The Canada Revenue Agency headquarters Connaught Building is pictured in Ottawa on Aug. 17, 2020.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Dollar here, billion there
Re Review Of Billions Of COVID-19 Wage Benefits Not Worth The Effort, CRA Head Says (Jan. 27): Several years ago, I was audited by the Canada Revenue Agency. The final amount owing was $57.12 more than I had already paid.
If this amount was worth an audit, it is hard to believe that more than $15-billion is not worth the same effort. Where are the CRA’s priorities?
Catherine Walsh Brant, Ont.
We were stunned to just receive a Canada Revenue Agency notice that they had reassessed our son’s 2019 tax return that he filed on March 20, 2020. It states he owes $557.62 which includes $66.79 in arrears and interest, because it took the CRA that long since he filed to reassess it.
Our son is in his last year of university and his student summer earnings in 2019 were $6,656.17. Perhaps the CRA would consider that it is not worth the time to collect his hard-earned wages?
William Garrett Burlington, Ont.
Two-way street
Re What The Convoys Left Behind (Jan. 27): The two men marking the one-year anniversary of the Ottawa convoy seem like decent men. I don’t agree with many of their views, but I have a lot of sympathy for their desire to push back against forces that threaten to overwhelm our lives.
The convoy may have been a “transformative life experience.” But it also inflicted genuine harm on the people of Ottawa. One man rightly asserts that we should be honest about the mistakes we make in life, but he and many of his fellow protestors seem less than honest by refusing to acknowledge that harm.
Surely we must “seek first to understand, then to be understood,” but I’m not seeing a lot of that from protestors. Without that, how can we enter into any kind of respectful dialogue?
Neil Macdonald Toronto
Build where?
Re Federal Environment Minister Might Intervene In Ontario’s Greenbelt Development Plan (Jan. 27): Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault can’t have his cake and eat it, too.
If the government wants to bring in half a million people a year to Canada, then we need to build homes. It’s easy to criticize Doug Ford’s Greenbelt plan, but does Mr. Guilbeault have a better solution?
Time to have a dialogue and come up with a viable solution.
Joanne O’Hara Oakville, Ont.
The B.C. way
Re How Doug Ford Can Turn Carbon Taxes Conservative (Jan. 24): “British Columbia set a laudable standard of a revenue-neutral carbon tax 14 years ago.” Laudable, indeed, but what may not be fully appreciated is that its design generated applause at the highest levels internationally.
Personal income tax was lowered for B.C.’s bottom two brackets, corporate income tax was also reduced and direct cash supports were provided to low-income citizens – all at no net cost to the provincial treasury. Plus there was direct political benefit: The opposition could not complain that the government was yet again reaching into the pockets of hard-working British Columbians.
In a 2010 meeting, Paul Ekins, who was then head of Britain’s Green Fiscal Commission, said to B.C.’s minister of state for climate action, “Mr. Minister … your carbon tax is a template for the world.”
Doug Ford would do well to take note. B.C.’s template could easily and quickly be applied to Ontario.
Thomas Pedersen emeritus director, Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions, University of Victoria
It’s natural
Re On LNG, Canada Turned Away Germany, Then Japan – This Country Cannot Keep Doing That (Report on Business, Jan. 24): For a country with a net debt over $1-trillion, one would think having two guaranteed customers for energy products – creating thousands of jobs, taxes and recurring revenues – would be a good thing. Canada has the opportunity to make sure energy supplies that come to market are produced as environmentally efficiently as possible and from a dependable and stable partner.
After reading Bill Morneau’s book, I better understand how our Prime Minister operates: He seems more concerned about the headlines of the day, playing politics and not understanding the long-term impact these types of projects could have on the future of Canada’s economy.
Kensel Tracy Ottawa
Canadian liquefied natural gas won’t necessarily displace coal in Asia.
We’ve seen new gas infrastructure being built alongside new coal infrastructure, displacing renewable energy. And in the case of Japan, Canadian LNG would not replace coal at all, but rather LNG from other sources.
While there is talk about making clean LNG on the West Coast, gas at the source must still be fracked, which emits large amounts of methane. To turn it into LNG also burns huge amounts of gas.
The LNG industry’s claim of clean fuel should be considered a dangerous distraction from the need to rapidly move to renewable energy, which is cleaner and often cheaper than fossil fuels.
David Gray-Donald program manager, oil and gas, Environmental Defence; Toronto
Fight the fight
Re How B.C. Can Win The War On Drug Addiction (Editorial, Jan. 26): There is still one missing piece: follow-up and aftercare. This seems to be the case everywhere.
Treatment programs, both long- and short-term, are not enough for most people who are just at the beginning of their recovery journey. If a person has no support after leaving treatment, odds are they will relapse.
That support can take many forms: family, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, church, community groups, etc. Second-stage housing and follow-ups are needed for many people and seem to be sorely lacking in Canada.
Alcoholics and addicts beginning a life in recovery need to find a purpose if they are to succeed. They can’t do it alone.
Penney Place Kingston
One important solution: early intervention in treating mental illness and addictions in children and youth.
As a former educator, I can attest to the serious lack of mental-health resources for children and treatment opportunities for adolescent addictions. Early intervention is one of the most cost-efficient and effective remedies for these issues.
Children and youth should have prompt access to school and addiction counsellors, psychiatrists, pediatricians, psychologists and treatment centres. Without intervention at the earliest possible stage, we will likely continue to witness drug deaths and random violence.
Dorothy Watts Vancouver
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