Apr 19 2018 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — The Commons industry committee wants the federal government to focus on ensuring farmers and other rural businesses receive the Internet service they need to be competitive. In a report approved by the three parties in the Commons, the committee made 12 recommendations to achieve that goal with the focus on the last mile of connection […]
Apr 18 2018 — Andrew Jackson — National Newswatch — New data on tax expenditures released by the federal Department of Finance on April 16 show that one of Canada’s most generous tax breaks for the very affluent continues to swallow more and more tax revenues and to increase the income gap between the top 1% and the rest of us. Income from capital gains, […]
Apr 18 2018 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — The Senate agriculture committee is examining how Canadian food processors, already a key manufacturing sector, can build up their domestic capacity and expand their exports. Food and beverage manufacturers, also called the value-added sector, “represent an opportunity to create jobs and stimulate investment and innovation,” the committee said in an announcing the study. It plans […]
Apr 17 2018 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Co-operation among farmers, farm equipment makers, bee keepers and government has accomplished a lot to improve pollinator health, says Allan Campbell of Dunston Honey Farms of Dauphin, Man. While more needs to be done, “significant improvements have been made that have mitigated pesticide exposure risks to bees,” said Campbell, who was speaking to the annual […]
Apr 17 2018 — Bruce Campbell — National Newswatch — Last week [April 11], following the failure of the criminal proceedings to shed significant light on underlying causes and culpability behind the Lac-Mégantic disaster, the Québec National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution calling on the federal government to hold a Commission of Inquiry. Transport Minister Mark Garneau responded immediately that an inquiry was out of […]
Apr 17 2018 — Glen Pearson — National Newswatch — Robin Sears’ article, posted in Sunday’s Toronto Star, was a cogent warning on the implications of extreme populism. Titled “The Fatal Attraction of the Politics of Confrontation,” the column reminds us of what inevitably happens if we opt for leaders who would rather attack democracy as opposed to reforming it: “But the problem with those […]
Apr 16 2018 — Peter Edmund Hillary — National Newswatch — 65 years ago, my father Sir Edmund Hillary and his climbing partner Tenzing Norgay were the first people to summit Mt. Everest and my Dad spent the rest of his life dedicated to philanthropy for the people of Nepal. But his love of the Himalayas is only part of my story. In the dozens of […]
Apr 16 2018 — Daniel-Robert Gooch — National Newswatch — Canada’s airports have been one of this country’s great economic and policy success stories. Before 1990, airports were a blot of red-ink on the federal balance sheet, costing Canadian taxpayers $135 million a year (a quarter of a billion dollars in today’s currency). Today, not only have airports contributed more than $5.6 billion in rent […]
Apr 15 2018 — John Milloy — National Newswatch — Ontario seems to be heading into one of the most polarized provincial elections in years. For more and more voters, the choice they make on June 7 is going to be between good and evil. For some, it’s about voting for Doug Ford, the ordinary person’s champion, who will respect our tax dollars and get government off our […]
Apr 10 2018 — Jason Clemens and Niels Veldhuis — National Newswatch — Contrary to the announcement that Ottawa will spend almost $300,000 to discern the reason behind the lack of investment in Canada’s energy sector, there’s actually no great mystery. Kinder Morgan’s recent suspension of non-essential spending on its $7.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline project is the just the latest example of business investment collapsing in Canada. […]
Apr 9 2018 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Hoping the idea will spread through the whole food chain, the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity and the Provision Coalition have launched a one year program to help food and beverage manufacturers reduce food waste in their operations. If they can chop their waste, it would set a good example for farmers and retailers and […]
Apr 9 2018 — Percy Downe — National Newswatch — Since 2012, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has been trying to fulfil my request to measure the tax gap, the difference between what is owed in taxes and what has actually been collected, but has been stonewalled by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and its refusal to release the required statistical data. Therefore, the announcement that […]
Apr 6 2018 — Alex Binkley — National Newswatch — Canadian consumers don’t pay more for milk and dairy products than shoppers in the United States and other dairy producing counties, says a report by a new export advisory firm. “Our research shows that Canadian milk and other dairy retail prices are currently on par with those in other countries,” said a report released by […]
Apr 5 2018 — Bruce MacKinnon — National Newswatch —