Where does the money come from?
Next week, Canada will announce its budget for the new fiscal year. In the face of sluggish public opinion, the Liberal government can be described as desperately throwing money to save popularity.
After throwing money to support childcare, affordable housing and a renters' fund, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland today launched a $500 million fund to support community health organizations to provide more mental health services to young people.
The budget has not yet been announced, but the federal government has already promised more than $35 billion in new allocations.
Strangely, no one has come out to say exactly where the money is coming from.
You know, Canada is already heavily indebted now. Official figures for February this year show that in the first nine months of FY23/24, the deficit has reached $23 billion, with government spending far exceeding revenues.
In the face of greater costs, there is a lot of talk that Canada will introduce a "rich man's tax". And no government official has come forward to deny either claim.
Today (Tuesday), someone directly asked Fang Huilan whether she would introduce new or higher taxes on wealthier Canadians or Canadian businesses.
Fang Huilan did not answer directly, only said that it is necessary to increase investment in the country and its people now.
In addition, there are rumors that the federal government will impose an "excess profit tax" on large grocery retail businesses, and Fong has not responded positively, saying only that the government will not increase the burden on "hard-working middle-class Canadians".
This makes the so-called "rich" people panic.
On Monday, Yves Giroux, the budget manager of Canada's lower house, said that according to his calculations, if the Liberals wanted to tax the rich, it would be "very delicate" because assets could be easily transferred out of Canada.
As for imposing a tax on excess profits on companies, Giroux said the Liberals must define what they consider to be normal profits and risk investors moving to other industries that are unlikely to be targets for the excess profits tax.
The Liberals will announce the budget next week, and it will be clear whether they will introduce new taxes.
Although Canada is already heavily indebted, government officials are not spending sparingly.
A new investigative article by the National Post pointed out today that Trudeau spent nearly 2 million yuan on his six-day trip to the Indo-Pacific last year, and 200,000 yuan on meals on the plane alone.
In September last year, Trudeau flew to Indonesia, Singapore for visits, and then to India for the G20 summit.
His eldest son, Xavier, followed him all the way, along with 51 other people.
According to the information that was made public, the expenses of the group included more than 190,000 yuan for in-flight catering, 643,000 yuan for aircraft loading and unloading fees and fuel, 422,000 yuan for accommodation, 129,000 yuan for ground transportation and 427,000 yuan for RCMP security fees. Among them, there are also more than 2,500 yuan of official gift fees.
As invoices and reimbursements are still being processed, expenses may go up.
The group booked 53 hotel rooms each in Singapore and Jakarta, and 58 in New Delhi.
Embarrassingly, Canada's nearly 30-year-old Prime Minister's plane suffered a technical malfunction on its return from India and was unable to take off.
But Trudeau refused to return home on an Indian-provided executive plane, Air India One, instead sending a maintenance team from home and eventually sending another plane to bring everyone back to China, at an additional cost.
The bravado of Canadian officials has long been criticized by taxpayer groups.
In 2022, Canada's Governor General Mary Simon and a group of 29 people traveled to Dubai for the World Expo, spending 100,000 yuan on meals on the plane, including fresh flowers, beef wellington, and an unknown amount of lemons and limes.
In addition, a staggering 633 people from Canada traveled to Dubai to attend the 2023 COP28 World Climate Conference, spending 1.4 million yuan. The public information does not say how many of the people in it were paid for by the Canadian government.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Association, said: "The government is in debt and may be able to cool off during these expensive international trips.