Tax me, please

Okay, snowflakes, so it’s a stunt. But there are worrying political aspects of a manifesto this week – from Millennials – calling on Ottawa to immediately create a wealth tax, higher marginal tax rates and the closing of all tax breaks for the top 10% of income-earning Canadians (that’s anyone making $80,400 or more).

What do the kids want? “Full pharmacare and dental, full coverage of assistive devices for disabled people, free transit, affordable childcare, affordable housing, reparations for Black Canadians, and land repatriation for Indigenous nations, plus climate justice and a Green New Deal in Canada.”

The irritating moisters behind this call themselves the “Resource Movement” and claim to have 200 members  from rich families, “who are in the top 20% of wealth and/or income.” The demand is that the T2 budget – due now in a few weeks – bring in a wealth tax that would, for example, suck about $4 billion per year from the Thomsons. The kiddo crusaders also want the top marginal tax rate jacked above 55% and enough legislative changes made to “stop the accumulation of wealth by the top 10% of Canadians.”

Say they:

“My family is in the top 1%,” says Ben Waitzer, one of the campaign’s organizers. “Over the course of my life, I’ve seen critical services, things like pharmacare and affordable housing go under-funded. I know that our society has more than enough money to fund the critical social programs and services we need. But right now, it’s just in the wrong hands.”

The wrong hands – in other words, the hands of the people who created that wealth. And so it seems the Bernie Sanders school of Hipster Marxism has arrived in our tundra. Two hundred misguided silver spoon socialists who want free everything and endless social justice, despite the cost. How noble. And cute.

But wait. Look here:

Resource Movement is a project on Tides Canada’s shared platform. Tides Canada is a national charity dedicated to a healthy environment, social equity, and economic prosperity. The shared platform provides governance, HR, grant and financial management for leading social and environmental initiatives across the country. Tides Canada maintains full legal and financial responsibility for Resource Movement.

Don’t talk about Tides Canada near AB premier Jason Kenney. His head will explode. The group has been accused of using tens of millions of dollars (mostly from the US) to actively undermine Canada’s resource industry while employing the cloak of climate change action to ensure our nation’s natural resources stay locked in the earth. You know the pipeline protests now illegally blocking rail lines and snarling cities? Yep. Same guys, working with their indigenous allies.

Whether you support this or not, it’s worth understanding the connections between the wealthy Mills, Tides, Ottawa and Mr. Socks. Part of that link is Sarah Goodman, who a few weeks ago was appointed as a special advisor to Justin Trudeau, working within the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Actually Sarah’s been rubbing shoulders with the boss since the fall of 2018, first as a policy advisor, then the PMO’s deputy director of Cabinet and Legislative Affairs. She moved up the ladder when disgraced chief of staff Gerry Butts  was incinerated by the Lavalin affair. Now Sarah’s the Senior Advisor on Climate Action and Sustainable Economy. It’s a key position within the inner circle.

Sarah Goodman and Justin Trudeau sharing time in the PMO.

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And before that? Sarah Goodman has a long history of social activism, and for almost five years was Senior Vice President of, yes,  Tides Canada. She’s roundly considered by critics to be part of the nation’s anti-oil elite.

Now, this may mean nothing. It may mean something. But our prime minster has a senior advisor with direct links to a group that wants to tax the poop out of people making more than eighty grand, create an inheritance tax to Hoover the Boomers and scare off the wealthy folks who do silly things like create thousands of jobs (the Irvings employ 18,000 people; the Westons have 140,000 workers).

Does this hint that a wealth tax could be on the agenda? An inheritance tax? A higher marginal tax rate than the current 54%? Or how about free drugs, free transit, affordable housing for all, and more money for the goofs who are currently blocking the nation’s rail lines? And, hey, why’s the prime minister surrounding himself with anti-resource warriors?

Beats me. I just come here for the dogs.

By the way, where’s the official opposition?

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Okay I know today’s post was billed as a guide to how much real estate a person can afford without committing financial hari-kiri.

That will come. Relax. Put the knife down. Step away from the keyboard. Hang up on your realtor. We need to talk. Tomorrow.