Harper makes friends from the previous government's foes.......through cold political cunning

If like me you are of the view that Jim Flaherty has the creativity of a gnat, you’d be correct. The only creativity he brought to bear in leveling the income trust market with a sledge hammer, was the cold calculated political moves by the Stephen Harper government made in a orchestrated co-ordinated way to silence the “known pockets of resistance”.

It certainly didn’t take much genius to figure out who was going to be negatively disposed to Flaherty’s moves to tamper with Stephen Harper’s solemn election promise, as we had all been to this movie before under the Goodale Consultative Round.

Canada’s Corporate Controlling Elite and their vast control of Canadian media was already assured, as Harper’s move was lobbied for by them, and them alone. CCCE asks. Harper acts. As for the rest of us: Harper Promises. Harper Betrays

As unacceptable and undemocratic as not consulting with the public was, the Harper government did the exact opposite. It was engaged in horse trading before the fact with groups it needed to buy off. CARP had pretty much been rendered useless as a seniors advocacy group on this issue because it was already deep in the pockets of its two main commercial sources of its revenues, namely Power Corporation (through the CARP certified Investment Planning Council representatives and their extensive advertising in CARP’s magazine and website) and ManuLife (through its widespread advertising spend with the CARP media empire aimed at susceptible seniors).

Next to be dealt with, and the means for doing so were:

Silencing the previous government’s known critics:

OTTAWA, November 2, 2006 — The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), today appointed Ms. Margaret Lefebvre as a member of the Council.

"Ms. Lefebvre's experience and knowledge in science and research will bring rich and diverse contributions to the Council as it continues to further its work," said Minister Bernier.

Margaret Lefebvre has had the opportunity to serve on several boards, including the working group to create a national science organization, the Council of Canadian Academies. Ms. Lefebvre is currently the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Income Funds.

Recognized globally for research and innovation, the NRC is a leader in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based economy for Canada through science and technology.

Silencing the previous government’s known critics:

VANCOUVER, November 2, 2006 Vancouver 2010 Chairman Jack Poole welcomed three new federal appointees who attended their first Vancouver VANOC Board meeting today. The Government of Canada announced the following appointments on November 2, 2006: Peter Brown, of Vancouver, BC; Jacques Gauthier, of Montréal, Quebec; and Carol Stephenson, of London, Ontario.

Peter Brown is the Chairman and CEO of Canaccord Capital Corporation

Special carve outs for pension plans: Leveling the playing field? Tax Fairness?

Teachers' response to new federal income trust policy November 1, 2006

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has advocated for a taxation policy on income trusts that does not discriminate against pension funds, and we are pleased to see that this is the case with the government’s announcement yesterday (October 31, 2006).

The reality is that, in a protracted period of low interest rates, it is important to find alternate investments with yields that help make up the difference. Income trusts have allowed us to do that in recent years. The challenge will be to find the investment vehicles that will replace the income and cash flow that income trusts have represented to us, but we are confident that our investment team will find them. The four-year implementation period for this new policy will enable us to gradually make any necessary adjustments to our portfolio.

There is good news for pensioners and other seniors over age 65 in this new policy, which will help take the sting out of the new tax policy on income trusts for them: the age exemption tax credit will be increased by $1,000 and income splitting will be permitted.

Special carve outs for pension plans: Leveling the playing field? Tax Fairness?

November 1, 2006: Senior Communications spokesperson for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ian Dale, made comments to the press that are supportive of the Harper Government’s reneging of an election promise never to tax income trusts. Evidently the CPPIB felt it was in a position to comment on such a complex matter. In the space of a few short hours. No doubt they already had the “lowdown” from their government masters.