ǿմý

Politics

    • Bloc pension demands at odds with Liberal political strategy, economic plans

    Share

    The government has just weeks to decide if it will meet the $16-billion demand from the Bloc Québécois to stave off an election for a few more months, but the stipulation may be at odds with the political and fiscal plans of the Liberals.

    The Liberals have taken great pains in the last year to mould their political strategy around a sense of injustice among millennials and generation-Z Canadians who feel their work isn't paying off like it did for previous generations.

    While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been touting policies aimed at "fairness for every generation," the Bloc has given him until Oct. 29 to green light spending for its private member's bill to increase old age security for seniors under the age of 75.

    If the government doesn't support the bill by then, Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet says he will enter talks with other parties to bring down the Liberal minority government before the new year.

    "I don't see clearly what the political upside is for the Trudeau Liberals to spend more on seniors," said Andrew Perez, a Liberal strategist with Perez Strategies.

    That does appear to be the only demographic the Liberals are still competitive with, Perez said.

    The younger voters who helped Trudeau soar to popularity in 2015 seem, according to the polls, to have drifted to the right to support Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

    "Liberals historically are always ahead of Conservatives among younger generations. So it's quite an anathema to the Liberal brand, it's quite shocking to see these numbers," he said.

    It will be difficult for any party to stand up in the House of Commons and oppose more money for seniors, said Tyler Meredith, the former lead economic adviser for Trudeau and two finance ministers and a founding partner of the policy advising firm Meredith Boessenkool & Phillips.

    "The challenge is in the implementation and the cost," he said.

    The Liberal government increased old age security payments for people over the age of 75 in 2022, with the intention of targeting the most vulnerable seniors.

    The parliamentary budget officer estimated that increasing old age security those under 75 would cost an additional $16 billion over five years.

    For the Liberals, that's another $16 billion of deficit spending.

    Adding that to the budget, on top of money for housing and other issues the government wants to tackle ahead of the next election, would be difficult, Meredith said.

    "I'm not sure that it is necessarily intergenerationally unfair. I'm just saying I'm not sure it's the most effective use of money," he said.

    Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged new fiscal guardrails last year aimed at limiting spending and deficits. The move came as there was mounting pressure to ensure federal spending doesn't hinder the Bank of Canada's ability to control inflation.

    "When it comes to further support for seniors, we are having good conversations about all possible economic measures with both the Bloc and the NDP," Freeland said last week.

    Seniors' benefits are a major expense for the federal government, and one that has grown significantly over the last year as the population ages: Ottawa spent nearly $70 billion on old age security payments, the guaranteed income supplement and spousal allowance in 2022.

    The Bloc has argued that the decision to increase old age security payments only for people 75 and older was discriminatory.

    But Laval University economics professor Stephen Gordon disagrees, noting older seniors are typically more in need.

    "People who are older than 75, they're much less likely to be able to work if they need to increase their income," Gordon said, adding that older seniors are also more likely to have depleted their savings.

    Gordon said of all the federal government's priorities, giving more money to seniors likely isn't high on the list. He also noted that seniors have lower poverty rates than other age groups.

    "Think of all the other priorities: housing, education, health — my God, health. This is like very, very low in the priorities and federal government finances are getting more and more dodgy," Gordon said.

    According to Statistics Canada, the poverty rate in 2022 for people aged 65 and older was six per cent — lower than the country's overall poverty rate of 9.9 per cent.

    The Liberals don't have long to think about their options. In addition to the Bloc's deadline, they must table a fall economic statement that lays out their spending plans and economic outlook before the end of the year.

    In the meantime, the House of Commons is expected to vote on more confidence motions that could topple the government in the weeks ahead.

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2024.

    IN DEPTH

    Opinion

    opinion

    opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

    When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

    CTVNews.ca ǿմý

    A Halifax-area couple has been ordered to pay nearly $61,000 in damages and $4,000 in court costs after their dog attacked and injured a homecare nurse at their residence in 2016.

    The superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD) has apologized over a message displayed during a professional development day on Wednesday.

    Canada

    • Police north of Toronto have released video of what they’re describing as a violent, targeted robbery in Thornhill, where suspects boxed in the victim’s car and made off with a suitcase filled with cash.

    • One of the B.C. Conservative candidates running in the province's second-largest city has apologized for "completely unacceptable" comments he made about Muslims and Palestinians.

    • A Halifax-area couple has been ordered to pay nearly $61,000 in damages and $4,000 in court costs after their dog attacked and injured a homecare nurse at their residence in 2016.

    • The superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD) has apologized over a message displayed during a professional development day on Wednesday.

    World

    Politics

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    • A newly released trailer for a Calgary-filmed movie features plenty of shots of local landmarks.

    • Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard has abandoned his bid to appeal his 2022 sexual assault conviction before Canada's top court.

    Business

    Lifestyle

    Sports

    Autos

    • video

      video

      Dozens of cars were pulled out of the Detroit River in west Windsor on Tuesday, causing many questions for Windsorites.

    • Mercedes-Benz has partnered up with the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and the provincial government to launch a new “incubator program”. One of the first three locations is Windsor, with the other two going to Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo.

    Local Spotlight

    Jeff Warner from Aidie Creek Gardens in the northern Ontario community of Englehart has a passion for growing big pumpkins and his effort is paying off in more ways than one.

    Saskatchewan’s Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).

    Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.

    A B.C. couple is getting desperate – and creative – in their search for their missing dog.

    Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.

    A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

    Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

    Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

    Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

    • The driver involved in the hit-and-run that killed 19-year-old Damien Seguin in Burnaby, B.C., three years ago has been given a conditional sentence.

    • Mounties on Vancouver Island say they made an unusual seizure during a recent drug trafficking investigation.

    • The Supreme Court judge said there were “a number of problems” with a petition brought forward by a man trying to stamp out the entire Roman Catholic Church.

    • Police north of Toronto have released video of what they’re describing as a violent, targeted robbery in Thornhill, where suspects boxed in the victim’s car and made off with a suitcase filled with cash.

    • Three Toronto police officers have been injured in separate incidents involving alleged stolen vehicles in Etobicoke.

    • Mayor Olivia Chow is defending her handling of protests over the Israel-Hamas war that have rocked the city over the past year, a day after she faced criticism for missing a vigil to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack which sparked the war.

    • More than a month after the Alberta government announced it would be pulling funding for Calgary's Green Line project, Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen says progress has been made.

    • United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) delegates are meeting in Calgary this week to discuss stalled labour negotiations with the province.

    • Calgary police are asking for the public’s assistance to identify two suspects believed to be involved with a shooting that took place in downtown Calgary last week.

    • OC Transpo says moving forward, its Zero Emission Buses (ZEB) program will procure 40-foot e-buses due to limited availability from manufacturers of 60-foot articulated buses.

    • Former Ottawa resident Angelina Armstrong-Mann says it was clear when Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm in Florida Wednesday night—she heard it.

    • The transit service conducted a fare compliance blitz between September 3 and 30, with 12 fare inspectors "active across the transit network, enforcing fare regulations," OC Transpo said.

    • BREAKING

      BREAKING

      A man is in life-threatening condition after being shot in a Laval parking lot Thursday afternoon.

    • A 32-year-old woman from Ile-Bizard is facing jail time after she was found guilty Thursday of driving while impaired by prescription drugs.

    • Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher made a plea Thursday to parents of youth being recruited by criminal gangs: if officers knock on their door with information that their children are headed for trouble, please hear them out.

    • An Edmonton daycare has been shut down after failing to address concerns about unsupervised children, the province said Thursday.

    • The government of Canada will forgo up to $15.2 million in rental fees charged to the municipality of Jasper, Alta., as well as its residents and business owners over the next few years.

    • A controversial casino has been approved for south Edmonton.

    • Doctor Scott Bowen at the Cumberland Regional Hospital in Amherst, N.S is said he is alarmed by the state of Nova Scotia’s emergency rooms.

    • The aurora may be visible in some parts of the Maritimes Thursday night.

    • Hurricane Milton's devastation in Florida impacts Maritimers near and far

    • A woman is speaking out after an assault on a Winnipeg Transit bus sent her and her daughter to the hospital.

    • The superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division (WSD) has apologized over a message displayed during a professional development day on Wednesday.

    • A new report taking a second look at sleep safety in infants found a fundamental shift is needed to prevent babies from unnecessarily dying in their sleep.

    • RCMP say officers have found an abandoned vehicle and seized a firearm connected to an armed robbery in the Whitewood, Sask. area Wednesday night, but are still on the hunt for two suspects.

    • Amid what could be Saskatchewan's tightest election in 17 years, the leader of the NDP is asking voters to set party politics aside and support what's the best course for the province.

    • Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe says he would get tough on those disrupting the public and will shut down nuisance properties if re-elected premier on Oct. 28.

    • Ontario Provincial Police have arrested a Waterloo man who they believe is linked to a group that has been scamming victims across Canada.

    • The City of Guelph is calling its new bylaw, banning encampments in the downtown core, a compassionate and cautious approach to the growing problem in the community.

    • The skills of international students are being put to good use in the Canadian job market, according to a new first-of-its-kind study by University of Waterloo (UW) researchers.

    • Emails obtained by CTV News show a Saskatoon private school embroiled in abuse allegations considered mayoral hopeful Gord Wyant a "friend," but he says he cut off contact when the allegations came to light.

    • The Saskatchewan RCMP is responding to a report of an armed carjacking in Red Pheasant First Nation.

    • Amid what could be Saskatchewan's tightest election in 17 years, the leader of the NDP is asking voters to set party politics aside and support what's the best course for the province.

    • An Ontario man said he feels 'devastated' after learning his identity was stolen to take out two fraudulent loans under his name.

    • A 14-year-old student received non-life-threatening injuries Thursday afternoon in a collision with a vehicle in Chelmsford in Greater Sudbury.

    • At around 9:15 a.m. emergency services responded to reports of a possible stabbing in the area of Oxford Street West and Fiddlers Green Road.

    • Just before 5:00 p.m., police were called to the two vehicle collision on 1st Avenue North between 4th Street and 5th Street NW, in the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie.

    • A blaze which at its peak reached 20 feet in the air had St. Thomas firefighters busy on Thursday.

    • Provincial police say seven people are facing charges after a massive grow operation bust outside Orillia, Ont., where over $2 million in cannabis plants were seized.

    • Police in Barrie are investigating a theft at a convenience store that they say turned violent on Wednesday afternoon.

    • Police are investigating a report of a foiled robbery at a Barrie business allegedly involving several suspects.

    • Brett Iler has pleaded not guilty to six charges of careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act in a collision that killed two people and injured three others.

    • A Harrow mother is advocating for her eight-year-old daughter’s bus stop to be moved, over concerns the current location puts her in harm’s way.

    • The removal of 13 vehicles and one trailer from the Detroit River in Sandwich Town is complete.

    • Mounties on Vancouver Island say they made an unusual seizure during a recent drug trafficking investigation.

    • The federal government is spending $4.9 million to remove a load of heavy oil from a United States military ship that sank off the coast of British Columbia nearly 80 years ago but now poses "significant risk" of a major spill due to deterioration.

    • One of the B.C. Conservative candidates running in the province's second-largest city has apologized for "completely unacceptable" comments he made about Muslims and Palestinians.

    • Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.

    • A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.

    • Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.

    • The Interfaith Food Bank is busy preparing Thanksgiving bundles and has some tips for anyone hoping to cut down on their holiday dinner costs.

    • A weapons complaint that led to the temporary lockdown of two Lethbridge schools Thursday turned out to be no threat, police said in a media release.

    • Thousands more Lethbridge residents will soon be without a family doctor.

    • Sault Ste. Marie Police Service said two people were arrested following a heavy police presence on Chapple Avenue on Thursday.

    • An annual international mining conference is underway in Greater Sudbury, Ont., marking the first time the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Conference of Mining Regions and Cities has been held in North America.

    • Jeff Warner from Aidie Creek Gardens in the northern Ontario community of Englehart has a passion for growing big pumpkins and his effort is paying off in more ways than one.

    N.L.

    Stay Connected
    Follow CTV News