Canada

We would appear, as Woody Allen once said, to stand at a crossroads: “One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness; the other to total extinction.” (“Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”)

That, at any rate, is what one would gather from the rhetoric over the government’s capital-gains tax proposal. On the one hand, according to the Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, the measure – an increase in the share of capital gains subject to tax from 50 per cent to 66 per cent, though only (for personal income tax payers) on gains in excess of $250,000 – is all that stands between us and, if not total extinction, then certainly despair and utter hopelessness.

“With a large lead overall, the Conservative Party has held the largest vote share by age, gender, region and income for some time now. But what about the relationship between federal vote and self-described class? Two weeks ago, I shared some data on perceptions around class in Canada. Today, I dig a bit deeper.”

The federal Conservatives are asking the Jewish community in a Toronto riding to send Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a message about his “betrayal” by voting for the Tory candidate in an upcoming byelection.

Voters in Toronto—St. Paul’s will pick a new MP on June 24 to replace longtime Liberal cabinet minister Carolyn Bennett, who retired after more than two decades.

Trudeau has been trailing in all major polls and insiders are watching to see if that has an impact in what has been a comfortable Liberal seat since the ’90s.

It’s a very safe Liberal riding so Trudeau will say one thing to the Jews but focus on the Muslims as that’s where the votes are.