The 2016 Federal budget was released on March 22. Naturally Gavin, Tyler, and Andrew get together to discuss some of the issues the new budget raises. We ponder why the CBC is getting 675 million in funding, what infrastructure spending might mean, and wonder at the total lack of marijuana in the budget. The live show can be seen in its 2hour and 50 minutes of unedited profanity laced glory at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L-_w9S2uA0. The edited audio version of the show was cut down to 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Episode 21 Show Notes

Intro

Hello to all of our listeners out there in podcast land, and welcome to episode 21 of the Canadian Patriot Podcast, recorded March 28, 2016.

Gavin – a business owner, gun enthusiast, hunter, atheist and host of the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Tactical Beard Owners Club

Tyler – co-founder and co-host of the International Liberty or Death Podcast. Tyler has been shooting for 9 years as a both a casual and sport shooter, and as a hunter. He identifies politically as a Libertarian.

… and I’m your host Andrew – I’m a libertarian, competitive shooter, gear reviewer at www.everydaytacticool.com, and gun club director

We’d love to hear your feedback about the show. Please visit canadianpatriotpodcast.com/feedback/ or email us at feedback@canadianpatriotpodcast.com

Available on Stitcher at http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=77508&refid=stpr and iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/canadian-patriot-podcast/id1067964521?mt=2

What are we drinking?

Gavin – Piston Head

Tyler – Sidelaunch Wheat Beer

Andrew – Brown Ale Homebrew

We talk a little about home brewing beer, and my process for all grain brew in a bag.

Topic – 30 billion federal deficit

Debt-to-GDP

Our plan is reasonable and affordable. By the end of our first mandate, Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio will be lower than it is today.

$29.4 billion deficit this year
$29 billion shortfall next year
Liberals insist the debt-to-GDP ratio will drop from 31.2 to 30.9 by 2021
Adding $150 billion to federal debt could rise debt-GDP to 36.1 per cent by 2021

Taxes & Payroll

Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) limit reduction to $5,500, used to be $10,000
Income spilling is no longer available
EI premium paid by employers is expected to fall to $2.31 per $100 in wages from $2.63, starting in 2017
Tax cuts for people earning $200,000
Trudeau is breaking a promise to limit stock option income deductibility
- adding somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion to the deficit.
- This special tax rule lets people paid with stock options pay only half the tax.
- The top 100 CEOs from TSX-traded companies hold $2 billion in stock options
Trudeau will keep Harper’s corporate tax cuts

Infrastructure

$11.9 billion spread over the next five years
The initial promise of just over $5 billion in infrastructure spending for 2016-17, for example, is now reduced to around $3.7 billion.
- Where are the roads, bridges, and community centers that would create jobs today and benefit people and the economy for years to come?
- Transit infrastructure $3.4 billion over three years, with just $852 million in 2016/17
- Green infrastructure $5 billion over five years, with only $650 million next year – 80% for drinking- and waste-water systems
- Social infrastructure $3.4 billion over five years. Just $1.166 billion next year.

First Nations

$2 billion in water and wastewater infrastructure and drinking water monitoring over five years
2011 government-funded study found it would require $4.7 billion over a ten-year span for drinking water and wastewater systems servicing in First Nations
additional annual operating and maintenance budget of $419 million
$8.4 Billion over 5 years, half on education

Immigration

We know that newcomers are vital to the Canadian economy, and so our government will welcome 300,000 new permanent residents in 2016.

need to welcome an additional 37,900 immigrants compared to 2014
25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of February 2016
45,000 Syrian citizens will become Canadians

Canada Child Benefit

Boutique tax Credits like Universal Child Care scraped
“Child benefit payments get fattened meaningfully in the low-to-middle income range at the expense of those in the middle-to-upper income ranges,” BMO economists Doug Porter and Robert Kavcic said.
Families with children under age six will receive an annual tax-free benefit of up to $6,400 per child.
Those with children between the ages of six and 17 will receive up to $5,400 annually.

Family Income	Child Under 6	Child 6-17
29,900 ($14.38/hr)	$533/month $6,400/year	$450/month $5,400/year
46,800 ($22.50/hr) 2 minimum wage, full time	$435/month $5,224/year	$352/month $4,224/year
76,000 median family income 2015	$299/month $3,598/year	$216/month $2,598/year
91,000 26% tax bracket	$259/month $3,118/year	$176/month $2,118/year
141,000 29% tax bracket	$126/month $1,518/year	$42/month $518/year

Estimates from http://www.budget.gc.ca/2016/tool-outil/ccb-ace-en.html

National Defence

“The government is committed to renewing the major equipment of the Canadian Armed Forces, including Canada’s aging fleets of CF-18 fighter aircraft and maritime warships. To ensure that funding is available when key capital acquisitions will be made, we will reallocate funding for large-scale capital projects from the 2015–16 to 2020–21 period to future years. This funding is being shifted into future years to align with the timing of major equipment acquisitions” Bill Morneau Finance Minister

2017-18 the government will cut $1.3 billion out of previously committed spending on defence hardware
Reopened Veterans Affairs Offices, nine offices were closed by Harper in 2015
- caseworkers were to be redeployed to nearby Service Canada offices
- Adding one new office in Surrey BC
- new funding to reduce the client/case manager ratio to no more than 25:1
- Still no reinstatement of life time pensions
shrinks funding by $3.72-billion over five years to account for major delays in plans to buy new fighter jets and ships.
Broken promise to keep up with previous defence spending levels

New Cultural Spending $1.9 billion

CBC to get $675 million in funding.
- Notice the deafening silence from other media outlets
- $75-million in new funds for the rest of this fiscal year followed by an extra $150-million annually through 2021
$550 million over five years for the Canada Council for the Arts

Counter-Terrorism

$8 million in new funding

Education

Education and textbook credits are no longer available on personal income tax
$40 million a year to help employers create more co-op placements for students in science, engineering, technology, math and business.
$10 million promised to develop and expand apprenticeships
$25 million for a restored Youth Services Program
bump up Canada Student Grants for low-income students to $3,000 a year for full-time students and $1,800 for part-time students
- extra $750 million a year in non-repayable grant assistance
- Off set by cancelling textbook tax credits

Special Tax Credits for Teachers (and early childhood educators)

15-per-cent tax credit on up to $1,000 worth of eligible purchases “such as paper, glue and paint for art projects, games and puzzles, and supplementary books.”
Despite Liberal push to eliminate “boutique” tax credits
$140 million over six years

“Bail In” Scheme

Buried on page 223 less than one page
Allow authorities to convert eligible long-term debt of a failing systemically important bank into common shares to recapitalize the bank and allow it to remain open an operating
The bank is able to use depositors’ funds to continue to operate the bank, IE steal your money
Look at Cyprus in 2013 and Greece in 2015 (EU bail out), 2008 global credit crisis
Deemed too big to fail

Court Challenges Program restored

Introduce by Pierre Trudeau in 1978 as an arms-length initiative to fund interest groups intent on launching charter and language-rights cases against the federal and provincial governments
a chance for left-wing groups to make their case before liberal-minded courts
Scrapped under Harper Conservatives in 2006