Jun 28 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It’s fitting that a central part of Canada’s low carbon policy came stumbling out of the gate. The federal Liberals have been talking for six years about imposing clean fuel standards, and now they’ve finally done so — in a chaotic way that completely suits the politics around these regulations. The new rules are designed […]
Jun 21 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — What’s the female version of bromance? A sisterhood? Whatever it is, that’s what Chrystia Freeland and Janet Yellen have clearly developed — a common understanding on how the world should work, and a personal and intellectual bond that aims to be the face of progressive economic policy for the future. Canada’s first female federal finance […]
Jun 18 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — What’s missing from Chrystia Freeland’s take on inflation is a mea culpa. In a flurry of activity this week, the finance minister bundled together $8.9 billion in measures to help Canadians deal with higher prices, opened up the possibility of concrete action to come, addressed Bay Street, took questions from media, met criticism from the […]
Jun 14 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is finally gearing up to address our inflation predicament head-on, and not a moment too soon. On Thursday on Bay Street, Freeland will deliver what’s being flagged as a “significant” speech on inflation, affordability and the government’s plan to guide the economy through the current turbulence to a smooth landing. The […]
Jun 11 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The supertight job market that is bedevilling employers and the Bank of Canada alike has an upside: it has managed to do quickly what employment equity practices and public policy have struggled with for years. It has drawn in racialized workers, new immigrants, young people, older workers and women in astounding numbers, making history along […]
Jun 10 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Everybody is an economic forecaster these days, and that’s making a “soft landing” for the Canadian economy harder and harder. A soft landing is our best-case scenario, but even if it materializes as hoped, it’s not very comforting. It means the economy slows down a lot, the hiring frenzy tapers, inflation cools off, and we […]
Jun 8 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Monday in Ottawa dripped with talk of progressive values, as it often does. The president of Chile was in town, the 36-year-old Gabriel Boric — a left-leaning leader and the youngest in Latin America, and an easy fit to share a stage with Justin Trudeau. They pointed to their common interests in promoting democracy, gender […]
May 22 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It’s that time in our economic predicament when predicting a little bit of stagflation passes as optimism. Canada’s former central banker, Stephen Poloz, is looking at climbing prices, volatile oil markets and lower growth prospects. And what he sees as a best-case scenario is stagflation — that oxymoron that tripped us up in the late […]
May 18 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — In just one week in the life of a warming planet, Canada has witnessed a giant pile of reports. On Wednesday alone, the World Meteorological Organization told us that the Earth has just come through the seven warmest years on record. Greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification all set new […]
May 16 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Of all the political yelling out there promising to ease the pain of inflation, it’s worth taking a good look at the federal New Democrats’ latest pitch. Like opposition parties and voters across the country, the NDP is looking to give people relief from high oil and gas prices and very expensive food. The answer, […]
May 13 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Pierre Poilievre finally went there. At the first Conservative leadership debate, he said out loud what he had been saying privately, calling for the firing of Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem — and simultaneously sucking all of the oxygen out of the room, leaving no air for anyone else to come up with better […]
Apr 26 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Inflation will cost us each about $2,000 this year, according to the Bank of Canada, whose mission it is to control such things — and we will need to suck it up. It hurts more if you’re already just scraping by. And regardless of who you are, doing the groceries has become a miserable experience, […]
Apr 24 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — There were warning signs aplenty back in February that Canadians’ trust in money is especially fragile right now. The so-called “Freedom Convoy” was blocking the streets around Parliament Hill, and the federal government had just imposed the Emergencies Act, vowing to “follow the money” and put the squeeze on organizers who were threatening public safety. […]
Apr 13 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Timing is everything when it comes to managing the pandemic recovery. Food, gas and fuel prices are through the roof, labour is in short supply, Omicron is still everywhere, and now both the Bank of Canada and the federal government are making a deliberate point of cutting back — and eventually eliminating — their support. […]
Apr 7 2022 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Build Back Better was just so 2021. The valiant talk, the catchy alliteration, the big spending in the name of a beautiful economy for everyone that was supposed to come at the end of the pandemic — those have been replaced in this year’s budget by pervasive uncertainty, crisis after crisis, and a shortage of […]