The Labour Day holiday weekend in Canada is an end-of-summer rite for Canadian workers to reflect on their achievements of their toil and for their families and friends to come together to discuss what to expect with the resumption of a daily routine. For many Canadians this weekend the discussions around a campfire or on […]
Cabinet and caucus retreats are set to kick off in the next couple of weeks, unofficially spelling the end of summer in Ottawa as political parties sprint to align messaging and policy positions ahead of what is sure to be a hectic fall. The issue set that will kick off debate in the House of […]
Tax issues are back on the agenda, as they should be. In the wake of the breakdown of Canada-U.S. trade talks, there is a renewed focus on what Canada needs to do to get its economy out of the doldrums. Although we have no control over what the U.S. may do next to destabilize our […]
The trade war between Canada and the United States has officially kicked into high gear after high stakes talks between the two countries collapsed last weekend. President Donald Trump’s escalated tariffs came into effect late last month and a series of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Cabinet members unveiled roughly $27.6 billion in counter-tariffs last Tuesday, […]
No one should be surprised that Canada did not achieve a trade deal with a Trump-led U.S. administration. The Carney Liberal government gained its popularity on an “elbows up” campaign against Trump and their political playbook relies on it. So long as Canadians still believe this rhetoric, Prime Minister Mark Carney has no reason to […]
Some Canadians – notably folks supporting the federal Liberals – were celebrating last week as we saw the largest increase in GDP for the second quarter of this year in the past four years. Second quarter real GDP increased by 0.8 per cent – 3.3 per cent on an annualized basis. A slight readjustment of […]
The failed trade talks between Canada and the United States have devolved into a “we said, they said” argument, and, today, the only thing being traded between countries is insults. The heated exchanges have regressed into coarse exchanges such as “he can kiss my a**” to “America is no longer willing to carry them (Canadians).” […]
While Canadians were focussing on Canada-U.S. trade relations over the past week or so, a very interesting consultation period was winding up in Ottawa on something called the “green taxonomy.” The purpose of this policy exercise is to divide different economic activities into three categories – green, transition or abatement. Of course, things like oil […]
Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to look at this poll and understand something simple: People will not accept a gas tax hike in September. New polling shows 63 per cent of Canadians oppose the federal government’s plan to hike fuel taxes next month. Carney suspended the federal fuel tax in April to give Canadians a […]
Going into Friday, the expectation in Ottawa was a deal. Reports out of Washington all week pointed in the same direction that Canada was going to accept the terms on the table to keep goods moving across the border. This is not what happened. Just after midnight, Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement saying […]