Once again Trudeau has declared war against those who use Canadian tax laws to save themselves some money.  He already changed the capital gains tax, now his latest target is the Trust because he has decided these people do not pay enough taxes and has ordered a full review of all laws with the aim of increasing taxes.  These legal entities are necessary to attract many essential services such as doctors, dentists, lawyers and owners of small businesses.  

No doubt the new rules when implemented will be confusing for businesses and users.  It will mean more expense for trust holders because many will have to go to court to get rulings on the new laws.  With a shortage of judges, it could easily take years to settle any new financial laws.  

This will be another blow to attracting foreign investors and doctors who might wish to move to Canada.  Numerous companies have indicated they want to come to Canada but for now refuse to because of the mess Trudeau is making. By changing the existing laws, the Liberals are essentially exacerbating some of the problems they created.    

Since he became Prime Minister, Trudeau has doubled our national debt.  He has created more debt than all previous Prime Ministers in Canada combined.  Ottawa this year will pay out $54b in interest payments, or $1,371 per every child and adult.  This money creates only a handful of jobs and results in wealth for very few.  You can expect a further increase in interest next year as Ottawa will have to borrow more money to pay for the continuing increase in debt.  

Canada’s housing mess is the fault of Trudeau. Nobody else. Last year’s official figure was 1.3m new immigrants came to Canada, yet only 200,000 housing units were built. It is clear not one Liberal or NDP member passed grade 5 math.  

Trudeau recently announced a cap of 488,000 immigrants for 2024.  This figure was hit last month and then he quietly raised the number to 500,000 for both 2024 and 2025.  Unless Trudeau closed the borders in July, by the end of the year the number will be close to 900,000. Meanwhile there will be only 250,000 units of housing built, at best.

Government policy on housing is hurting the sector. BC made most short-term rentals illegal across the province. It makes sense socially, but the policy was like hitting a switch and has ended up doing more damage that good. Rather than banning them altogether on a certain date and hurt the tourism industry, they should have phased the service out overtime giving the hotel industry time to fill the demand.   Socially it was a smart move to ban short-term rentals, but it is causing pain for the private investor.

It is these people who are the biggest builders of new housing. This is critical because they take all the financial risk and manage it to make a profit and limit losses whereas governments do not care if they make money. 

Trudeau is determined to make Canada poor and continue to make Canada even less attractive to foreign investors.  It is time for Ottawa to grow up.  Canada has the potential to be the most prosperous country in the world.  Yet today’s ruling politicians all agree to make Canada a third world country.