less carbon?”
“There was no response.”
There are no more unpalatable words than these four in the English language: “I told you so.” There is simply no pleasure in being right when the outcome is so wrong.
Government policy is choking the life out of the Canadian economy, and if this was a true dictatorship like Venezuela, there would be no hope. However, in our system, even though it is a functional dictatorship due to the Jagmeet Singh and the NDP’s unconditional support of the Justin Trudeau Liberal government, hope remains. Governments can be changed in Canada at the ballot box, and with new a new administration comes new policies, and an opportunity for real change.
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Many are not in favour of a unionized public sector, largely because they face no competition in their areas. There aren’t any comparable service providers that can provide similar services, giving government union organizations a monopoly. Which is never good, particularly when it comes to paying wages and benefits.
It is clear that the pendulum has swung too far when it comes to public sector unions getting more than what the market can bear. Public sector wages should be tied to those in similar positions in the private sector, which actually pays their wages. The Canadian tax load has become too onerous. Not only that, but these tax subsidized jobs become competitors for employers who pay their wages through taxes and fees. That’s not fair.
Municipalities are robbing homeowners of equity through ever escalating property taxes, and seem to view residences and commercial buildings as a cash cow that can’t escape by moving. With homeless people everywhere, those who own and live in their own homes look like the rich in comparison. There aren’t many tears being shed for families who can afford to buy a home, and thus “a little more” in taxes. Knowing that, and the fact there is virtually no opposition from any corner to government spending since the beginning of the pandemic, they march forward and pile on the tax hikes.
This is how it works now. Public sector unions are vocal and robust in those who support their causes at every level of government. See if you can find any civic government that doesn’t have the majority of its councilors supported by public sector union funds. Is it any coincidence that these same councils vote on wage increases for the members of the unions that helped them get into office? Not at all.
And where does that money come from at the civic level? Property taxes.
Nobody is denying that workers – union or non-union – should be paid fairly. But when the ability to pay exorbitant, non-competitive wages exceeds the ability of taxpayers to pay, that spells trouble. One gets the feeling that taxpayers are starting to think “that’s enough”.
Mark MacDonald is President of Communication Ink Media & Public Relations Ltd.: mark@communicationink.ca
