Eh, their statement is ‘ok’, but it doesn’t really seem to have dug too deep into what’s been announced. Or the disruptions that some of the announcements will have on some industries/sectors.

Easy example: the budget says it was to increase competition in the financial industry, as that gives consumers more options and helps to keep prices lower. The reality, is that Carney is only focusing on banks, and is helping them kill Credit Unions (which are under provincial jurisdiction, and are often abandoned by provincial governments in terms of things like bailouts – Credit Unions don’t generally qualify for federal bailouts, and provinces don’t bail out).

Companies like Wealthsimple, who are pushing for various regulation changes, are actually funded by big bank investors to attack/kill competition down market, with all the “assets under management” being stored at the big banks (eg. they boast of a $1m deposit guarantee, because they split any money deposited with them between 10 banks, each bank having $100k deposit guarantee from CDIC). They also allow the big banks to “officially” say things like “No AI!” and tell their regulators that they’re compliant/low risk, while pushing AI tools/high risk activities to Wealthsimple, which has less regulatory scrutiny. A bunch of the note changes they’re making in the budget, were things Wealthsimple lobbied for. Eg, Moving Registered plans with no fee makes them less sticky – “this increases competition!” – but really, it just allows Wealthsimple to hoover up accounts with artificially/unsustainably good rates for a short period (which they can do, due to bank investors funneling in money), squeezing CUs even more, while those accounts actually end up on the banks books due to Wealthsimple’s relationship with the banks. Even if the banks “lose” accounts to Wealthsimple too, the money just comes back to them once it’s deposited in Wealthsimple: they’re just rebranding a store front.

The budget/carney’s actions “say” one thing, but they effectively have the opposite effect: he’s killing competition, by killing provincial financial institutions. That, in my mind, should be a bigger thing for the greens, seeing as Credit Unions are co-ops that are historically more about supporting labour / working class people, NOT big capital interests (something that decreases in the corporate culture, the larger a CU gets). A small community credit union in a small town, is much more invested in supporting that small town’s prosperity – than ANY large-reach/national financial institution. Carney’s budget details continue the campaign to kill those smaller financial institutions, while the summary pretends like it wants more small FI competition/participation.

Carney’s never understood Credit Unions in Canada - during the 2008 crisis, he basically treated them like these small privately owned shadow banks from spain that failed. He’s a banker, that would rather see that competition killed off for good, with all financial activity gravitating towards federally regulated banks.

All the housing announcements are somewhat similar. With the federal government routinely declaring its going to get into the home-building business, and that they’ll end homelessness, provide cheap starter home options etc… is it any wonder the market’s dead? Why would anyone want to take the plunge on a home purchase, when the government’s overtly saying they’ll provide cheaper homes sometime around 2030 or w/e? Contributes to why the market activity is flatlining… and will likely continue to be suppressed until there’s more clarity on what the feds doing in that area.

Hold on, the neighbor was destroyed by a business owner. The sister (France) is being put on the brink by a banker. And now another banker is at the head of Canada and going to approve this garbage budget. No surprise there.

Lots of tax cuts for fossil fuel companies while government workers get laid off.

They should just rename it to Elizabeth May Party

I win never vote green again for their use of nothing burger. I have other reasons too, but that’s the most recent reason.