5 Problems We Need To Wait For Stephen Harper’s Granddaughter To Solve

Published April 22, 2015

Carpe diem! We knew Bay Street types can only see one quarter at a time — but does Finance Minister Joe Oliver even care about the future? When asked by CBC’s Amanda Lang Tuesday night if his budget was saddling future governments without revenues to solve future problems by doubling the contribution limit of Tax-Free […]

VIDEO: Happy Earth Day! Watch Joe Oliver fib to Peter Mansbridge about greenhouse gas emissions!

Published April 22, 2015

Finance Minister Joe Oliver is the government’s numbers guy, but they don’t add up on climate change.   After tabling a 518-page budget on Tuesday that failed to mention “climate change” even once, CBC’s Peter Mansbridge asked Oliver about the omission. He dodged the question by citing the government’s new Public Transit Fund as a way of helping achieve “our reduction […]

7 Times Joe Oliver’s Budget Speech Departs from Reality

Published April 21, 2015

Hyperbole alert! Finance Minister Joe Oliver delivered his budget on Tuesday. Here’s seven problems with what Oliver had to say about the state of Canada’s fiscal affairs: 1. But is the world an ocean of chaos? And is Canada an island of stability? Joe Oliver says: “Around the world, many nations — including some of […]

Wealthy to get monopoly of tax cuts in Joe Oliver’s federal budget

Published April 20, 2015

Collect tax break as you pass go… as long as you’re wealthy? If Finance Minister Joe Oliver designed a Monopoly board, most Canadians wouldn’t be able to get ahead. (But there might be a select few looking to draw a Get Out of Jail Free card.) The Conservatives talk a good game about defending “working class […]

This might be the stupidest bill Conservatives will table this session

Published April 8, 2015

“Foolish.” “Thoroughly empty.” “Meaningless.” Those are just some of the adjectives used by experts to describe Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s new balanced budget legislation announced Wednesday at Toronto’s Economic Club. This is supposed to commit the federal government to balanced budgets except under “extraordinary circumstances” — like war or natural disaster. Except that it doesn’t. Even […]

How much does it cost to snub Parliament?

Published December 18, 2013

When Conservatives decided to forgo parliamentary tradition and release their fall economic and fiscal update last month in Edmonton in front of business executives instead of in Ottawa before MPs, the party of “fiscal responsibility” coughed up plenty of cash for the dog and pony show. The luncheon with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was “hosted […]