Juno News - True North's Daily Brief Christmas special

00:00:00.000 Good morning, Canada, and Merry Christmas. Welcome to a special holiday edition of the

00:00:12.800 Daily Brief. We've put together a Christmas episode just for you. So wherever you're

00:00:18.280 listening from, whether you're settling in with a coffee, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying

00:00:23.560 a quiet moment before the day gets busy, thanks for spending part of it with us.

00:00:28.940 The Canadian Taxpayer Federation has put Ontario Premier Doug Ford at the top of its annual

00:00:35.460 naughty list as Canada's worst, quote, grifting politicians. Boston received a majestic white

00:00:42.740 spruce Christmas tree, an annual gift from Nova Scotia, recognizing the essential aid provided

00:00:48.360 to Halifax after the devastating explosion a century ago. Canadian charitable giving has hit a 20-year

00:00:55.120 low, according to a Fraser Institute report. This alarming decline raises concerns about

00:01:01.460 charities' abilities to support communities. Hello, Canada. It's Christmas Day, and this

00:01:07.160 is the True North Daily Brief. I'm your host, Cosmin Georgia.

00:01:11.460 And I'm Jeff Knight. Merry Christmas, everyone.

00:01:13.840 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of

00:01:18.680 the day, and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else. Ontario Premier Doug

00:01:25.700 Ford has topped the Canadian Taxpayer Federation's annual naughty list, which ranks the country's

00:01:31.020 worst, quote, grifting politicians. Ford earned the top spot for ensuring Ontario's political

00:01:37.540 welfare remain permanent by reinstating taxpayer-funded pensions for provincial politicians. This year

00:01:44.760 also saw Ontario politicians giving themselves a 35% pay raise. CTF Federal Director Franco

00:01:52.680 Teresano said, quote, Ford took a pay raise that would make even Ebenezer Scrooge blush, a $73,000

00:02:00.560 hike in one year. But Ford isn't the only one with coal in his stockings. Other high-ranking members of the

00:02:08.240 tax advocacy group's naughty list were British Columbia Finance Minister Brayna Bailey, Quebec

00:02:14.520 Premier Francois Legault, Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasandri, and the Canada Revenue

00:02:21.260 Agency. Teresano said, quote, the Canada Revenue Agency left Santa on hold for nearly an hour,

00:02:28.480 then gave Mr. Claus the wrong tax information. So those bureaucrats are on the naughty list. 1.00

00:02:34.820 Bailey billed taxpayers $6,645 for a limousine service during a four-day trip to Boston.

00:02:42.900 The limousine company markets itself as luxury service for, quote, pop culture icons who never

00:02:48.640 drive. Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasandri made the list for his continued efforts to go

00:02:55.640 after law-abiding Canadian firearm owners with the Liberals' costly gun confiscation program,

00:03:01.780 diverting valuable resources away from catching criminals with illegal guns. True North previously

00:03:08.180 revealed that the Liberals plan to spend more on its gun confiscation program than on NATO and border

00:03:14.660 security combined next year. Meanwhile, Quebec Premier Francois Legault was named for being the only

00:03:21.120 premier in Canada to keep charging a consumer carbon tax. Jeff, we've had a lot of politicians

00:03:27.440 violating taxpayers' pocketbooks. You know, ridiculous spending, ridiculous expenses, 0.91

00:03:35.760 going on trips that are unnecessary, paying for luxury limousines, or just simply bad service or bad

00:03:44.540 programs. But did the CTF praise any politicians in particular who actually had taxpayers at the top

00:03:53.000 of mind this year? Yeah, Cosmin. Despite all that, there was some good news in the Canadian

00:03:58.080 Taxpayer Federation's naughty and nice list. They did praise several politicians and figures for

00:04:03.220 putting taxpayers first. The Parliamentary Budget Officer, Jason Jacques, topped the nice list for his

00:04:08.980 work on government transparency and highlighting debt issues. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith was recognized

00:04:14.020 for saving money during the teachers' strike and getting kids back to school. Saskatchewan Premier

00:04:19.000 Scott Moe and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston also made the nice list for actions like cutting taxes.

00:04:25.300 Additionally, Indigenous activist Hans McCarthy was praised for a court win in proving financial

00:04:30.340 transparency in First Nations and Cape Breton gun owners for peacefully protesting the gun grab.

00:04:36.080 I wish I could go on, but it's, like I said, not the longest list. These inclusions highlight some

00:04:42.180 fiscal responsibility, a little bit of tax relief and accountability, which is nice to see,

00:04:46.620 providing a positive counterbalance to the naughty list dominated by figures like Doug Ford and

00:04:51.480 Francois-Philippe Champagne. Nova Scotia is keeping its word and delivering a majestic white spruce

00:05:00.000 Christmas tree to Boston, continuing a tradition that honors the American city's crucial aid following

00:05:05.240 the devastating Halifax explosion a century ago. The Halifax explosion, which was the largest man-made

00:05:11.800 explosion ever at the time, occurred on the morning of December 6th, 1917, when a French cargo ship

00:05:18.500 collided with a Norwegian vessel loaded with explosives. At least 1,782 people were killed in

00:05:24.800 Halifax and Dartmouth from the blast. Subsequent fires and collapsed buildings also contributed to

00:05:30.360 the death toll, while another 9,000 were injured. The city of Boston responded with urgency, dispatching

00:05:36.160 a train with supplies and emergency personnel within 24 hours, even facing a brutal storm in the process.

00:05:42.800 Their concern and generosity has not been forgotten by Canadians. Natural Resource Minister Kim Maslin

00:05:48.400 said, quote, Nova Scotia and Boston maintain strong ties through family, business, and shared history.

00:05:55.540 This annual gift celebrates our enduring friendship, shows our gratitude, and connects our communities

00:06:01.280 across generations and borders. Joseph Sloanwhite from Lunenburg County first donated a tree to Boston

00:06:07.640 the following year, in 1918. The annual tradition was revived in 1971, and has continued uninterrupted

00:06:14.540 since then. This year's tree marks the 54th consecutive year of this poignant exchange, and coincides with

00:06:20.520 the 108th anniversary of the Halifax explosion. So, Cosmin, it's nice to see traditions that bring Canadians

00:06:26.800 and Americans together, despite what you see on the news cycle these days. We are neighbors and allies,

00:06:31.600 after all. So, were there any other instances where Canadians and Americans saw past their differences

00:06:36.920 this year? You know, Jeff, I agree with you. It is really nice to see people come together, especially

00:06:43.320 allies and neighbors, during this time of year. And especially in a year that's been dominated by headlines

00:06:51.660 about trade disputes and terrorists and political drama, and differences between our politicians

00:06:58.120 and politicians in the South, right? And, I mean, sure, the news loves to highlight the friction,

00:07:07.040 and we're, as a news company, you know, we track these things, the play-by-play of political stories.

00:07:14.220 But if you look past the headlines, there's been a lot of cooperation between our two countries this year.

00:07:20.280 And it's on stuff that actually matters, like border security and energy. So, I'll highlight a few

00:07:27.300 examples that I think were overlooked. So, in the Arctic, for example, this November, Canada,

00:07:34.280 the United States, and Finland signed what's being called the ICE Pact, which stands for the Icebreaker

00:07:40.740 Collaboration Effort. And the idea behind this is to pool resources to build world-class polar icebreakers.

00:07:48.100 And it's not just to assert Arctic sovereignty, which Canada has really fallen behind on,

00:07:55.780 but it's also to counter Russian and Chinese influence up north. I mean, Russia, for example,

00:08:01.700 has built bases across its own span of the Arctic. And part of this, the U.S. Coast Guard actually

00:08:08.960 picked Canadian-designed icebreakers for its fleet renewal, which is kind of a big deal. Usually,

00:08:16.140 it's the other way around. Canadians are buying U.S. military equipment. But in this case,

00:08:23.720 some Canadian elements went into this actual procurement of the icebreakers. So, it's a direct

00:08:30.680 industrial benefit for Canada in the defense sector, right in the middle of a trade war.

00:08:37.200 And on the side of security, this is another area where we saw cooperation,

00:08:44.040 because essentially, border security benefits both countries, right? And it makes it sort of

00:08:51.980 tariff-proof as an issue. And earlier this year, defense agencies from both countries

00:08:57.940 met to advance research and development, for example, for things like over-the-horizon radar

00:09:04.780 and underwater surveillances for those frequent areas where either goods are smuggled, drugs are

00:09:12.040 smuggled, or there's trafficking of humans across the border. And Jeff, on the energy front,

00:09:19.700 there has been a lot of development with regards to critical minerals and a lot of cooperation.

00:09:26.340 So, both countries, the United States and Canada, extended the Energy Transformation Task Force

00:09:32.520 to fast-track supply chains for things like lithium and cobalt, which are basically the building blocks

00:09:39.300 for electric vehicles, as well as used in other electronics. Meanwhile, we saw cooperation with

00:09:46.220 deals struck even in Ontario, which kind of coincides with Ontario Premier Doug Ford sort of staking it to

00:09:55.060 the United States. But in the background, all this stuff is still happening. There is development

00:09:59.560 on vital goods like critical minerals. So yeah, despite the political noise, Canadians and Americans

00:10:06.840 are still getting things done together, like I mentioned on defense, energy, borders, etc. And it's

00:10:14.560 proving that sometimes cooperation still works.

00:10:18.680 A new Fraser Institute report reveals that Canadian charitable giving has fallen to its lowest level

00:10:28.820 in two decades, raising concerns that this decline in generosity could hinder the ability of charities

00:10:35.660 to support communities in need. Canadian charitable giving has fallen to its lowest level in two

00:10:42.260 decades, according to a new report. The study titled The Generosity in Canada, the 2025 Generosity Index,

00:10:51.160 found that only 16.8% of Canadian tax filers donated to charity in 2023. This continues a long-term

00:10:59.940 decline from 21.9% in 2013 and is the lowest level recorded since the early 2000s. The share of income

00:11:09.700 Canadians donated has also dropped nationally. Tax filers gave 0.52% of their aggregate income in 2023,

00:11:18.400 down from 0.55% a decade earlier and significantly below the levels of the early 2000s, when donations

00:11:26.720 regularly exceeded 0.7%. Report co-author Jake Fuss said, quote, Canadians are giving less and fewer

00:11:34.580 Canadians are giving. This has real consequences for charities across the country, particularly as

00:11:40.700 demand for services rise. The report uses Canada Revenue Agency tax data to compare giving across

00:11:47.460 provinces. Manitoba again ranked as the most generous province by both measures. 18.7% of Manitobans claimed a

00:11:55.700 charitable donation in 2023, and the province's total giving amounted to 0.71% of aggregate income.

00:12:03.940 This is more than double the levels in Quebec, Newfoundland, and Labrador, and much of Atlantic Canada.

00:12:10.640 New Brunswick had the lowest share of donors at 14.4%, while Quebec, Newfoundland, and Labrador tied for

00:12:17.900 the smallest share of income donated at 0.27%. The Fraser Institute attributes the national decline to two

00:12:25.560 trends, fewer people donating overall, and those who do donate giving smaller shares of their income. Two decades

00:12:32.620 ago in 2004, nearly one in four tax filers claimed a donation, eight percentage points higher than today.

00:12:40.320 The report also compares Canada with the United States, where Americans continue to give at significantly

00:12:45.660 higher rates. In 2022, the latest year of comparable data, American tax filers donated 1.53% of aggregate

00:12:54.100 income, roughly triple the Canadian rate. Unfortunately, Jeff, we have to talk about the fact that this is a

00:13:01.300 difficult time of year for many Canadians. We've seen a spike in the usage of food banks, people relying

00:13:09.340 on social safety nets, and a lot of people out of work or trouble finding employment. What are some of the

00:13:17.440 things contributing to a lower amount of charitable giving this year, Jeff?

00:13:21.980 Well, Cosman, I'd say there's several factors contributing to the lower charitable giving in Canada.

00:13:26.780 For one, as we reported here at True North, just recently, we've seen the biggest jump in price for

00:13:32.100 Canadian groceries since 2023, and so many generous Canadians are likely shifting to a position of being

00:13:38.400 in need of a little charity themselves. And this is reflected in the numbers. Fewer Canadians are

00:13:42.740 donating overall, down to 16.8% of tax filers from higher rates in previous decades, and those who do

00:13:49.720 donate giving a smaller share of their income, 0.52% nationally. This long-term trend, ongoing for

00:13:56.520 20 years now, has been linked to economic pressures like rising costs of living and inflation, making

00:14:02.280 it harder for households to afford donations. Other influences include the decline of religion,

00:14:08.000 which has historically been tied to giving, reduced social connections and community engagement,

00:14:13.780 and shifts in generational attitudes, with younger Canadians less likely to prioritize charitable

00:14:18.720 contributions. Additionally, there's been a lack of clarity on donation impact and apology

00:14:24.200 changes, which reduces incentives for high-income donors, and strains charities as well amid rising

00:14:33.460 demand for services.

00:14:38.640 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in to The Daily Brief on this Christmas day.

00:14:43.760 Stay on top of new episodes every weekday by subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify.

00:14:49.680 And while you're at it, spread some holiday cheer by giving us a five-star rating and leaving a review.

00:14:56.560 From all of us at True North, Merry Christmas.

Juno News - December 25, 2025

True North's Daily Brief Christmas special

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