The News Rundown

Only 'incredibly wealthy' Albertans would benefit from UCP flat tax, economist warns

Also coming out of the UCP convention was a resolution to bring back the flat tax in Alberta.
Define: flat tax
Current tax:

10% for under $128,145
12% for $128,145 and $153,773
13% for $153,773 to $205,031
14% for $205,031 to $307,547
15% for $307,547

The median income for a family in Fort McMurray according to the 2016 census was ~$214,000. The average income for a family with children in the same year was ~$230,000.
The median individual income was ~$77,000 in 2015 with an average of ~$99,000.
The media was quick to say that, “Only 'incredibly wealthy' Albertans would benefit from UCP flat tax”
The reporting in the CBC couldn’t be anymore blatant:
Q: To be clear, does the flat tax benefit anybody making under $129,000?
A: No, it does not
Q: So it only benefits the rich in the province?
A: Correct.
While that may be true in Edmonton, Calgary, or rural Alberta, that is far from true for those that work in the oil industry.
Yes, we can accept that wages have gone down since 2015.
The article goes on to say that a sales tax or cuts to services may be needed to offset a flat tax.
Let’s talk about reality:

A flat tax would likely not come in until the budget is balanced.
By lowering our debt and increasing the province’s credit rating we reduce debt servicing fees.
Recall that today we pay $2b in debt servicing fees, forecast to raise to $2.9b by 2021.
We also need to remember that taxes are as much about money in the pocket of citizens as they are economic signals.
With lower tax rates across the board the province becomes more attractive to investment.
Investment increases GDP.
GDP increases government revenue.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility for tax cuts to spur growth.

The flat tax would cost the government between $800 and $900m per year, this would be easily paid if our debt servicing costs were lower…
A horrible article that doesn’t show the full picture.

Trudeau to offer formal apology in Commons for fate of Jewish refugee ship MS St. Louis

Prime Minister Trudeau has decided to make apology in the House of Commons, this time towards the Jewish passengers of the MS St. Louis, who were turned away by Mackenzie King's government in 1939 when fleeing from the Holocaust. The 907 passengers were then forced to return to Europe. While half were taken in by other Western European countries, the rest were forced to return to Germany, where 254 of them died in the Holocaust.
Trudeau's statement did not say when he intended to give the formal apology, but espouses his support for Jewish people: "When Canada denied asylum to the 907 German Jews on board the MS St. Louis, we failed not only those passengers, but also their descendants and community. It is our collective responsibility to acknowledge this difficult truth, learn from this story, and continue to fight against anti-Semitism every day, as we give meaning to the solemn vow: 'Never again.'"
This is a sharp departure from Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who spurned these sorts of official apologies, saying: "I do not think the purpose of a government is to right the past. It cannot rewrite history. It is our purpose to be just in our time." When he was a young man in the 1940s Trudeau Senior actually campaigned against Jewish immigrants at that time. In a speech in support of a nationalist candidate in a Montreal by-election, Trudeau Senior minimized the German threat and, according to Le Devoir, said he feared “the peaceful invasion of immigrants more than the armed invasion of the enemy. Bring on the revolution,” he concluded.
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu says that while she supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to apologize for Canada turning away Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust in 1939, the number of apologies he's delivered makes people question his sincerity. "I think it's worth apologizing for it, but you can have dilution in recognition when you start apologizing, apologizing, apologizing. It makes it less special," said Gladu.
Canada seems to be the "apology capital of the world" right now, said Rhoda Howard-Hassmann, a professor emeritus of political science from Wilfrid Laurier University. She said if Trudeau makes too many apologies, people may call it silly, but on the other hand, if he apologizes to one group and not the other, it leaves people behind.
Make no mistake, the decision to turn away the MS St. Louis, with its 907 German Jewish passengers, is a stain on Canada’s history. A historic injustice was done and it should be held in the collective memory to guard against a revival in anti-Semitic sentiment. However, as the Prime Minister, there are more things that Justin Trudeau could do to help Jewish people.
Firstly, as we talked about on Episode 37, the Trudeau government completely forgot to mention Jewish people or the 6 million who died in the Holocaust when unveiling the Holocaust Memorial back in September, and how the national media didn't talk about it whatsoever. Secondly, it's been reported that while Muslim hate crimes are on the decline, Jewish victims of hate crimes are sharply rising, up 250% over the previous 5 years. If the government truly wants to help Jewish people and write wrongs, and "continue to fight Anti-Semitism every day" as he said in his statement, doing something about the rising amount of Anti-Semitism in Canada, and frowning upon those who espouse those views would be a good start.

Alberta conservatives clash with leader Jason Kenney on gay-straight alliances

The United Conservatives held their first annual general meeting last weekend.
Motion 30 passed with 57% of attendees support.
Motion 30 aims reinforces that parents must be told when their child is involved in any subject of a religious or sexual nature.
This was immediate red meat to the media, we saw numerous headlines:
'They need to be safe': Alberta Conservatives clash on motion outing children who join after-school gay-straight alliances
UCP passes controversial motion to reinstate parental choice in education
UCP founding convention hits socially conservative pothole
UCP members ignore MLA pleas to vote against gay-straight alliance motion
Editorial: UCP on course to repeat the past
The NDP and Alberta Party both also responded quickly to the resolution as passed.
Harrison Fleming who is the Alberta Coordinator of the group LGBTory appeared on Global News at Noon.
He feels that the policy convention encouraged healthy discussion in general and that GSAs might not even be covered by the adopted policy.
He went further to highlight to Global News that the wording about outing gay kids wasn’t even found in the policy resolution.
Mr. Fleming also attended the convention and explained to many there what GSAs are and that there’s no actual sexual or religious content pushed onto students in those clubs.
The easiest way to convince someone that something is true is to provide a visual representation.
In leadership, a good leader can’t be afraid of the wind.
Rather than amplifying these concerns as some members and MLAs did at the convention, the wind should have been sucked right out of the argument.
Calgary MLA Ric McIver probably aided the media in this by saying, “This is about outing gay kids. Don’t be called the lake of fire party.”
Other members of the party simply wanted to avoid this motion because it was rightly viewed as bait.
Immediately after the convention Jason Kenney addressed the media and made the party’s policy quite clear.
1:46-2:00 CTV video 3
With all of this talk about this resolution going around those who are just watching the MSM must think that this is all that was talked about.
The media could have talked about those who were upset with Jason Kenney issuing this statement, but they didn’t. Anyone who looked at the #UCPAgm Twitter hashtag would see that there were many people sounding off on his statement.
There were other resolutions debated and voted on:
- Repealing the carbon tax
- Bringing back Alberta’s flat tax (see previous story)
- Democratic reform initiatives such as recall legislation (explain) and citizen referenda.
- And many more
There was also another story from the convention floor that got little to no coverage.
A new poll was released showing the UCP far ahead in the lead with 59.5% support and the NDP trailing with 22.7%. That’s a lead of almost 37%.
The poll shows the party leading with all age groups and both men and women.
This mirrors similar surveys recently taken by CBC.
If the media were truly balanced in their reporting they would have been reporting from the NDP convention this past February.
In 2016 the NDP voted the look at the Leap Manifesto at their 2018 convention.
The Leap Manifesto was a radical document that basically called for the party to transform Canada’s economy and abandon the energy industry.
The manifesto was talked about at the federal NDP convention but was not ultimately voted on… because… the party leadership decided against it.
This should have been a huge story for Alberta since the Alberta NDP is an arm of the Federal NDP.
This is largely the same boat that the UCP is in with motion 30, the membership wants it as policy but the leader has stated that it won’t be policy.
The difference in reporting is clear.

The Firing Line

Trudeau met with the homophobic leader of Uganda, but gay rights weren't on the agenda

Trudeau's missteps with foreign countries and leaders has been well documented here on Western Context, with trips to India and China among others either causing controversy or leaving goals unachieved. Trudeau met with President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni in New York last September, and for some reason, we're just hearing about it now that Trudeau didn't even discuss his famously progressive agenda with Museveni, who is widely known as an anti-LGBT. Talking points prepared for the meeting, obtained by the National Post through the Access to Information Act, contains scant mention of the dire situation faced by LGBTQ minorities in Uganda.
Museveni championed a bill in 2014 that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and 5-7 years in prison for those who marry LGBT people, support them, or directors of NGO's who support LGBT rights. An earlier version of the bill had included the possibility of capital punishment. The bill was struck down in 2015 by the Ugandan court system on constitutional grounds, but the President still supports the bill and is trying to pass one like it.
Discussion of human rights, in general, appeared generally absent from the meeting, as Trudeau complimented President Yoweri Museveni’s support for refugees, and discussed how best to expand economic relations between the two countries. Over the course of the 20-minute meeting with Museveni, which took place during September’s United Nations General Assembly, “the two leaders discussed Canada-Uganda bilateral relations and other areas of mutual interest, including human rights, the refugee situation in sub-Saharan Africa, and regional security,” according to an official read-out.
One of the “priority objectives” for Trudeau in the meeting was to “recognize Uganda’s generosity in hosting the largest number of refugees (notably South Sudanese) in Africa,” the documents show. Elsewhere, Trudeau’s script suggested he commend Museveni’s “progressive model in responding to the needs of these vulnerable people.”
Trudeau’s apparent silence on human rights in the meeting represents a significant departure from the approach taken by his predecessor, Stephen Harper. In 2014, Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act despite stern warnings from the West. Under Harper, Canada was one of the most vocal critics of the legislation, with then-foreign affairs minister John Baird urging Uganda to back down on its plans and echoing a warning from U.S. President Barack Obama that aid to the east African country would be contingent on them doing so. Ottawa even funded local LGBTQ activism and legal training in Uganda to fight the legislation.
A 2018 Human Rights Watch report on the country was highly critical of Museveni’s government, finding that he “continues to violate free association, expression, and assembly rights.” The report notes that new laws have taken aim at NGOs which advocate LGBTQ acceptance, and that the government continues to perform body cavity examinations of those who engage in same-sex activities, which the report calls a “form of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment that may constitute torture.”
It also wasn't the first time that Trudeau's government has met with Uganda's government. Defence minister Harjit Sajjan visited the Ugandan capital in 2016, while immigration minister Ahmed Hussen met with Museveni in London in the spring of 2017.
It's hypocritical for Trudeau to publicly say he is a champion of LGBT rights, and then ignore them completely when meeting one of the strongest opponents of human rights. Trudeau has pushed the progressive agenda with countries that we need to secure good trade deals from in China and the US, but then ignores it for a country that we have a significant advantage over.

Word of the Week

Apology - a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure, as in “I owe you an apology” alternatively from Urban Dictionary: “A cowardly or disgusting act practiced by the weaklings; however, most arrogant and prideful folks reluctantly or insincerely do it to make the victim happy and feel vindicated”

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Show Data

Episode Title: Insincere Apologies

Teaser: Misinformation from the UCP convention’s proposed flat tax doesn’t use true economics, and red herrings about GSA’s created fake news. Also, Trudeau apologizes for 80 year old wrongs for Jews, and forgets his progressive agenda with the Ugandan president.

Recorded Date: May 10, 2018

Release Date: May 11, 2018

Duration: 45:21

Edit Notes: Start point drop out, AB pause, insert Kenney clip, Wotw drop out.

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX