Canadians awoke this week to media headlines that “Canada’s inflation rate fell to 6.8% in November”.

Unfortunately, this headline does not tell the entire story.

While the CPI did come down slightly core inflation in other areas increased.

As an example, food inflation increased by 11.4% year over year in November, a fact that will not come as a surprise for anyone who has visited a grocery store recently. 

Likewise, for those facing mortgage interest rate increases, Statistics Canada reports a 14.5% increase. 

This is an averaged rate, as many with variable rare mortgages have been experiencing increases well beyond this amount.

One of the many challenges with inflation is that items such as groceries and paying your mortgage, rent or line of credit all come from your household net income after you have already paid income taxes.

This higher inflation means you have less purchasing power, as your income does not keep pace with the rise in your cost of living.

Unfortunately, on January 1st of 2023, another round of payroll deductions from the federal government is increasing – in this case increased EI and CPP premiums -- meaning your net take home pay is going to be less.

This also affect employers.

As the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) reports: “on January 1, (EI) premiums for employers are set to increase by as much as 5.2% per employee. Altogether, the increases in CPP and EI could cost business owners up to $325 more per employee — a 6.7% increase from 2022.”

These increased payroll costs are passed on to consumers and this only further helps to fuel inflation. 

For the record, the Conservative Official Opposition did request the Trudeau Liberal government delay the increase to the EI premiums (something the Federal Government has done previously) however in this case PM Trudeau refused to do so.

On April 1st there will be another round of tax increases related to the elevator excise tax on alcohol, that automatically increases each year thanks to the Trudeau Liberal government. 

Additionally, on April 1st  carbon taxes are slated to increase by $15/ a ton, from the current $50 to $65 a ton. 

So 2023 is going to be a more expensive year for many Canadians and, as the Official Opposition, we will continue to make the point that many Canadians can no longer afford to take home less.

Before I close this week my final report for the year, I would like to sincerely wish all citizens Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas! 

I would also like to sincerely thank all first responders, our military personnel and those in public service work that means they will not be home with their families this Christmas. 

​Finally this week's question:

What would you most like to see from your federal government in 2023? 

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

Last week I wrote about the recent Auditor General's (AG) report on COVID related pandemic benefit payment programs to both individuals and businesses.

In this report it was suggested that as much as $27.4 billion in benefit payments must be further investigated to determine if there was proper eligibility.

The AG mentioned that much of this situation has arisen due to the Federal Government allowing “self-attestation” from businesses and individuals as sufficient proof of eligibility to receive the benefits, despite potentially not actually meeting the eligibility criteria.

I asked the question “What are your thoughts on the government's use of an attestation in delivering timely support programs?”

Over the past week I have heard a significant amount of feedback from local citizens on this topic.

I raise this point again because the federal government is going to use attestation in the delivery of a new support program that is not pandemic related.

Recently the Trudeau Liberal Government announced the “Canada Dental Benefit” program (that was a result of its partnership with the NDP) where we once again see attestation being used as the criteria to determine eligibility. 
In this program, estimated to cost between $1.3 -$1.5 billion annually, there is no direct payment to a dentist as most dental care plans require.

Instead, this program (as it is currently structured) sends funds directly to qualifying parents with children below 12.

What is interesting about this approach is how it differs from the Trudeau Liberal government approach to funding healthcare here in Canada. 

As some will be aware, the federal government has a program known as the “Canada Health Transfer” (CHT) that transfers a portion of the federal taxes you send to Ottawa back to provinces and territories to help cover the costs of providing healthcare. 

Currently the CHT is forecast to be roughly $45.2 Billion for the 2022/23 fiscal year.

Provinces throughout Canada, including here in B.C., are currently facing many healthcare related challenges.

Lack of staff, staff burnout, lack of capacity and poor service delivery are all challenges faced in hospitals across Canada.

The Premiers have all been united and clear that the federal government must increase the CHT to help solve these critical healthcare challenges given that healthcare is a provincially provided service.

Unfortunately for these Premiers, when it comes to healthcare, there is no attestation for an increase in the Canada Health Transfer.

Instead, as the PM stated in question period that he believes any funding increase must have strings attached, in other words not a “blank cheque”. 

This 'Ottawa knows best' approach is commonly used with this Liberal government and will often include studies and consultation that ultimately means there is no immediate increase in funding for the Canada Health Transfer.

Contrast that with the Premiers, who regardless of political stripe, are all unanimous that this is a crisis situation and federal health care funding (without strings attached) must occur ASAP.

​My question this week:

Do you support the Canada Health Transfer being increased immediately, or do you agree with PM Trudeau that Ottawa imposed conditions should be attached before increasing any funding? 

I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

​This week Canada’s Auditor General, Karen Hogan, released Audits 9 and 10 that focused on the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Report 9 focused on vaccines. While the audit notes that Canada secured a sufficient supply of vaccine doses, it was also critical over significant levels of vaccine waste. 

The auditor notes that there are approximately 32.5 million doses worth an estimated value of $1 billion that will have end up wasted due to not being administered or redistributed elsewhere prior to the expiry date.

Report 10 focused on COVID benefit payments. Here the Auditor General found several areas of serious concern. For example, she found there have been $4.6 billion of benefit payments paid to ineligible individuals.

The AG further estimates that a minimum of $27.4 billion in other benefit payments must be further investigated to determine proper eligibility.

The AG’s audit also found concerns with subsidy programs that were targeted to businesses.

As one example, the AG stated that potentially as many as 50,000 businesses may have received emergency wage subsidy payments (CEWS) in total value of$9.87 billion. These businesses may have also been ineligible. 

Previously some media organizations have published stories of publicly traded companies that continued to pay executive bonusses, while at the same time collecting CEWS support from taxpayers.

Overall, the Auditor General notes that the government using “attestation” from businesses and individuals resulted in many situations where benefits were paid to those who were ineligible.

While the Government conceded this would be a foreseeable problem at the time, it also committed to doing a more thorough review and vetting of applicants after the fact.  

Here the Auditor General has been critical and notes the Government has presented no formal plan of action on this 'thorough review and vetting'. 

This raises the question how much of this potentially misspent money will ever be repaid to taxpayers.

Currently the Government of Canada has reported that it has collected just $2.3 billion from those who did not qualify for the benefits.

How much more will be collected remains unknown.

There is also the added challenge that the Trudeau Liberal Government has thus far not accepted the findings of the Auditor General’s report as is commonly the response from government. 

In Question Period this week the Minister of National Revenue, Diane Lebouthillier, stated that: “the CRA does not agree with the Auditor General's calculations concerning recipients who were not eligible for the wage subsidy. The CRA's actual audits indicate that compliance with the subsidies was high and that the Auditor General's figure is exaggerated. This is not the Auditor General's fault. We all know that she was pressured by the opposition to produce this report.”

For the record none of the opposition parties have any influence or involvement over how the Auditor General conducts an audit or what the findings may or may not be. 

There was a time when citizens were not supportive or even outraged if the government was not careful and prudent in the spending of tax dollars. 

However, in this case, by allowing for attestation instead of verification, the Trudeau Liberal Government was taking applicants at their word that they were eligible for funding.

My question this week:

What are your thoughts on the government's use of an attestation in delivering timely support programs?

​I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.