Feb 23 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — If you had 100 billion dollars…maybe that would be enough to deal with income inequality once and for all? Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland actually does have $100 billion — that’s the maximum amount the federal government has earmarked to foster an economic recovery in Canada once we emerge from the pandemic — and it will […]
Feb 18 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It’s getting harder to look the other way and assume that an economic recovery is just on the horizon. Warnings about a third wave of COVID-19 have crescendoed to a roar. The premiers of Ontario and Quebec are loosening restrictions on movement and contact, even as dangerous new variants take root and while widespread vaccination […]
Feb 16 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — The reason politicians get a sparkle in their eye when the subject of infrastructure comes up is because the projects usually come with more roads and bridges, jobs, local spending and ribbon-cutting ceremony that voters might remember when they go to cast their ballots. Infrastructure is the classic example of the proverbial win-win-win when it […]
Feb 11 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — There’s so much money sloshing around these days. Trillions on deck from the new Biden administration to stimulate the U.S. economy back to life — much more than even dreamed of a few months ago. Hundreds of millions sitting in Canadians’ bank accounts, savings from a steady flow of pandemic income and nothing to spend […]
Feb 10 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is starting to add some ingredients to his recipe for rebuilding the economy. In recent speeches and in comments to the Star’s editorial board this week, O’Toole has begun outlining his case for restoring jobs, buoying traditional Canadian industries and “reshoring” production of key goods in Canada, all while curtailing dependence […]
Feb 5 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — And they’re off! Or at least the federal NDP is — launching the first plank of its election platform on Friday despite not really knowing when the campaign will officially start and hoping it won’t be any time soon. While we don’t know the time frame, we certainly know a lot about the substance of […]
Jan 28 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — Here’s a statement that may sound callous but is meant to be compassionate: the dream of a universal basic income needs to be put to rest. Yes, the pandemic has exposed the weaknesses in our social safety net and cruelly taught us over and over again that the most vulnerable among us urgently need better […]
Jan 26 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — updateArticle was updated 25 mins ago She is the country’s first female in charge of fiscal policy, and she is thinking big — big deficits, big spending, big government. The description fits Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, but it also describes Janet Yellen. Yellen won the overwhelming support of the U.S. Senate on Monday to […]
Jan 23 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Peterborough Examiner — At the time, they were dark days indeed. When Donald Trump took his place in the White House four years ago, the Canadian economy was suddenly besieged. The early days of his tenure set the tone. There was the ban on travel from Muslim countries, immigration havoc, the move to “tear up” NAFTA, the blunt […]
Jan 19 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — It’s time for the Keystone pipeline advocates to take a page from Ontario’s auto industry and move on. Just a few months ago, the two sectors were in a common position. They both had a rough reputation for enabling the ratcheting up of emissions, taking Canada further away from its climate goals. They both had […]
Jan 14 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — updateArticle was updated 17 hrs ago Could something positive actually come from the jet-setting politicians who spent Christmas on a beach while telling the rest of us to stay home? Perhaps. The scandal has put access to paid sick leave in the spotlight because of a loophole in federal benefits that allowed travellers returning from […]
Jan 12 2021 — Heather Scoffield — Peterborough Examiner — Until Tuesday, Navdeep Bains was a man on a mission. After five years as innovation minister, and slowly but surely refocusing industrial policy on actively pushing economic growth, Bains now leaves the levers of a pandemic recovery in the hands of his replacement, François-Philippe Champagne. The timing of his departure is challenging. In the next […]
Dec 15 2020 — Heather Scoffield — Peterborough Examiner — You wouldn’t know it from the way they’re yelling at each other over Justin Trudeau’s new climate plan right now, but here are two things about climate change that the federal Liberals and Conservatives can actually agree on: Canada needs to move to a low-carbon economy — and the “invisible hand” of the free market […]
Dec 11 2020 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — JOIN THE CONVERSATION ( 2 ) The federal government’s big, fat climate plan that it finally rolled out on Friday is bold to the point of being brash. In the name of surpassing its 2030 targets, the plan aims to dramatically hike carbon taxes, spend billions of dollars on retrofitting homes and commercial space, and […]
Dec 11 2020 — Heather Scoffield — Toronto Star — As the premiers and the prime minister haggle, yet again, about who should pay the country’s health-care bills, there’s a far more urgent and dangerous bill-paying quandary staring them in the face. Many COVID-19 hot spots are in low-income neighbourhoods where residents are driven by home economics to head out to work every day — […]