May 17 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Heavy on symbolism, light on detail. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer left Parliament Hill on Thursday for Toronto’s financial district to roll out his proposals for Canada’s economy, the second in a series of policy speeches meant to define his campaign to become the next prime minister. He evoked the memory of gold magnate Peter Munk, […]
May 2 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — In what world does inciting a national unity crisis enhance investor certainty? Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was true to form on Thursday, landing in Ottawa and delivering a glibly logical list of reasons why the federal Liberals’ bill to change the way natural resource projects are approved is just all wrong.
Apr 26 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The fresh batch of federal fiscal numbers that popped up Friday reaffirmed what Ottawa has been seeing through much of 2018: a generous flow of tax revenue to finance government announcements that don’t exacerbate the deficit. February saw a fiscal-year-to-date surplus of $3.1-billion, propelled by an 8.6 per cent increase in tax revenue compared to […]
Apr 23 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It was bold and controversial at the time, and remains so today. Critics were quick to pounce when the federal Liberals presented their big and expensive tax-and-transfer package of the 2015 election campaign as an experimental remedy to income inequality and the populism it often spawns, They said the tax elements of the package — […]
Apr 16 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — A month ago, tens of thousands of Quebec students inspired by a Swedish teenage activist abruptly left their schools and spilled into city streets across the province to demand action on climate change and place blame on their parents’ generation for neglect. It’s not just students on a tear.
Apr 14 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — There’s a new assessment of how well-prepared Canada’s economy is for a fast-changing world of technology-driven work and business, and as these reports tend to go, it ain’t pretty. Canadian workers aren’t properly trained, we’re not having enough babies to supply a robust workforce, and if our entrepreneurs find a way to embrace technology, they […]
Apr 4 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The biggest standing ovation from the Liberal caucus during Tuesday evening’s SNC-Lavalin drama came when the prime minister wrapped up his speech with a pledge to protect Canadian jobs — under any circumstances. “We have always, always fought to create and protect jobs and we will never apologize for doing so,” Justin Trudeau told Liberal […]
Mar 26 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — If economic nationalism exists on a spectrum, where Donald Trump’s America is at one end, and hands-off, open economies are at another, Canada has traditionally been somewhere in the middle. Yes, politicians advocate for Canadian corporations, negotiate trade deals on their behalf, and deal in programs and incentives to encourage their growth. But no, they […]
Mar 25 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has started to build an alternative fiscal policy, trickling out some details about how he would eliminate the deficit. At the Conservative Party’s annual think-fest this weekend, Scheer spoke passionately about quickly reining in spending and balancing the federal books, were he to become prime minister.
Mar 20 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — In the dry, introductory pages of the federal budget — the pages which most budget-readers flip past to get to the numbers — there’s a valiant attempt to frame what the Liberals’ pre-election fiscal policy is trying to achieve. After the usual self-congratulations for all the fabulous measures of the past, paragraph after paragraph makes […]
Mar 15 2019 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It all seemed so straightforward last summer. Sensing a souring of public opinion around the sanctimonious tone of their progressive agenda, and approaching an election year, the Liberals started sharpening their emphasis on pocketbook issues.
Jul 9 2016 — Heather Scoffield — The Canadian Press — As the relentless Ottawa sun roasted overzealous civil servants trying to shut down a little girls’ lemonade stand on National Capital Commission property and then blazed brightly over a few thousand VIPs at the U.S. embassy’s swish Fourth of July party, the capital was also quietly dealing with some political low pressure systems this week. […]
May 7 2016 — Heather Scoffield — The Canadian Press — Partisan politics took a back seat to partnership this week as Parliament Hill came together in support of the people of wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray. The terrifying images of residents fleeing down towering corridors of encroaching flames obscured some subtle yet fundamental shifts in Canada’s political landscape, as well as astute observations about the federal government’s […]
Sep 10 2013 — Heather Scoffield — The Canadian Press — If the reams of statistics released from the 2011 census and its controversial new cousin, the National Household Survey, teach us anything, it’s that there is no such thing as the quintessential Canadian. Now that Statistics Canada has published almost all of its findings, Canadians know their country is aging. But they also know the […]
Jun 25 2013 — Heather Scoffield — The state of Canada’s workforce — and Stephen Harper’s attempts to beef it up — will be under the microscope Wednesday as Statistics Canada releases the latest chapter of its replacement for the long-form census.