Today’s letters: Who is the new capital gains tax really hurting?

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A capital-gains casualty

Re: Freeland defends tax hike on richest, Apr. 18

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I am certainly not close to being in the top 1 per cent, but I will be significantly impacted by the new capital gains tax.

Thirty-two years ago, when I first moved to Ottawa to begin my nursing career, I bought a triplex close to the Civic Hospital because I needed the rental income to be able to afford to live close to my work. I lived in a one-bedroom apartment for 25 years and renovated the building as I could afford it. I am retired now and as long as my health is good, I will keep the rental property. If I do have to sell it in the future, I will be put in a position that I will have to pay a much higher capital gains tax.

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This is who the government is targeting. The top 1 per cent have accountants and lawyers to avoid capital gains. I do not.

Robert Broatch, Ottawa

Make Canada tax again

Re: Freeland defends tax hike on richest, Apr. 18

I think people forget that in 1950 in both the U.S. and Canada, the tax rate for the very rich was 90 per cent. That means that a corporate executive earning $12,000,000 per year would have to squeak by on $1,200,000 take-home pay per year. Oh, the humanity.

Now, he only has an average 8 per cent tax rate, while the middle class pays about 26 per cent. We should be thanking the Prime Minister and Chrystia Freeland for taking a tiny bit more.

If we had the courage to go back to 1950 rates, the poor would be fed, the homeless housed and the middle class would be back, strong and well.

Annabel Buckley, Ottawa

Budget’s PS cuts unfair

Re: Ranks of public service to drop by 5,000 through ‘natural’ attrition, Apr. 16

In the federal budget, the government announced cuts to the public service, which is the soul of Ottawa’s buzzing activities.

While Canadians complain that there are cuts to every service like Passport Canada and Service Canada, immigration, customs and Revenue Canada offices, the federal budget disgracefully cuts, once again, our public servants, who are still faced with the Phoenix pay debacle.

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What are we to make of this incredible irony? Public servants are to be part of the financial solution, but they are being decimated with cuts to staff and program services vital to Canadians.

Public servants are again unappreciated, disrespected and taken for granted by all governments in power. While they are needed to deliver complex government programs, they are dropped like a hot potato to balance the budget.

Lucie Gagne, Ottawa

It doesn’t add up

Re: Ranks of public service to drop by 5,000 through ‘natural’ attrition, Apr. 16

A little-mentioned part of the 2024 federal budget is the elimination of 5,000 public service employee positions over the next four years for a savings of $4.2 billion. I will ignore for the moment that the reduction should be an order of magnitude larger (50,000) in order get closer to pre-COVID employment levels.

Regardless, even if all 5,000 reductions were made today, it would result in 20,000 person-years of savings. At a projected savings of $4.2 billion, this equates to a per man-years savings of approximately $210,000. This seems to be an outrageous amount of money that, on average, should account for the salary, benefits, and severance pay of the severed employees.

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The average Canadian public service salary that I found when searching the internet is $84,000 and the government wants to estimate the per-employee savings at $210,000.

Not all 5,000 employees will be severed immediately. Any delay in staff reductions will only drive the average “savings” amount per severed employee up (less total man-years of savings spread over $4.2 billion).

Something seems totally out of whack.

David Marshall, Ottawa

Taxes fund essential services

Re: What I’d do if I were finance minister, Apr. 13:

The article by Jamie Golombek reflects a lack of duty.

Canadians have, through various elected governments, come up with a version of social democracy that provides universal access to many essential services and enables government to provide emergency funding when required. Many of us have made good salaries over the years and supported the Canada that we want through progressive taxes. The more that we made, the more we were able to contribute — and I am proud of that.

Golombek ends by saying that you could pay less by moving to Florida. But then you would be in Florida, wouldn’t you?

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Michael Wiggin, Ottawa

Don’t penalize nurse practitioners

Re: Ontario urges feds to halt spread of fee-based care, Apr. 18:

Rather than fund nurse-practitioner clinics separately, it would make more sense to halt pay-for-service for family doctors, but to invite them into fully-funded neighbourhood clinics and pay them and all of the team of health professionals — nurse practitioners, RNs, LPN/RPNs, social workers, dietitians, geriatricians — salaries commensurate with their level of expertise.

The clinics should have salaried administrative assistants as well as all supplies, insurance and internet service provided by the provincial health ministry. This way, the family doctors would not have to spend unpaid hours doing administrative work, and can share the load with the health team. This would enable them to get to know their patients in their catchment area and address multiple problems in one patient visit. This is particularly important for working adults who must take time off work to accompany an elder or child needing to be seen by a health specialist.

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Jane Philpott’s book Health for All explains this system well. Preserve the public system, but do not penalize nurse practitioners who are stepping into the breach to provide essential health care while we attract more doctors into a valuable system of family practice. Let us keep people out of the ER and resolve health problems at the community level.

Carolyn Herbert, Nepean

Politicizing pollution​

Who else out there sees climate change, pollution and environmental degradation as the greatest existential threats to humanity ever, far greater than either or both those two great wars that never really touched Canadian soil?

Who else among us is frustrated and angered by the fact that small-minded leaders from every party, including the Green Party, have allowed this overarching issue to become a partisan one?

How can we in the know get through to these dunderheads that they should dump their partisanship at the door and work together on environmental solutions not just Canada, but for the world?

I’d love to see a non-binding box “none of the above” on my next federal ballot. Nothing substantive will get done as long as votes are on the line.

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Thomas Brawn, Orléans

Tweak traffic lights to calm traffic

Re:  This speed hump cost Ottawa taxpayers $16,000, Apr. 17

I have proposed, over the years, an almost cost-free action that doesn’t involve using outside contractors.

The city has programmable traffic lights. And yet, how many times while driving have you hit red lights only to see the next one turning red? This happens everywhere in the city. Major roads are particularly affected.

The process is this: have city staff program the light-timing such that if drivers stick to the speed limit, they will encounter green lights. If you speed, you get a red. Right now, it is advantageous to speed to beat the reds.

The city hasn’t changed traffic-light patterns to adjust for the change in rush-hour traffic due to COVID. Come on, get on with it. It’s been years since the downtown rush crush.

Best of all, city staff can do all the work, no contractors needed.

Ian Stewart, Ottawa

Combine speed humps with infills

Re:  This speed hump cost Ottawa taxpayers $16,000, Apr. 17

If Coun. Riley Brockington would like cheaper traffic calming, he just needs more infill housing construction, something near and dear to the city’s heart. Every house built as infill requires a new connection to water and sewer, which requires digging up the street.

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Bruce Herd, Nepean

Political meddling goes both ways

Re: “Government must get serious about foreign meddling, Apr. 16:

Phil Gurski is correct when he says, “We need a government to take intelligence and threats seriously.” Our leaders need to pay attention to the information provided by intelligence agencies. However, they also need to consider the bigger picture before acting.

Many immigrants to Canada didn’t come here because they dislike or fear the government in their birth land. They came here because of an economic or educational opportunity. They often stay and become citizens but retain ties to family and friends at home. Even the children and grandchildren of immigrants often have a sense of connection with their ancestral homeland. Immigrants often maintain professional or business connections with the land of their origin. Those Canadians do not like officials or candidates who portray their homeland as an evil enemy and try to erect walls between the two countries. These citizens do not need to be paid or threatened to oppose candidates with whom they do not agree. Their activities do not constitute foreign meddling. They are an expression of opinion by citizens of this country.

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On the other hand, many immigrants or refugees do come here because of fear or disagreement with the political system of their homeland. Once here, they use Canada as a safe base from which they work to overthrow, or drastically change, their homeland’s government. Sometimes they help to finance organizations that oppose that government. When people living in Canada try to interfere in the politics of another country, that country views their efforts as foreign meddling and may try to stop such actions.

It is hypocritical to object to foreign meddling in our country while allowing people based here to interfere in the affairs of other countries.

Dave Parnas, Ottawa

PM’s hypocrisy is showing

Re: ​PM blasts Netanyahu over aid airstrike, Apr. 5:

The deaths of the World Central Kitchen aid workers is tragic and Prime Minister Trudeau’s response is justified. He said a “fully open, transparent, independent and rapid investigation” is absolutely required.

This being so, I find so much hypocrisy in his position, as he demands this of other people’s circumstances, but never if he was involved. When he is involved in anything that is not beyond questioning, he side steps at all costs. Examples are numerous: SNC Lavalin, WE charity, Aga Khan vacation (or any other vacation), $6,000-a-night hotel bills. He has never been fully open or transparent like since taking public office.

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If you demand this of others, demand this of yourself.

Robert Lamont, Ottawa

NHL arena should pay its own way

So, our mayor, Mark Sutcliffe, is saying the federal government reducing office space “opens the door” to the idea of a NHL rink in downtown Ottawa. That statement did not really take me by surprise since he is an avid supporter of spending my tax money on sports. Between racing trips and giveaways to OSEG (Lansdowne Park 2.0), he spends my money like it’s his own.

This is one taxpayer who is clearly saying this is not a good idea.

Ottawa citizens are giving enough corporate handouts away. We don’t need to give any more. If the NHL wants a downtown arena, they are welcome to build it, but only if they pay for every single cost related to it out of their profits and not the taxpayers’ pockets.

They are billionaires with million-dollar-salaried employees while Ottawa taxpayers are average-income people who are having trouble staying afloat.

I am sick and tired of our city council giving my tax money to billionaires so they can make more money while we have a transit system that is falling apart, we have homeless people living in the shadows of Parliament and we have people lined up at food banks.

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Harry Fischer, Ottawa

Slower is better

Re: How my 89-year-old neighbour, Joe, taught me to enjoy going slow, Apr. 18:

I am sure that my email is the first of many you will receive after your wonderful article this morning about life in the slow lane. How lovely to get up and read something pleasant and inspiring in the morning.

My husband and I live in Kemptville. I am 76 and my husband just turned 99. We do take the time to stop and say hello to people, even though neither of us has need of a walker. But there are still so many who pass on the street and don’t even look at you. It would be good for everyone to just slow down a little and be surprised at who and what they find.

Cathie and Ralph Raina, Kemptville

Stench of politics spreads 

Re: Bad odours linger at Parliament, Rideau LRT stations, Apr. 9:

I can’t help wondering if the stench at the Rideau and Parliament LRT stations might have something to do with their proximity to Parliament.

John A. Beggs, Orléans

A malodourous metaphor

Re: Bad odours linger at Parliament, Rideau LRT stations, Apr. 9:

The actual unpleasant smells and foul odours might be a metaphor for the entire LRT system since its inception.

Douglas Parker, Ottawa

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