The Biden administration has done Canada a solid with its buy-North-American awakening. We would help ourselves by reciprocating
Canada’s auto sector got a boost this week – from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration. Will we be good neighbours and return the favour? After a marathon voting session, the U.S. Senate finally passed a slimmed-down version of Biden’s landmark climate and economic renewal legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to okay the…
The big losers from the tariff are, without a doubt, American consumers
By Olivier Rancourt and Gabriel Giguere The Canadian softwood lumber dispute with the United States, which has been dragging on for some 40 years now, is long overdue for a resolution. Despite setbacks before WTO and NAFTA tribunals, accusations of subsidized production from American decision-makers and producers continue. The accusations have notably led to the…
Ottawa’s non-existent profile in Indo-Pacific affairs a cause for concern and disappointment
If Canada has pretensions to being an Indo-Pacific power, then it has a difficult image problem to overcome – not in terms of its national reputation as a constructive and valued member of the international community, which are “a given,” but in terms of its “presence” and “engagement” with this pivotal region. While it is…
We have to decide if we want to have opinions or influence
There’s an old saying in the government: “There’s a book inside all retired senior officials and Ambassadors.” With some modesty, I might have a few chapters and articles, and occasionally one percolates to the surface and is published. The invitation I received to testify recently before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade caused…
And stop undermining our role as a trusted resource supplier
In early June, the economics team at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) published a revised forecast for Canada and the 10 provinces. The good news is that notwithstanding slowing global growth, soaring inflation and escalating geopolitical tensions, Canada seems reasonably well positioned to navigate its way through the rest of 2022 and into next…
If this is the best the Americans can do to counter China, then Canada has to look elsewhere
The announcement on Victoria Day of the beginning of talks for countries to join the U.S. Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, widely covered in the U.S. and Asia, was mentioned in Canada only to note that we weren’t invited. That turns out to be the least important piece of news. The new initiative, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework…
Supply management pushed up to 190,000 Canadians into poverty
By Krystle Wittevrongel and Gabriel Giguère New Zealand had never launched a dispute under a free trade agreement until two weeks ago, on May 12, when it launched a trade dispute against Canada under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), accusing our government of breaking its promises on dairy imports. This was also the first dispute launched…
Self-sufficiency and even reduced trade will lead to a much lower standard of living
Three major factors are drastically changing the world: climate change, the pandemic and, most recently, the war in Ukraine. Much of the conventional wisdom that we learned in school and that still governs many political decisions seems no longer to apply. COVID-19, climate change and attempted conquests appear to give more credence to the often…
A few weeks ago, there was a violent First Nations-climate extremist attack on a Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline construction site in British Columbia. In a seemingly unrelated development, German leaders decided last year to rapidly phase out nuclear energy with nothing to replace it. Also last year, the United States chose not to approve two pipelines.…
Canada is the solution to reliable, affordable, responsible energy security
The federal government’s plan to require a 42 per cent reduction in emissions from Canada’s oil and gas sector by 2030 is based on assumptions divorced from reality and will ultimately hurt Canadians. Setting aggressive targets to cap and reduce the sector’s pollution – while no other major producing nation does the same – is…
Canada’s auto sector got a boost this week – from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration. Will we be good neighbours and return the favour? After a marathon voting session, the U.S. Senate finally passed a slimmed-down version of Biden’s landmark climate and economic renewal legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to okay the…
