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…
What's next? A tax on fat people?
Our patience is running thin as we plod through yet another wave of COVID-19. We’re starting to get annoyed at political and medical leaders, who we loved and trusted at the beginning of the pandemic – and only because they haven’t got us through it yet. Deep down, we know that everyone is doing the…
It's more about a grab for power than about public health
“The unvaxxed, I really feel like pissing them off,” said French President Emanuel Macron a few days ago. “And so we’re going to keep on doing that, to the very end. That’s the strategy.” In an interview in September, an outraged Justin Trudeau accused unvaccinated Canadians of being “extremists” who are “often misogynistic and racist.”…
These three key accountability reforms a good place to start
With trust in government having declined significantly over the past two years, it’s well past time for politicians to try to regain the confidence of the people they’re supposed to represent. Three key accountability reforms would make major strides in that direction. It’s time to end taxpayer handouts for political parties, stop giving more generous…
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…
Forcing students to get a booster without evidence of its efficacy just adds insult to injury
The Canadian Academics for Covid Ethics (CA4CE) is a group of researchers and scholars from fields spanning the natural and social sciences and humanities. It is concerned with the mismanagement of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic response in Canada and around the world. The following commentary was written by Drs. Kevin Cheung, Claus Rinner, Laurent Leduc,…
Without that trust, public officials lose their social licence to govern
The heartbreaking death of Nathanael Spitzer, the cancer-stricken boy from Ponoka, exposed a most callous streak in Alberta’s medical bureaucracy. There’s no forgiving how Alberta Health Services appallingly used a child’s death to promote yet more COVID-19 fear. However, one should dismiss the promise from Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Deena Hinshaw, to process…
Using the pandemic as a weak excuse to justify raiding the treasury
If your wallet feels lighter, it’s not just because of the rising cost of living and inflation. Ontario’s political parties have teamed up to take $14 million out of taxpayers’ pockets this year, and they’re just getting started. Back in 2014, former premier Kathleen Wynne introduced the per-vote subsidy. Under Wynne’s plan, political parties would…
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…
Evidence that vaccinated people can and do contract and spread the virus undermines the rationale of vaccine passports
The creation of multiple COVID-19 vaccines in an astonishingly short period was a stunning achievement by the biotech industry. The vaccines were approved for “emergency use” in just a few months, rather than the eight to 10 years normally required of previous vaccines. Most Canadians were more than willing to accept that risk. According to…