Liberal Minority Government 2025 - ???

[IKnowNothing]

OAS at its current formula is absurd. There’s absolutely no reason high income seniors should be receiving federal welfare. OAS is supposed to be a safety net, not a scaffold. This should be one of the single most obvious candidates for significant government savings.

"But the social contract!"

Fun story- the genesis of both the baby bonus (Familly Allowance) and OAS were in immediate post war era social programs.
At the time, and for decades after they legitimately were seen as part of the social contract, with universal distribution. An argument for universality being to not stigmatize the receipt of the funds- they didn't start as targeted welfare.

Then came the late 80's/early 90's and both programs (parts of the social contract for 40 years) were on the chopping block due to fiscal necessity. As it turned out the Grey Power lobby out performed the Toddler Lobby. One program got axed and turned into a niche poverty averting tax credit, one survived unscathed outside of an increased "Recovery Tax" that didn't kick until 2.5 times the average national annual earnings (at the time)

 

[Czech_pivo]

Meanwhile, despite recent (tiny) downsizing efforts, the size of the public sector continues to grow and consume enormous amounts of cash:

More than 1 in 5 Canadians now works for government—and the share is rising​

At 21.8 percent of employment, we are approaching territory last seen before the spending cuts of the 1990s​

When Statistics Canada released the latest Labour Force Survey earlier this month, the headlines were predictable. The unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent. Overall employment edged down by 25,000. The coverage, as it almost always does, mostly stopped there.

But buried several tables into the same release is a figure that deserves considerably more attention. In January 2026, 4.597 million Canadians worked in the public sector—all employees of federal, provincial, and local governments, government agencies, Crown corporations, and publicly funded establishments like schools, universities, and hospitals.

That represents 21.8 percent of everyone employed in Canada. It is a percentage that has been quietly climbing for five years, and it puts Canada on a trajectory back toward territory last occupied before the fiscal consolidations of the 1990s.

The Carney government’s commitment to reduce federal headcount by 40,000 positions has generated considerable debate. And that discussion is worth having. But it addresses only a narrow slice of a much broader shift, one that the monthly labour force data have been documenting in plain sight.

More than 1 in 5 Canadians now works for government—and the share is rising

At 21.8 percent of employment, we are approaching territory last seen before the spending cuts of the 1990s

thehub.ca

So the US sits about 15% of its workforce working for all level's of government.

If the US included all private colleges/universities into their numbers I wonder what % they would be at. As some Colleges/Universities are public and some are private, it means that some are included as government employees and some are excluded.

Also, US military personal are NOT included in the count as US government employees. Do our numbers include CAF personal?

 

[CBH99]

I will vote for a flat percentage tax starting at a pre-defined value and no subsidies for sure. Would eliminate thousands of accountancy positions, thousands of civil servants and innumerous complaint processes with the CRA>

I hadn't thought of that before...

Probably because I don't even think I understood that first sentence.... Huh???


No sarcasm. I THINK I'm understanding what you are saying, but could you break that first sentence down a bit for me please?



(Sorry, just trying to genuinely follow what's being said & that one popped something in my brain)

 

[HavokFour]

Another round of dropping more Trudeau era hang-on's?

Cabinet shuffle talk intensifies as Carney's Liberals look to a majority - The Hill Times

Prime Minister Mark Carney's cabinet is due for an overhaul, say several Liberal MPs, cabinet staffers, and political insiders, and a potential shift to a majority government would significantly change the political dynamics and would likely be reflected in cabinet.

www.hilltimes.com

 

[The Bread Guy]

Noooooooooot a good look on the coach here ....

Carney won’t say whether Michael Ma will face consequences for China forced labour comments

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Liberal MP Michael Ma has apologized for comments he made last week seemingly questioning the issue of forced labour in China, and would not say whether he will face consequences.

www.cp24.com

Carney still attending fundraiser co-hosted by MP who cast doubt on Chinese human-rights abuses

PM says Michael Ma apologized, Canada has strong measures to stop goods made with forced labour from entering the country

www.theglobeandmail.com

Carney says Liberal MP Michael Ma remains in caucus after comments on China’s forced labour

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Liberal MP Michael Ma continues to be part of his party’s caucus.

nationalpost.com

(NatPost, Globe & Mail archived links)

 

[YZT580]

I hadn't thought of that before...

Probably because I don't even think I understood that first sentence.... Huh???


No sarcasm. I THINK I'm understanding what you are saying, but could you break that first sentence down a bit for me please?



(Sorry, just trying to genuinely follow what's being said & that one popped something in my brain)

simply put: everyone pays 20% (as a for instance) of their household gross salary. There are no deductions and no credits except for the number of family members . Lets assume you need 20,000 after taxes as a single person to get by reasonably well; no excessive toys but you are able the rent, a vacation, a car, that type of thing. Therefore you would need an income of 24,000 before your tax level would kick in. If you earned 28,000 then you would pay $5600. Now you get married and have two children. To get by comfortably that would require an income of say $40000. So that would be the base at which you start paying 20%. A person earning $200,000 with a family of 4 would pay 20% of 160,000. Its fair, its simple and the rich actually don't mind it much. Ireland has had that system for years and for a while there tax rate was such that families like The Weston's moved there because it was advantageous compared to what they were paying in Canada.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Noooooooooot a good look on the coach here ....

Carney won’t say whether Michael Ma will face consequences for China forced labour comments

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Liberal MP Michael Ma has apologized for comments he made last week seemingly questioning the issue of forced labour in China, and would not say whether he will face consequences.

www.cp24.com

Carney still attending fundraiser co-hosted by MP who cast doubt on Chinese human-rights abuses

PM says Michael Ma apologized, Canada has strong measures to stop goods made with forced labour from entering the country

www.theglobeandmail.com

Carney says Liberal MP Michael Ma remains in caucus after comments on China’s forced labour

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Liberal MP Michael Ma continues to be part of his party’s caucus.

nationalpost.com

(NatPost, Globe & Mail archived links)

Carney’s stance seems clear to me.

 

[brihard]

Carney’s stance seems clear to me.

I guess it's a bit of a challenging dilemma of deciding which dicks to step on and how hard, in the middle of a trade war.