The Great Disappearing Paycheque and The Glimmer of Hope
Imagine you are a single person in Ontario earning $65,000 a year in 2025. You work hard. You wake up early. You think you have $65,000 to spend on your life. This is the first illusion. According to the Canada Revenue Agency and government tax tables, the federal government takes about $11,820. Then Ontario takes $4,085. That is $15,905 gone right away. Then they take Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions, which max out around $4,048, and Employment Insurance (EI) at about $1,068.
When you add up all these payroll deductions, the government has removed roughly $21,021 from your pocket before you even touch it. You are left with about $44,000.
But wait. The hand in your pocket goes deeper.
You take your leftover money to the store. You have to pay 13% HST on almost everything. You need to drive to work? Gasoline has a 10-cent federal excise tax and a 9-cent provincial fuel tax. That is 19 cents per litre of “hidden tax” before they slap the HST on top of it.
And it gets worse. Every item you buy, groceries, clothes, a toaster, comes from a company. That company pays property tax, payroll tax, and corporate tax. They do not pay it from their own profits. They pass those costs to you in the price tag. Roughly 25% to 45% of every price tag is just baked-in taxes.
So, that $65,000 salary? In reality, it buys you only about $25,000 worth of real goods and services. The government has quietly taken the rest while pretending to be benevolent.
The Business of Death
Now we ask the big question: What do they do with all this money?
In 2024, the federal government collected about $400.2 billion in tax revenue. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, they forecast collecting $410 billion (Government of Canada, 2025). That is a lot of money. You would think with that kind of cash, we could take care of the people who fought for this country.
Think again.
The recent federal budget allocates $81.8 billion over five years for the military. This is to “rebuild and rearm” the Canadian Armed Forces. They want to reach NATO targets and spend 3.5% of our GDP on defense by 2035.
Out of that massive pile of money, how much goes to the human beings who actually served? Veterans Affairs Canada gets allocated about $7.83 billion for 2025-26. This covers healthcare, housing, and benefits. It is only about 9.5% to 10% of the total defense allocation (Government of Canada, 2025).
This is where the dark humor turns pitch black.
We have reports and official investigations showing that veterans are being offered Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) by Veterans Affairs workers (CBC News, 2022). Imagine calling for help because you have PTSD, and the person on the phone suggests that maybe you should just stop living.
Why would they do this? Follow the money.
A 2020 analysis estimated that MAID could save the healthcare system approximately $149 million every single year (Parliamentary Budget Officer, 2020; Alliance Vita, 2023). It is cheaper to end a life than to provide palliative care or long-term mental health support.
The government has created a system where death is a cost-saving measure. They dedicate billions to weapons but offer “legalized suicide” to the vulnerable. Experts warn that the lack of medical support drives veterans into despair, making MAID a forced choice rather than a free one (CBC News, 2023). They are prioritizing the spreadsheet over the soul.
The Digital Prison
While the Federal Government of Canada manages your money and your life, they are also building walls around your freedom. The Liberal government, with figures like Mark Carney and Justin Trudeau leading the ideology, is pushing bills that strip away your civil liberties. They use fear to justify control.
Look at these four specific bills that are turning Canada into a police state:
1. Bill C-9 (Combatting Hate Act): This amends the Criminal Code. It sounds nice to “combat hate,” but it broadens the definition of hatred so much that it could criminalize peaceful protest or online speech. It threatens free expression under the guise of safety (Robert Diab, 2025).
2. Bill C-8: This allows the Canada’s Industry Minister to order companies to cut off your internet or phone service without a warrant or court approval. It is a digital kill switch for the government (Alberta Prosperity Project, 2025).
3. Bill C-10: This gives the CRTC power to manipulate what you see online. They can control what content is “discoverable.” It is essentially government censorship of your news feed (Fraser Institute, 2021).
4. Bill C-2 (Strong Borders Act): This lowers the barrier for police to get your digital data. It expands police power over your private communications (Protect Children Canada, 2023).
These are not laws for a free democracy. These are the tools of a regime that wants to control what you say, what you read, and where you go.
The Glimmer of Hope
There is one light in this dark room. The most dangerous thing on the planet is a centralized government that thinks it knows better than you. The saving grace is decentralization. The Alberta government has passed the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act (Bill 1). Introduced by Premier Danielle Smith, this law allows Alberta to refuse to enforce federal laws that hurt Alberta’s interests. It creates a shield against Ottawa’s overreach (CBC News, 2022).
This is the check and balance we need. If other provinces like Quebec follow, we can strip the power away from the central authority and give it back to the communities.
The Final Verdict
I want you to ask yourself a simple question. How many of the politicians passing these laws have children serving in the military? How many of them wait months for a doctor?
The Federal Government of Canada takes your money, taxes hidden inside taxes, and uses it to fund a system that offers death to veterans and the most vulnerable Canadians instead of care. They build a legal framework to spy on you and shut down your internet if you disagree.
The numbers do not lie. The government revenue is $410 billion. The savings from MAID are $149 million. The support for veterans is a fraction of the military budget.
We must follow the money. We must expose the truth. And we must look at these polite men in suits, with their “insignificant distractions” and “virtue signaling,” and realize they are bullies. They are predators cloaked in civility.
We can give them the biggest middle finger of all by refusing to be silent, by refusing to be afraid, and by pointing at the ledger and saying: “We see what you are doing.”
References
Alberta Prosperity Project. (2025). Bill C-8 Analysis. Available at: https://albertaprosperityproject.com (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Alliance Vita. (2023). MAID Cost Savings Reports. Available at: https://www.alliancevita.org/en/2023/09/cost-analysis-of-medical-assistance-in-dying-mad-in-canada/ (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
CBC News. (2022). Alberta Sovereignty Act details. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/1.6668175 (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
CBC News. (2022). Veterans Affairs and MAID allegations. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/veterans-maid-rcmp-investigation-1.6663885 (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
CBC News. (2023). Veterans, PTSD and MAID risks. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-veterans-affairs-maid-counselling-1.6560136 (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
CCLA (Canadian Civil Liberties Association). (2025). Report on Bill C-9. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/office-federal-ombudsperson-victims-crime/recommendations-recommandations/2025-26/20251103.html (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Department of Justice Canada. (2025). Legislative summaries. Available at: https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/LegislativeSummaries (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Fraser Institute. (2021). Bill C-10 and Online Regulation. Available at: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/prlmntappr/c10.htm (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Government of Canada. (2024). Annual Financial Report. Available at: https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/cpc-pac/2024/vol1/s2/efc-cfs-eng.html (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Government of Canada. (2025). Budget 2025: Rebuilding the Armed Forces. Available at: https://budget.canada.ca/2025/report-rapport/chap4-en.html (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Kim, J. (2023). Ethics of MAID for Mental Health. Available at: https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/bioethics/2023-v6-n3-4-bioethics08947/1108008ar.pdf (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
KPMG Canada. (2025). Federal Budget Analysis. Available at: https://kpmg.com/ca/en/home/insights/2025/09/canadian-federal-budget-2025.html (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Office of the Auditor General of Canada. (2021). Report on Veterans Benefits. Available at: https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_202205_02_e_44034.html (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Parliamentary Budget Officer. (2020). Cost Estimate for Bill C-7. Available at: https://openparliament.ca/bills/45-1/C-7/ (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Protect Children Canada. (2023). Bill C-2 Implications. Available at: https://www.protectchildren.ca/en/press-and-media/news-releases/2025/statement-bill-c-2 (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Public Services and Procurement Canada. (2024). Revenue reports. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/corporate/transparency/fees-report/2024-2025.html (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Robert Diab. (2025). Legal analysis of Hate Speech laws. Available at: https://www.robertdiab.ca (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
Statistics Canada. (2025). Government Finance Statistics. Available at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250926/dq250926c-eng.htm (Last Accessed: November 18, 2025)
© 2025 Joseph Aminian