Searching for consensus in a divided country
The reaction to the budget is all the more pertinent for the Liberals at a time when culture war issues are eclipsing already meagre policy-related consensus-building.
A budget unworthy of the name
This is a shopping list, with little regard for balance sheets, fiscal projections, the state of the economy, and the requirement governments be careful stewards of the public purse.
Feds ‘shooting themselves in the foot’ on cannabis excise tax as some producers choose illicit market over bankruptcy
Cannabis marketing CEO Lisa Campbell says she expects more than half of the existing licensed producers and retailers will fold in a year, well before ISED’s strategy table consultations conclude.
Freeland promises Canada will ‘build big things here,’ but will we really?
Who actually will own the new, big things to be built in Canada? Whose big new ideas will be used? Who will profit from the big, new opportunities? Will Canadians be more than employees of foreign multinationals?
Competition is essential to dynamic capitalism and productive economies
Modern competition policy dates back to the U.S. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which was an epochal policy response to the emergence of industrial monopolies in oil, transportation, and elsewhere. Competition policy runs in long cycles. As new monopolists emerge—often in response to technological upheavals—policy is reformed and updated. Then things calm down and go […]
Government must start ‘walking their talk’ on affordability to maximize political impact of budget roll-out, says pollster
Some ‘very real wins’ for the NDP set-up an ‘important class-based message’ it can deliver to working class voters, says strategist.
Environmental experts praise budget’s ‘transformational’ investments, but say feds still avoiding ‘a really honest conversation about the future of the oil and gas industry’
Budget 2023 proposes $5.6-billion over the first five years for a new hydrogen investment tax credit, along with ‘tens of billions’ across multiple departments to speed up the transition to a clean electricity grid.
Poilievre’s over-inflated bitcoin promises
The number of bitcoins needed to pay for shawarmas, groceries, gas, and housing is up 73.1 per cent compared with 5.2 per cent annual inflation measured in Canadian dollars.
Freeland’s budget cuts ‘close to the line’ in balancing targeted investment with fiscal restraint: economist
In responding to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, the government faces ‘a herculean task,’ and must move quickly on proposals laid out in Budget 2023, says a Canadians for Clean Prosperity executive.
Scant new funding on defence and foreign policy in budget
Budget 2023 pledges $13.5-million for creation of National Counter-Foreign Interference Office and $48.9-million to combat diaspora harassment.
