National
Ontario community urged to change the name of a street named after Nazi battleship captain
From B’nai Brith Canada
B’nai Brith Canada is urging a Greater Toronto Area municipality to rename a street dedicated to a Nazi battleship captain who fought in the Second World War.
Langsdorff Drive, located in Ajax, Ontario, was named in 2007 after Hans Langsdorff, who commanded Nazi German forces at the 1939 Battle of the River Plate. The Town of Ajax is named after the HMS Ajax, a British ship that took part in the engagement.
After losing the encounter, Langsdorff scuttled his ship off the coast of Argentina, allowing its crew to escape rather than face the British fleet again. He then shot himself, leaving a suicide note in which he remarked: “I shall face my fate with firm faith in the cause and the future of the nation and of my Führer.”
B’nai Brith’s position is that there is no room for monuments or other dedications in Canada honouring Nazi combatants or their collaborators.
In July, Ajax Town Council voted to rename Graf Spee Lane, another street in the municipality named after the Admiral Graf Spee — Langsdorff’s ship at the Battle of the River Plate. It is unclear why the name of the ship was deemed inappropriate while the name of its captain was allowed to remain.
“There is no place for streets honouring Nazi combatants in Canada,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “While Hans Langsdorff was attacking Allied shipping in the South Atlantic, his comrades were murdering Jews and Poles en masse in occupied Poland. These were inseparable components of the overall Nazi war effort.”
In 2017, B’nai Brith worked with the town of Lachute, Que. to prevent a local ceremony honouring a Nazi pilot. Later that same year, B’nai Brith was asked by local residents in Puslinch, Ont. to convince the local township to rename “Swastika Trail.” Though unsuccessful at the time, residents continue to push for change in Puslinch.
Finally, on July 27 of this year, B’nai Brith joined forces with the Canadian Polish Congress to call for the removal of monuments honouring Nazi collaborators in Edmonton and Oakville, Ont.
B’nai Brith also recently published a detailed policy paper on the alarming issue of Nazi glorification in Canada.
An online petition is circulating against Langsdorff Drive in Ajax. B’nai Brith will continue to provide updates as this campaign unfolds.
From the Fraser Institute
By Alex Whalen and Jake Fuss
Capital taxes are among the most economically-damaging forms of taxation precisely because they reduce the incentive to innovate and invest.
Amid a federal budget riddled with red ink and tax hikes, the Trudeau government has increased capital gains taxes. The move will be disastrous for Canada’s growth prospects and its already-lagging investment climate, and to make matters worse, research suggests it won’t work as planned.
Currently, individuals and businesses who sell a capital asset in Canada incur capital gains taxes at a 50 per cent inclusion rate, which means that 50 per cent of the gain in the asset’s value is subject to taxation at the individual or business’ marginal tax rate. The Trudeau government is raising this inclusion rate to 66.6 per cent for all businesses, trusts and individuals with capital gains over $250,000.
The problems with hiking capital gains taxes are numerous.
First, capital gains are taxed on a “realization” basis, which means the investor does not incur capital gains taxes until the asset is sold. According to empirical evidence, this creates a “lock-in” effect where investors have an incentive to keep their capital invested in a particular asset when they might otherwise sell.
For example, investors may delay selling capital assets because they anticipate a change in government and a reversal back to the previous inclusion rate. This means the Trudeau government is likely overestimating the potential revenue gains from its capital gains tax hike, given that individual investors will adjust the timing of their asset sales in response to the tax hike.
Second, the lock-in effect creates a drag on economic growth as it incentivises investors to hold off selling their assets when they otherwise might, preventing capital from being deployed to its most productive use and therefore reducing growth.
And Canada’s growth prospects and investment climate have both been in decline. Canada currently faces the lowest growth prospects among all OECD countries in terms of GDP per person. Further, between 2014 and 2021, business investment (adjusted for inflation) in Canada declined by $43.7 billion. Hiking taxes on capital will make both pressing issues worse.
Contrary to the government’s framing—that this move only affects the wealthy—lagging business investment and slow growth affect all Canadians through lower incomes and living standards. Capital taxes are among the most economically-damaging forms of taxation precisely because they reduce the incentive to innovate and invest. And while taxes on capital do raise revenue, the economic costs exceed the amount of tax collected.
Previous governments in Canada understood these facts. In the 2000 federal budget, then-finance minister Paul Martin said a “key factor contributing to the difficulty of raising capital by new start-ups is the fact that individuals who sell existing investments and reinvest in others must pay tax on any realized capital gains,” an explicit acknowledgement of the lock-in effect and costs of capital gains taxes. Further, that Liberal government reduced the capital gains inclusion rate, acknowledging the importance of a strong investment climate.
At a time when Canada badly needs to improve the incentives to invest, the Trudeau government’s 2024 budget has introduced a damaging tax hike. In delivering the budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said “Canada, a growing country, needs to make investments in our country and in Canadians right now.” Individuals and businesses across the country likely agree on the importance of investment. Hiking capital gains taxes will achieve the exact opposite effect.
Authors:
National
Canada’s Governor General slammed for hosting partisan event promoting Trudeau’s ‘hate speech’ bill
From LifeSiteNews
Mary Simon, Canada’s supposed non-partisan head of state, appeared to be supporting a Liberal government bill that will further regulate the internet.
Governor General Mary Simon, who serves as Canada’s official non-partisan head of state and representative of King Charles III, has taken heat for hosting a conference supporting a new federal government bill that could lead to large fines or jail time for vaguely defined online “hate speech” infractions.
On April 11, Simon hosted an event titled “The Governor General’s Symposium: Building a Safe and Respectful Digital World” at her Rideau Hall residence, with the goal to “bring together individuals who experience online violence and experts from across the country to share their experiences, explore solutions, and create allyship and networks of resilience.”
The guest list for those invited included those supportive of Liberal Minster Attorney General Arif Virani’s Bill C-63, or Online Harms Act. Some of the invited guests included former Global News reporter Rachel Gilmore, LGBTQ activist Fae Johnstone, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, and Ottawa school trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth. No members of the Conservative Party or independent journalists were invited.
After news spread of the event, which Simon herself posted about on X, many took to social media to voice concerns over Simon hosting the event.
“Can you imagine the Queen having a seminar at Buckingham Palace to talk about a bill before the House of Commons in England? That would be outrageous. That’s what @GGCanada Mary Simon just did,” said political commentator Tom Korski on a CBC radio show.
Another X user @IMHeatherAmI wrote, “Trudeau has corrupted everything.GG Mary Simon is abusing her power by “promoting contentious Liberal bills that are trying to be passed in Parliament.”
Rideau Hall gave no comment that Canada’s supposed non-partisan head of state appeared to be supporting a Liberal government bill that will further regulate the internet.
“The Governor General is non-partisan and apolitical,” Rideau Hall said in a statement.
In comments sent to the media about apparent conflicts of interest, a spokesperson for Simon said that she will keep advocating for “digital respect.”
Conservative Party spokesman Sebastian Skamski observed that Simon should be “ashamed” for “politicizing and exploiting” the office of Governor General, which is supposed to be completely non-partisan.
The Online Harms Act was introduced in the House of Commons on February 26 by Virani and was immediately blasted by constitutional experts as troublesome.
Bill C-63 will modify existing laws, amending the Criminal Code as well as the Canadian Human Rights Act, in what the Liberals claim will target certain cases of internet content removal, notably those involving child sexual abuse and pornography.
However, the bill also seeks to police “hate” speech online with broad definitions, severe penalties, and dubious tactics.
Details of the new legislation to regulate the internet show the bill could lead to more people jailed for life for “hate crimes” or fined $50,000 and jailed for posts that the government defines as “hate speech” based on gender, race, or other categories.
The bill also calls for the creation of a digital safety commission, a digital safety ombudsperson, and a digital safety office.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has said Bill C-63 is “the most serious threat to free expression in Canada in generations. This terrible federal legislation, Bill C -63, would empower the Canadian Human Rights Commission to prosecute Canadians over non-criminal hate speech.”
JCCF president John Carpay recently hand-delivered a petition with 55,000-plus signatures to Canada’s Minister of Justice and all MPs.
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