Thoughts on BC Politics and More

This week, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) released the "Digital Services Tax" report, which analyzes the taxation implications of the Trudeau government's efforts to tax specific online companies. The tax would target companies that offer services such as online marketplaces, advertising, media, and user data services. As currently proposed, companies with revenues exceeding $20 million would be subject to a "digital services tax" equivalent to 3% of their revenues. According to the PBO, implementing this digital services tax will generate $7.2 billion in tax revenue over the next five years. This has raised concerns among industry experts and stakeholders. The main problem is that these costs will ultimately be passed on to Canadian users of these services. For instance, many may remember the promise made by the Trudeau Liberal Government that they would not tax Netflix. However, when Prime Minister Trudeau decided to reverse...

Recently, you may have seen a headline stating, “Non-permanent residents in Canada undercounted by one million: CIBC.” My office has received a few inquiries on this topic, as some citizens have expressed concern. For those unfamiliar with how the Canadian immigration process works, there is often confusion when a headline like this arises. People from all over the world come to Canada for various reasons. Some of the most common reasons include international students coming here to study, short-term visitors, and temporary foreign workers who often work in agriculture on our local farms in our region. Generally, these visitors to Canada are known as “Non-Permanent Residents” (NPR) even though they may be visiting Canada under a different type of VISA, permit, or program. Refugees claiming asylum also fall into this category. The recent headlines have arisen due to the chief economist from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) stating that Statistics Canada ...

  In February, I reported that the proposed changes to our federal electoral riding boundaries would impact many of our local electoral regions, including Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola.   At that time, I pointed out that portions of our existing riding could end up in five different British Columbia ridings.   Princeton, Keremeos, Cawston and Hedley would join the proposed riding of Similkameen-West Kootenay, including the city of Penticton and the Penticton Indian Band.   Summerland, Peachland, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, and parts of Kelowna will become part of a new proposed riding called Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna. Merritt and Logan Lake would become part of a new riding called Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola.   Other riding changes will affect riding boundaries in the rest of the Okanagan Valley and beyond.   After that initial proposal was drafted, there was an opportunity for Members of Parliament to submit feedbac...

Alan Forseth ~~ Kamloops, BC ~~ May 14th, 2019 Yesterday, Conservative MP Dan Albas tabled a Private Member's Bill,  As he stated in presenting it to Members of the House of Commons, the Bill (C-447) was one he believed would give Canadians some peace of mind that their property is protected from criminal activity during an evacuation order due to flooding or forest fires. Albas observed that over the past couple of weeks we had seen the very best of Canadians, as people volunteered to help their neighbours struggling with flooding in Ontario, Quebec , and New Brunswick. “ In my home province of British Columbia, I’ve seen the same thing when people are fleeing high water or wildfires are welcomed with open arms into the homes and communities of their fellow Canadians ”, Albas observed before continuing. “ However, some people use disasters as an opportunity to abuse that trust, and prey on the vulnerable through theft and looting ”.  ...

Dealing with the time change is difficult. What is one hour? Seemingly, it should be no trouble at all. But what should be a minor adjustment is not so easy. I wondered if it is even necessary. So, I asked Google. Why daylight savings time? It turns out the original reason it was implemented, more than 100 years ago, was to save energy, and to use daylight more efficiently.  It is always a good thing to burn less coal. But it messes with my internal clock. And, although the haziness only lasts a couple of days, its not a bad idea to consider whether the disruption is worth it. My colleague, B.C. Liberal MLA Linda Larson (Boundary - Similkameen), has tabled a private members' bill three times * in the legislature to keep our clocks at daylight savings time. All three have died on the order papers. It appears the most recent attempt has caught the attention of the government. Personally, I think it's time we consider it. ...

USED WITH PERMISSION : This week, the newly updated Canada Food Guide was released.   The previous guide had been unchanged for 12 years, and so the new food guide takes a very different approach than the previous versions did. Foods are no longer categorized into groups such as ‘dairy’ or ‘meat’ and terms such as ‘beef’ have been replaced by the term ‘protein’. Suggested serving sizes have also been eliminated and instead the guide advises “ notice when you are hungry and when you are full .”   The new guide also recommends more plant based food consumption including an effort to avoid saturated fat, sugars and sodium where possible. Although some disagree with the approach, overall I believe this promotes healthier eating habits. What is new is that guide also makes recommendations on how you should eat and provides some other interesting suggestions. “ Grow, harvest, fish, hunt and prepare food in traditional ways ”, is one such recommendation that may b...