Canadian Taxpayers Podcast

News at the Top – Stadium Deals are Bad Deals The City of Calgary has decided to hit pause on a massive arena deal before sending the Calgary Flames another truckload of taxpayers’ cash. It needs to cancel it because stadium deals are bad deals for taxpayers. LINKS: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/flames-calgary-arena-pause-budget-1.5987561 https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-flames-arena-deal-on-thin-ice-after-team-asks-for-70m-more-from-city-sources-1.5387513 Deep Dive – Guaranteed Income Bill Liberal and NDP policy conventions endorsed the idea of a guaranteed annual income, but the politicians pushing the idea tend to forget about the bill for taxpayers. LINKS: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/everyone-talks-about-basic-income-heres-why-they-dont-implement-it/article27723204/ https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/how-much-could-a-guaranteed-annual-income-cost Waste Watch – CMHC Spent Over $900,000 on Name Change CMHC spent $924,614 on a purely cosmetic rebranding project, and didn’t tell MPs the full story about the project when first asked at committee. LINK: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/cmhc-spent-over-900,000-on-stalled-name-change SIGN the PETITION: https://www.taxpayer.com/petitions/no-home-equity-tax Like this show? Subscribe and give us 5-stars! This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canada’s premier grassroots advocacy group pushing for lower taxes, less waste and accountable governments. Sign-up as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation supporter at no-charge TODAY: https://www.taxpayer.com/join. ...

News at the Top – O’Toole Breaks Carbon Tax Promise Conservative Party of Canada Leader Erin O’Toole has announced his own federal carbon tax. This is the same Erin O’Toole that when running for leader of the CPC, signed the Canadian Taxpayers Federation pledge to scrap the Trudeau carbon tax and not impose a national carbon tax of his own. If he goes through with this carbon tax, he will be breaking a huge promise he made to millions of Canadians. LINKS: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/taxpayers-federation-slams-cpc-leader-erin-o%E2%80%99toole-for-announcing-his-own-carbon-tax https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-with-green-otoole-bucks-the-conservatives-have-embraced-taxes?fbclid=IwAR3HTcmbi1cpPSkAH7l11cYUFQprQoariBf2YkDuEAYNVh-ArZVJtvq3xf8 SIGN the PETITION: https://www.taxpayer.com/petitions/stop-trudeau-s-second-carbon-tax Deep Dive – Budget Spends Billions We knew there was going to be a huge deficit, we knew there was going to be a $1 trillion debt tab, but the budget was even worse than we thought, as the federal government plans to permanently increase spending for years to come. LINKS: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/federal-budget-spends-more-on-everything-with-no-plan-to-pay-for-it https://financialpost.com/opinion/opinion-federal-budget-spend-spend-more-then-spend-more-than that Waste Watch – Bills Pile Up After Cancelled Barbados Trip The federal government spent close to $140,000 for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to basically not go somewhere. LINK: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/federal-government-spent-close-to-140,000-on-prime-minister%E2%80%99s-cancelled-barbados-trip Like this show? Subscribe and give us 5-stars! This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canada’s premier grassroots advocacy group pushing for lower taxes, less waste and accountable governments. Sign-up as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation supporter at no-charge TODAY: https://www.taxpayer.com/join. ...

News at the Top – Canadians Dislike Carbon Tax We don’t like the carbon tax and as it turns out, a new survey found 52 per cent of Canadians agree with us. LINK: https://www.secondstreet.org/2021/03/29/new-poll-supreme-court-said-carbon-tax-legal-but-canadians-still-dont-want-it/ SIGN the PETITION: https://www.taxpayer.com/petitions/stop-trudeau-s-second-carbon-tax Deep Dive – Bracing for the Budget We talk about the upcoming federal budget that’s expected to have a deficit that’s more than $350 billion, with Canada’s national debt already passing the $1 trillion mark. Links: http://www.taxpayer.com/media/Road%20to%20recovery%20FINAL.pdf https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/heres-the-eyewatering-debt-canada-is-racking-up Waste Watch – Green Energy Boondoggles The federal government has admitted that most green energy projects don’t make much financial sense, and would wither on the vine without government subsidies.  Link: https://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-green-projects-make-no-sense-so-why-are-taxpayers-forced-to-subsidize-eco-fantasies Like this show? Subscribe and give us 5-stars! This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canada’s premier grassroots advocacy group pushing for lower taxes, less waste and accountable governments. Sign-up as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation supporter at no-charge TODAY: https://www.taxpayer.com/join. ...

News at the Top – Nova Scotia’s Balanced Budget Plan Nova Scotia taxpayers have something to celebrate: their government expects to actually get rid of its deficit within – get this – the next four years. Our Quebec Director Renaud Brossard breaks down the good news for Alberta Director Franco Terrazzano. LINKS: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/taxpayers-federation-praises-nova-scotia-for-plan-to-balance-budget,-no-tax-increases https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/nova-scotia-liberals-to-table-first-deficit-budget-in-six-years-because-of-covid-19-1.5361611 Deep Dive – April Tax Hikes April Fools' Day is often a fun day, but April 1 also tends to be a particularly bad news day for taxpayers. Our B.C. Director Kris Sims and our Federal Director Aaron Wudrick have a rundown of the tax hits coming in 2021. Links: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/the-joke-is-on-taxpayers-this-april-fools%E2%80%99-day Waste Watch – Health Canada Pays for Tweets Health Canada is using our hard-earned tax dollars to hire social media influencers, despite the fact that previous attempts to leverage social media influencers were total flops. Our Prairie Director Todd MacKay and Interim Ontario Director Jay Goldberg have the full story. Link: https://buyandsell.gc.ca/procurement-data/tender-notice/PW-CX-027-79877 https://tnc.news/2019/06/25/elections-canada-paid-biased-social-media-influencers-325k-before-scrapping-project/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/teddys-awards-yukon-government-1.5488880 Like this show? Subscribe and give us 5-stars! This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canada’s premier grassroots advocacy group pushing for lower taxes, less waste and accountable governments. Sign-up as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation supporter at no-charge TODAY: https://www.taxpayer.com/join. ...

We've got a new interview for you. Danielle Smith is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and served as leader of the Wildrose Party from 2009 to 2014, and the host of an Alberta-wide talk radio show on 770 CHQR Calgary. In January, she walked away from that radio show, and she has a message for the media about accountability. Since accountability is a huge part of what we do at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, our Prairie Director Todd MacKay called Smith for an interview. Like this show? Subscribe and give us 5-stars! This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canada’s premier grassroots advocacy group pushing for lower taxes, less waste and accountable governments. Sign-up as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation supporter at no-charge TODAY: https://www.taxpayer.com/join. ...

News at the Top – Huge Win for Alberta Taxpayers The Alberta government is introducing recall and citizens’ initiative, which has been a major goal of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and our supporters for years. Our Alberta Director Franco Terrazzano breaks it down for B.C. Director Kris Sims. LINKS: https://globalnews.ca/news/7698083/alberta-recall-legislation-bill-52/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/proposed-law-could-see-alberta-voters-petition-governments-for-changes-1.5952191 Deep Dive – Carbon Tax Fight Continues The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the federal government can impose a carbon tax across the country. But the CTF is definitely not giving up the fight. We’ve always said we’d use every tool at our disposal to fight the federal carbon tax and joining in constitutional challenges was just one tool. Links: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/estimated-impacts-of-a-170-carbon-tax-in-canada https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/taxpayers-federation-reacts-to-supreme-court-ruling-on-federal-carbon-tax Waste Watch – Home Equity Tax? In the summer, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said they were not funding a study of a home equity tax. We have exclusive documents that show they weren’t telling the whole story. Link: https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/cmhc-spent-250,000-on-home-tax-study,-despite-denials SIGN the PETITION to STOP A HOME EQUITY TAX: https://www.taxpayer.com/petitions/no-home-equity-tax Like this show? Subscribe and give us 5-stars! This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canada’s premier grassroots advocacy group pushing for lower taxes, less waste and accountable governments. Sign-up as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation supporter at no-charge TODAY: https://www.taxpayer.com/join. ...