Honesty is the first casualty of a bad budget, and this was not a good one.  Ottawa told all Canadians this budget would allow the country to prosper. It proves they have no idea what is broken in Canada, nor how to fix it.  Throwing band aids here and there solves nothing.

The most serious problems facing the country are the destruction of our medical system and the military.  Across Canada there is an acute shortage of all medical professionals and hospital beds which the budget offers no improvement.   

The military is a mess because of decades of a lack of investment.  Just about all military equipment is too old and falling apart.  Plus, there is no effort to add personnel as there is a shortage of trained people. Ottawa decided to give the military an extra $8b over the next 12 months.  The only problem is they have not decided on how to spend it.  The simplest solution is to talk to the military and ask what they need. Unfortunately, this would be too complicated for the bureaucracy

We are told there is a shortage of homes.  This is nonsense.  The problem is that investment and recreational properties make up the largest number of sales. Investment will be leaving the market because price increases are over. Given how many were purchased for investment, and this market depends on capital gains, there will be an increase in supply. A lower immigration rate would result in huge surplus of homes as well.

The biggest waste of money is the amounts dedicated to EVs.  If EV’s are the future, then why is Ottawa paying large subsidies to the industry? Governments are the only ones investing in EV. For example, Ottawa is taking $69 from every living Canadian to give to General Motors for 2 EV plants in Ontario.  Where is GM’s investment? Good for GM though, when the EV fails, the car companies will be left with up-to-date manufacturing facilities that can easily be retooled to an ICE. As well, Ottawa is going to spend $500m on recharging stations.  If these stations are so efficient and profitable than why are governments and Tesla the only ones building them? 

The government is also bribing buyers by large subsidies.  Not one government has the money to pay for them and the subsidy is very unfair.  In this case, it only benefits those who can afford cars and neglects to help those who cannot.   Expect subsides to near $15,000 per EV because the metals used in making the batteries are soaring in price. Lithium and nickel are up over 400% and 200%, respectively, in just over a year. 

Our useless Environmental Extremist Minister is calling for a bigger increase in carbon taxes which solves zero and makes Canadian manufacturing less competitive. This tax should be axed. Since it came into effect CO2 increased every year, naturally.  Mother Nature and the sun will continue to warm and cool the earth no matter what we do. Current warming will reverse itself when the earth begins another cooling period, which will occur.  This has occurred numerous times throughout the history of the planet.  Today we are technically in the tail end of an ice-age, so the increase in temperature and CO2 is expected.

Fortunately, Ottawa will soon be forced to act as a real government, not just a toy for Justin, who promises everything and delivers next to nothing.  For the first time he will have to support the energy sector.  Without Ottawa acting in the best interest for all Canadians we can expect $3 a litre for our gasoline.  It will be the fault of Ottawa because they have done everything possible to shut down our energy sector.  Ottawa needs the tax revenue from a robust energy sector as well.

Ms. Freeland has no idea on taxation.  She has not clued in that business never pays a cent of taxes.  She cannot figure out the citizen pays for them all through pricing of goods and services. Specifically, the new tax on the banks means every single Canadian will pay more for banking. Taxes are a cost of doing business which is paid for with your after-tax income.  When the cost of doing business increases, so do prices.    

While the budget was not as bad as we expected, there was still no plan laid out. Ms. Freeland should have begun to build a rainy-day fund.  She should have cut the size of Ottawa by half. The current 39 cabinets are overlapping and accomplishing nothing.  Most countries run smoothly with only 10.  She should get rid of the useless carbon tax or call it was it is – a personal income tax. Because of this we rate the budget a failure. Justin as our leader is Canada’s number one problem.  Canada has so much potential and not one person in Ottawa wants to see the country prosper. This budget proves it.

It will be incredibly hard for stock markets to climb with interest rates. Some industries such as energy have a great future because of growing demand.  For the rest of 2022 we expect the TSX to be down between 5 and 10%.  This will be the best in the world as most exchanges are going to be down 25% or more.  We expect all the energy shares in our suggested portfolio to raise their dividends at least once more over the next 12 months.  As we have predicted in the past, dividend growth is, and will be for months to come, your main source of profits in the stock market. The next year or so are going to be tough.  Cash and the blue-chip shares should protect your wealth.