Montreal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather is calling on the Canadian government to bar the British rap duo Bob Vylan from Canada after the group led the crowd in a chant of death to the Israeli military at the Glastonbury Festival in the United Kingdom over the weekend.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department said that it had “revoked the U.S. visas” of the band members who performed at the festival in southwest England on Saturday, ahead of several American tour dates in October and November. “Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state

wrote

on X.

The announcement prompted Housefather, a former 

special adviser

on antisemitism and Jewish community relations under then prime minister Justin Trudeau, to demand the Carney government follow suit. Bob Vylan is set to perform in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal in December.

“This is a good decision by the United States,” Housefather wrote on Monday afternoon. “The incitement by Bob Vylan and his band at Glastonbury have no place in North America. I have been in touch with the minister of public safety and believe that Mr. Vylan’s actions should render him inadmissible to Canada.”

On Saturday, frontman Bobby Vylan shouted “Free, free Palestine” while on stage, before leading the crowd to chant “Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).”

On social media on Sunday, Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, appeared to stand by his comments. In an Instagram post captioned “I said what I said,” he wrote that he has received “messages of both support and hatred” over his performance.

“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he wrote.

In an email to National Post Monday afternoon, Housefather said that “Vylan’s conduct in Glastonbury should render him inadmissible for entry and I sent the information on what occurred to the minister (of public safety) and his team.”

The ministry did not respond to the Post’s request for comment in time for publication.

Members of the Conservative party have echoed Housefather’s call to ban Bob Vylan from Canada.

“The U.K.’s Labour government has decried this person’s performance as ‘hate speech,’ and the United States will not allow them entry to do the same,” Conservative NP Michelle Rempel Garner, the MP for Calgary Nose Hill,

wrote

shortly after Housefather’s initial post, tagging the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship in her message. “I call upon Canada’s government to do the same and deny any requests from this group to enter Canada.”

Rempel Garner reiterated her demand after one user commented on her original message with a list of several Canadian tour stops. “They should not be allowed into Canada to spread their hate,” she

responded

.

Vylan’s comments before a packed crowd filled with Palestinian and Lebanese flags drew the condemnation of the Glastonbury Festival’s organizers and even British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The Labour Party leader

said

in a statement, “There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech,” and said the BBC “needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast.” The publicly funded news network has faced

allegations

of anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the war in the Middle East.

On Monday, the BBC

apologized

for streaming the event with an on-screen warning and said Vylan’s comments were “utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.”

The Avon and Somerset Police also issued a

statement

saying “a criminal investigation is now being undertaken” into Vylan’s comments. “There is absolutely no place in society for hate,” the police added. The Northern Irish group Kneecap, which also performed at the Glastonbury Festival, was also listed in the police announcement. The group had its American visa pulled over anti-Israel comments made during a performance at Coachella earlier this year after the band displayed the following

message

: “F–k Israel/Free Palestine.”

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With a middle-class tax cut promised by Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberal government coming into effect Tuesday, some Canadians in the lowest tax brackets may find extra cause to celebrate Canada Day.

While dropping the lowest marginal personal income tax rate from 15 to 14 per cent is expected to offer immediate relief to some, there are questions about how much people are actually saving and whether those who need it most are benefiting.

Here’s what you need to know about the tax cut.

Bottom brackets benefit best

When announced after the election and cabinet swearing in, Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne said the measure would deliver upwards of $27 billion in tax savings to more than 22 million Canadians over five years, starting in the 2025-26 tax year.

Since the change is being implemented in July, the full-year tax rate for 2025 is adjusted to 14.5 per cent, dropping to 14 in subsequent years.

Those with a job or other income where tax is taken out automatically might notice slightly more money on the paystubs starting in July, while others won’t realize the savings until they file their taxes in spring 2026.

The cut lowers the rate on the first $57,365 of taxable income, regardless of their income level, according to

Finance Canada.

The department noted the majority of the tax relief would be felt by those in the bottom two tax brackets, with those earning $57,365 and under benefiting from 45 per cent and those making $114,750 or less getting a 41 per cent share in 2025.

These are the new tax brackets for Canadians in 2025

The three highest brackets — $114,750 to $177,882; $177,882 to $253,414; and over $253,414 — pay 18, 10 and 20 per cent of the taxes and gain nine, three and two per cent, respectively, of the tax relief.

It forecasted the maximum tax savings at $420 per person and $840 per couple in 2026.

In early June, a ways and means motion introduced by Champagne in the House of Commons to have the changes take effect for Carney’s promised Canada Day deadline was passed unanimously. The actual legislation will still require approval and adoption when the House resumes in September.

PBO report sobering on savings

A report from the

Parliamentary Budget Office

that followed two weeks later dampened some of Finance Canada’s projected savings.

Because the tax cut is coming at the midway point of the year, the PBO analysis estimates an average savings of $90 this year, $190 in the following three years and $200 in 2029-30.

And instead of the $840 predicted by the Liberals, it estimates the average Canadian family will only save $280 on next year’s taxes.

Under the PBO’s models, a two-income couple in the second tax bracket with a child comes closest to the government prediction with a potential $750 in savings in future years.

Seniors and single Canadians, including those with a dependent, in the lowest tax bracket could see as little as $50, $100 and $140 in annual savings, respectively.

“In general, the greater the income, the greater the savings in dollars, but the lower as a share of income for individuals in the second tax bracket and above,” the PBO wrote, meaning those with a lower average income can expect to save less on the first $57,375 relative to those who earn more on average.

The Conservative Party of Canada issued a

statement

, calling out Carney and the Liberals for failing to deliver a meaningful tax cut, particularly for seniors.

“For a lower-income senior the savings would be $50 a year, or $4.16 a month,” the Tories wrote. “Not even enough to buy an Egg McMuffin or a Tim’s breakfast sandwich.”

As part of their campaign platform, the

Conservatives pledged

to drop the personal income tax rate to 12.75 per cent, potentially yielding $900 in savings to Canadians in the lowest tax tier and $1,800 for dual-income families.

The PBO report also highlighted the potential net cost of the tax cut, estimating it could be up to $28 billion over the next five years after taking into account associated reductions in federal tax credits under the plan.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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OTTAWA — With Canada’s digital services tax now scrapped, a free trade deal between Canada and the Unites States is just a question of time, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra told National Post on Monday.

In an exclusive interview, Hoekstra said he’s not sure if trade talks between the North American neighbours can be resolved by July 21, a target agreed to by the two leaders when they met in mid-June in Kananaskis, Alta. But the ambassador said he’s very confident that a deal will get done.

“We will get to an agreement. The only question is how long will it take,” he said in an interview. “I’m confident we will have an agreement.”

Hoekstra emphasized that free trade between Canada and the U.S. is good for both countries, but that policies such as Canada’s now-defunct digital services tax are irritants that get in the way.

He said the tax, however, was not the only trade irritant irking the U.S. Others include provincial policies that have pulled American alcohol off store shelves and other anti-competitive measures that make it difficult for U.S. companies to compete in this market. U.S. President Donald Trump has also made it clear that he doesn’t like Canada’s supply management policies protecting the dairy and poultry industries because they make it difficult for American producers to compete in the Canadian market.

“There’s lots of issues that need to be covered. Some of them are going to be tougher than others,” Hoekstra said. “The important thing is that this really sets the table.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Monday that he had always expected the digital services tax to be a casualty of the trade negotiations with the U.S., so it was pointless for the government to collect that tax revenue.

“It’s something that we expected, in the broader sense, that would be part of a final deal,” said Carney, without explaining why the decision to scrap the tax was made only hours before it came into effect at midnight on Sunday.

“It doesn’t make sense to collect tax from people and then remit them back, so it provides some certainty. And as I just said, negotiations have restarted. We’re going to focus on getting the best deal for Canadians. We’re making progress,” said Carney.

Canada’s digital services tax was considered a big deal to the U.S., Hoekstra said, because it unfairly targeted American big tech companies. The tax was raised consistently by the U.S. in every recent conversation about trade, he added.

But Carney called Trump Sunday to say that he would be cancelling the tax, just two days after Trump insisted that the U.S. would walk away from trade talks with Canada and impose retaliatory tariffs if the tax wasn’t killed. The first digital services tax payments were due Monday, although they were to be retroactive to 2022.

Hoekstra said the upcoming trade talks may face more hurdles but that both sides want a deal. “We’ve done this with the Canadians for years. I expect we’ll be able to do it again.”

Trump had said on Friday he was ending trade negotiations with Canada due to the tax, which would have targeted major U.S. tech companies like Amazon and Google.

“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period,”

Trump wrote, on his social media network

Truth Social.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the Liberal government shouldn’t have scrapped the digital services tax without a concession from the Americans.

“The tax is gone for good. In exchange, the Prime Minister should insist that the U.S. immediately rescind softwood lumber tariffs. We need to make gains for our workers in these talks,”

wrote Poilievre, on social media

.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the Canadian government’s decision to rescind the digital services tax as a big win for the United States.

“It’s very simple. Prime Minister Carney and Canada caved to President Trump and the United States of America. And President Trump knows how to negotiate,” said Leavitt.

 

National Post,

with files from the Canadian Press

• U.S. and Canada restart trade talks after conflict over digital services tax
• Canada cancelled its digital services tax. What was it and why did the U.S. hate it?

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.