Jun 16 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The Great Trade War of 2018, historians will record, began June 1 with the imposition of steep tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum into the United States, including Canada’s. The war, that is, began without us. The only question is how we will respond. Opinion has divided sharply. The War Party, including the government […]
Jun 14 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — How did supply management, of all things, come to be at the centre of everything? The policy, under which farmers in a number of sectors — milk, cheese, eggs, poultry — are organized into government-approved price-fixing rings, enforced by a complex system of quotas and protected by prohibitive tariffs on imports of the same goods, […]
Jun 11 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The question is not: what do we think of Trump? The question is: what are we going to do about him? On the first, there can no longer be any doubt: it is impossible to deal with the current president of the United States in any of the usual ways — as a responsible ally, […]
Jun 9 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — There is a tendency after every election to over-read the results. We are particularly prone to this in my trade, invested as we are in the significance of every falling leaf. So the replacement of one government with another in Ontario, Doug Ford’s Conservatives taking over from Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals, has been greeted with headlines […]
Jun 7 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — This election was said from the outset to be the Ontario Conservatives’ to lose, and let the record show they did their level best to lose it. No matter how it turns out, no one can take that away from them. To give up a 17-point lead in a four-week campaign takes discipline and hard […]
Jun 4 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The good news about British Columbia’s pending referendum on electoral reform is, first, that it is happening, and second, that the provincial government does not actually seem to want to kill it. That alone would set it apart from previous such exercises, whether in B.C. in 2005 and 2009, or Ontario in 2007, or P.E.I. […]
Jun 2 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — Presumably Donald Trump was warned of the furious response he could expect from the United States’ trading partners were he to proceed with his threatened tariffs on their exports of aluminum and steel. He went ahead and did so anyway. This is one problem with trade wars: they seek to achieve in retrospect what they […]
May 30 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — It was always clear the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would be an important test of the Trudeau government. It now looks as if it may well decide its fate. The latest federal strategy — nationalization if necessary, but not necessarily nationalization — will at least put to rest the notion, common in conservative circles, that […]
May 24 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The prime minister, charges Andrew Scheer, is “rigging the rules” of future elections “to benefit himself.” Worse, he is “ramming through” his proposed changes to Canada’s election law “before Parliament or Canadians have a say.” In sum, according to the Conservative leader, he is imposing undemocratic changes by undemocratic means.
May 18 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — Just to recap: In the quest to ship Alberta crude to overseas markets, the federal Liberals are down to one pipeline, having killed off Northern Gateway and allowed Energy East to die. That pipeline, the Trans Mountain expansion, is now itself in considerable doubt, in part owing to the Liberals’ previous encouragement (previous, that is, […]
May 16 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — Certain things recur eternally, in time with the rhythm of the seasons. Flowers bloom in spring. The swallows return to Capistrano. And the federal Conservatives prostitute themselves for the Quebec-nationalist vote. Well, that’s a bit strong. Prostitutes, after all, expect to be paid. Whereas the Conservatives’ periodic efforts to sell themselves, their principles and their […]
May 14 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — Once again, as it does every so often, corporate Canada is fretting about its “competitiveness,” or lack thereof. “Canadian competitiveness raises CEOs’ ire,” ran the headline in Friday’s Financial Post. “Canada faces a competitiveness challenge that the nation must address with ‘tremendous urgency’,” moaned Royal Bank CEO David McKay in another story. Magna CEO Don […]
May 10 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The first NDP ad of the 2018 Ontario election campaign invites viewers to “imagine a place” where hydro is cheap, drugs are free, and dental care is on the house — all at no cost to anyone except the “very rich” who will be “asked” to “pay a little more,” which I gather is NDPese […]
May 7 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — The frontier between the United States and Canada is often described as the “world’s longest undefended border.” This is untrue. It is defended by the United States, in both directions. The Americans are certainly vigilant in defence of their own border, as anyone who has visited the United States lately could attest. But they are […]
May 5 2018 — Andrew Coyne — National Post — With its customary hyperbolic self-flattery, the Liberal government describes its latest creation, the Elections Modernization Act (Bill C-76), as a “generational overhaul” of Canada’s election law. According to the Democratic Institutions Minister, Karina Gould (on maternity leave but nevertheless available to be quoted), the bill addresses “the threats and challenges we face in the 21st […]