Secret meeting, secret opportunities: the high stakes private sector funding of Canada’s infrastructure
OTTAWA—Secret meetings, secret opportunities: power and influence behind closed doors in Ottawa is always present. Uncovering such nefarious activity is never easy, but through an access-to-information application, one stark example of this came to light where several senior government officials met in secret at a secret location late last year with a corporation powerful enough […]
Philpott promises more details forthcoming on efforts to lower drug costs and marijuana education campaign
Approaching nearly two years in office, the federal Liberal government’s grand plan for the Canadian health-care system is beginning to take root. After hitting a wall in efforts to negotiate a pan-Canadian Health Accord, the Liberals opted instead to reach separate 10-year deals with the individual provinces and territories, inking pacts with every jurisdiction except for […]
On defence spending, Trump will never be satisfied
OTTAWA—Ever since Donald Trump was elected United States president, the Canadian defence community has been in a self-flagellating flap. It’s because the tough-talking Trump made it part of his campaign platform to crack down on NATO member states not paying their fair share in terms of defence spending. The arbitrary yardstick used by Trump is […]
Dual investments in home care and housing maximize support for seniors: PS Vaughan
Canada’s demographic reality has long been seen as one of the country’s major public policy challenges of the decades to come. The large contingent of baby boomers, born after the Second World War amidst a fertility surge that remade Canada, is reaching retirement, with no younger generation large enough to fill its footprint. Although Canadians are […]
Feds defend move to lower eligibility age for seniors benefits amidst changing demographics
The Trudeau government made an “expensive mistake” by reversing Harper-era changes to the eligibility criteria for the old-age security (OAS) pension and its associated benefits, and future generations of Canadians will pay the price, warns a government watchdog group. Aaron Wudrick, national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, accused the governing Liberals of ignoring sound […]
Budget bill, marijuana legalization looming, as opposition parties fuming
The Liberals might be feeling like the Burt Reynolds character in the movie Smokey and the Bandit: “We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there,” went the theme song to that important piece of 1970s cinema. After being away for the last two weeks, MPs are back in Ottawa […]
Waiting for results on overseas tax evasion
PARLIAMENT HILL—After years of trying to build public and media support, significant progress has been made with the last two federal budgets in the fight against overseas tax evasion. Finally, the federal government is providing the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) the resources it needs to take on those who hide their money in overseas tax […]
How one lobby campaign won support of mining, environment, indigenous groups and MPs from all parties
It’s not every day that a lobbying campaign can claim success based on support from 49 MPs from all four political parties in the House of Commons as well as mining, environmental, and indigenous groups. While these camps may in other circumstances clash, they spoke with one voice in recent months to push the federal […]
‘Poor here’ is poor excuse not to boost foreign aid
In January, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau wrote: “The world’s richest one per cent own 99 per cent of our planet’s wealth. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is contributing to global unrest, political instability, conflict, and migratory crises…Concrete actions are what we need, both in the interest of developing countries and […]
‘People are experiencing the economy,’ more than half of Canadians believe economy’s stalled, says poll
OTTAWA—Canadians are not showing a high level of optimism in the economy, despite the federal government’s sales pitch and positive projections of growth from the Bank of Canada and the International Monetary Fund. As part of a recent online omnibus poll of almost 2,000 Canadians, conducted by the Toronto-based Campaign Research polling firm, questions about Canadians’ perception […]
