More than half of Canadians say the U.S. will fare the best in NAFTA talks: poll
Canadians are skeptical of how the country will fare in ongoing renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement, with more than half of respondents to a recent poll believing the United States will ultimately emerge as the real winner, results suggest. The latest numbers, from a Forum Research poll conducted between Aug. 16 and […]
Ritz staying out of Saskatchewan politics in retirement
Veteran Conservative MP Gerry Ritz announced his resignation from federal politics this morning, and the longtime Saskatchewan MP and former minister says he won’t be dipping into the shakeup underway in his home province with Premier and Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall also stepping down. Mr. Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.), 66, said he told federal Conservative […]
Saudis to mount cultural showcase next month, amid human rights investigation
The Saudi Embassy is preparing a charm offensive in Ottawa next month, bringing dancers to the lawns of Parliament Hill and flying in schoolchildren to act as citizen ambassadors, while Ottawa investigates whether the Saudi government used Canadian-made armoured vehicles against its citizens. The Saudi Cultural Days festival being planned is actually a scaled-down version […]
Inside the Washington inside Ottawa
John Stewart spent 20 years as an economist and manager with the United States Embassy in Ottawa. This is the first of two excerpts from his book Strangers with Memories: The United States and Canada from Free Trade to Baghdad, now available from the fall catalogue of McGill-Queen’s University Press. Diplomatic mission requires self-starting individual to […]
What’s NAFTA worth to Canada?
TORONTO—The biggest unknowns in the NAFTA negotiations now underway are the minimum package that U.S. President Donald Trump feels he must have to overhaul what he has called “perhaps the worst trade deal ever negotiated” and whether Canada and Mexico could ever agree to the changes he’s seeking to satisfy his core supporters and win […]
Trudeau government’s U.S.-relations plan paying off amid White House upheaval: strategists
The Justin Trudeau government’s carefully laid plans and outreach south of the border is paying off in light of the instability of U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House amid current NAFTA negotiations, say strategists. “There is no way that the instability of the political staff [in the White House] isn’t having an effect on everything […]
Pollster predicts Liberal tax reforms will hurt them politically
A prominent pollster says he’s “surprised” at the Liberal government’s recently proposed tax reforms, as they have the potential to alienate many of the influential people whose support they’re counting on for the next election campaign. Greg Lyle of Innovative Research said he was surprised when he heard about the government’s proposed changes that crack […]
Atlantic premiers, eastern U.S. governors take centre stage in NAFTA talks
United States President Donald Trump isn’t visiting Canada’s smallest province this weekend as New England governors meet with Eastern Canadian premiers to talk trade. But his latest threat to axe the North American Free Trade Agreement arrived days earlier, when he told a rambunctious crowd in Phoenix on Tuesday that it looked like his administration […]
Still no sign U.S. gets the whole point about free trade
OTTAWA—No one seemed to notice United States President Donald Trump’s analysis of his trade negotiation aims at a Buy American event at the White House last month. Trump, who looks at trade through a simplistic protectionist lens and accuses the rest of the world of mulcting the United States, vowed his administration will restore “a […]
Supply management: Canada’s sacred cow no more?
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—In 1976, many commentators outside of Quebec attributed the victory of René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois to the leader’s charisma and the desire for independence. Within Quebec, some were astute enough to note traditional Liberal ridings in rural areas had swung significantly to the PQ. These ridings were not hotbeds of Quebec nationalism, […]
