Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is calling on Justin Trudeau’s government to shelve or even reverse the employment insurance tax rate hike that came into effect with the new year.
The Conservative Party calculates that reversing this hike would save the average Canadian family $700 by the end of the year, in a year that will likely be marked by steadily rising consumer prices.
“Inflation anxiety, endless lockdowns and upheavals in the daily routines of Canadian families are turning a nation from optimists to pessimists,” O’Toole said.
Since January, the maximum insurable earnings (MRI) have increased from $56,300 to $60,300, and a rate changing from 1.18% to 1.20%.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) recently pointed out that Quebecers with an income of $40,000 or more in 2022 will have to pay an additional $145 to the Régie des rentes du Québec (RRQ).
Added to this new tax rate is the increase in the carbon tax, which will increase the cost from 8.85 to 11.05 cents per liter of gasoline in most Canadian provinces. However, this does not apply to Quebec, which has its own cap and trade system.
Ambiguity on the convoy of truckers
Moreover, questioned on several occasions about the convoy of truckers who plan to go to Ottawa to demonstrate against the imposition, last week, of the vaccine to cross the border into Canada, Erin O’Toole did not want to take clear stance.
“As a leader, it’s not up to me to support a demonstration or a convoy,” he said.
He argued that vaccination was the best way out of the pandemic, but that the Liberal government’s decision to mandate vaccination for all truckers in the country would only make problems with supply chains worse. He said he feared seeing empty counters in grocery stores across the country.
Some MPs from his own benches, however, expressed solidarity with the protesting truckers on social media.
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