Ottawa has verbal assurances from EU that export controls won’t delay vaccine shipments, Ng says
Ottawa has verbal assurances from the European Union that its export controls won’t delay the delivery of vaccines bound for Canada, but is preparing a contingency plan in case the bloc is unable to honour that promise, say federal officials. Testifying before the House International Trade Committee on Monday, Steve Verhuel, assistant deputy minister of trade […]
Rick Hillier’s double duty doesn’t pass the smell test
OTTAWA—From the outset, I wish to state that I have the utmost respect and admiration for retired General Rick Hillier. He is a natural leader; a charismatic public speaker and he earned the loyalty of those troops which he commanded. Hillier parlayed those attributes into a stellar military career, which culminated with him serving as […]
Dr. Fauci, respectfully, please stop with the confessionals
U.S. President Joe Biden’s inauguration promises to usher in a new era of evidence-based decision making, a scientific renaissance if you will—or at least in how the COVID-19 pandemic will be handled. And it could not come at a better time as case counts remain high in the United States. But before we forget the […]
‘Vaccine nationalism’ is not an all or nothing thing
LONDON, U.K.—My wife and I had our first shots of a COVID-19 vaccine this weekend (Astra-Zeneca, since you ask), and none of our children are old enough to be particularly vulnerable. I therefore no longer have a dog in this fight, and can write with godlike impartiality about who else should get the vaccine. We […]
COVID-deniers a rare fringe, and economy-deniers far more dangerous and mainstream
At the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April of 2020, a dichotomy was put forward: lives or the economy? We chose lives. Moreover, based on the limited data we had, many economists were quick to say that this is a false dichotomy: based on the data we had, allowing the virus to spread […]
Flights to Caribbean, Mexico suspended, mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival among new Canadian travel restrictions
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new travel restrictions Friday, halting trips to “sun destinations” until April, limiting international arrivals to four airports, and requiring travellers quarantine at a hotel as they await mandatory COVID-19 test results at a personal cost. The list of measures are meant to prevent the faster-spreading coronavirus variants entering Canada from […]
Kenney’s comments on Keystone XL won’t hobble Ottawa’s negotiations on other bilateral files, say experts
Calls from some premiers to retaliate against the United States over the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline will not and should not affect Ottawa’s strategy to “carve out” exemptions for Canada in the service of bilateral economic interests, say experts. Former U.S. State Department official Sarah Goldfeder, now a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group, […]
‘Don’t break out the champagne’: business insolvencies dramatically down, not a sign of financial resilience, economists warn
Business insolvencies during the first six months of the pandemic were down by almost one-third compared to the previous year, a surprising result that has economists at leading banks calling the results “encouraging,” but warning it shouldn’t be taken as a sign of financial resiliency. That insolvencies are down during the largest economic upheaval in […]
Reviving Canada’s economic links to the United States
Since 1945, the Canada-U.S. bilateral economic relationship has most often been the largest and most diversified in the world. Moreover, even though China has recently emerged as the leading trading nation globally, economic ties between Canada and the United States have remained strong. For example, the U.S. has usually exported more goods to Canada, with 38 […]
Get ready for a dose of vaccine populism
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Populist politician Donald Trump may no longer be in power, but that doesn’t mean populist tactics will suddenly become unfashionable. Like it or not, populism is to politics what fighting is to hockey—the two just naturally go together. Indeed, even the COVID vaccine rollout, currently in its initial stages, could very well trigger a […]
