Ottawa is wondering why the rubes are mad. 

People are hurting. But the anger comes from a deeper sense of being ripped off. 

Taxes and regulations are making it hard to put food on the table. Politicians and bureaucrats are misleading us. They’re wasting our money and not being honest about how it’s spent. And they’re showering themselves with bonuses and raises no matter how bad of a job they’re doing. 

The federal government is raising five taxes this year. The Canada Pension Plan tax, Employment Insurance tax, the carbon tax and alcohol taxes are going up. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is imposing a second carbon tax through fuel regulations. The government also spent $450,000 studying and promoting a home equity tax.

Trudeau promised that “we are not going to be saddling Canadians with extra costs … the last thing Canadians need is to see a rise in taxes right now.” This isn’t the only time the government misled taxpayers.

Trudeau’s former environment minister said the government had “no intention” to raise the carbon tax after 2022. The carbon tax is now increasing to 37 cents per litre of gas by 2030. 

The Trudeau government claims “families are going to be better off” with the carbon tax and rebates. Politicians continue making this claim even though the Parliamentary Budget Officer shows it’s incorrect. The average family will be out hundreds of dollars this year even after the rebates.

If politicians were serious about fighting misinformation, they would stop misleading taxpayers. 

Politicians are raising taxes to paper over the wasteful spending. The federal government spent $8,800 on a sex toy art exhibit in Germany. It spent $6,000 per night on a single hotel room. It spent $1 million on the governor general’s week-long trip to the Middle East that included a bill for almost $100,000 for airplane food.

Trudeau won’t say who stayed in the $6,000 hotel room.

Governor General Mary Simon said the “meals are not very extravagant on these trips” and “they’re pretty much like airline meals.” The receipts later revealed they enjoyed beef Wellington, beef carpaccio, stuffed pork tenderloin, among other fancy feasts.

Big business is also on the take. The government announced $295 million for the Ford Motor Company, $12 million for Loblaw, $420 million for Algoma Steel and $372 million for Bombardier.

People skipped meals because of the regulations and inflation coming from governments. Politicians and bureaucrats won’t even skip a raise. 

Members of Parliament took three pay raises since the beginning of COVID-19. A total of 312,825 federal bureaucrats received a raise. There were no pay cuts. 

The government doled out $361 million in bonuses during the pandemic. All while departments failed to meet half of their objectives.

The Bank of Canada failed to keep inflation low and still handed out $45 million in bonuses and raises.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has “one goal: housing affordability for all.” Canadians couldn’t afford homes in 2020 and 2021. The CMHC still gave its employees nearly $60 million in bonuses and raises.

Destination Canada is a Crown corporation dedicated to promoting Canadian tourism. It gave employees bonuses and raises even though tourists weren’t allowed to come to Canada.

VIA Rail handed out bonuses, raises and lavish executive pay while it lost hundreds of millions and took a taxpayer bailout. 

The CBC handed out $51 million in bonuses and raises during the pandemic. 

If politicians don’t want Canadians to be angry, there are simple solutions: stop taking so much money, stop misleading, stop wasting money and stop rewarding failure with our tax dollars.  

This column was originally published in the Toronto Sun on Jan. 16, 2023.