Budget 2018 not an election-year spending plan, but Liberals ‘pre-staging’ some issues: stakeholders
The Trudeau government’s third federal budget is not an election-year spending plan crafted with an eye towards the campaign trail, though certain elements could hint at what issues the Liberals will run on in the 2019 vote, say stakeholders. Nearly 200 representatives from the private and non-profit sectors gathered in the Reading Room in Centre […]
Five budget takeaways for politicos, public servants, and policy wonks
The Liberal government plans to move away from the troubled Phoenix pay system and begin development of the “next generation of the federal government’s pay system,” it announced in its third federal budget that was tabled in the House of Commons on Feb. 27. The Liberals announced they will spend $16-million over two years, beginning […]
Liberals’ Healthy Eating Strategy serves up a table of junk food
The prime minister’s father, Pierre Trudeau, once said, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” The government may be good at keeping out of our bedrooms, but with the Healthy Eating Strategy, the kitchen is another story. The Liberals are serving up a table of junk food in their Healthy […]
Garneau says feds expected to make decision on $4-billion dedicated rail line this year
The Trudeau government is offering little more than vague generalities on the future of a proposed $21-billion high-speed rail line for southern Ontario, though is expected to make a decision on what’s seen as a rival plan to build a dedicated passenger track for the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor sometime in 2018. Transport Minister Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, Que.) told […]
Heart disease funding needed for when prevention isn’t enough
February is Heart Health Month in North America, and the government of Canada is, as always, engaging in campaigns centred on keeping the hearts of Canadians healthy through preventative measures. In a public message issued earlier this month, for instance, Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor highlighted recent federal investments into anti-smoking programs and healthy eating […]
FCM calls for Ottawa to ensure money earmarked for new trade and transportation corridor fund is spent on local priorities in rural and northern communities
Canada’s national association of municipalities is calling on the federal government to ensure funding earmarked for trade and transportation corridors is spent on locally identified priorities in rural and northern communities, including “airport, marine and road projects that promote economic development.” The recommendation is one of dozens included in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ pre-budget […]
It’s time to protect Canadians from toxic chemicals, say Canada’s scientists
In 2018, nearly 600,000 Canadian children will be suffering from asthma, 200,000 school-aged children will be living with ADHD, and 17,000 Canadians will die too early because of air pollution and asbestos. Toxic chemicals are also linked with other diseases, like heart disease and preterm birth. This is why I and over 500 scientists sent […]
Agriculture lobbyists pushing hard on NAFTA, CPTPP deals: lobbyists registry
Canada’s federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan, P.E.I.) was the most lobbied cabinet minister last month with 19 groups filing communication reports with him, while International Trade was the most lobbied department in the government with 268 communications, according to the January statistics from the federal lobbying registry. Insiders said they were not surprised to […]
Big picture: looking beyond politics to save southern resident killer whales
You can tell a lot about a southern resident killer whale from above. In my field work with the Coastal Ocean Research Institute, an Ocean Wise initiative, my colleagues and I use drone-based aerial photography to measure orcas from season to season. Changes over time help us gauge the health of both individual whales and […]
Feds’ tax change will hurt Canadian farms and fisheries
The mutual insurance sector started with farmers in the 1800s pooling their small savings together in order to have a large pot to cover the few disasters suffered by someone in the group. This is the beginnings of so-called farm mutuals, and later on mutual insurers, which held the belief that the small contributions of […]
