Just when you thought the Trudeau clan could not be anymore out of touch they continue to surprise.

They are not clueing into what is causing the housing shortage.  There is not a shortage of money, but the opposite.  The problem is there is a severe lack of tradespeople to build the one-million units needed to fill demand.  Plus, there is too much red tape to get the necessary permits.  For housing it can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take up to a year just to break ground. 

There are labor issues across the whole economy. We are also short of all medical professionals. As things now stand we can expect a tradesperson shortage for the next two years, but for the medical field at least until the end of this decade.  That is if governments create more school seats to train people starting in January. Making it it easier for foreign professionals and tradespeople to practice in Canada would also go a long way. But do not count on it under the current government. 

The Liberal solution is to raise taxes which has the opposite effect of their intention. Our banks are a prime example. They are responsible for writing the mortgages, but Trudeau has placed a special tax on excess profits.  This means there is less money to lend out and less dividend increases which hurt investors and pension funds. From an investment perspective, this tax alone is the reason for the bulk of losses by the big banks since they are writing down their mortgage portfolio as much as possible to avoid paying the tax. Their cashflow statements are strong and there will be large profit increases once they write up the value of their mortgage portfolio when the tax is eliminated with Trudeau.

Now they want to raise taxes on grocery stores because they are making money, albeit a small 3% profit margin.  Yet the grocery stores must pass on the rising costs of production, transportation, rising electricity costs, and now potentially higher taxes onto the consumer. Our politicians do not understand that not one business pays a cent of taxes because the expense is included in the price of the product. This results in an indirect tax on the consumer.

Over one trillion investment dollars has left our energy sector alone under Trudeau. Today it requires up to ten years just to get the permits to break ground for a major project. This is the longest wait time in the world.  As a result, nothing gets done and investment leaves to where it is wanted. A prime example is the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario. It is full of metals needed for EV batteries but there is not even an all-season highway built to develop mines.  Given the Liberal climate agenda, one would think this would be a priority.

Canada’s ‘do nothing attitude’ is now destroying the country.  As we have mentioned numerous times in the past, Canada needs politicians who solve problems, not make them.  Talk is cheap, but very costly. This is what causes recessions and why Canada has a declining standard of living.