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Rethinking Politics in the West Indian Community

• Jacqueline Divine Correia • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Jacqueline Correa examines the current landscape of Canadian politics, urging listeners to conduct thorough research before voting. The discussion highlights the need for political accountability and the potential for rebuilding through informed electoral choices.
 
 • Understanding the importance of independent research before voting
 • Analysis of Trudeau's resignation and its implications
 • The impact of immigration on housing and resources
 • Personal journey towards political awareness and engagement
 • Legacy of Jim Flaherty's financial reforms and programs
 • Encouragement for proactive community engagement in politics
 • Vision for a hopeful reconstruction of Canada's future

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Speaker 1:

Hello everyone. I am Jacqueline Correa, your host on this journey. Today we are actually going to talk about Canadian politics and procedures and why is Canada in the state that we are in today. We're also going to talk a little bit as to why is the importance for the research. You do your own research before voting for a particular party or voting for any party and especially, um, one of the things that I found and I'm guilty of it is that we tend to vote for the same party that our parents had voted for and I don't know. Mostly I mostly I see this more in the West Indian community that we have this tendency to vote for the same party that our parents did, and I know it's kind of that. Well, you know, we understand where you know that party came from and what they did for our family and we have this tendency that we go back and vote for that person, tendency that we go back and vote for that person. But we have to do our research as to what that party is doing for you in your community when we pick the person that you feel is best candidate for your district.

Speaker 1:

You know, let's talk about the mismanagement of Trudeau and his Liberal Party that he has done. I mean, he chose to resign on January 6th of 2025. And I personally feel that that was a year too late and I know we are not out of the water. But there are some growing pains for Canada and we will have to be very patient, um, to get through this, because reality is we are going to get through this, we are going to get through all of this and we are going to come out better and stronger. For his resigning Um, I mean, it's like he's dragging on a dead horse because, even though he resigned, he's not, he hasn't left, which can create more damage.

Speaker 1:

But the beautiful part of Canada is the fact that we have the resources. Canada birth is the. That's our wealth. That's our wealth. We have the natural resource. You know, there are several factors why Canada is in the state that it's in, and one of the biggest one is we have an overpopulated growth of immigrants that has come into the country over the last decade. That has really caused and it's one one there are many factors, but that's a big one because their housing we don't have enough to accommodate the amount of immigrants that have come into this country the clapped on it, the collapse on energy resource and investment also contribute to the weekend, the weekend of the economic growth. The amount of red tape, um that you have to go through to get anything approved is what has caused this problem. So when um the liberals took office in 2015, one of their mandates were um and they went to the supreme courts to get these permit um just put on halt. So that's what's caused that. That's really what's caused the the um, the collapse of weaken of the economy.

Speaker 1:

Because here we have four major um wealth for canada energy, minerals, timber and crude oil and investors can't invest in canada. They have literally left, because when they apply for these permits, they're just pretty much sitting there, so nobody's getting anything passed through, and so investors find it extremely tough to invest in canada. So over time, it's like having a reservoir of water and if you put a like, you know you squeeze that hose and water stop running. Eventually, whatever is left in that hose is going to dry up. So it's not that we don't have the resource to make this country great again. We have it. It's just that the players that have been running this country I don't know why they've just you know what was their agenda behind the scene to cause all this blockage in the pipelines, to stop all of this, like forestry, you know, like you know that when we used to put 297 billion of lumber, you know, out of Canada, that has decreased the paper that we used to create in Canada, that's decreased Energy. Canada, that's decreased. Energy, that's decreased. We are the second largest of of hydroelectricity in the world and you know these are all things that have been the the plenish in because of bad business management in Canada. So I'm going to share a little story with you.

Speaker 1:

Back in 2004, when I moved into my community, I purchased my home and I moved into a community and they were just starting to prepare for the 2015 election no, the 2006 election, I think, or 2005 election. I couldn't remember exactly when the election was and I don't know exactly how this conversation came up, but I was in the office with some of the gals and, as an immigrant, you know one of the things that I did I always, in my case case, just like, I guess, many other West Indians that have come to this country we tend to vote the same for the same party, because our parents did it, and for the and in those times I voted liberal because, you know, we went back to how charismatic Trudeau senior was and what he had done for many immigrants around the world. So at the time I guess I was having this conversation that, oh, election was coming I can't remember exactly how it came up and I believe that was the best advice this woman, an elder woman that was in the group, had said to me um, she says what well, why would you vote for liberal? And I said well, because of trudeau senior. She, she said no, no, no, no, you don't vote because of of what that one person has done. You vote for a party based on you, vote for a party based on the person that is in your district. You do your research and see what that person is doing for your community before you vote for a party. And that had created such a powerful impact on me that I took it upon myself to do my own research on me, that I took it upon myself to do my own research. And so, as I at the time when I was doing my research, I'm in the city of Whitby, and so Jim Flaherty I think his name is if I pronounce it, forgive me was running for Whitby, oshawa, at the time, and he had come a couple times to my home trying to introduce himself, and I think he was coming to our church at the time. And, um, he had come a couple times to my home trying to introduce himself, and I think he was coming to our church at the same time too. So, you know, I, I did my research, I got to know that he was in you know politics for a long time and eventually election came and I voted for this person, and so I mean he's now dead. But the reason I'm actually saying this to you, it's one of my greatest why I'm speaking about this man, because here I'm in finance and I help clients every day to use some of the products that he himself created.

Speaker 1:

Do you know that when this man took office, our GST percentage on our GST was 7%, and when he took office, he was able to bring our GST from seven to five percent? Because when he took over power again, he took it over from the Liberals. Our country was in a mess. It was in a total mess. So when he took it over, interest rate on GST was at seven percent and that's where he started to bring down. His mission was to bring down the debt.

Speaker 1:

And then after that, after he did that in 2007, he introduced, or he launched RDSP, which is Retirement Disability Savings Plans. It was a groundbreaking initiative aimed to support individuals with disability in Canada initiative aimed to support individuals with disability in Canada and so what he wanted to do, his mandate, was helping families, and when he created this, he wanted to make sure that people with disability would not be discriminated, because if they had an illness, they couldn't save for retirement. He wanted to create a plan that was good, that they can go into retirement and had something available to them, and he went as far as to say, if you put a dollar into this plan, he would match it $3. So and this plan is one of the greatest investments so if there's anybody out there that has a child or even have someone that has a disability and you know you invest into the plan, now you have to be 49 years or under in order to go into the plan and that money has to stay invested for 10 years. And I believe he did all of this so that people wouldn't just abuse it and it was really meant. It really took the place for that person, like an RRSP, but better, just because of the person's disability and so what? What he so?

Speaker 1:

So if you have a family that may have had, let's say, you had, a child that had autism or some form of illness and that child was diagnosed before the year 2009, and you had some form of documentation from your doctor that stated that this child had, or this person had, this sickness way to past 2009, you can go all the way back to 2009 and get all those credits back into your account. So, let's say, you put $10,000 to your investment or to a child's investment, and that child was diagnosed with whatever illness in 2008, and you're now in 2025,. Let's say, or they were were diagnosed in 2017 or I'm bringing it a little further the government will match it all the way back to the time the program was started. So that is free money that it could be now invested into your child or into yourself. But again, as an adult, you have to be um 49 and under to get onto this program. But it's a great, great program.

Speaker 1:

And again, these are programs that are not discussed properly because a lot of times you go to a bank and they just put in the daily interest. These are investments, these are long-term investments and should be invested in the right investments so that that money will multiply, right? So that's one of them. Again, the other one that he, in 2008, he brought into. He brought in another investment, which is called the tax-free savings account, and in the tax-free savings account, you know, if you haven't contributed now I didn't actually take a look, I should have done that. I think we're over to 100,000 right now, but as of last year, you could invest up to 95,000. You had a room of 95,000 to invest into this program. Now, if for anybody from the age of 18 and over could invest in this, and if you had never invested into this plan, you could start investing. But you have a room Now. If you're a young teenager that now started to work and you're now 2021, your room could only start from the day you turn 18 to now. But let's say you're an adult and you never invested into it and you, you know you could actually start making investment into this program from all the way from 2009. So, if you have not used up your room, you have a room up to $95,000.

Speaker 1:

Now the thing with RSPs, and again, not RSPs, again, tax-free savings, the reason that this plan came into effect, and again, these are things that are not discussed. The program came into effect. He did an amazing job of it, but it's not related to our clients properly. A lot of people don't have the full understanding. They just think this was just another savings account. No, if you put $95,000 into this account because as of 2024, that was the room you had available and that money grew, let's say, to a million dollars by the time you hit retirement you will withdraw that money tax-free. It grows in that plan tax-free. So your goal is always to get it in the right investment, not at a savings account at the bank. We're talking about real investment and let it grow.

Speaker 1:

The purpose for that program that he created was to help seniors or help you in retirement. Because what? What was happening here? You had people were retiring and they had half a million in in um. They had a pension at work and they probably would be. They had a half a million and then, on top of that, nobody told them that they shouldn't have been putting money into RSPs because you have this pension. So here they are going into retirement, they have all this money in their pension that is coming from work. They have another maybe 200,000 sitting in RSPs, and then they have CPP and OLED security and all these products that they have are going to be taxed at whatever income they're drawing at. So what ends up happening? You have people in retirement, and this is what's happening to a lot of the elder clients right now. What's happening in retirement? They're still at a tax bracket of 55 instead of 30 and 35.

Speaker 1:

So the whole purpose for this was to reduce how much money you're pulling from these tax products so that the tax-free savings would offset, so that you don't be hit with all the taxes. The whole intention was you should be drawing from your tax products 30% and then take the other 20% from your tax-free savings account, but it was never explained because, again, the bank just took it and want you to get your money and you put it into a daily interest that's getting 0.0 and that money is never growing. And so now people are going into retirement either running out of money or they're now taken from products that are all taxing at 50 and 55 percent, and that's half of the money that they have built up over retirement. It's going back to the government, and so these are things that you know as to reason why he created this product because I am sure he himself was realizing that he had a huge pension and he was probably putting into retirement and he needed to offset. So he created this to help us, as Canadians, reduce some of our taxes in retirement. And he continued to work continuously up until 2013 to bring down the tax, the taxes, and he did.

Speaker 1:

And then in 2014, in 2014, he I don't know if it was cancer, but something was wrong with him and he passed. But the reason I'm telling you this story is the fact that, you know, I was proud of myself, that I did my research and, in fact, that I picked someone that had done so much for Canadians. And I don't even think today people recognize what this man has done for this country. In 2014, he died and in 2015, the Liberals took over. And look where we are today. What a difference of what that man brought in stability to this country and what this young individual brought to this country nothing but distressed. You know, I truly couldn't understand what he was trying to do for Canadians. Or he wanted to do, maybe he wanted to show his, maybe wanted to be better than his father. I don't know. His father was very charismatic. He people loved his father. You, you know, but in this situation it's very a disappointment.

Speaker 1:

I think every Canadian today is heartbroken. I mean, there's a chance now that we can rebuild what we have lost and, as I said before, I have hope for Canadians. I have hope for us, because I believe that Canada is a land of many, many opportunities and the beautiful thing about it we have the resources. We don't have to go buy the resources as the way that the government was doing. We have the resources. If we vote in the right people into these positions, we can have a better Canada for the next generation. So, you know, I kind of and this is short and sweet and I just kind of wanted to talk a little bit as you know, we are going to go into an election in the next few months, I think maybe by March I'm not too sure between March to October, because October would have been our election.

Speaker 1:

But take the time, take this time to get to know who your MP is, who he is, what he's about. If you have been living in the district and that person has not done anything for the community or you've seen that the community has been going into the pits, maybe this is the time that to start looking to see if there's a new person running in your district or, you know, put some pressure on these people to make some changes, because I'll tell you, like there's, you know there's so many things negative that's happening in the country that that it was such a beautiful place to live in, like I, I mean it still is. We just have to get things under control. And you know, as I said, personally I believe I'm a conservative. I'm proud to say it. Pierre Pallier will have my vote. You know I think the conservative have been a great party, not saying that. That's why you should vote for them.

Speaker 1:

But I think you need to take this time to do your research to see who's the best candidate for your district so that for the next 10 years we can have growth in this country. Then we continue to go because our country can't take any more blows. We really can't. This country has to start rebuilding back and I think him resigning as much as it's not over. It was a blessing to the country and I know we have our little guy across the border who is just throwing his little darts at us Canadians right now and it could be very annoying and I think we, as Canadian, just need to ignore those comments, because he does not even know what he is going to walk into when he walks into office on the 20th and he has his own stuff to deal with, but right now he has a lot of free time, so he's throwing darts and he and unfortunately, um, we have a weak prime minister that can't even defend himself, much less the people.

Speaker 1:

So you know, a lot of us feel you know, I'm very proud to be Canadian and so a lot of us have been feeling just heartbroken. You know we're sad for the things that have taken place in the last 10 years, because it is a beautiful country and it's a land of many opportunity, if you want it to be. So, you know we do have the resources and because we have the resources, we can build back and we will build back stronger. I believe that and I think we as Canadians have to believe that and we have to come together as a community to do that together. We can't just do it by one man trying or we keep on trying to rip the man at the top who's trying to rebuild the country. We have to come together. We were once that kind of people and we have to become that people again.

Speaker 1:

But again, as I said, don't just vote for the same party, because mama and dad did that. We need to do our researches, research, and I was one of them. I voted liberal for a long time until that lady said to me do your research before you vote for this person. You are now moving to a new community. See what that person is doing for your community before you voted for them. And that made a change. Because, you know, as I said, I voted for a man who made so many changes for our country that today, as an advisor, I I help clients with these products, you know. So he's gone, he's no longer here, but he's left a legacy that will be here for generations to come. So that's the kind of country that we want to be a part of, and I'm proud to be a part of that. So in all of that, you know, I just want to say thank you for watching, and there will be a lot more shows to come. Thank you for watching. Money is for you. Bye.

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Jacqueline Correia

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