The 2024 federal budget is designed to “meet the moment” facing young Canadians and the economy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a room of Canadian business leaders in Ottawa Monday afternoon.

But it also comes as the Liberals are still looking for the magic formula to get back into the good graces of voters.

The budget, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will present Tuesday afternoon, contains billions in already promised investments in housing, artificial intelligence and defence, Trudeau touted.

He did not provide any insight into how those will be funded.

Much of the budget is aimed at giving hope to younger Canadians who have come of age during a tumultuous economic era, Trudeau said, and “now feel like middle-class stability is out of reach.”

“We need to meet this moment because that can’t be allowed to happen,” he told the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

“Our country cannot succeed unless young people succeed — and more, our country cannot succeed unless young people can imagine themselves succeeding. And they just don’t feel that right now.”

The Liberals have spent the last two weeks announcing various measures that will be included in the budget document.

A new Leger poll suggests Canadians like what they saw.

The poll, which took the temperature of 1,525 adults online between Friday and Sunday, says 73 per cent of respondents support the $6-billion housing infrastructure fund, 71 per cent back the new $1-billion national school food program and 67 per cent like the $15-billion apartment construction loan program.

Sixty per cent also support $8 billion in new defence spending over the next five years, the survey found.

The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls aren’t considered statistically balanced samples, though the results were weighted for statistical accuracy.

Despite the support for those items, Canadians remain a cranky bunch about the economy, with only one-third saying they believe the Liberals are making positive strides toward improving housing affordability or growing the economy.

A similar proportion say they think the Liberals are pursuing policies that focus on helping middle-class families.

Both Trudeau and Freeland have sidestepped questions about how the government will fund their promised policies, only confirming there will be no tax increases on the “middle class.”

They left room, however, to hike taxes on corporations or wealthy Canadians.

The poll suggests that while hikes to the GST or personal income taxes in general would be extremely unpopular, there are a lot of people who want to see new taxes on the rich.

Almost 80 per cent of those polled support a new tax on personal wealth over $10 million, 75 per cent support a new tax on “very large” company profits and 62 per cent support an increase in corporate or business taxes.

Freeland spent part of Monday partaking in the long-standing tradition of buying new shoes for the budget, this time donning a pair of sensible black pumps with a modest heel from Canadian shoemaker Maguire.

Joly to Israel: ‘Take the win’ in thwarting Iran’s weekend attack, don’t retaliate

Joly said she has since spoken with Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz to discourage his government from responding with direct strikes against Iran.

“I’ve been clear to my counterpart in Israel, please take the win, and make sure that we can work together to bring back peace in the region,” she said.

“Canada is pushing diplomatically to stop further escalation.”

Israel and Iran have been in a proxy war for years, with Israel accusing Tehran of empowering groups like Hezbollah and Hamas to attack Israel.

Israel is widely believed to have been behind the April 1 airstrike on Iran’s embassy in Syria, which killed senior military officers. International rules that protect diplomatic missions generally view attacks on embassies as targeting the states those buildings represent.

Iran retaliated with a series of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles Saturday and Sunday, the vast majority of which Israel and Jordan managed to intercept.

The heightened tensions prompted the opposition Conservatives to once again introduce a motion in Parliament that would list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran’s army, as a terrorist group.

MPs in 2018 voted for a motion to list the group, though the Liberals have resisted following through, saying that it’s up to security officials to impartially designate terror groups.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has argued that listing the IRGC in the Criminal Code as a terrorist group would punish Canadians who were drafted into Iran’s military by force.

Ottawa has instead implemented an entry ban on people who have been members of the group’s higher ranks since November 2019.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis asked the Commons on Monday to again call for such a listing.

“I hope that after six years of delay, that this government will finally, actually do it,” Genuis told the House.

The motion would fast-track a private member’s bill that would classify IRGC as a terrorist group “at the earliest opportunity following this weekend’s events, and in the most efficient way possible,” he said.

The motion was debated for more than an hour Monday.

Joly said the government has already asked Public Safety Canada to explore such a listing and will “continue to put maximum pressure against the Iranian regime.”

She also said she’ll discuss more sanctions on Iran at this week’s meeting with her fellow foreign ministers in the G7 bloc of like-minded countries in Italy.

“As of now, under my purview, what we can do is quickly designate key individuals that are part of these activities that are criminal activities against Israelis and also against our interests.”

El-Rufai claims Tinubu govt has paid trillions on fuel subsidy since inception

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has ignited debate on fuel subsidies, with allegations that the federal government, under President Bola Tinubu, has spent trillions of naira subsidizing petrol (PMS) since taking office in May 2023.

This revelation comes amidst ongoing discussions about fuel subsidies in Nigeria. The government previously announced a removal of fuel subsidies, leading to a rise in pump prices. However, El-Rufai suggests the effort was unsuccessful, forcing a return to subsidies at a reportedly higher cost.

The former Kaduna state governor spoke on Monday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital while delivering a Lead Paper at the occasion of Capacity Building Workshop on Enhancing Skills of Government Officials in Policy Implementation

“The present administration,” El-Rufai said, “has so far spent trillions of naira for subsidy,” even exceeding pre-removal levels, ha stated.

He claimed the current price of petrol, between ₦600 and ₦750 per litre, is artificially low due to the subsidy. Without it, prices could be closer to those of diesel, which currently exceed ₦1,000 per litre in some areas.

“But as I also said earlier during my presentation, the removal of fuel subsidy by the present administration is another good policy by President Tinubu. I have always supported withdrawal of fuel subsidy.

“But as you can see, in the course of implementation, the government has now realized that the subsidy has to be back, because right now, we are paying a lot of money amounting to trillions of naira for subsidy even more than before, because the impact has been seen and the packages of support that will reduce the impact have not been effective in reducing the impact, and so, the federal government has to backpedal by subsidizing petrol.

“Many people don’t know this. If they want to know whether there is fuel subsidy or not, they should compare the prices of petrol and diesel per litre. This is because, under normal circumstances, petrol suppose to be more expensive than diesel. As it is, diesel is above N1000, while petrol stood at about N600 per litre. So we are still subsidizing for fuel in Nigeria,” he stated.

El-Rufai’s comments raise questions about the effectiveness and sustainability of fuel subsidies in Nigeria. The high cost highlighted by El-Rufai suggests the program may be straining government resources. It remains to be seen how the Tinubu administration will address this issue and whether they plan to revisit subsidy removal attempts.

Kano APC reverses Ganduje’s suspension, sacks ward leaders involved

The State Working Committee (SWC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kano State has reversed the suspension of the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, by the executive committee of Ganduje’s ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area on Monday.

Ganduje was purportedly suspended by the ward excos led by Haruna Gwanzo, over allegations of corruption levelled against him by the state government.

Gwanzo who announced Ganduje’s suspension during a press briefing in Kano, said the former governor must clear his name of the corruption allegations regarding his long-standing dollar case before he would be readmitted into the party

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Gwanzo stated that the suspension of Ganduje was connected to a dollar bribery scandal where he was seen in a video in 2017 receiving bundles of dollar notes as an alleged bribe from a man said to be a contractor and stuffing them in the pockets of his flowing gown known ‘babanriga.’

But while reacting to the suspension, Chairman of the Kano State chapter of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, said the suspension of Ganduje was null and void as it did not follow due process.

Abbas who also addressed a press conference on Monday, said the SWC had adopted the decisions of the Local Government party leaders which nullified the suspension, while also describing Ganduje ward leaders as engaging in anti-party activities sponsored by the ruling NNPP.

“We have evidence of meetings between the State Government officials and those who suspended the National Chairman,” Abbas said.

Falana faults Coroner’s ruling on death of Sylvester Oromoni

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has questioned the ruling of Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri, the Coroner who investigated the death of Master Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State.

In the ruling delivered on Monday, April 15, the Coroner exonerated Dowen College and blamed the death of the deceased on the negligence of the family doctor. 

Reacting moments after the ruling, Falana said “It is curious that the coroner ignored the evidence of the government pathologist that the “black substance” found in the stomach of the deceased was not subjected to toxicological examination.

Falana’s statement read, “In his lengthy ruling delivered today, Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri, the Coroner who investigated the unfortunate death of Master Sylvester Oromoni Jnr., a 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos exonerated the authorities of Dowen College and blamed the unfortunate death of the deceased on the negligence of the family doctor.

“It is curious that the coroner ignored the evidence of the government pathologist that the “black substance” found in the stomach of the deceased was not subjected to toxicological examination. The allegation was that the deceased was forced to drink a poisonous substance. 

“The Acting Director of Public Prosecution of Lagos State at the material time had recommended that some staff and students be prosecuted for criminal negligence over the bullying of students in the school. Four days later, the Acting DPP turned around to say that there was no case to answer without any fresh evidence from the police investigators. The coroner ruled that the Acting DPP has the power to withdraw her recommendations at any time! 

“The doctors who testified stated that the deceased died of sepsis and that the sepsis could have been caused by excessive massaging of the leg of the deceased. The coroner conveniently overlooked the fact that the school doctor and the nurses massaged the leg of the deceased for two days before inviting his parents to take him home. 

“In an attempt to exonerate Dowen College, the coroner was silent on the overwhelming evidence of the bullying of the deceased, his sister, and other students by the same set of students. In particular, the coroner discountenanced the evidence of a student who had testified that he saw the deceased beaten up and subjected to torture by a group of senior students.

“In spite of such uncontradicted evidence, the coroner said that the deceased died of natural cause. The coroner claimed that the negligence of the family doctor led to the death of the deceased but failed to refer him to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for appropriate sanctions.”

 In a judgment that lasted over 6 hours, the coroner said the deceased died a natural death while also holding that the death was however avoidable as the negligence of the parents and the medical team also contributed to it. 

Magistrate Kadiri absolved some students of Dowen College named in the incident as he concluded that they played no part in the death of Sylvester, and should not have been involved in the matter.

Meanwhile, Mr Sylvester Oromoni Snr, the father of the late Sylvester Junior, has rejected the judgment of the Coroner Inquest which indicted him, his wife and the family doctor for their son’s death. He said it was not the end of the case, as the medical expert did not give them a concluding result of the black substance that was found in their son’s stomach.