By Tom Parking, Toronto Sun, April 2, 2017
Just 10% of Canadians believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent budget will help the middle class, according to a recent poll by Forum Research.
Meanwhile 41% say it’ll hurt the middle class, 31% say its effects will be neutral, and 19% don’t know.
It’s a sign Canadians are coming to see what I’ve been warning of for months now – the mounting pile of evidence that Trudeau’s middle class rhetoric has been a cruel, cynical communications hoax.
From the start, there was a strong hint a hoax was afoot – Trudeau’s dishonestlynamed “middle class tax cut.”
Middle class people earning $45,000 get absolutely no benefit from this tax cut – nothing.
Affluent people earning between $90,000 and even up to $200,000 get the maximum benefit.
The hoax was in full display in Trudeau’s most recent budget.
The budget speech said the Liberals would close tax credits and loopholes “that disproportionately benefit the wealthy.”
In fact the budget eliminated only one tax credit – for transit passes used by working people.
It kept the stock option tax loophole – which Trudeau had promised to end – which is disproportionately used by the wealthy.
And now it looks like Trudeau’s infrastructure plan is an enormous corporate welfare scheme at the expense of the middle class.
Last election, Trudeau baited Canadians with a big infrastructure plan to be financed with historically low interest rates.
Now he’s switching to a higher-cost private equity Infrastructure Bank.
The Infrastructure Bank will take private investments – from pension, equity and sovereign wealth funds – and spend it on infrastructure.
But not at the promised low rates.
Last March, Michael Sabia, CEO of a $270 billion investment fund, told a Toronto business audience he expects “stable, predictable returns in the seven to nine per cent rate” from infrastructure investments.
And last week, the Quebec provincial budget revealed a plan to pay private investors 8% on $2.7 billion in financing for a Montreal light rail project.
But it makes no financial sense to pay 8% to private investors when government bonds could finance the same amount at just 2%. It’s just corporate welfare.
That six-point spread translates into big, big money.
The Liberals believe the Infrastructure Bank will hold about $150 billion within 10 years.
Financed through 2% bonds, the annual interest cost on $150 billion is $3 billion. But at 8%, the cost is $12 billion.
A difference of $9 billion in corporate welfare will be paid by your taxes, road tolls, service fees and bus fares.
It extracts money from the middle class and pipelines it to the affluent.
At $9 billion, Trudeau would be wasting more on a single corporate welfare program in one year than he plans to invest in child care or housing over a decade – programs that would actually help middle class Canadians.
And here’s the kicker – it seems Trudeau wants to launch the Infrastructure Bank with a $20 billion deposit of public money, possibly raised by privatizing airports and sea ports.
The big business lobby group, C.D. Howe Institute, is pushing airport privatization, arguing the Infrastructure Bank won’t attract investors without that $20 billion sweetener.
But airport privatization might be the weak link.
Another recent Forum poll showed only 13% of Canadians support airport privatization.
If Canadians rebel and Trudeau gets cold feet, let’s hope this entire corporate welfare scheme will come crashing down before it gets started.
Our Comment
“Freedom is participation in power.” – Cicero
Just how free are we?!
No wonder Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reneged on his campaign promise to support electoral reform!
We need a system that – for one thing – will enable us to unseat politicians who say one thing prior to election, then do another once in place!
We certainly need a system that will fairly represent the electorate – providing something better to choose from than simply different strings of the same corporate team!
What is treason anymore? And it won’t end there! Funny how the “trickle-down” keeps gushing up! If this isn’t enough to generate a mass movement for real change, then we deserve all we’ll get!
Élan
