By Staff
September 27, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
The Minister of Finance is going to be in Oakville DAY evening, supported by the two Burlington MP’s and the MP from Oakville.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, goes face-to-face with Finance Minister Bill Morneau
The event is set up as a Town hall with Minister Morenau on Proposed Tax Changes – Friday, September 29th
Pam Damoff, Karina Gould and Kevin Flynn will be in the room that is going to be packed beyond capacity.
One Burlington resident tried to register and was told that the event was SOLD OUT.
Kevin Flynn –
Pam Damoff, MP for Oakville Burlington North
Karina Gould, MP and Minister of Democratic Institutions
There are a lot of people who are not buying into the federal government’s plans to change the tax code and disallow feature of that code that have allowed high earners to move some of their income to family members who pay a lower tax rate.
Oakville and Burlington certainly have a high number of those high earners – should be a boisterous evening.
Event takes place at: Unifor 707 Galaxy Hall, 475 North Service Road East, Oakville, ON, L6H 1A5
Doors open at 8:00 AM, Town Hall meeting from 8:30-9:30 AM
We will report for you.
I am one of the people who was surprised to find the meeting was sold out. I emailed 66 MP’s asking if they were going to undertake a consultation, only 7 replied. Two local MP’s, Minister Gould and Bob Bratina had already taken the bull by the horns (good for them). I then received an invitation signed by MP’s Damoff, Gould and Oliver. I was able to watch the Morneau session via Facebook and am just as happy I do not attend, as the same issues were surfaced. To set the record straight, these meetings are not consultations in the true sense of the word. The two sessions in my estimation were venting sessions, a true consultative approach would entail people sitting down, face to face to discuss in detail (and there are many of them) how this tax is “unfair”. The so called “consultation” period ends Oct 5, only 75 days after it was introduced during the doldrums of summer. The last time the tax code was adjusted (1972) a Royal Commission was struck by Prime Minister Trudeau. I don’t think this government is listening and has no intention of backing off on their plan. One participant asked Minister Morneau why he was going after $250 million and income splitting (something he derogatorily refers to as income sprinkling) for small business while leaving $800 million on the table for stock option recipients and tax splitting for government employees. Morneau was called out for erringly portraying small business owners as tax cheats, but did not apologize. Each participant was granted one minute, after a late start and where too much time was consumed with the needles introduction of the MP’s and Morneau, we all know who they are. One last thing many spaces were reserved and maybe that is why it was “sold out”. I have no doubt that a very small number of business owners are taking advantage of tax law as it stands today, my feeling is these changes, which have not been carefully considered, are politically motivated, the PM did say he would take this on, and throws out the wheat with the chaff.
If the reaction is anything like the Town Hall meeting sponsored by Karina Gould a few weeks ago the Minister can expect a well-informed gathering with probing, incisive questions. Glib remarks, selfies, smiles and one-liners won’t cut it with this audience, especially given the large number of financial advisors, tax lawyers and accountants who will likely be attending.
If the Minister has any smarts he would be wise to start the meeting with an apology for his earlier off-handed, offensive remarks that characterized small business owners and professionals who use various tax options as tantamount to tax evaders. A lot of small business people took umbrage with this remark.
For a government that keeps trying to position itself as a friend of the middle class the Minister and the PM display a shocking lack of realism and understanding of how ordinary citizens live and work. Not surprising a guess considering their privileged upbringing.