Date of publication: 07 Apr 2022 • 4 hours ago • 4 minutes reading • 18 Comments In 2020, a mysterious fuel spot on the Nootka Sound was found in the wreck of the MV Schiedyk, a cargo ship that sank in 1968. Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS / HO – Shipwreck Response on Bligh Island
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The Canadian federal government spends about $ 1 million every 60 seconds. Therefore, every budget day it is inevitable to overlook certain line items. Below, National Post’s Tristin Hopper enters some of the most easily forgotten sections of the 2022 Budget.
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Duty free sperm
It’s no secret that Canadians are not great at having babies. In the last count, the birth rate was about 1.5 babies per woman, much lower than the rate required to maintain our current population. The normal solution to this is simply to welcome more immigrants, something Canada does with nearly 400,000 young Canadians each year. But the 2022 budget also included a series of tax breaks for the domestic baby industry. Specifically, tax deductions for surrogate mothers, IVF and expenses related to sperm or egg donation.
Abundant style nuclear reactors
For a government that never stops talking about reducing carbon emissions, the Liberals are known to clearly avoid any reference to nuclear energy. That seemed to change in the 2022 Budget, with a section outlining plans to turn Canada into a global heavy truck for the production of “small modular reactors” – basically, a nuclear power plant that can be loaded on the back of a truck. Natural Resources Canada raised $ 70 million to research tiny reactors, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission raised $ 50 million to study how to make sure they do not explode.
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A wine tax that the federations tried really hard to avoid
Deep in Budget 2022 is a rare example of a tax that the federal government has worked hard to avoid. Canada imposes excise duty of 52 cents per bottle on wine, but the tax does not apply if the wine is Canadian-made. This angered the rest of the wine world (especially Australia), which raised the issue with the World Trade Organization to overturn Canada’s “protective” wine tax. The Australians won, so from this year the BC shiraz bottle will send half a dollar to the federal coffers.
Almost cheaper beer
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For years, wine and non-alcoholic beverages were exempt from federal excise duty. the government does not treat them differently from other non-alcoholic beverages such as juice or soda. But for some reason no one remembers well, an almost beer like O’Doul’s is still subject to excise duty just like alcoholic beers. The 2022 budget corrects this omission and you can give some credit to NDP MP Richard Cannings, who backed the issue in a private member bill last month.
Sending a Canadian to the moon (somewhat)
Canada had already signed on as a partner for the Lunar Gateway, a NASA-led plan to put a manned space station into orbit around the moon. Just as we did with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, Canada promised to build a robotic arm for this thing. In return, says the 2022 budget, a Canadian could secure a place on the program’s first lunar flight, which “would make Canada just the second deepest manned spacecraft.”
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A really, very expensive old shipwreck
Buried deep in the annexes of Budget 2022 is a creepy epic of an apparent money pit that sank deep into the waters of Canada’s Pacific. In 2020, a mysterious fuel spot on the Nootka Sound was found in the wreck of the MV Schiedyk, a cargo ship that sank in 1968. At the time, the federals estimated that the cost of absorbing any remaining diesel fuel would be around € 6 million. dollars. A line item in the most recent budget shows that costs have skyrocketed to $ 33 million – an increase of more than 400 percent.
More money for the dairy cartel
Remember supply management? The federal program that imposes a grid of import and agricultural controls in order to artificially limit the production of eggs and milk to make them more expensive? Do not worry, because this sector will also receive a huge chunk of taxpayers’ money. As Canada expands its stake in free trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the results has been that foreign cheese producers have been more free to sell their product to Canadians. In order not to force the dairy sector to compete with these cheaper foreign products, the federal authorities have so far paid $ 2.7 billion in compensation and promised even more in the 2022 budget.
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A $ 237.2 Million Railway Bypass Around Lac-Mégantic
It has been nine years since an oil train exploded in central Lac-Mégantic, Que., Killing 47 people. Just three years after the disaster, freight trains had the green light to pass through the city again. And with the US now actively demanding more Canadian oil, despite the fact that it has blocked pipelines to transport it, oil shipments to rail are likely to increase. The 2022 budget includes $ 237.2 million to ensure that whatever gets on the rails, at least, will not go through Lac-Mégantic again. By 2028, a railway bypass is expected to be completed that will allow the community to completely drive trains from its city center.
My God, the clichés
Once upon a time, the finance ministers handed over some spreadsheets to the press, made a speech in the House of Commons and that was it. Paul Martin’s famous budget for 1993 – the first in a series that envisioned deep deficit cuts – was a laconic, meaningless 94-page budget. But the 2022 budget, like many of its predecessors in the Trinto government, is almost 300 pages long with clichés, monologues and buzzwords. Some examples … “Everyone has to have a safe and accessible place to call home.” “In Canada, diversity is a fact.” “Canada has been a steadfast defender of the rule-based international order.” “The world economy is changing.”
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