Am I Just Squawking?
So, bias alert, I totally support Labour but I do tend to like Small Business, Entrepreneurship…those According to Nicole videos really appeal to me.
And, I don’t trust STATSCAN numbers, take everything with a grain of salt and check my math. Always check my math. I err unconsciously. Enthusiasm overwhelms me. I am not st$#@. I don’t think so anyway. I do try to avoid mistakes.
According to the media narrative, Canada is swamped with People and is on the verge of being shut down because of a railway strike. Consequently, I have 2 questions:
1/ What’s going on in Quebec?
The Financial Post had this the other day: https://financialpost.com/fp-work/quebec-pauses-hiring-temporary-foreign-workers-montreal. To quote: Restaurants and retailers are already struggling to find people to operate on a daily basis, say small business leaders.
The Premier is shutting the Temporary Worker Program down. I get it, the country is, apparently, flooded with People, and we don’t need them. Only, smaller Businesses in Quebec are ALREADY short staffed.
My bias tends to think that is a Wage issue, BUT my Parents are Immigrants, and the first thing my Father did when he came to Canada was get a job, any job. Figuring the same for current Immigrants.
So, Africa was COLONIZED by France and Belgium, so, French is not an unfamiliar language to Immigrants from there. They’d work. Spain and Portugal COLONIZED South America. Spanish is also a Romantic language, so, the language barrier would not be unsurmountable for Immigrants from there. They’d work. West Asians? Are they still coming here, considering even BEFORE the current domestic and international situations, they weren’t being allowed.
Asia? Honestly, I have never seen a Chinese Quebecer. Maybe Philippinos? The Philippines were COLONIZED by the Spanish and I suspect they wouldn’t have a hard time with French. Established Canadians tend to think we’re all English or French speakers—hence, why Chrystia Freeland made all the news for speaking 4 or 5 languages.
But, we are not.
Canada is a country COLONIZED by England and France with most Newcomers speaking, at least one of either French or English PLUS their ethnic language associations. Case in point, The Philippines was COLONIZED by the Spanish, so, are familiar with Spanish, speak English also (I have been told the US also COLONIZED the country) or French, Tagalog is the National Philippine language plus whatever regional dialects (they are actually languages fewer People speak). 3 languages at minimum for a lot of Canadians, usually more. I don’t think language is the issue in Quebec.
Either shortage of Labour or Wages. It just strikes me as odd the Premier wanting to shut Immigration down despite the Province suffering a shortage of Staff.
AND
My second question is about the context of the Labour threat to shut the railway down.
2/ Why is the Railway Union so angry?
IPOLITICS is the only one covering this: https://www.ipolitics.ca/news/sectors-that-earned-most-corporate-capital-gains-created-no-jobs-over-5-years-report.
The Centre for Future Work did a report on Capital Gains Taxes (please note): https://centreforfuturework.ca/2024/08/18/capital-gains-tax-preferences-benefit-speculative-corporations-and-very-high-income-individuals/
In which it revealed, despite all the rhetoric about Inflation, People and arguments about Capital Gains Taxes, high net worth individuals and large corporations have contributed NOTHING to the domestic economy over the past 5 years.
To quote: (key points, so, long):
The highest-income 1.5% of tax-filers (those with total income over $250,000) receive 61% of individual capital gains, and 67% of tax savings from partial inclusion of capital gains.
Capital gains are more concentrated among very high-income tax-filers than any other kind of income – even more than other forms of investment income (like dividends or interest).
Most very high-income tax-filers (over $250,000) report capital gains, and the average those with capital gains report is over $180,000 per year (not counting the capital gains those tax-filers are allowed to exclude). Average tax savings for those claimants (under the previous 50% inclusion rate) is estimated at $95,000 per year.
For very high-income tax-filers, capital gains make up 18% of their total incomes. For those with less than $100,000 income, capital gains make up less than 1% of their (much smaller) total incomes.
Capital gains increase the ratio of inequality between top and average incomes by 16%
Capital gains have grown seven times faster than overall personal income, and have tripled as a share of total assessed income (per tax-filer).
Federal revenues were reduced by $38 billion in 2021 due to the partial inclusion of capital gains for individuals, trusts, and corporations. Provincial governments lost many billions more.
There’s no historic correlation between capital gains taxes and business investment in machinery, equipment, or research. Canada’s strongest sustained technology investment performance was in the 1980s and 1990s, when capital gains inclusion was 66.7% or 75%.
Capital gains reported by Canadian corporations have doubled since the COVID pandemic, and risen 11-fold since 2002. Corporate capital gains set a new record in 2022 of $87 billion.
Most corporate capital gains are captured by industries that buy and sell assets, rather than engaging in direct production. A growing share (over one-third) is captured by financial firms.
The biggest recipients of corporate capital gains, in general, have very poor job-creation records. In the last five years, the two biggest recipients (Miscellaneous Intermediation and Real Estate) received over half of all corporate capital gains, but between them created no net new jobs.
First, and which I have previously written about, Corporations own the presses by which the media narrative is driven, and it is in their interest to condemn Capital Gains Taxes. Everything has to be viewed critically, if not skeptically. Plus, a lot of Writers have an incentive to get paid which is prioritized over truth. Technically, they are not lying in their articles, but will skew them to get published. One of those things, I don’t know how to fix it.
The most important point to note in the report above is Corporations have NOT invested in jobs, machinery or People, in at least the past 5 years, but have been given tax breaks nonetheless. Further, as I have written about for the few past days, real Income for Canadians has gone DECLINED.
Corporations like Loblaws have used the narrative of Inflations to increase grocery prices then have realized the benefit of higher Interest Rates to confront Inflation on their gross Capital. There should be no argument about Capital Gains Tax implementation which should be put immediately at 70%, if not 90%, because these guys have been robbing us blind.
I suggest the Unions have a right to be angry, everybody does. I am squawking a lot because I am furious.
The Railway Workers should be paid, given their demands plus more; the current political regime that questions that is unacceptable.
If it takes screeching to improve things for People, so be it.
Quick push for Clean Slate
And a post script:
The flaw in GDP:
In the last five years, the two biggest recipients (Miscellaneous Intermediation and Real Estate) received over half of all corporate capital gains, but between them created no net new jobs.
Yet, every Real Estate transaction is attributed to GDP as PRODUCTIVE value. The companies pay no tax, employ no Labour and get wealth despite NOT doing anything.