Articles by Heather Scoffield

Jul 26 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — When the federal Liberals rolled out with fanfare last week their plan to deal with the human cost of cutting greenhouse gases, their timing was dubious. It’s been two years, after all, since the Liberals committed to legislating a “just transition” for people working in fossil fuels who lose their jobs as Canada moves toward […]

Jul 22 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It was almost like a flashback to the election campaign of 2019. Justin Trudeau was out in Hamilton and Brampton this week, announcing hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding for affordable housing. The NDP is complaining it’s just not enough. And the Conservatives are saying he’s doing it all wrong. The housing issue […]

Jul 20 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — After weeks of pressure from the business community, and some push and pull from the premiers and the public, the federal government has finally revealed some of its plan to reopen Canada’s international borders — one more major step toward a full economic recovery. Let’s own that decision and make the most of it. The […]

Jul 6 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The federal Liberals gave hundreds of millions of dollars to one of the country’s biggest polluters on Monday. This time, they say, it’s different. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau burst out of his post-G7 quarantine, flew to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and announced a $420-million injection for Algoma Steel — the first money to roll out […]

Jul 1 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Wed., June 30, 2021timer4 min. read If we needed a reminder that a public health crisis is also an economic crisis, it just showed up in some new numbers about what happened to us in April. And actually, we do need a reminder, because we’ve got another crisis coming at us. In April, the third […]

Jun 29 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — British Columbia has taken the plunge and hired a hard-hitting, perhaps even revolutionary, economist to help design its climb out of the pandemic recession in the hopes of chiselling off the rough edges of capitalism as we know it. B.C. is paying the provocative Mariana Mazzucato and her institute at University College London about $350,000 […]

Jun 21 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Mon., June 21, 2021timer4 min. read First it was toilet paper, then it was masks and gowns, and lately, it’s lumber and computer chips. And of course, real estate — wow. Sudden, unpredictable shortages of the things we want most have been a hallmark of the pandemic economy, and a harbinger of inflationary pressure — […]

Jun 18 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — There’s a big idea afoot after last weekend’s G7 summit, an idea that is supposed to make the digital economy of the future just and fair. A global minimum tax is being touted as a tempting solution to so many problems — inequality, middle-class erosion, greedy corporations, and tech behemoths that have rolled all over […]

May 18 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Our Windsor — It was a bit ironic that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met virtually with Vaccine Hunters Canada on Tuesday. That’s the group of tech-savvy volunteers that is successfully bringing order to the chaos that has characterized the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, especially in Ontario, by searching out and posting crucial information about vaccine availability on Twitter. Ironic […]

May 14 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — There are a few things about Canadian culture that the internet doesn’t change. For starters, our stories, music, art and news have always been at risk of being swamped by larger forces. To fix the market failure, we’ve turned to public policy to help. So the history of Canadian culture has also been a history […]

Apr 19 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The chatter in federal circles in the months leading up to the budget was all about the value of unconventional thinking in desperate times. Former business leader Michael Sabia was brought to Ottawa to become the deputy minister of finance (via a short detour at the Canada Infrastructure Bank) for his aggressive and creative approach […]

Apr 18 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Child care will be the big, shiny headline, but the environment will be the subplot. Chrystia Freeland’s first budget will be historic, by definition, if only just because of the sheer size of it. After a full year of unbridled federal spending to underpin the pandemic economy, Freeland will show deficits that are far larger […]

Apr 15 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The federal Liberals are poised to commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 per cent by 2030, the Star has learned — a major ramping up of their climate ambition as the politics around their current target heats up. That’s easier said than done — especially since Canada has managed to lower […]

Apr 14 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — When former senior government official Paul Boothe negotiated the $13.7-billion bailout of the auto sector just over a decade ago, Ottawa felt it didn’t have much of a choice but to pump public money into General Motors and Chrysler. The companies couldn’t go to the markets for financing because the markets were dry. The U.S. […]

Apr 8 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Read through the list of resolutions bubbling up at this weekend’s Liberal policy convention, and you’ll realize there’s a subtext: big spending is a virtue. The party’s grassroots are looking for public transit, regional development, affordable housing, onshoring of manufacturing, high-speed internet, clean energy, infrastructure, high-speed rail and high-speed internet. And then there are the […]