Saturday October 21, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 21, 2017

Bill Morneau bristles at questions about personal finances

Finance Minister Bill Morneau dodged questions about his use of numbered companies to hold investments Friday, suggesting he does not have to defend his personal financial choices to journalists.

September 22, 2017

After a week of questions about his own fortune, Morneau showed signs of exasperation during an event in Waterloo, Ont., where he was pitching the government’s “step back” on proposed changes  to the small business tax regime.

Morneau batted away a question about why he held some of his investments in an Alberta company rather than one domiciled in Ontario, where he lives.

“So, is the question why are they numbered companies and they don’t have names?” he said with a shrug.

“Seriously, what I’ve done is expose all my assets to the ethics commissioner. The process we have in our country isn’t that I report to journalists on my personal situation. It’s that I report to the ethics commissioner and I make sure she fully understands my situation so we can get to the recommendations.”

Owning investments in a personal holding company can provide various tax and non-tax benefits. Income in an operating company can face a lower tax rate by using small business deductions, for example.

Morneau said he has now agreed to do more than what the commissioner, Mary Dawson, recommended he do when he took office.

Morneau did not place his considerable holdings in a family company — the publicly traded human resources firm Morneau Shepell — in a blind trust because Dawson had only recommended the creation of an “ethical screen” to ensure he wasn’t making policy decisions to his own financial benefit. The screen was to be administered by Morneau’s chief of staff. (Source: CBC News) 

 

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Friday October 20, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 20, 2017

‘Dear Jeff…’: Trudeau sends personal pitch to Amazon CEO

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making a personal pitch to Amazon to open its second headquarters north of the border, marketing Canada’s cities as “progressive, confident and natural homes” for the company.

January 21, 2016

The deadline to submit bids to Amazon ended Wednesday at midnight, and Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary are all expected to be in on the scramble, among many others.

In a two-page letter dated Oct. 13 that starts “Dear Jeff,” Trudeau gives Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos the full sales pitch on Canada — though diligently avoids tipping his hand toward one city or another.

The letter puts a heavy emphasis on Canada as an open, tolerant and multicultural society, before going on to promote the business climate and educated workforce.

December 1, 2016

“As the first country in the world to adopt a policy of multiculturalism, we have shown time and time again that a country can be stronger not in spite of its differences, but because of them,” it says.

“Diversity is a fact, but inclusion is a choice. Canada has made its decision and our cities have become windows to the world.”

The letter specifically mentions Canada’s efforts to attract skilled immigrants — a noted contrast to the immigration restrictions U.S. President Donald Trump has put in place that have prompted protests from American tech leaders. (Source: National Post) 

 

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Thursday October 19, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 19, 2017 

For the Trudeau Liberals, a mid-term malaise

At mid-term, the Liberal government is stuck.

September 19, 2017

A mid-term malaise is not rare, but no new government in recent memory had ascended to power with greater expectations than Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

Now, it needs to recast itself as the progressive government Canadians thought they had elected in 2015, or face significant political threats on both of its flanks.

This is the time in the life of a government when it must face the fact that lofty aspirations have flown head first into the rock face of reality, and much of that will be on display this week as Trudeau meets U.S. President Donald Trump.

The handling of the bilateral Canada-U.S. file had been one of the triumphs of the Trudeau government, but all the strategic nurturing in the world hasn’t stopped the U.S. from throwing NAFTA proposals on the table which many believe are poison pills meant to kill a deal, or from targeting the Canadian aerospace industry with a ridiculous 300 per cent tariff.

September 15, 2017

Nowhere has the gap between expectations and delivery been wider than on Indigenous reconciliation, part of a sweeping series of pledges Trudeau made on the campaign trail.

Another Liberal promise, electoral reform, was cynically tossed overboard after a long series of sham hearings and questionnaires.

Trudeau’s finance minister, Bill Morneau, has stumbled in trying to sell promised tax reforms, underestimating the opposition from small business and farmers and handing Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and his Conservatives a ready-made cause. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Wednesday October 18, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 18, 2018

Mayor getting ‘antsy’ about LRT holdup

Council asked the province back in August to let HSR and its Amalgamated Transit Union workers operate and maintain the $1 billion provincially-funded light rail system.

Despite follow-ups with the Ministry of Transportation, Eisenberger says the city still hasn’t received a response or even a sense of when it might arrive.

The mayor says he’s starting to get “antsy” about the holdup and the impact it could have on the project’s timelines.

A contract was expected to be signed with a private sector consortium around June 2018, with major construction getting underway in 2019.

The request for qualifications (RFQ) process to identify prospective bidders was concluded in April. The next stage in selecting a builder is sending out a request for proposals (RFP).

But the RFP can’t go out until the province responds to the city’s request. If the answer is a full or partial yes, that changes the parameters of the already completed RFQ, which probably means starting all over again, adding months to the timeline.

That’s frustrating because, as Eisenberger notes, until the project gets to the RFP process, the community won’t know what LRT operating cost will be.

“I’m anxious to keep the process moving,” says Eisenberger.

The mayor says when he asks the province why it’s taking so long, all he gets is “bureaucratic talk.” He’s being diplomatic. As someone who’s asked the same question, I call it gobbledygook.

Coun. Sam Merulla, who originally predicted the province would respond quickly, shares Eisenberger’s concern that the delay is knocking the legs out from under the timelines.

Like Eisenberger, Merulla doesn’t care that the delay means a contract might not be signed before next year’s provincial and municipal elections. Both figure LRT will be an election issue regardless of how far along the process is. For Merulla this is about the province being upfront with Hamilton and showing “leadership.”

“They need to move on it. If they reject it, we can just move forward. By delaying the answer, they’re only compounding the problem.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Saturday October 14, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 14, 2017

The Next Big Thing in the Cannabis Industry

 
Canada has a pot problem, as Quartz Media recently warned us, but it’s a lucrative problem to have. One thing holding back this $8-billion market Forbes Magazine, April 13, 2017) is supply, and one little-known company plans to be the steward of it in a big way.  
 
When Canada legalizes recreational marijuana in less than a year, in line with a bill pushed through by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, legal supply is likely to be limited. There may not even be enough even if we are only considering medical marijuana usage. Keeping an eye on Insys Therapeutics (NASDAQ:INSY), Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE:SMG), Zynerba Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZYNE), Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE: IIRP), Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA).
 
The supply picture is so fantastically tight that Health Canada has had to streamline the approval process for growers because medical marijuana users have tripled in number since last year alone, according to Quartz. When it becomes legal recreationally, a Deloitte report estimates the economic  impact will be worth $22.6 billion annually in other words, more than the combined sales of beer, wine and spirits.
 
Meet Cannabis Wheaton the world’s first cannabis streaming company, backed by a powerhouse team, with the biggest industry trailblazer leading the way.
 
Not only is Cannabis Wheaton jumping into a huge potential market where supply is forecast to struggle to reach demand, but it’s offering a lifeline to new and existing growers who need financing to get off the ground fast.
 
Producers need a miracle grow strategy, and Cannabis Wheaton is stepping in to fill the gap with a ‘royalty’ business model that is new to this market.
 
And for investors, the major upside is that this model removes the risks associated with putting all your money into a single-crop producer.
 
Cannabis Wheaton is intending to ‘stream’ pot, and 15 partners have already been lined up, along with 1.4 million square feet of growing acreage. (Source: Markets Insider) 

 

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