This Secretive Billionaire Has Pumped More Money Into Politics Than Almost Anyone Else This Year - Forbes | Canada News Media
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This Secretive Billionaire Has Pumped More Money Into Politics Than Almost Anyone Else This Year – Forbes

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Jeff Yass likes to stay out of the limelight. He rarely speaks to the press, and his trading firm’s website doesn’t even include a bio about him. But Yass’ reticence hasn’t stopped him from getting involved in politics. In fact, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings, Yass has given more money to federal campaigns and causes in 2021 than any billionaire not named Peter Thiel

Some tycoons focus their efforts on individual politicians, giving directly to their campaigns or to super-PACs clearly associated with them. For example, Thiel is using his money to bankroll a super-PAC supporting Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, who is running for Senate in Ohio. Yass, on the other hand, has put his money behind a group that supports a specific philosophy. Almost all of his $7.5 million in donations this year have gone to a super-PAC named Club for Growth Action. 

The Club for Growth, which has a special interest nonprofit of the same name, says it stands for “economic conservative principles” and policies like a flat tax, repealing the Affordable Care Act and shutting down the Department of Education. 

As a super-PAC, Club For Growth can accept donations of unlimited amounts. In 2021, more than half of the group’s funding has come from Yass. Some other big donors are helping out the group as well, including Mountaire Poultry owner Ronald Cameron and Uline shipping founder Richard Uihlein, who is not on the Forbes billionaires list but has with his wife Elizabeth handed over more than $10 million this year. 

Although the Club for Growth is defined by its philosophy, it does wade into individual races. Of the $7.5 million that its super-PAC has spent this year, about $4 million has gone toward ads that support North Carolina’s Ted Budd, a Trump-endorsed Republican who is hoping to replace retiring Sen. Richard Burr in the Senate after he retires in 2022.

Club For Growth Action also spent $1.2 million supporting Susan Wright of Texas, a Republican who ran an unsuccessful campaign to fill the seat of her husband Ronald Wright, who died of Covid-19 complications in February. Another $450,000 went toward ads opposing Vance in the Republican primary for Ohio’s Senate seat, indirectly pitting Thiel against the lesser-known Yass. 

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NDP caving to Poilievre on carbon price, has no idea how to fight climate change: PM

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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.

Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.

On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.

Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.

Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.

British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Quebec consumer rights bill to regulate how merchants can ask for tips

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Quebec wants to curb excessive tipping.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.

That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.

The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.

And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.

Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Youri Chassin quits CAQ to sit as Independent, second member to leave this month

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Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.

He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.

In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.

Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.

He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.

Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.

He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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