There’s a region-wide Liberal training event in Richmond on November 16. It’s a good opportunity to meet Liberals from other ridings.
When: Sunday November 16, 9 am to 3:30 pm
Where: Kwantlen Polytechnic, Richmond Campus, 8771 Lansdowne Rd
Register
Phone banking in Vancouver Kingsway. We’ll be calling people in the riding and listening to what’s on their minds.
When: Sunday November 23, 12 pm to 2 pm
Where: Zoom
Register
Lest we forget: A guide to Remembrance Day 2025 ceremonies in the Lower Mainland. J. J. Adams, Vancouver Sun.
For 101 years, Victory Square in Vancouver has been the site of Remembrance Day ceremonies, making it the longest-running of its kind in the province.
The cenotaph at Victory Square (200 West Hastings St.) marks the site of the ceremonies, at 10:30 a.m. including choirs and soloists, prayers and speeches followed by two minutes of silence at 11 a.m., laying of wreaths and a parade to follow.
Budget 2025 was released last Tuesday.
There’s an “Economic and Fiscal Overview” section which provides a good picture of the major challenges facing Canada, and the world economy more broadly. The US is pulling a Brexit, leaving the trading system that it built up after WWII. Given the size of the US economy, that’s going to reduce economies of scale and make things more expensive, even if the rest of the world continues to trade freely with each other. And Trump is creating a tremendous amount of uncertainty, which makes long-term investment difficult, pushing up unemployment. Governments elsewhere are expected to continue running large deficits, putting upward pressure on interest rates.
At the same time, Canada does have some room to borrow. (After the deficit-fighting 1990s, when interest payments were consuming one-third of federal revenue, Canadian politicians have been wary of taking on too much debt.)
There’s four major themes:
Increasing investment for stronger long-term growth, while reducing operational spending. There’s a “productivity super-deduction” to allow accelerated depreciation of investments (offsetting taxable income).
Responding to Trump’s trade war by reducing internal trade barriers, expanding trade with the rest of the world, and increasing domestic purchases of Canadian goods.
Reducing taxes and housing costs for Canadian households.
Increasing Canada’s military capabilities. As Stephanie Carvin put it during Trump 1.0, we’re living through the shitty version of the Melian Dialogue (”the strong do what they can, the weak do what they must”). If Canada’s the runt of the litter, we’re going to be vulnerable.
Mark Carney gave a pre-budget talk at the University of Ottawa. Speaking notes. Rereading it, he talked about each of these themes. I was wondering if the budget would include tax increases (like Michael Wernick’s suggestion to add 2% to the GST for 10 years to pay for defense spending), but it doesn’t. Indeed, it cuts the first income-tax bracket from 15% to 14% (up to $420 per person).
I think of this as a “no surprises” budget. The major actions were announced in advance, or are already underway. The purpose of the budget is to pull everything together, add up all the numbers, and get Parliamentary approval.
Some discussion of Canadian national security, from last year:
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