Sep 22 2021 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — Erin O’Toole’s upstart campaign against Justin Trudeau showed Canada’s Conservatives what it’s like to campaign to the left. The party’s faithful now have to decide if they liked it.
Sep 21 2021 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — Justin Trudeau’s election win will earn him a congratulatory call from a figure largely forgotten during Canada’s election campaign: President Joe Biden. But staying on Biden’s radar will be key for Trudeau, as he resettles into the Prime Minister’s Office.
Aug 15 2021 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — Justin Trudeau launched Canadians into an election campaign Sunday that on the surface gives voters a choice between competing visions for a post-pandemic Canada. But Trudeau also used his Day 1 words to shape the campaign’s subtext. Canada’s election, the Liberal leader suggested, could hinge on the philosophical clash between the vaccinated and the vaccine […]
Aug 15 2021 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — Chinese courts just dropped a pair of global headline-grabbing decisions that bring the bad blood in the Canada-China relationship to the center of the 2021 federal election campaign. Foreign policy debate will focus on bilateral tensions that can be traced back nearly 1,000 days to China’s arrests of two Canadians on spying charges. During that […]
Oct 21 2020 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — Ottawa thinks the Democrat would be friendlier, but no less protectionist than Trump. After four years of trade clashes with the Trump administration, Canada would seem more than ready to lower its guard should Joe Biden win. Instead, it’s preparing for a transition — and for the new risks a Biden White House could bring.
Jun 22 2020 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — Allegations about President Donald Trump in a new book by former White House official John Bolton could be a factor in Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s fight to avoid extradition from Canada to the United States. Passages from the book penned by Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, are likely to be explored as a way […]
Apr 21 2020 — Andy Blatchford — Politico — In the span of a month, Donald Trump has proposed militarizing the U.S.-Canada border, cutting off N95 mask exports to Canada and then reopening the Canadian frontier despite a raging pandemic. The Canadian response? Challenge accepted.
Nov 7 2019 — Andy Blatchford — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says there's a "compelling case" to be made for his province to exit the half-century-old Canada Pension Plan — an idea sure to face increasing scrutiny over the coming months. With growing frustrations in his province about its place in the federation, Kenney has revealed that a deeper analysis is on the way to consider Alberta's potential withdrawal from the national pension plan. […]
Oct 30 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate on hold Wednesday, leaving the country as an exception compared to other advanced economies that have begun to respond to a weakening global economy. In its explanation, the central bank argued that inflation is on target and the domestic economy has held up well in many respects, […]
Oct 29 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — Big business is adding its voice to a broader call for economy-lifting changes in Canada following an election campaign widely criticized for its dearth of deep policy discussion. The Business Council of Canada, a lobby group representing chief executives of the largest corporations, has released a report underlining its concerns around obstacles like the aging […]
Oct 27 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — Business leaders want Canada's newly elected lawmakers to shift their attention to the economy following an election campaign that sorely lacked a critical conversation: how to secure the country's future prosperity. Much of the campaign's focus zeroed in on pocketbook commitments, which were designed to win individual voter support. Pledges emphasized redistribution of government money, with […]
Oct 22 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — The Liberals won more seats Monday than any other party, but came up short in their effort to return to Parliament with another majority mandate. Unlike in Justin Trudeau's first term, this time the Liberal prime minister will have to strike agreements with political rivals as he tries to win their support to pass legislation and, […]
Oct 16 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — The annual inflation rate was 1.9 per cent in September for a second-straight month, keeping the indicator close to the Bank of Canada's ideal two per cent target. The new numbers released Wednesday in Statistics Canada's latest consumer price index report showed that price growth was once again held back by lower gas prices. Inflation […]
Sep 28 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh kept their campaign machines rolling Saturday — and they focused their efforts on their parties' historic strongholds. Scheer promoted the Conservatives' pledge to build a national energy corridor during a stop in Edmonton, where he took the stage with an old friend: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Scheer, […]
Sep 25 2019 — Andy Blatchford — OTTAWA — The incomes of Canada's top one per cent grew at a faster pace than everyone else in 2017 — and, overall, they saw their taxes edge down, a new study says. Statistics Canada has found that in 2017, the average total income of all tax-filers rose 2.5 per cent to $48,400 compared to the previous year. The average income growth of the bottom half of tax filers […]