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Wealth tax, guaranteed basic income on horizon

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s upcoming throne speech on Sept. 23 may very well prove itself to be one of the most important of the modern era, and it should be every bit as desperate as it is ambitious.

And, the federal government’s spring of 2021 budget also promises to be one of the most anticipated sequels to the throne speech of all time.

Lost among all the rancour of the past eight months — with a global pandemic, civil unrest, fallout from the WE Charity scandal leading to a prorogued Parliament (ending a Parliamentary session) courtesy of the prime minister, historical revisionism, calls to defund police and, well, you get the idea — is that this country is in uncharted waters carrying a more-than-enormous deficit in the range of a mind-numbing and record-breaking $343 billion this fiscal year.

All indications point to the throne speech being overtly “green,” while continuing to alienate a large percentage of the middle class.

And, all the while, make no mistake about it, the Liberals plan to continue spending like drunken sailors on shore leave while, politically speaking, they are about to disenfranchise the party from a considerable percentage of the country’s affluent.

The fallout will, in all likelihood, be fairly significant when the Liberals begin to plug the holes leading to tax-shelter havens, and level a long-overdue wealth tax on those too rich to notice in order to cover the cost of borrowing and pay down a deficit this country cannot — in any way, shape or form — maintain.

Mr. Trudeau plans to win back a good many of the votes initially lost through the design and implementation of a guaranteed basic income for all Canadians.

At least the Liberals have that part right, as a wealth tax and guaranteed basic income are long overdue in this country.

And, with so many bold initiatives being alluded to by the prime minister in his throne speech, chances are the Liberals gain a reprieve from any type of non-confidence motion, as interest will be substantial in the particulars, the nuts and bolts if you will, of the initiatives which will be revealed in the 2021 spring budget.

Chances are good that neither the Tories nor the NDP will want to risk voter pushback by forcing Canadians to accept yet another election that nobody wants at this time.

With Trudeau being loathe to cut services of any kind, nor raise taxes for the working class, he has an ally of sorts in NDP house leader Peter Julian, who has said on the record Canada needs to build a tax system that has everyone paying their fair share.

With that in place, Julian sees Canada as having a good shot at managing its record-setting deficit. But that’s the only way it gets done.

Make no mistake about it, there are mega changes coming to our country’s social safety net, taxation system and economic engines.

Whether it will be enough to keep afloat those being hit hardest by the pandemic remains to be seen, but Trudeau is attempting to steer the ship in the right direction.

And making the health of our nation his top priority right now is a refreshing change of pace for our prime minister.