A division of SNC-Lavalin, the engineering company at the heart of a political scandal that shook Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government earlier this year, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud related to its work in Libya during the last decade and pay a C$280m penalty.
On the anniversary of the detention of two Canadians by Chinese authorities, Canada’s new foreign minister is under pressure to define the country’s relations with a more assertive Beijing.
With Chinese authorities now signalling that the cases of two Canadians held in China for the past year may move to trial on national security charges, calls are mounting for François-Philippe Champagne to take a firmer stance on Sino-Canadian relations.
He has said a new “framework” for relations is necessary following his appointment last month, but has yet to explain what that would entail — further frustrating critics who feel the Trudeau government has failed to articulate a coherent China strategy since taking power in 2015.
Justin Trudeau sketched out a blueprint for his government’s second term that tilts Canada further to the left on many issues — fighting climate change, expanding healthcare and strengthening gun control, but also promising lower taxes and expanded trade.
In a speech from the throne read by Canada’s governor-general, the former astronaut Julie Payette, Mr Trudeau also positioned the North American country as a “coalition-builder” in an uncertain world by renewing its commitment to Nato and UN peacekeeping and defending the rules-based international order.
Image by Andrew Becks from Pixabay
It’s back. For the sixth straight year Maclean’s asked economists, analysts, investors and financial observers to each select a chart about Canada’s economy they feel will be particularly important to watch in 2020 and in their own words, explain why.
As in past years, certain themes emerge in this year’s chart collection. The stability of Canada’s housing market and the dangerous levels of household debt remain an obvious concern, even if there’s less focus now on rising interest rates. Canada’s weak climate for business investment and the risk from global trade tensions are also top of mind among the experts. So too are environmental and energy issues. You’ll also find charts on how Canadians live, work and shop, how Canada’s waning competitiveness is holding the economy back, and even how a deficit of amorousness could lead to a slowdown down the road.
As Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland rose to prominence taking on US president Donald Trump and in the process became almost as high-profile as her boss Justin Trudeau. Now she has been given a job that could make or break her career — confronting the rising tide of anger and alienation in western Canada. On Wednesday, Canadian prime minister Mr Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet, a month after his Liberal party won a federal election but failed to secure enough seats to hold majority control of parliament.
On Wednesday, Canadian prime minister Mr Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet, a month after his Liberal party won a federal election but failed to secure enough seats to hold majority control of parliament.
Within hours of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party winning re-election on Monday, a hashtag began trending in Canada that reflects the deep regional divisions that emerged from the poll: #Wexit, as in Western exit, or more specifically, Alberta separatism.
By the next morning a group called Alberta Fights Back had put up billboards in the province stating “I support an independent Alberta”, complete with a maple leaf, a symbol from Canada’s flag, with a line struck through it.
The separatist rhetoric, while on the fringes, reflects a drawn-out period of economic malaise in the region and poses an early test for Mr Trudeau. He has faced intense criticism in fossil fuel-dependent Alberta over his government’s national price on carbon and inability to get a pipeline built to transport crude from the oil sands to world markets.
On Amrit Kaur’s graduation day in June, “Bill 21” — a law that bans some civil servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols — came into force in Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province.
Refusing to remove the turban she wears on a daily basis, the Sikh education graduate became instantly unemployable as a teacher in her home province. She has since moved 4,500km west to anglophone Surrey, British Columbia.
“If federal politicians really don’t want to see a Canada that’s racist, then do something about Bill 21,” said Ms Kaur, who also works with the World Sikh Organisation of Canada.
Ms Kaur’s reaction underlines how fraught an issue the bill, passed by the right-leaning Quebec government of Premier François Legault, has become in Canada’s fiercely contested federal election campaign.
Following the release of a video showing a third instance of Justin Trudeau dressed up in blackface, Canada’s prime minister apologised for how his “racist” behaviour had “hurt people who shouldn’t have to face intolerance and discrimination because of their identity.”
The question is how much damage the blackface scandal has done to his Liberal Party’s bid for reelection on October 21, and whether Mr Trudeau’s carefully-crafted brand of progressivism on the world stage has been forever tarnished.
The day after Canada’s federal election campaign officially got under way, the party leaders faced off for their first televised debate, with one conspicuous exception — prime minister Justin Trudeau was a no-show.
While the leaders of three national parties sparred over topics such as the economy, indigenous issues and the environment, a podium put out for Mr Trudeau stood empty. Prior to the debate, Green party leader Elizabeth May pretended to shake hands with an invisible Mr Trudeau.
“I think we can all agree that Justin Trudeau is afraid of his record and that’s why he’s not here tonight,” said Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who is trailing Mr Trudeau narrowly in the polls.
Mr Trudeau’s decision to stay away from Thursday night’s debate was widely seen as reflective of a government struggling to reconcile the grand promises he made in 2015 about change and transparency in government with the reality of the past four years.
If it was only about hard economic numbers, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals might not have all that much to worry about in their bid for another four years in office. The most recent economic releases from Statistics Canada on jobs and GDP growth both delivered pleasant surprises to the upside, for which Team Trudeau wasted no time in taking credit. And with Canadians once again telling pollsters that the economy is at the top of their list of priorities, the Liberal’s message—that their strategy of deficit-driven intervention in the economy is working—might carry the day for them.
The problem for Trudeau is that a lot of Canadians don’t feel the economy has gotten better, or at least not for them.