Editor,
Recently, my news feed had an item about Canadian Tax controversy. I have managed to ignore PP’s (Pierre Poilievre) lying rants about the carbon tax but an item on the CBC News website about Capital Gains tax caught my attention.
Conservative Leader PP has released a 16-minute video on the topic that referenced Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. I normally won’t watch PP’s political ADS but this one hooked me due to the Hitler and Stalin Tags. That reference was just “click bait” by the CBC reporter. It turns out that PP thinks that Trudeau is like Hitler and Stalin who tried to alienate workers from Capitalism.
As I watched his attack AD I wondered… Is it a lie when you only tell part of the story that fits your beliefs? I concluded it was ½ truth ½ lies. As is typical of PP, he offered no solutions, just whining and complaining about Trudeau, cherry picking stats about capital flows and immigration. It uses Ross Perot’s insulting image of a huge sucking sound as it flows to the US. I chuckled that PP got it wrong, Perot was talking about US$ going to Canada.
I was not surprised with him glorifying Texas’s No tax status. He thinks he can attract capital investment here by changing our tax laws. He has no idea how to do this but he promised he’d get a commission together within months of becoming the PM to have them figure it out. Good luck with that. Political promises are worthless. They only have fleeting impact at the ballot box.
Canada has a complicated tax code. There are no easy ways to simplify or reduce taxes while at the same time maintaining our cultural identity and existing domestic and international commitments.
Our higher taxes compared to the US pays for:
a) single payer universal health care, b) universal K-12 education, c) reduced costs of medicine especially for seniors, d) beginnings of a universal dental care, e) paid maternity leave, f) child tax credits, g) guaranteed income supplements for retirees, h) provincial equalization payments and health transfers, i) the military, j) a broad spectrum of other commitments (energy, climate, disaster relief, science, space, research, NATO, etc). If Poilievre thinks he can reduce or eliminate any of these commitments and still get elected, he is sadly mistaken.
I used to think that our Conservative leader was a wanna-be Trump fan. No more. It’s become clear that PP wants to turn Canada down the path of Greg Abbott’s no tax Texas. He glorifies Texas as a model for capital investment. Texas is a tax haven for companies. Elon Musk moved Tesla there.
Do you want to live like Texans with their gun laws and gun violence, pandering to the evangelical religious right, erosion of women’s health rights, high health and medicine costs ?
With regard to immigration. PP cites a 2020 study about increased immigration from Canada to the US. He conveniently does not mention recent studies that show why immigration from the US to Canada is rising. Uncertainty surrounding U.S. immigration policy and political gridlock has convinced many foreign nationals working in the U.S. to choose pursuing permanent residence in Canada.
PP argues that higher taxes in Canada are influencing physicians to move to the US. But US physicians are attracted by a) our single-payer healthcare system with much less admin that ensures coverage for all patients, b) Canada’s reputation for being relatively more safe than the US with lower crime rates and a more peaceful life, c) Canada offers a high quality of life.
I am a tax paying dual citizen. After being transferred there by my company, I lived in the US for 12 years. I can and do happily vote against idiots in both countries. Those who choose to migrate to the US for tax reasons have not really thought through the issues very well. I chose to return to Ontario for several good reasons.
A) Gun Violence is scary
People in the US seem to accept daily mass shootings; they hardly make the news any more. Suicides and homicides are even worse. As of May 31, 2024, a total of 318 people have been killed and 836 people have been wounded in 225 mass shootings. That is 45 mass shootings/month.
B) Politics in the US is scary
Try these 2 internet searches: there are many links and opinions. all are scary.
1. “What is likely to happen if Trump wins“
– revenge chaos , massive increase in presidential powers at the expense of democracy and justice, exiting NATO, no support for Ukraine, USA isolation, trade agreements abrogated.
2. “What is likely to happen if Trump loses”
– he’s talking massive unrest and insurrection, blood bath.
C) Trump and his minions scare me. The rabid MAGA people especially in Texas and Florida scare me even more. The US divisiveness and gridlock is terrible.
Why would any Canadian want to be part of any of that. Why would we listen to any politician who wanted us to assimilate US no tax culture here.
Bottom Line.
Pierre Poilievre knows how to attack. He is good at divisiveness and scaring people with ½ truths. In my opinion he has no proven record of building consensus and making policy he can defend. I don’t think he knows how to defend anything or cooperate with anyone.
I wonder, does the no tax philosophy make one paranoid. The axiom “you get what you pay for” is often true.
PP does ok in his role in the “Loyal Opposition”. At election time let’s keep him in a job he knows well.
I support the Carbon Tax and the Capital Gains Tax.
David MacDougall, Meaford
