Executive Summary The various federal political parties are all promoting the policy agendas they believe will foster a sustainably high quality of life for all Canadians. It remains to be seen whether they will attain the success that they aim to achieve. In some...
The Trump administration has unveiled a long list of punishing tariffs that will affect everyone. This time around they will not exempt Canadian steel and aluminium. Is this the beginning of a worldwide trade war, or simply a clever negotiating tactic by a President...
Export Development Corporation, ‘EDC’, a Crown lending corporation owned by the federal government, has found itself in controversy by virtue of providing funding to a mining company, Turquoise Hill. This mining firm utilized offshore entities to minimize taxes it...
Decades of steady trade liberalization have served Canada’s economic development. As the Montreal Economic Institute’s Mathieu Bédard noted recently in FP Comment (“Trump’s anti-NAFTA myths spread north,” July 14), the NAFTA years...
The writ has been dropped and Albertans are off to the polls on May 29. That leaves just four weeks for political leaders and voters to sort out what is arguably the most divisive, yet significant, issue for this election - health care. On Day 2, NDP leader Rachel...
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
During the 1988 Free Trade debate, the Liberals and NDP fought a provision that required Canada to maintain its oil export volumes to the U.S. at historical levels. So it is a remarkable irony that these two parties are now fighting against pipelines that would allow...
Forcing rail carriers to ship a competitor’s cars harms profitability and distorts the investment market The winter before last, Canadians endured their coldest-ever winter. On the rail lines, deliveries were slowed significantly, creating a backlog of grain and...
The governments of Ontario and Quebec recently announced their intention to enter into a cap-and-trade arrangement. The goal here is to put a price on carbon. The economic argument is pretty simple. Markets are an efficient manner in which to allocate resources, and...
The governments of Ontario and Quebec recently announced their intention to enter into a cap and trade arrangement. The goal here is to put a price on carbon dioxide. The economic argument is pretty simple. Markets are an efficient manner in which to...
Last week the Harper Government announced that the highly anticipated Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union had been finalized. The ratification process could take up to two years due to the complexities involved in...
Since taking office in 2006, the Harper government has negotiated over 40 separate international trade agreements and has championed the idea of free trade around the world as a means of economic and political liberalization and progress. While Canada’s approach...
With an abundance of natural resources, and a bustling agriculture industry, trade is vital to the Saskatchewan economy. The province exports more products per capita than any other province, and recently overtook British Columbia to become the fourth largest...
Many economists agree that free trade promotes economic growth, reduces poverty and benefits all countries that participate. The World Trade Organization is supposed to facilitate global trade by helping to reduce and eventually eliminate barriers like tariffs and...