The Deep Green Delusion: Vitalism and Communal Autarky.

Dr. Christine Anne James

www.doctorchrisjames@gmail.com

Copyright © Dr Christine Anne James 2013

https://www.academia.edu/36891699/THE_DEEP_GREEN_DELUSION_Vitalism_and_Communal_Autarky?auto=download&email_work_card=download-paper

Acknowledgements.

A work such as this does not happen in isolation and I wish to thank everyone who contributed with their ideas and inspiration. In particular I would like to thank Judd Zekas for building the website used for the original research. I would like to thank those I have worked with in the social movements and those who participated in focus groups. I would also like to thank my daughter Cassie-Rose James whose photography has been used on the front cover. This work is the end result of a four year study of which only a small portion is reprinted here. Articles and seminars from the study have been used by Deakin University, Melbourne. Arena Magazine, Melbourne and the CounterCurrents.Org I thank them for their support. The title was borrowed from Richard Dawkins book The God Delusion and a work by Bob Ellis called The Capitalism Delusion.

Contents:

1.

THE EMERGENCE OF DEPOLITICIZED GROUPS.

2.

POST-MATERIAL ACTIVISM.

3.

E.F.SCHUMACHER AND ENVIRONMENTCAPITALISM.

4.

THE IMAGINED TRANSITION.

5.

LIVING BY DEFAULT.

6.

RETREAT FROM PROTEST.

7.

THE APOCALYPTIC DISCOURSE.

8.

THE ANTHROPOSOPHY OF RUDOLF STEINER.

9.

COROLLARY. BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX.

The Deep Green Delusion: Vitalism and Communal Autarky.

Since we can’t stop poor people from breeding, let’s build fences to keep themout. And let’s ask the world’s biggest polluters to pay for the fences

 [DavidAttenborough]

Introduction.

I have been in the social movements since the 1960s. I was still in school when I attended my first mass rally in London. I have been an environmental activist since the 1970s, but after so many years I have had to rethink my commitment, not because I have ceased caring for nature, but because I believe nature has become a euphemism for the re-enchantment of the world as myth and mystery, a tendency that has its roots in anti-Enlightenment Romanticism and the minority traditions.

I contend therefore that the deep green ecology that has risen as a solution to fast capitalism, over-consumption and climate change, is a delusion. I argue that mainstream environmentalism has failed so it has been usurped by a more radical and discursive deep ecology movement; currently the fastest growing green movement across the western world. However, I contend that deep ecology is much more than a niche environmental formula; it is asecular theology with connections to mysticism and the pessimistic philosophies, biological determinism and anti-humanism. I argue that the world needs growth and it needs environmental protections, it does not need cults and superstitions. There is nothing to be gained by a return to the wilderness except misery and an intense struggle for survival. Further, I argue that primitive  localization coupled with pessimism and social biology would reduce the world’s food supply which could cost the lives of millions of people, especially in the underdeveloped world. Indeed, deep ecology combined with archaic mysticism running alongside the authoritarian state has a dark history; there are always problems in creating states with states

1  UK Guardian [2012] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/18/david-attenborough-big-business. Retrieved 22nd January 2012.

 

 

The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States puts vulnerable refugees at risk. 

Amnesty International, along with eight refugee claimants, the Canadian Council for Refugees and the Canadian Council of Churches are currently challenging the Safe Third Country Agreement before the Supreme Court of Canada, on the basis that it violates refugee’s rights to equality, and life, liberty and security of the person under the Charter. 

Despite the constitutionality of the STCA being in question, reports suggest that the government is attempting to expand this agreement, which would put refugees at greater risk. 

That is why we need your help.

Please join us in calling on the Canadian government to respect refugee rights by rescinding the Safe Third Country Agreement.

Under the STCA, refugees who arrive at official ports of entry to seek protection in Canada are sent back to the US, where they face detention and rights violations. This encourages refugee claimants to cross the border into Canada between ports of entry, sometimes in perilous conditions.

Thank you for using your voice to call on Canada to rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement. 

Sincerely, 
 

Julia Sande
Human Rights Law and Policy Campaigner
Amnesty International Canada

 

Peru deploys army on highways as blockades continue




(Reuters) - Peru's government on Thursday ordered its armed forces to supervise the country's highways for the next month, amid crippling protests nationwide over rising food and fuel prices.

The country has been beset by road blockades for over a week as anger has flared over rising costs, which have spiked since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Peru is facing its highest inflation rate in a quarter century.


© Reuters/ALESSANDRO CINQUEDemonstrators block the Pan-American highway during protests sparked by rising fuel and fertilizer costs, in Villacuri

President Pedro Castillo has scrambled to come with meaningful solutions. This week he declared a curfew in Lima to try to stifle dissent which thousands defied, taking to the streets in protests that turned violent.


© Reuters/ALESSANDRO CINQUEDemonstrators block the Pan-American highway during protests sparked by rising fuel and fertilizer costs, in Villacuri


The government has cut taxes on fuel and raised the minimum wage and also proposed exempting essential food items from sales tax.

Castillo, who was a peasant farmer and teacher before taking office, is also in a precarious political situation.

His approval ratings have dipped to 19%, a record low according a Datum poll published on Thursday. He recently survived a second impeachment in less than a year in office.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; editing by John Stonestreet)

5 Anishinabek First Nations in Ontario sign agreement with Ottawa that would allow them to self-govern

Five communities within the Anishinabek Nation in Ontario have signed an agreement with the federal government that would see them move away from the Indian Act and into self-governance.


© Anishinabeknews.caReg Niganobe, Grand Council chief of the Anishinabek Nation, says while five member communities have signed onto the agreement with the federal government that's a big step toward self-governance, any of its 34 other First Nations could sign on in the future.


CBC/Radio-Canada - 

Moose Deer Point, Wahnapitae, Nipissing, Magnetawan and Zhiibaahaasing First Nations signed the historic agreement this week with the federal government.

"The Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement is the first self-government agreement of its kind in Ontario and marks an important step away from the Indian Act for the signatory Anishinabek First Nations," a federal news release Wednesday says.

The agreement, if passed, would give the First Nations the power to make their own decisions about how to hold elections, who their citizens are and how their governments will operate. They would also have authority over how best to protect and promote their language and culture.

Federal legislation must now be passed to bring the agreement into effect, meaning the parts of the Indian Act that deal with governance would no longer apply to First Nations who sign on to it.

Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe said while five member communities have signed onto the agreement now, any of the political organization's 34 other First Nations could decide to sign on in the future.

Niganobe said the five First Nations have taken a "giant step."

"It's a lengthy and daunting act, especially moving away from the Indian Act and the comfort zone that's been created there," said Niganobe. "We know that the Indian Act isn't the most friendly legislation towards Indigenous nations, but it's what we've been known to operate under for such a long time now."

 
2 decades of negotiations

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said in a news release the agreement will renew a "nation-to-nation relationship with the signatory Anishinabek First Nations."

"We look forward to continuing to work together with Anishinabek partners on all our shared priorities, to implement their inherent right to self-determination and support their inspiring visions of a better future for their citizens."

It took two decades of negotiations to reach the agreement, which was approved by each signatory First Nation through community votes.

CORPORATE WELFARE BUM

RBC CEO defends pipeline funding, calls for net-zero incentives


By Nichola Saminather

(Reuters) -Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) chief executive on Thursday defended the bank's funding of the Coastal GasLink pipeline and called for incentives to help the shift to a net-zero economy, as investors and indigenous groups denounced its support of fossil fuels.

Chief Executive Dave McKay was speaking at the bank's annual shareholder meeting, which had been changed to a virtual-only format late on Wednesday after confirmation of a positive case of COVID-19 among its staff.

Chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en indigenous people had traveled from British Columbia to Toronto to express their opposition in person to RBC's financing of the pipeline's construction on traditional indigenous land. The pipeline is 65% owned by private equity firm KKR & Co Inc and the Alberta Investment Management Corp.


The Royal Bank of Canada logo is seen outside of a branch in Ottawa

Calling into the meeting, they accused the bank of funding a project that they said has damaged rivers and wetland forests and limited their ability to hunt wild life.

McKay said the project has been extensively reviewed and approved by regulators and has the support of all 20 nations along the route, including some Wet'suwet'en elected leaders. He added that 16 of them have taken the option to have an economic interest in it.

RBC shares fell 1.2% to C$135.48 at midday on Thursday, compared with the Toronto stock benchmark's 0.7% decline.

Canada's major banks including RBC, the biggest, have released plans to lower their financed emissions, but continued funding of fossil fuel companies and pipelines has riled some investors and communities.

Last week, Canada released a C$9.1 billion ($7.24 billion) plan to meet its 2030 emissions-reduction targets.

Spending on green technologies is set to be a focal point of the 2020 budget, to be released later on Thursday.

The Canadian government's plan to reduce carbon emissions will lead to "a massive shift in this decade," which will require "public and private capital to support both growth and the green transition," McKay said.

"That's why investment and tax policies, as well as incentives must be considered."

McKay also reiterated his concern about a proposed tax on banks' profits.

Two shareholder proposals urging RBC to exclude fossil fuel activity and projects opposed by indigenous groups from eligibility for sustainable financing, and refrain from funding and advising on the privatization of pollution-intensive assets were defeated, in line with the board's recommendation.

(Reporting by Nichola Saminather in Toronto; Additional reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Barbara Lewis)

RBC CEO says 'orderly transition' to net-zero crucial amid criticism of climate plan

Yesterday    

 The Canadian Press


TORONTO — Royal Bank of Canada's chief executive officer said Thursday that an "orderly transition" to a net-zero economy is crucial, as he faced questions about the bank's climate strategy and ongoing financing of fossil fuels during its annual shareholder meeting.

"We can't be unsuccessful in this journey," CEO Dave McKay said.

The bank, which is the largest lender to fossil fuels in Canada, was criticized for not moving fast enough on its net-zero activities.

McKay was also pressed on issues like the effects of oilsands extraction and the Coastal GasLink pipeline project.

RBC acts as a financial adviser to the pipeline project and also provides working capital. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who don't support the pipeline, made their way to Toronto to ask questions about the bank's funding of it, but left unsatisfied.

Despite the pushback, McKay said the majority of Indigenous communities do support the pipeline. There are 20 Indigenous groups along the route that approve of the pipeline.

RBC: There's been quite a dispersion across the energy sector and stocks in terms of positive and negative impacts

"(The pipeline) presents very significant growth and economic opportunity for the communities that (it) passes through," he said.

Meanwhile, in his prepared remarks, McKay emphasized RBC's commitment to reducing global emissions in its operations by 70 per cent by 2025.

McKay said the bank is working closely with its clients on their net-zero strategies and intends on publishing emission reduction goals for its oil and gas, utilities and automotive portfolios this fall.

He added that a better approach to public-private collaboration is needed to address the transition to a net-zero economy.

Climate protests took place outside the meeting, which was changed to a virtual-only event late Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RY)

Adena Ali, The Canadian Press

CANADA IS A SOCIAL DEMOCRACY

UPDATED

$15B: The cost of the Liberal-NDP pact in the federal budget 2022

TO RULE JOINTLY TILL 2025

© Provided by National Post

The Liberal-NDP pact adds costly elements such as a national dental care plan, to the Federal budget 2022.

Anja Karadeglija - Yesterday
National Post

The Liberal government’s 2022 budget includes about $15 billion in spending on major initiatives related to its supply and confidence deal with the NDP – enough to satisfy NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.

Singh said the NDP would support the budget, telling reporters though his party disagrees with some of the budget’s measures, it’s “an example of good faith shown.”

A number of the budget measures related to housing and health initiatives, including a dental care program, were included in the Liberal-NDP deal announced last month. The budget expects to bring in roughly $6.1 billion over five years from new taxes on banks and financial institutions, another NDP ask.

Some of the spending measures, like $4 billion for a new Housing Accelerator Fund, were also in the Liberals’ election platform prior to being listed as priorities in the NDP-Liberal agreement. Others, particularly dental care, came from the NDP.

The budget allocates $5.3 billion over five years and then $1.7 billion on an ongoing basis for the dental care program. Children under 12 will be covered this year, with the program than expanding to those who are under 18, seniors and people with a disability the following year. The program, which will be available to families with an annual income of less than $90,000, will be fully implemented by 2025.

Pharmacare was another high-profile NDP priority, with the two parties agreeing to continue making progress on a universal national pharmacare plan. The budget doesn’t allocate any funding towards pharmacare, but says the government will table a Canada Pharmacare bill and work to have it passed by the end of 2023, and task the “Canadian Drug Agency to develop a national formulary of essential medicines and bulk purchasing plan.”

Singh said Wednesday that the NDP-Liberal agreement specifies a bill in 2023, meaning that work was “still on track.” He said “it wasn’t something we envisioned for this year.”

Carson Jerema: Buckle up for the Jagmeet Singh budget
John Ivison: What's the difference between a Liberal and a New Democrat these days? Accountability

The budget also outlines about $6 billion on various housing initiatives that were referenced in the agreement between the two parties.

The biggest of those is $4 billion over five years for the Housing Accelerator Fund, which is focused on increasing supply of housing – a total of 100,000 net new housing units in the next five years. “To make housing more affordable, more housing needs to be built,” the budget said. The goal is to “incentivize the cities and towns that are stepping up to get more housing built, while also ensuring that municipalities are able to get the support they need to modernize and build new homes.”

While those $4 billion were promised by the Liberals in the last election, two additional housing-related measures were not. The budget allocates $1.5 billion over two years to extend the Rapid Housing Initiative, which the government expects to create “at least 6,000 new affordable housing units.” A further $475 million will go to the Canada Housing Benefit to provide a “one-time $500 payment to those facing housing affordability challenges.”

Singh said there are changes to the definition of affordability and $4 billion for Indigenous housing that wouldn’t have happened without his party.

NDP-Liberal agreement called for the government to make a “significant additional investment” for Indigenous housing, and the budget includes $4 billion over seven years in new money that will go to Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada “to accelerate work in closing Indigenous housing gaps” on reserves and in Indigenous communities.

Singh said there is a “significant increase in housing for Indigenous communities that would not have been there but for the fact that we fought for it. We fought for an additional $4 billion…in addition to what the government was going to do.”

The budget also promises to reform the Rental Construction Financing Initiative to include an increased focus on affordability. Singh said that changes to the definition of affordability his party pushed – from 80 per cent of median income to 80 per cent of market rent rate – will make a big difference.

“All the investments that this government’s going to make in affordable housing would have resulted in not affordable housing. That definition alone significantly changed the entire outlook on the affordability of homes that are going to be built,” Singh said.

Also not costed but included in the budget, and also previously promised in the Liberal platform, is a promise to move ahead with a Home Buyers Bill of Rights, which could include measures such as ensuring homebuyers have a legal right to a home inspection.

The budget also provides unspecified amount of a total $209.8 million pot “to increase the support provided to communities to document, locate, and memorialize burial sites at former residential schools,” another priority included in the agreement.

One measure that was also included in the Liberal-NDP deal is expected to bring in revenue to the government. Banks and life insurance groups will “pay a one-time 15 per cent tax on taxable income above $1 billion for the 2021 tax year,” the budget said. It’s expected to bring in $4 billion in the next five years. The government is also permanently raising tax rates for some bank and life insurance groups, which will bring in an additional $2 billion.

“While many sectors continue to recover, Canada’s major financial institutions made significant profits during the pandemic and have recovered faster than other parts of our economy—in part due to the federal pandemic supports for people and businesses that helped de-risk the balance sheets of some of Canada’s largest financial institutions,” the budget said. “The federal government is accordingly proposing two measures to ensure those large financial institutions help support Canada’s broader recovery.”

Though not costed and not included in the NDP-Liberal agreement, the budget also includes a reference to increased taxes for Canada’s wealthiest – something the NDP has been campaigning on for years.

The budget said 28 per cent of tax payers with gross income above $400,000 pay a federal rate of 15 per cent or less, by making “significant use of deductions and tax credits.” It noted that’s “less than some middle class Canadians pay.” The Liberals also promised such a tax in their election platform.

The budget promised to examine a new minimum tax regime, which it said would “go further towards ensuring that all wealthy Canadians pay their fair share of tax.” It said it would provide additional details on that measure in its fiscal update later this fall.

Factbox: 

Housing, green tech in focus in Canada budget

(Reuters) - The Canadian government unveiled a budget focused on boosting housing affordability on Thursday, in addition to funds to reach climate goals and modestly higher taxes on banks.

Here are the key measures:

* A ban on foreign investment in Canadian housing for two years.

* To introduce new rules to tax profits of property speculators.

* To raise corporate tax rate for banks and life insurers to 16.5% from 15% for all taxable income above C$100 million.

* To boost military spending by C$8 billion over five years, review defense goals

* Proposes 60% refundable tax credit for investment in equipment to capture carbon in direct air capture projects; 50% for investment in equipment to capture carbon in all other carbon capture, utilization, and storage projects, starting in 2022.

* To invest up to C$3.8 billion ($3 billion) over eight years to accelerate critical mineral exploration, extraction and processing.

* To establish the Canada Growth Fund to attract private sector investment in climate change, supply chain; fund will initially be capitalized at C$15 billion over the next five years.

* To double the first home buyers' tax credit to C$10,000

* To introduce tax-free first home savings account to save up to C$40,000.

* To provide C$4 billion over five years, starting in

2022-23, to launch a new Housing Accelerator Fund to build 100,000 net new units over the next five years.

(Compiled by Denny Thomas)

Budget 2022: A look at some of the promises you might have missed

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2022 federal budget on Thursday. Here are some of the smaller promises that you might have missed:

— $1.9 billion over 24 years to build and operate the new Canadarm3 for the next generation NASA Lunar Gateway project.

— $1.3 billion over the next five years and $331.2 million on going to support the long-term stability of Canada’s asylum system to better help people seeking refuge from violence and persecution.

— $159 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to protect Canadian post-secondary and research institutions from foreign intelligence agencies.

— $593.3 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to help provinces and territories support projects to prevent gender-based violence and help survivors.

— $20 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to better understand the long-term impacts of COVID-19.

— $16 million over two years to help detect and protect Prince Edward Island from potato wart, which has disrupted sales of the province’s potatoes to the United States.

— $40.9 million over five years and $9.7 million ongoing to federal granting councils to support scholarships for promising Black student researchers.

— $183.1 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to reduce plastic waste, building on a 2018 G7 commitment.

— $55.1 million over three years, starting in 2022-23, to protect British Columbia’s old growth forests.

— $329.4 million over six years, starting in 2022-23, to triple the size of the Agricultural Clean Technology Program

— $469.5 million over six years, starting in 2022-23, to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to expand the Agricultural Climate Solutions program’s On-Farm Climate Action Fund.

— $100 million over three years, starting in 2022-23, to help Health Canada deal with the opioid addiction crisis.

— $25 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to start a pilot project to make menstrual products more widely available to those facing barriers to them.

— $100 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to create a forthcoming federal action plan to support LGTBQ2 rights.

— $89.9 million over five years and $8.8 million ongoing to help the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

— $4 million in 2022-23 to help Canadian Heritage support the Muslims in Canada Archive to acquire, preserve and make accessible records of the Muslim people in Canada.

— $15 million to media initiatives to support local journalism and stories about diversity.

— $20 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to expand the New Horizons for Seniors Program to raise the quality of community participation for seniors.

— $20 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, for research to better understand dementia and support brain health research.

— Eliminating the excise duty on low-alcohol beer, with no more than 0.5 per cent alcohol, on Canada Day 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Canada targets housing, banks in modest-spending budget

By Julie Gordon and Steve Scherer - Yesterday 

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Liberals put red-hot real estate markets squarely in their sights on Thursday, laying out a budget geared at boosting housing affordability amid soaring inflation, while promising modest new spending to encourage medium-term growth.


 Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland buys a pair of shoes purchased a day ahead of her delivering the 2022 Budget

The 2022 budget set out C$9.5 billion ($7.5 billion) over five years in net new spending on housing initiatives and promised to legally ban foreign investors from buying Canadian homes for two years, though it gave no timeline for that legislation.


Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivers the 2022-23 budget, in Ottawa

It also pledged to target domestic housing speculators with new taxes, double new-home construction over the next decade and boost tax credits for first-time buyers. Most measures were outlined in the Liberal's re-election campaign last year.

"Our economy is built by people, and people need homes in which to live," Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said as she presented the budget to lawmakers.

"We will prevent foreign investors from parking their money in Canada by buying up homes," she continued.

But Freeland later added there was no single "silver bullet" to solve Canada's housing crisis. 

Graphic: Canada fiscal projections in Budget 2022 - https://graphics.reuters.com/CANADA-BUDGET/PROJECTIONS/mopanbzggva/chart.png

The budget also hiked corporate taxes for the country's most profitable banks and insurers to 16.5% from 15% on all taxable income over C$100 million, less than the 3% rise pledged in last year's election campaign. That, along with a one-time recovery dividend, will boost revenues by C$6.1 billion over the five-year budget time frame.

All told, the budget included a net C$29 billion in new spending over five years, as the waning COVID-19 pandemic allowed the government to ease off on emergency stimulus.

While that was less spending than some feared, economists said it would not help ease inflationary pressures.

"At the end of the day, we still are adding stimulus to the economy at a time when the Bank of Canada is actively trying to cool down inflation," said Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Economics.

"I think it just reinforces what we're already expecting, which is pretty aggressive near-term tightening from the Bank of Canada," he added.

Inflation hit 5.7% in February and is expected to go higher before easing off later this year as supply chain bottlenecks unwind and the central bank increases interest rates.

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to make a rare 50-basis-point interest rate hike next week after raising its policy rate to 0.5% in March.

"This budget had one job - reverse the taxes and deficits that have ballooned inflation to a 30-year high," said Pierre Poilievre, a frontrunner to lead the opposition Conservatives. "When your house is on fire, you don't douse it in gasoline."

The budget bill should pass in parliament after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month struck a support deal with the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) to keep his minority government in power until 2025.

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Fast rising home prices - up 50.6% in two years - have become a political liability for politicians, as Canadians of all stripes struggle to find an affordable place to live.

While foreigners represent a small overall segment of home buyers in Canada, they can have an outsized impact on price escalation and are an easy target for politicians, experts say.

Experts also questioned plans to double the pace of homebuilding over the next decade, noting that most supply measures would depend on other levels of government playing ball.

"I'm not sure the federal government has any real levers here to influence supply," said Robert Asselin, senior vice-president for policy at the Business Council of Canada, adding the whole housing strategy was "a bit gimmicky."

The budget offered a substantial incentive to companies investing in carbon-capture technologies and set aside as much as C$3.8 billion over eight years to accelerate critical mineral exploration.

Military spending will see a C$8 billion boost over five years.

The budget also outlined C$5.3 billion over five years on a national dental care program for lower-income families, a key NDP demand for propping up the Trudeau government.

The budget deficit for the current fiscal year is nearly 10% lower than forecast in a December fiscal update, mostly due to higher revenues. The debt-to-GDP ratio is forecast to be 45.1% this fiscal year and to decline over the budget's timeframe.

($1 = 1.2600 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Julie Gordon and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Denny Thomas and Aurora Ellis)

 

Budget 2022: A checklist of promises that were in the Liberal-NDP confidence deal



The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Liberals and New Democrats published a confidence and supply agreement last month in an effort to keep the minority Parliament working until the next fixed election in 2025.

The deal would have the NDP vote with the Liberals on key parliamentary votes — such as those pertaining to the federal budget — in exchange for the federal government investing in and moving on some NDP priorities.

Thursday's 2022 budget is the first test of that pact.

Here is a look at what the spending plan does to reflect its promises.

Dental care

The budget promises $5.3 billion over the next five years, and $1.7 billion annually after that, to help pay for dental care for Canadians with household incomes under $90,000.

The program will start with kids under 12 this year, expand to teenagers and people with disabilities in 2023, and be fully implemented by 2025.

Pharmacare

The budget promises to table and pass a pharmacare bill by the end of 2023 and ask the Canadian Drug Agency to develop a list of essential medicines and make a bulk-purchasing plan. This is almost word-for-word what was in the confidence and supply agreement. There is no funding for the effort in this budget. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that will come in future years.

Housing

The budget includes several items on the NDP’s housing wish list, including a $1.5-billion, two-year expansion to the Rapid Housing Initiative. It also works to redefine what affordable housing means in the Rental Construction Financing Initiative, provides $4 billion over five years to help municipalities build new housing units, introduce a Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights, and $475 million to provide a one-time $500 payment to Canadians struggling to afford housing.

A Clean Jobs Training Centre

This is mentioned in one line in the budget, but with no detail.

End federal fossil-fuel subsidies

The Liberals have promised to get rid of “inefficient” fossil-fuel subsidies by the end of 2023. The budget plans to eliminate a flow-through share regime, no longer allowing investments in oil, gas or goal to be renounced to flow-through share investors.

Ten days of paid sick leave

The budget promises to amend Bill C-3 to include 10 days of paid medical leave for workers in the federally regulated private sector

Significant investments in Indigenous housing in 2022

There is $4.3 billion for Indigenous housing over seven years, including in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

Addressing the harmful legacy of residential schools

The agreement called for support to help First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities with burial searches at the former sites of residential schools. The budget includes $209.8 million over five years to help document, locate and memorialize burial sites, support the new building for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and ensure the disclosure of federal documents related to residential schools.

Taxing excess bank profits

The budget introduces the temporary Canada Recovery Dividend, a one-time 15 per cent tax for financial institutions on income above $1 billion for the 2021 tax year.

The federal government also plans to permanently increase the corporate income tax rate for banking and life insurance groups by 1.5 percentage points for taxable income above $100 million.

Publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry

Such a registry would require the disclosure of the real names of people who own or control companies. The budget promises to work with provinces to establish a Canadian version based on those in other countries, including the United Kingdom.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Canada pledges $2 billion to fix and maintain immigration system

Canada is pledging to spend over two billion dollars over the next five years to fix and maintain its immigration system, which is currently jammed with a backlog of close to two million applications.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, in unveiling the 2022 Budget today, said the fiscal package is aimed at countering global uncertainties caused by the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has triggered a mass exodus of four million refugees.

Overall, Freeland’s second pandemic budget includes more than $31 billion in new spending over the next five years and forecasts a 3.9 per cent economic growth this year.

“At a time when the world is starved for workers and talent, our country’s unique enthusiasm for welcoming new Canadians is a powerful—and particularly Canadian—driver of economic prosperity.

“This Budget will make it easier for the skilled immigrants that our economy needs to make Canada their home, and to do the jobs they are trained for,” said Freeland.

Prior to the budget, Canada announced that it aims to continue welcoming immigrants at a rate of about one per cent of the nation’s population. This includes 431,645 permanent residents in 2022 (an increase of about 21,000 people from its original plan), 447,055 in 2023, and 451,000 in 2024.

Immigration and refugee related spending in Budget 2022, includes:

The Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA) said it is encouraged by the Government’s commitments in Budget 2022 to investing in improvement to service delivery.

“We are pleased to see these commitments, including the dedication of funding to improve service standards to process temporary foreign worker applications,” said CILA spokesperson Betsy Kane.

“These commitments will help alleviate labour shortages across all sectors of the economy and improve the client experience,” she told NCM.

The Ottawa-based lawyer said the plan to fine tune the selection criteria for economic immigrants will allow the government to meet its ambitious immigration targets and fill labour shortages across a range of skills, including in those occupations essential to sustaining our economy and well-being.

“The introduction of an electronic application system to file asylum claims will allow refugee lawyers to focus on the helping clients prepare for hearing.

“CILA also looks forward to learning more about our government’s commitment to opening new pathways for permanent residence status for Ukrainian citizens seeking a haven in Canada,” said Kane.

Lisa Lalande, CEO of Century Initiative, which advocates for policies to increase Canada’s population to 100 million by 2100 said today’s budget acknowledges the need to continue taking steps to attract, process, settle and integrate immigrants into Canada.

“Canada’s birth rate is at its lowest in more than a century, making immigration all the more important to the country’s long-term prosperity,” she said in an emailed statement to NCM.

“While there is much work to be done to achieve the goal of a bigger, bolder Canada, Budget 2022 signals a strong commitment from our government, and we look forward to working with them.”

Fabian Dawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media

Budget 2022: From student debt relief to housing help, here’s what young Canadians are hoping to see

Yesterday .

Young people are a large and motivated bloc with general and specific concerns getting some redress in federal politics, one advocate group says, while another calls for an end to interest on student loans as rising costs hit some harder.

The 2022 federal budget comes out later today, and young people will be looking for much of the same sort of relief as everyone else — on the rising cost of living and the ever-unaffordable price of housing, if they are watching at all.

“I suspect some of them have become somewhat disillusioned with all the issues that are important to them not having clear solutions,” said David Colello, the CEO of research company Abacus Data, citing housing as a particular challenge for renters and first-time buyers.

“Younger Canadians right now are feeling the same pressures as Canadians generally around inflation and the cost of living, but those are more intense” for young people since they were hit harder by job loss and more likely to have lost out economically in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, he said.

Student union organizers want interest on student debt that Ottawa collects permanently eliminated with a $551 million a year allocation, also noting that younger people have dealt with sharper financial and economic hardship since the pandemic started than others.

“It is essential for the federal government to provide long-term recovery support to students and young people,” said Saad Shoaib, the vice-chair of UCRU (Undergraduates of Canadian Research-Intensive Universities), a student union coalition.

The measure was a commitment the federal Liberals made during last year’s snap election and was included in the workforce development minister’s mandate letter, Shoaib said, and “students are eagerly waiting to see them follow through on this commitment.”

“For decades, students have been fighting for better financial aid, particularly as we are essential contributors to Canada’s future economic growth,” he said, noting it would help reduce large debt loads students regularly incur and provide recent graduates with an opportunity to get on their feet.

More than two-thirds of students told Statistics Canada they used their savings to deal with the pandemic, which could mean delaying home or car purchases.

The folks at Future Majority, meanwhile, say the recent federal Liberal-NDP deal and the release of a 2030 emissions plan showed concerns the youth civic engagement group had heard raised by peers about affordability and climate change were being addressed.

While keeping an eye on a $4-billion federal commitment to build 100,000 new homes, Meshall Awan said more than that they “want to see our federal government working alongside provincial and municipal governments in order to find solutions to affordable housing issues in the country.”

The non-partisan group would not be drawn on the merits of Bay du Nord, an offshore drilling project the federal Liberals were just hours from formally approving on Wednesday, over the howls of protest from everyone from high school climate strikers and the secretary-general of the United Nations.

Morgan Sharp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Trudeau Taxes Speculators to Cool World’s Hottest Housing Market

Ari Altstedter, Bloomberg News

\

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is attempting to rein in one of the world’s most expensive housing markets.

In its budget on Thursday, his government unveiled a raft of policies designed to make housing more affordable. They include moves to curb demand through taxes on speculators, a freeze on home purchases by foreigners and a ban on blind bidding wars. But Trudeau’s also pursuing an ambitious plan to double the pace of new home construction over the next decade. 

“We will do everything we can to make the market fairer for Canadians,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the prepared text of her speech to parliament. “This budget represents perhaps the most ambitious plan that Canada has ever had to solve that fundamental problem.”

The new measures come after a 50% rise in home prices over the last two years that has made housing affordability a top political issue in Canada. First time buyers are increasingly priced out of the market and the cost of rent is climbing. 

While the record low mortgage rates and demand for larger living spaces brought by the pandemic have caused house prices to skyrocket around the world, in Canada a preexisting shortage of homes has made the situation even more dire. Since the start of the pandemic, Canada has posted the steepest run-up in home prices among 25 nations tracked in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s international database.

But Trudeau’s efforts also come at a time when Canada’s housing market is looking more vulnerable than it has in years. With inflation at a 30-year high, the central bank is expected to embark on one of the most aggressive efforts to raise borrowing costs in the institution’s history, putting even more pressure on the market just as Trudeau’s plan will start to bite. 

The policies that may be implemented fastest are those targeting foreign buyers and speculators. 

Trudeau plans to crack down on house flippers with new rules going into effect Jan. 1 that would tax profits from properties sold within 12 months of a purchase as business income, a potentially steeper tax rate. And because the trading of contracts for pre-construction housing units was identified as another avenue for speculation, the budget says those transactions will be subject to sales taxes beginning next month. 

Trudeau’s government is also targeting foreign investors in particular, proposing a two-year ban on foreign commercial enterprises and people who are not citizens or permanent residents from acquiring homes in Canada for two years. The budget didn’t specify when the ban would come into effect.

But while these measures can be instituted quickly, there’s some debate about how much impact they will have. Investors have come to account for about a fifth of home purchases nationwide over the course of the pandemic, but many of these are likely buying homes to rent them out, rather than flip them. The government projects its anti-flipping tax will only bring in about C$15 million ($11.9 million) annually once it’s fully implemented next year. 

And it’s unclear how much of a role foreign investors play in exacerbating Canada’s housing affordability crisis. Non-residents own no more than 5% of properties in any major market, and the price surge of the past two years has come as borders were largely sealed off by the pandemic. But when taxes specifically targeting foreign home buyers and owners were implemented locally in Toronto and Vancouver in recent years, they did result in price declines, though these measures came as the Bank of Canada was raising interest rates, as it’s expected to do again for the balance of this year.

Bill of Rights

Longer term, the reform in Trudeau’s budget that Canadians may feel most directly is the so-called “home buyers’ bill of rights.” Among other things, it seeks a ban on blind bidding, where prospective buyers don’t know how much others are offering and are incentivized to bid as much as they can. 

The practice has been blamed for accelerating Canada’s house price inflation as stories of bidding wars and sales for hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking became increasingly common over the last two years. The government says it will consult with other levels of government over the next year to implement this goal.

But Trudeau’s most ambitious proposal could be the one which takes the longest to hit the market: An attempt to address the housing shortage the government says is at the heart of Canada’s affordability crisis. 

To do this, Trudeau wants to double the number of new homes Canada builds each year to 400,000 units. But because local governments control the levers that regulate construction, like zoning and permitting rules, Trudeau’s plan is to use federal funds to incentivize municipalities to speed the process up.

The chief tool will be a new C$4 billion fund dedicated to housing, which could be used for things like investments in a local government’s planning or permitting process, or just to provide a “per-door incentive” for local politicians to overcome the “not-in-my-backyard” opposition that often sinks new housing developments. 

To apply even more pressure, Trudeau also plans to link federal infrastructure money to provincial and municipal efforts to increase the local housing supply, bringing the total amount of money backing the home construction push to C$43 billion. 

“Canada does not have enough homes. We need more of them, fast,” Freeland said in the text of her speech. “We will invest in building more homes and in bringing down the barriers that keep them from being built.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Budget 2022: Ottawa raising taxes on big banks and life insurance companies

The government says the country’s major financial institutions made significant profits during the pandemic and have recovered faster than other parts of the economy — in part due to the federal pandemic supports for people and businesses.

The federal budget includes a one-time, 15 per cent charge on taxable income above $1 billion for the 2021 tax year for the country’s big financial institutions.

Ottawa also plans to permanently increase the corporate income tax rate for banking and life insurance groups by 1.5 percentage points for taxable income above $100 million.

The increase would bring the tax rate on income above that threshold to 16.5 per cent from 15 per cent.

The budget estimates the two measures combined will raise $6.1 billion over five years with some $4.05 billion attributable to the one-time tax.

The Canadian Bankers Association, which represents more than 60 domestic and foreign banks, said it opposes singling out specific economic sectors for special taxation.

It noted that banks are already among the largest corporate taxpayers in Canada with the six largest banks paying more than $12.5 billion in taxes to all levels of government in 2020, including $6.5 billion to Ottawa.

"During the pandemic, Canada's banks provided hundreds of thousands of Canadians with mortgage relief, waived millions in fees for individuals and small businesses, and were instrumental in standing up essential programs like the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit and the Canada Emergency Business Account," spokesman Mathieu Labrèche wrote in an email.

The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association said it was reviewing the previously announced tax measures aimed at financial institutions.

"While we are still reviewing the details of the measures, it appears that the scope for the corporate tax rate increase has broadened from the original proposal and will have a broader impact for life and health insurers," said spokeswoman Susan Murray in an email.

"These measures come at a challenging time for life and health insurers as we continue to face headwinds from the COVID epidemic in the form of higher health related and other life protection costs. These higher impacts will be with us for many years."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2022.

The Canadian Press

DESPITE WHAT THEY SAY

THEY CAN PAY THEIR TAXES

CIBC CEO looks to affluent Canadians for next leg of growth 

CAN IMPERIAL BK OF COMMERCE (CM:CT)

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Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, after benefiting from a strong turnaround in its mortgage business in recent years, is focusing on affluent Canadians for further growth.

The CIBC Imperial Service wealth-advisory business will be one of the top areas the Toronto-based bank invests in for future growth, Chief Executive Officer Victor Dodig said in an interview ahead of the company’s annual meeting. That business may also be one of the top beneficiaries of the bank’s acquisition of Capital One Financial Corp.’s $3 billion (US$2.4 billion) Costco-branded Mastercard business.  

CIBC Imperial Service “has real room to grow, both within our existing franchise, by deepening relationships, and through the 2 million Costco clients that are coming our way, because many of them don’t bank with us,” Dodig said in the interview.

Two other major avenues for investment and growth include business banking, where CIBC recently partnered with financial-technology firm Pollinate to bring its Tyl payments and point-of-sale technology to Canada, and by “digitizing and simplifying banking” for existing clients, Dodig said.

Those priorities come after stretch in which CIBC worked to reinvigorate its Canadian mortgage business, which had lagged behind those of competitors. The bank’s balance of loans secured by real estate rose about 13 per cent in its most recent fiscal year, compared with 2.9 per cent the prior 12 months.

The bank’s investments in technology and front-line workers to boost revenue was a major theme of Dodig’s remarks at Thursday’s annual meeting, according to his planned talk. Dodig also was set to highlight the opening of the bank’s new main office, dubbed CIBC Square, as a “modern, purpose-built headquarters.”

Those investments are coming as Canada faces accelerating wage growth and the fastest inflation in a generation. Dodig said he expects the Bank of Canada to raise rates enough to tame inflation and that he still expects “decent” economic growth ahead, but CIBC is prepared to dial back its spending if needed.

“We’ve got a very structured portfolio of investments,” Dodig said. “If we see things are deteriorating, we can always pull back to make sure that we’re driving the kind of earnings profile that our shareholders expect.”

RBC poised to give rich clients access to

private credit market

Layan Odeh and Dawn Lim, Bloomberg News

Royal Bank of Canada is in talks with several fund providers to steer individual investors into the burgeoning private-credit market.

The discussions include Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions and Blue Owl Capital Inc., among others, people familiar with the matter said. These firms have become a bigger source of financing to companies as banks retrench from risky lending. RBC’s goal is to bring hard-to-trade corporate debt -- and the promise of higher returns than plain vanilla bonds -- to its clients.

Bank executives are exploring ways to give financial advisers and wealthy individuals ways to park cash in existing funds of alternative-asset managers. Money raised from RBC clients will be deployed immediately rather than committed for future investment, one of the people said, and the bank plans to begin offering such funds to customers later this year. 

A spokesman for Toronto-based RBC didn’t comment. Blue Owl and Brookfield Oaktree parent Brookfield Asset Management declined to comment.

RBC is asking asset managers to provide share classes of funds denominated in Canadian dollars to allay financial advisers’ concerns about exposing clients to foreign currencies, another person said. Many smaller U.S. firms aren’t equipped to hedge foreign-exchange risk. 

In January, New York-based Blue Owl announced it was giving accredited investors in Canada access to a lending business-development company.  

The largest institutions, seeking higher yields amid a decade of low interest rates, have pumped money into private credit. Their money has given firms such as Brookfield and Blue Owl the firepower to displace banks in financing North American companies. The arrival of smaller investors will give private credit added heft.

The private-debt market is exploding in popularity, with assets under management for the segment roughly doubling over five years to more than US$1 trillion in 2021, according to data provider Preqin.

Bank tax could hurt Canada's

competitiveness: CIBC CEO

The Canadian Press

The Open 'Just waiting for the inevitable' on bank profits surtax: National Bank Financial’s Dechaine

Gabriel Dechaine, managing director and Canadian banks and insurance analyst at National Bank Financial, tells BNN Bloomberg the expected surtax on the pandemic profits of big banks in Thursday’s federal budget would send a signal that Canada is not a friendly place to do business, more so if taxes follow on other sectors like energy and big box retail. Dechaine will also be looking for details in the budget speech on the Canada Recovery Dividend, which he says would have nearly double the impact of the surtax.
02:12

CIBC’s chief executive officer says a tax hike targeting major financial institutions expected in today’s federal budget could send the wrong signal to the world about investing in Canada.

The Liberals promised in their 2021 election platform to hike the corporate tax rate for banks and insurers with profits over $1 billion.

The party estimated such a measure — aimed at companies that saw record profits during the pandemic — would bring in about $1.2 billion a year.

CEO Victor Dodig says he is an advocate for competitive tax policy, not policy that targets specific industries, and that he is supportive of moves that drive more human capital and foreign direct investment in Canada.

Dodig also weighed in on the state of the economy, saying it's too early to be sounding the alarm on a recession after some recent movement in the U.S. bond market sparked concerns about a possible contraction.

The bank is holding its annual meeting of shareholders today.

Scotia CEO planned to blast tax, but missed

meeting with COVID

Kevin Orland, Bloomberg News

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Bank of Nova Scotia Chief Executive Officer Brian Porter had planned to criticize the Canadian federal government’s proposed surtax on bank profits during his company’s annual meeting, but a positive COVID-19 test forced him to miss the event.

Porter’s prepared remarks included a section denouncing the planned levy as a tax on the Toronto-based bank’s shareholders, including individuals and families saving for retirement or their children’s education. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced the tax in August while campaigning last year, and re-committed to it last month in a cooperation agreement reached between his Liberals and the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

“Not only is the bank tax a knee-jerk reaction that sends the wrong message to the global investment community, it is ultimately a tax on you, our shareholders -- approximately 70 per cent of whom are Canadian,” Porter was scheduled to say, according to his prepared remarks. 

With Porter missing the meeting to rest and recuperate, Chief Financial Officer Raj Viswanathan delivered a shortened version of the prepared remarks that omitted the section on the bank tax. Viswanathan said during his remarks that Porter is triple vaccinated and expected to make a full recovery.

Porter’s planned remarks would have come two days before the federal government is scheduled to put forward a budget that is expected to include the new bank tax. The plan, which would raise the corporate income tax rate by three percentage points on profit over $1 billion (US$806 million) at banks and insurers, is expected to raise $10.8 billion over five years, according to documents released in September.

Biggest risk of bank surtax is precedent it

sets: Analyst

Michelle Zadikian, BNN Bloomberg

MARCH 22,2022

The federal Liberals’ proposed surtax on major Canadian financial institutions’ profits just took a big step closer to becoming reality after Justin Trudeau’s government struck a power-sharing agreement with the New Democrats.

But it’s not necessarily the extra money these firms could potentially have to pay that’s the biggest risk, according to one Bay Street analyst, it’s the precedent it would set in targeting financial sector profits.

“It's not something that's going to impact the banks’ earnings growth, or the return on equity materially going forward. To me, the bigger concern isn't this tax rate itself, but whether it sets a precedent for more onerous taxation on bank profits in the future,” said Nigel D’Souza, investment analyst of financial services at Veritas Investment Research, in an interview on Tuesday.

During Trudeau’s election campaign, he promised to impose a three per cent surtax on bank and insurance company profits above a $1-billion threshold. By lifting the tax rate to 18 per cent, from 15 per cent, the Liberals said they expected to collect an additional $2.5 billion in government revenues over the next four years. The promise was light on details at the time and still hasn’t come to fruition, but the move does have NDP support.

While speaking at a news conference on Tuesday morning, Trudeau said implementing the surtax remains a priority.

D’Souza estimates such a surtax would result in a one to two per cent impact on the big banks’ bottom lines, which is “very manageable.” He said he doesn’t think investors should lighten up on their bank holdings based solely on this new potential tax.

“The tax rate increase by itself, I don't think is a sufficient enough reason to have a more bearish or concerned outlook for the banking sector,” he said.

However, D’Souza said the additional tax could change how the banks decide to deploy capital, and even make them reluctant to lend if they expect their profitability will be hit by an extra tax.

“When you think about bank earnings - they're cyclical, they're tied to the economic cycle, and banks need to generate higher earnings in the good times so they have sufficient capital to weather the bad times - whether that's lower earnings or potential credit losses,” D’Souza said.

“If we get more onerous taxation on banks simply because they're making more profits, I'm concerned that changes the calculus of the risk-reward for the sector.”

In addition to addressing ever-growing bank profits, another major pillar of the Liberal-NDP support agreement is housing affordability, which D’Souza thinks is part of the political rationale behind the surtax policy decision.

If that’s what the government is aiming for, then D’Souza suggested removing the government guarantee on mortgage insurance for newly-issued mortgages. He argued it would force the banks to be more prudent with their lending standards, which in turn could help tamp down Canada’s red-hot housing market.

“If you end that, the banks will likely have to hold more capital against those insured mortgages. That will rein in some mortgage originations. They also might tighten up the underwriting standards, either requiring higher down payments for being more selective on who they approve for a high-ratio mortgages,” he said.

“Both of those will have an effect of lowering demand for the housing sector or housing purchases, and that should in theory - if we have supply also increasing and lower demand - that should address housing affordability while also addressing banks earning higher profits.”