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2017.02.07
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TABLE O F CO NTENTS / TABLE DES MATIÈRES
Tuesday, February 7, 2017 / Mardi, 7 février 2017
News / Nouvelles
Morneau à l'assaut du protectionnisme .......................................................................................................................................................................... 1
U.S. business leaders warn against leaving NAFTA ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Le min istre de la Défense Harjit Sajjan rencontre son homologue américain ........................................................................................................ 2
Fed advisers call fo r higher retirement age and, possibly, national child care........................................................................................................ 4
Canada's agrifood sector has 'great potential' for g rowth: advisory panel ............................................................................................................... 5
Ottawa "supports supply management": MacAulay .................................................................................................................................................... 6
Liberals mu m on carbon tax's impact on needy Canadians ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Trudeau the Prime Min isterovershadows youth alter ego .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Pro mises promises . . ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Éthique - Les conservateurs à la défense des vacances de Rona Ambrose.............................................................................................................. 9
Would-be Conservative leaders set sights on O'Leary in TV star's debate debut................................................................................................. 10
Steven Blaney prône l'utilisation plus fréquente de la clause dérogatoire ............................................................................................................. 11
Bloc québécois - Le part i pourrait rémunérer son chef ............................................................................................................................................. 12
Kinew ru les out federal NDP leadership run .............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Prime M inister Tru mp?................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Le décret de Donald Tru mp affecte les résidents permanents du Canada ............................................................................................................. 14
How welcoming to refugees are we really? ................................................................................................................................................................ 15
Elections Canada wants to know more about electronic ballots for absentee voters ........................................................................................... 16
Planners, policy makers look forward to 2016 census kickoff Wednesday........................................................................................................... 16
Canadian military to beco me first to issue guidelines on child soldiers ................................................................................................................ 18
Ralph Goodale challenged on claim that no Canadian passport holders lost Nexus access ............................................................................... 19
'Caustic' political speech ramps up risk of radicalizing Canadians: RCMP's Paulson......................................................................................... 19
MP rips CBC art icle ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20
Le co mmissaire de la GRC s'inquiète de la militarisation de la police .................................................................................................................. 21
RCMP Co mmissioner silent on vice-ad miral's removal ........................................................................................................................................... 21
Police unite to reform sex-assault probes .................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Des détenus se basent sur le salaire minimu m............................................................................................................................................................ 23
How taxpayer bucks have been spent........................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Feds' offer on health funding for provinces falls short.............................................................................................................................................. 24
Federal govern ment approves three supervised injection sites in Montreal.......................................................................................................... 25
Les Canadiens sont contre une "taxe Internet" ........................................................................................................................................................... 26
Le CRTC interpellé pour sévir contre les fournisseurs de services sans fil........................................................................................................... 27
ii
Foote devant le co mité des langues officielles ........................................................................................................................................................... 28
La médiation n'a pas permis d'entente.......................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Ottawa close to appointing new treaty commissioner ............................................................................................................................................... 28
Un député fédéral du Cap-Breton qualifie de « frustrant » le régime d'assurance-emploi.................................................................................. 29
Bill aims to reduce taxes on family business transfers.............................................................................................................................................. 29
Commentaires / Comments
Welcome to Billionaire Island ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 30
Leadership race flips into high gear.............................................................................................................................................................................. 31
The great temptation of Kevin O'Leary ....................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Souveraineté - La pasionaria.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
Quelque part entre Québec et Ottawa........................................................................................................................................................................... 33
Risk running high for alberta amid tru mp upheaval .................................................................................................................................................. 35
PM's Gold ilocks strategy with Tru mp is the best approach ..................................................................................................................................... 35
Did a Canadian court just establish a new right to be forgotten online? ................................................................................................................ 37
Adscam fo r 'fake news' ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Looking beyond electoral reform.................................................................................................................................................................................. 39
If electoral reform dead, let's tackle part isanship ....................................................................................................................................................... 40
Une tape sur l'épaule ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41
Ottawa's support of supply management at odds with Liberals' economic values ............................................................................................... 42
Trudeau follo wing dad's bad planning ......................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Economy needs a little Maoist guidance, apparently ................................................................................................................................................ 43
Morneau must find new revenue................................................................................................................................................................................... 45
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1
Published | Publié : 2017-02-07
La Presse+ ()
ACTUALITÉS Page: ACTUALITÉS_7_2
Morneau à l'assaut du protectionnisme
Joël-Denis Bellavance - Ottawa
_ Alors qu'il continue de plancher sur son prochain budget, le
ministre des Finances Bill Morneau se rendra à Washington
demain pour une visite de deux jours afin de rencontrer des
membres de l'administration Trump. Son message sera fort
simple : le protectionnisme n'est pas le remède pour assurer la
croissance de l'économie.
Cette visite du grand argentier du pays dans la capitale
américaine interviendra deux jours après celle du ministre de la
Défense, Harjit Sajjan, qui a rencontré hier son homologue
américain, le secrétaire à la Défense James Mattis, au
Pentagone. Les deux hommes ont fait le point sur les dossiers
importants liés à la défense, notamment la lutte contre le
terrorisme, la sécurité du territoire nord-américain et
l'engagement des deux pays au sein de l'Organisation du traité
de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN).
M. Morneau, qui sera le ministre le plus influent du
gouvernement Trudeau à se rendre à Washington depuis
l'arrivée au pouvoir du président Donald Trump, ne pourra
toutefois pas rencontrer le secrétaire au Trésor désigné, Steven
Mnuchin, ancien banquier et gestionnaire de fonds, sa
nomination n'ayant pas encore été entérinée par un vote de
l'ensemble du Sénat américain.
Mais le ministre des Finances entend livrer le même message
aux membres de l'administration Trump qu'il rencontrera : les
relations commerciales entre le Canada et les États-Unis sont
bénéfiques aux deux pays.
« Mon message sera de dire que nous voulons nouer de bonnes
relations avec l'administration américaine. Nous voulons
protéger les emplois des Canadiens » , a affirmé M. Morneau,
hier, en point de presse.
« Nous voulons trouver une façon d'augmenter les occasions
de travailler ensemble pour créer ces emplois dans notre pays
tout en faisant une différence pour eux aussi. »
ministres et les hauts fonctionnaires ont pris contact avec leurs
homologues américains par téléphone et en personne. [_]
D'autres réunions seront organisées dans les prochains jours
avec des hauts responsables américains », a indiqué AndréeLyne Hallé, porte-parole du premier ministre, dans un courriel
à La Presse.
Des alliés importants
Le gouvernement Trudeau s'est aussi assuré d'avoir des alliés
importants pour contrer les velléités protectionnistes de
l'administration Trump : la puissante Chambre de commerce
des États-Unis.
De passage à Ottawa, hier, le patron de cette organisation, Tom
Donohue, a soutenu que l'abrogation de l'Accord de libreéchange nord-américain (ALENA) aurait un effet « dévastateur
pour les travailleurs, les entreprises et l'économie de nos pays
».
Dans un discours qu'il a prononcé devant les membres de la
Chambre de commerce du Canada, M. Donohue s'est d'ailleurs
dit prêt à livrer une rude bataille pour conserver les acquis de
l'ALENA et défendre la justesse d'une telle entente. Rappelons
que le président Donald Trump a promis de renégocier cet
accord afin d'obtenir des concessions à l'avantage des ÉtatsUnis, sans quoi il se dit prêt à le déchirer. Des négociations
devraient commencer en mai.
Selon M. Donohue, il est possible d'améliorer l'accord de 23
ans qui régit les échanges commerciaux entre le Canada, le
Mexique et les États-Unis, de façon à ce qu'il rehausse la
compétitivité de l'Amérique du Nord avec le reste du monde.
M. Donohue, qui a également rencontré hier le premier
ministre Justin Trudeau et certains de ses proches
collaborateurs, a affirmé que la priorité de l'ALENA était de «
ne pas nuire » à une relation commerciale intégrée déjà solide.
« Mon message sera de dire que nous voulons nouer de
bonnes relations avec l'administration américaine. Nous
voulons protéger les emplois des Canadiens. »
_ Bill Morneau, ministre des Finances du Canada
2017 La Presse+
_ Bill Morneau
Entretiens téléphoniques
Selon le bureau du premier ministre Justin Trudeau, d'autres
ministres ont aussi eu des entretiens téléphoniques avec leurs
homologues américains. C'est notamment le cas du ministre
des Transports, Marc Garneau, de la ministre des Affaires
étrangères, Chrystia Freeland, du ministre de la Sécurité
publique, Ralph Goodale, et du ministre de l'Immigration,
Ahmed Hussen.
« Le Canada travaille avec la nouvelle administration des
États-Unis pour maintenir nos relations bilatérales solides. Les
2
Globe and M ail (Ontario)
News Page: A7
U.S. business leaders warn against leaving
NAFTA
By STEVEN CHASE - OTTAWA
The head of the biggest business lobby in the United States is
warning against tearing up NAFTA, saying this would wreak
havoc on the North American economy.
And U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief executive Tom
Donohue vows he will take steps to defend the three-country
trade deal in the Trump era.
"Withdrawing from NAFTA would be devastating for the
workers, businesses, and economies of our countries," Mr.
Donohue told a Canadian business audience in Ottawa.
"Beneath all the debates, arguments, and attention-grabbing
headlines, I think our leaders across the board understand this."
Mr. Donohue may very well end up being one of Canada's
biggest allies in the campaign to preserve the North American
free-trade agreement.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned he would pull the
United States out of NAFTA if his administration cannot
extract better terms for American workers from the agreement
with Canada and Mexico. He's expected to serve Ottawa and
Mexico City notice shortly of an intention to renegotiate.
Mr. Donohue told an Economic Club of Canada meeting that
business groups need to speak out and defend NAFTA, which
Mr. Trump as recently as last week described as a catastrophe
for the American economy.
"It's our job to ensure that our leaders understand and
appreciate how much of our prosperity is linked to this
relationship," he said of NAFTA.
He said it would be a mistake to replace the tripartite NAFTA
with separate two-way trade deals between the United States
and Canada and the United States and Mexico, saying the
North American economies are tied together by interwoven
manufacturing chains stretching across borders.
"The way we've set up this system - the way we make
automobiles; the way we make airplanes; the way people go
back and forth every day - is a benefit to both of these
economies. Take one of them out of it, the other will suffer."
Two-way trade in goods and services between Canada and the
United States exceeded $885-billion in 2015.
Mr. Donohue warned that things may get rocky in the months
ahead, when the Trump administration is expected to press
hard for Canada and Mexico to accept changes in NAFTA that
tilt the agreement more in the United States' favour.
"We're in a new political environment and our bilateral ties are
going to be tested. But I believe, with the engagement of the
private sectors and the commitment of leaders on both sides,
they can be strengthened."
Rona Ambrose, the interim Conservative Party leader, asked
the Prime Minister to explain what leverage the Liberals have
found to defend Canadian jobs from a protectionist American
administration.
"Three-quarters of everything we make and sell goes to the
United States. The Prime Minister keeps saying that everything
will be okay. But the truth is, millions of jobs are being
targeted by the U.S. administration: Our farmers, our forestry
workers and our steel manufacturers," Ms. Ambrose said in the
House of Commons.
Mr. Trudeau said Canada has leverage in trade talks because so
many American jobs depend on Canadian customers. "Millions
of American middle-class jobs depend on close trade
relationships with Canada. Thirty-five different American
states have Canada as their No. 1 export destination. Our
economies are integrated like no two countries in the world."
It's unclear how quickly NAFTA renegotiation talks will begin.
Mr. Donohue warned that an expected executive order from
Mr. Trump will affect employment visas and potentially thwart
the movement of Canadian workers into the United States.
He said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will try to "work with
the White House to ensure that these programs allow
America's diverse economy to attract - not shut out - the
variety of workers we need to grow and compete."
Both Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty
and Mr. Donohue said a NAFTA renegotiation needs to
modernize business and employment visa categories that are
unchanged from nearly a quarter century ago. "If we don't
update and expand some of these categories - especially those
in the science and tech sectors - we risk shutting out highskilled talent needed to innovate and grow our economies,"
Mr. Donohue said.
Presse Canadienne ()
Page:
Le ministre de la Défense Harjit Sajjan
rencontre son homologue américain
WASHINGTON _ Le secrétaire à la Défense de
l'administration Trump a dit être si reconnaissant envers les
soldats canadiens qu'il pourrait les embrasser.
Lors d'une rencontre au Pentagone, lundi, le général à la
retraite James Mattis a affirmé qu'il y avait des raisons
particulières au fait que son premier entretien téléphonique
avec un homologue étranger ait eu lieu avec le ministre
canadien de la Défense, Harjit Sajjan.
3
Les armées américaine et canadienne ont été de proches alliés
depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, a-t-il indiqué, ajoutant
qu'il avait pu expérimenter personnellement ces liens forts en
Afghanistan.
M. Mattis a souligné qu'alors qu'il était à Kandahar, il voulait
donner des accolades à tous les soldats canadiens qu'il voyait
débarquer de l'avion. Il a soutenu que les épreuves et les pertes
subies dans le conflit afghan avaient cimenté le lien profond
entre les deux pays.
Les propos de M. Mattis contrastaient fortement avec ceux du
président Donald Trump. Lundi, le président a affirmé
s'attendre à ce que les alliés commencent à contribuer
équitablement en augmentant leur budget de défense. Le
Canada dépense moins pour son armée en proportion de son
produit intérieur brut que quasiment n'importe quel autre
membre de l'Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord
(OTAN).
Un analyste militaire canado-américain estime que la rencontre
de lundi pourrait clarifier les choses.
Steve Saideman affirme qu'il serait intéressant de voir quel
aspect de l'OTAN fera l'objet de discussions _ se
concentreront-ils sur les critiques de M. Trump, aborderont-ils
plutôt des sujets qui n'ont pas été soulevés par le président et
finalement, se pencheront-ils sur la possibilité de protéger
davantage l'Europe de l'Est contre la Russie?
"L'enjeu lié à l'OTAN qui viendra dans le sujet de conversation
nous donnerait une certaine indication sur ce qui se passe dans
cette administration", a souligné M. Saideman, professeur en
relations internationales de l'Université Carleton à Ottawa, qui
est né aux États-Unis.
Casques bleus et F-35
Le président a dit soutenir l'OTAN, tout en ajoutant que les
pays membres devaient payer leur juste part.
"Nous demandons simplement que tous les membres de
l'OTAN réalisent leurs contributions complètes et appropriées
à l'Alliance atlantique, ce que plusieurs d'entre eux n'ont pas
fait", a dit M. Trump.
Hormis l'avenir de l'OTAN, il disait s'attendre à ce que les
deux politiciens discutent de deux autres sujets: les plans du
Canada concernant les opérations de maintien de paix et
l'approvisionnement en avions de chasse.
Quant au Commandement de la défense aérospatiale de
l'Amérique du Nord, appelé communément NORAD, M.
Saideman estime que la défense antimissile n'est pas un sujet
prioritaire pour l'équipe de M. Trump.
Donald Trump a soufflé le chaud et le froid sur plusieurs de
ces enjeux. Il s'est plaint du coût élevé des avions de combat F35, tout en déplorant dans son discours d'investiture que les
États-Unis aient pris l'habitude de défendre les autres pays.
M. Sajjan rencontrait pour la première fois son homologue
américain lundi.
Les deux anciens militaires devenus politiciens devaient
s'entretenir au Pentagone pendant 45 minutes et leurs
discussions devaient tourner autour de la coopération militaire
en Amérique du Nord et à l'étranger.
M. Mattis était en Asie la fin de semaine dernière afin de
rassurer les alliés des États-Unis. Pendant la campagne
électorale, le président a remis en doute la contribution des
États-Unis pour assurer la sécurité du Japon et de la Corée du
Sud et il a même suggéré que ces deux pays devraient se
procurer leurs propres armes nucléaires.
Ils devaient aborder des questions importantes telles que
l'engagement des deux pays au sein de l'OTAN, les dépenses
militaires, ainsi que les opérations de maintien de paix.
Donald Trump avait tempéré ses propos par la suite, mais il a
réitéré que les autres pays devraient augmenter leurs dépenses
militaires. C'était également la volonté de l'ancien président
Barack Obama, qui en avait fait la demande formelle lors de
son discours au Parlement.
M. Obama avait toutefois adopté une approche plus
conciliante. En fait, il avait été ovationné par le Parlement en
déclarant: "Le monde a besoin de plus de Canada. L'OTAN a
besoin de plus de Canada."
M. Trump a réitéré ses récriminations envers les dépenses de
l'OTAN durant un discours, lundi, sur une base militaire en
Floride.
Le gouvernement canadien a reporté le déploiement de ses
soldats de maintien de la paix en Afrique dans la foulée de
l'élection présidentielle aux États-Unis, arguant qu'il voulait
d'abord discuter d'une foule de sujets internationaux avec son
allié le plus proche.
Cette conversation sur les opérations de maintien de la paix
pourrait avoir eu lieu lundi.
L'élection de Donald Trump a causé de l'incertitude sur
plusieurs questions militaires _ le président américain a
suggéré que l'OTAN devenait désuète, tout en incitant les
membres de l'alliance militaire à augmenter leurs dépenses en
matière de défense.
Le Canada est classé 23e sur les 27 pays de l'OTAN pour ce
qui est des dépenses en proportion du produit intérieur brut
(PIB). En 2016, le Canada a consacré 0,99 pour cent de son
PIB aux dépenses militaires, ce qui est bien en deçà de la cible
de l'OTAN, qui est de 2 pour cent. Seulement cinq pays de
l'alliance militaire atteignent cette cible.
M. Trump a aussi démontré une plus grande ouverture que son
prédécesseur à l'égard de la Russie, qui a provoqué l'inquiétude
de plusieurs pays en Europe de l'Est.
4
Canadian Press Newswire ()
Page:
Fed advisers call for higher retirement
age and, possibly, national child care
OTTAWA _ The Trudeau government's economic advisory
council is recommending Ottawa raise the age of retirement
eligibility and explore a national child-care program to boost
much-needed participation in the country's workforce.
The proposals were among a collection of new suggestions
released Monday by the government's hand-picked growth
council.
The ideas are widely expected to help the government frame
parts of the upcoming federal budget.
The advisers zeroed in on what they called a need to increase
labour-force participation from under-represented groups such
as indigenous people, lower-income earners, women with kids
and older workers.
To encourage older Canadians to work longer, the council
recommended the ages of eligibility for old age security and
the Canada Pension Plan be ''recalibrated and increased'' to
address the impacts of the country's aging society and longer
life expectancies.
The idea contrasts with the Liberal government's move, based
on a 2015 campaign vow, to reverse a controversial decision
taken by the former Conservative government and return old
age security eligibility to 65 from 67.
Raising the eligibility age so that it closes the gap between
Canada and industrialized countries with the highest labour
participation rate among workers 55 and over could add $56
billion to the gross domestic product, the council's report said.
The document also suggested Ottawa allow old age security
and the CPP deferrals beyond age 70 and ensure that deferrals
past 65 are more attractive.
The council's chair stressed Monday that any policy changes
should take into consideration the differing abilities of some
groups of older Canadians to continue working, particularly
those in physically demanding jobs.
''We are for more able-bodied Canadians to work longer in the
system,'' said Dominic Barton, who is the managing director of
global consulting giant McKinsey & Co.
''For those who can, we do think we should look at incentives
to try and encourage them to be able to work.''
Indeed, later Monday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the
government is looking at ways to encourage people to stay in
the labour force, if they choose to keep working and are able to
do so.
He added Ottawa would consider the council's
recommendation to increase participation among people who
are able to keep working.
''We moved the age of the old age security system to age 65
recognizing that a significant number of Canadians are very
challenged to work past that time,'' Morneau told reporters.
''We also want to be sure that we think about the demographic
challenges that are to come.''
As it maps out future plans, he said the government would also
consider the council's other recommendations, which he noted
were partially based on 29,000 formal submissions from
Canadians.
The report also proposed boosting the economy by raising
labour-force participation for women with children through the
possible creation of a subsidized national child-care program
similar to the Quebec model.
Ottawa is already in talks with the provinces about expanding
early childhood education.
Here's a quick rundown of some of the other recommendations
in Monday's report:
_ Ensuring workers upgrade their skills to better match the
rapidly changing needs of the labour market with help from a
new, arm's-length national organization. The report
recommended Ottawa invest $100 million in each of the next
five years to establish an agency that would develop new
approaches to retrain workers. It warned that nearly half of
Canadian jobs are at high risk of being affected by future
technological change, such as automation.
_ Taking steps to make Canada more productive, such as
improving access to capital for promising firms and ensuring
procurement policies help support fast-growing businesses.
_ Developing strategies to make the most of what it sees as
vast untapped potential in up to eight key Canadian sectors by
identifying and removing obstacles such as regulatory hurdles.
The report recommended a pilot project for the agriculture and
food industry, where it said there is still room for material
economic gains to be made.
_ Expanding trade to deepen the relationships with the United
States and Mexico as well as forging closer ties with China,
Japan and India. It suggested making greater investments in
trade-related infrastructure, such as ports and highways.
''Much like 'tools in a tool kit,' these recommendations can be
used in concert and with strategic intent to dramatically
accelerate growth,'' the group said in its report.
''Realizing such an ambitious aspiration, amid rapid economic
and societal change, will require focused, persistent and
concerted action.''
The experts reaffirmed their long-term objective to help add
$15,000 to the annual pre-tax incomes of Canadian
households, above their current projections, by 2030.
5
Their prescriptions come as the economy struggles to crawl out
of a prolonged slow-growth rut.
The Trudeau government is widely expected to implement at
least some _ and perhaps many _ of the council's suggestions
in its spring budget, which will be tabled in the coming weeks.
Canada is currently the world's fifth largest agricultural
exporter. The Council said Monday Ottawa and the industry
should aim to be second internationally after the United States.
That target would require Canada's share of global agricultural
exports to increase from 5.7 per cent to eight per cent by 2027.
Last fall, the council provided prescriptions for Ottawa on
attracting more talent through immigration, increasing
infrastructure investments and luring more foreign investment.
"Canada's agfood century will have to be earned," the Council
noted, citing increased competition from Africa, Eastern
Europe, Asia and South America.
Ottawa appeared to agree with many of the group's
suggestions. About two weeks later, Morneau tabled a fall
economic statement that contained new policy directions
featuring many elements of the council's proposals.
Follow ?AndyBlatchford on Twitter
Ottawa, unlike its competitor Australia, does not have
preferential trade agreements with three of Canada's key
agricultural trading markets - China, India and Japan agreements that are necessary for trade expansion, the Council
found.
Meanwhile, Canada's food processing sector is
"underdeveloped" thanks to "a historical lack of investment in
processing infrastructure paired and often correlated to a
challenging regulatory environment" complicated by long
permit processing times and supply management boards, the
Council found.
A lack of transportation infrastructure funding is compounding
the problem, the report said, adding that "underinvestment...
means that the difficulty to aggregate food-processing supply
chains across our vast land mass" leads to "a greater reliance
on commodity trade" complicated by transportation
bottlenecks.
Then there are technological gaps. The Council found "the lack
of a common analytics platform and rural broadband stand in
the way of realizing the full potential of these advances in
Canada."
iPolitics ()
Page:
Canada's agrifood sector has 'great
potential' for growth: advisory panel
Kelsey Johnson - Ontario
The federal government should use Canada's agriculture and
agri-food sector to pilot its new economic growth agenda
starting this year, Ottawa's financial advisory panel said
Monday.
Canada's agrifood sector "has great potential," the report notes,
because of this country's wealth of water and arable land
resources, its strong research and business sectors and an
increased demand for protein in Asia.
"These assets, coupled with the scale of the existing obstacles,
provide the potential for material economic gains for
Canadians while also providing a blueprint for how the
government and private sector may work together to unleash
Canada's potential in other sectors," the panel recommended.
Created by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Advisory
Council on Economic Growth is chaired by Dominic Barton,
managing partner of the global management consulting firm
McKinsey. It reports to Finance Minister Bill Morneau and has
been tasked with finding long-term ways to increase Canadian
economic growth and identify obstacles that could hamper
those efforts.
The Council pointed to the fact that global demand for food
products is expected to increase by 70 per cent by 2050.
"Our potential agricultural output greatly exceeds the
requirements of the population, so this country could become
an increasingly significant source of high-quality food to feed
the world's growing middle class, while ensuring accessibility
to affordable, nutritious and healthy food at home," the panel's
report reads.
"Yet, our future as an agfood leader is far from assured."
Ottawa will need to set bold growth targets for various
commodities and industries if the industry's growth potential is
to be tapped, the Council reports.
The Council suggests the creation of an Agfood Growth
Council, comprised of 10 to 15 individuals from the private
sector, that would report directly to the federal agriculture
minister and be supported by a small secretariat.
An interdepartmental task force, chaired by the federal
agriculture minister and backed by the Prime Minister's Office,
should also be created to remove "obstacles," the panel
suggested.
It's not the first time Council members have championed
agriculture as a growth area. In an speech to the Public Policy
Forum growth conference in October, Barton argued the
sector's growth potential was "no small potatoes."
Canada's agriculture industry employs 2.1 million people and
accounts for 6.7 per cent of the country's GDP.
2017 ipolitics.ca
6
iPolitics ()
Page:
Ottawa "supports supply management":
MacAulay
Kelsey Johnson - Ontario
Ottawa will continue to "support" supply management amidst
growing pressure from the United States who want more
access to the Canadian dairy industry.
"Mr. Speaker, our government fully supports our dairy farmers
and our supply management system," Agriculture Minister
Lawrence MacAulay told the House of Commons Monday.
"It is our party that fought hard to implement supply
management and I can assure the House that we will protect
and defend it. Canada's supply management system is a model
for the world."
The American dairy lobby wants more access to Canada's
dairy market. The industry has repeatedly written letters to the
new U.S. administration and state governors arguing Canada is
impeding dairy trade.
In a January 25 press release, the National Milk Producers
President and CEO Jim Mulhern said Canada "has habitually
and deliberately worked to undermine dairy trade." The release
accompanied calls to ensure any NAFTA renegotiation
included supply management.
The current NAFTA agreement excludes supply management.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will renegotiate the
trilateral trade deal, which he has repeatedly called "the worst
trade deal ever signed by the United States." Trump recently
told senior Republicans he wants that negotiation to happen as
quickly as possible.
Ottawa has said it is open to a potential NAFTA renegotiation.
However, the federal government has not said whether it keep
supply management off the table. MacAulay did make the
distinction Monday, either.
The Americans aren't the only ones asking questions about the
future of supply management.
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in a keynote
speech Thursday in Edmonton that Ottawa should consider
phasing out the farming system. Mulroney, who negotiated the
original NAFTA agreement, has repeatedly said it may be time
for supply management to go.
Mulroney has been advising Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
about how to work with the new Trump administration. CBC
News reported the former prime minister planned to meet with
the new U.S. administration ahead of the President's January
20 inauguration.
That connection has drawn sharp rebuke from Opposition MPs.
NDP Agriculture Critic Ruth Ellen Brosseau called Mulroney's
comments and the pressure from the United States
"worrisome."
"It's not very reassuring at all."
Former Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, now the Conservative
Party's trade critic, took to Twitter after Mulroney's speech in
Edmonton.
"He is Trudeau's lead on a new NAFTA deal!," Ritz said.
2017 ipolitics.ca
Ottawa Citizen (EARLY)
CANADA Page: N5
Liberals mum on carbon tax's impact on
needy Canadians
Prices To Rise Premier, MP say calculations are being
kept secret
David Akin
Federal finance department officials have calculated how much
more Canadian households could pay each year as a result of a
pending federal carbon tax but neither the department nor
Finance Minister Bill Morneau will share those details.
Morneau is being challenged in Parliament by Conservative
MP Pierre Poilievre to publish that information while
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who, like Poilievre, is an
opponent of a federal carbon tax, has been challenging Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau to do the same.
Both men say they believe the Trudeau government should
provide Canadians with information about the financial
consequences to individual households of the pending carbon
tax.
For his part, Poilievre, who served as a minister in Stephen
Harper's notoriously disclosure-averse cabinet, has been using
federal access to information laws as well as his prerogative as
a member of Parliament to compel the government to disclose
the cost of carbon taxes to Canadian households.
In the House of Commons Monday, Poilievre pressed Morneau
to table that information.
"The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable.
That is why I asked how it is this carbon tax will impact on the
poorest Canadians," Poilievre said during question period. "At
first, the government said, 'No such data exists'. Then it said, 'It
exists; we just don't want to tell you what it is.' That is the
current position of the government, that it wants to keep secret
from Canadians, the most vulnerable Canadians, those with the
least, the impact of this heavy new carbon tax on heat, hydro,
gas and electricity."
Trudeau has told provinces that they must, by 2018, put a price
on carbon at a level high enough that they can help Canada
7
achieve its international commitments to reduce greenhousegas emissions. But he has also said on numerous occasions that
he expects provinces to use whatever revenue they generate by
pricing carbon to be turned back to the citizens of that province
to help offset any increase in the prices of goods or services.
One of the documents Poilievre received under federal accessto-information laws is an internal finance department memo
written on Oct. 20, 2015, in which the department tries to
figure out the financial impact of a federal carbon tax on
different kinds of voters.
The memo, titled "Impact of a carbon price on households'
consumption costs across the income distribution" was written
by Jean-François Perreault. Perreault was then an assistant
deputy minister at Finance Canada.
He left the finance department in the spring of 2016 to join
Scotiabank as its chief economist.
Much of Perreault's memo, a copy of which was provided to
the National Post by Poilievre's office, has been heavily
redacted by government censors.
But Perreault is crystal clear on this point: Pricing carbon, be it
through a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, will hit
consumers in the pocketbook.
"These higher costs (which) would then cascade through the
economy in the form of higher prices, thus leading all firms
and consumers to pay more for goods and services with higher
carbon content."
Wall, the Saskatchewan premier, said in December that
Trudeau's carbon tax could cost the average Canadian family
as much as $1,250 a year in higher prices for everything from
groceries to gasoline.
© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.
Toronto Star (ONT REPLATE)
NEWS Page: A3
Trudeau the Prime Ministerovershadows
youth alter ego
Student federation scoffs at youth minister's progress,
citing mounting student debt
Alex Ballingall Toronto Star
After winning the last federal election, the fresh-faced new
prime minister, the second-youngest ever to assume the office,
bestowed upon himself a fitting extra portfolio: Minister of
Youth.
One of his first acts was to publish mandate letters for each of
his new cabinet ministers. You can read them online. They
outline for all to see what important work Trudeau expected
from his ministers in the coming months and years.
But there was - and still is - a striking omission. While some
relevant platform points were included in his missives to
ministers in the finance and labour departments, Trudeau
published no mandate letter for his self-imposed gig for youth.
And none appeared when the letters were refreshed after his
January cabinet shuffle.
More than a year into the Liberals' majority mandate, a sense
has emerged that rather than bringing welcome gravitas and
attention to the issues facing young people today, Trudeau the
Prime Minister is overshadowing Trudeau the Youth Minister.
He has a mixed record on fulfilling the youth-oriented
promises of his party's 2015 platform.
In October, the sociable and still-high-polling PM was heckled
during an onstage interview with young members of the
Canadian Labour Congress, after outrage was spewed over the
finance minister's comment that "job churn"- having to move
from job to job over the course of your career- is an intractable
part of the 21st century economy. At the same time, student
activists are decrying his performance on accessibility-toeducation, as tuition and student debt spike to record heights
and youth unemployment stubbornly remains almost double
the rate of the total population. Consequently, some contend
Trudeau's turn as youth minister has been a disappointment - a
betrayal, even, for a man who rose to power on a wave of voter
turnout from Canada's youngest electors.
"This government pays a lot of lip service to youth," said Bilan
Arte, president of the Canadian Federation of Students, which
advocates for free post-secondary education.
"We're not just a voting block that can be accessed every other
election. We are concerned and we're an active part of the
electorate in this country ... The only conclusion you can come
to is this government doesn't think this is a priority."
Whether such criticism is fair is up for debate. Vasiliki Bednar,
head of the government's Expert Panel on Youth Employment
that was created last fall, said Trudeau's decision to appoint
himself youth minister showed issues such as tuition, student
debt, and youth unemployment are a priority for the
government.
She added that the "job churn" comment was an honest
portrayal of the reality facing young workers and that one of
her panel's goals is to help Trudeau identify solutions to
supporting youth who face challenges such as unaffordable
real estate, a dearth of job benefits and pensions and precarious
work.
"A government that pretends that's not a reality, and designs
programs for quote-unquote 'standard work,' which is full-time
forever jobs, is not a government that I want, because that's an
unrealistic, fantasy government," Bednar said.
Trudeau, meanwhile, has defended his record. During his
campaign-style tour in Southern Ontario last month, the prime
minister was questioned about his performance as youth
minister. He rhymed off his accomplishments, including the
8
creation of a youth council to advise the prime minister,
increasing student grants by 50 per cent for people from lowand middle-income families, investing to create more summer
jobs for young people and raising the annual income threshold
that triggers the repayment of student loans from $20,000 to
$25,000.
"There's always more to do but I've constantly been inspired
and challenged by young people to think more long term, to
think more about the future of the country we're building
together, and I continue to be very pleased with the thoughtful
and dynamic support and engagement that Canadian youth
have towards this government," Trudeau said.
Weeks later, while answering questions from university
students at a convention in Ottawa, Trudeau echoed his finance
minister's "job churn" comment, arguing that young people
expecting to keep the same job without changing careers in
their lives are being "unrealistic." He added that such
workforce changes are why his government has moved to beef
up the Canada Pension Plan and is pushing to make it easier to
get training for new skills.
"I do think a concerted effort to improve youth outcomes is
called for," Alexander said, adding that the issue is complex
and that the youth unemployment rate - 12.6 per cent in
December - is stuck around the 20-year average," he said.
On Parliament Hill, there are calls for Trudeau to shed the
youth minister mantle and let somebody else wear it.
According to the official record of parliamentary debates, the
prime minister has spoken about youth issues only a handful of
times in the House of Commons since the last election - until
this month, each time was in reference to marijuana. It has
fallen to his parliamentary secretary on the file, Quebec MP
Peter Schiefke, to voice government positions on precarious
work, unemployment and student issues.
Trudeau, meanwhile, was asked during his tour to "grade"
himself on his youth minister performance. The prime
minister, a former teacher, refused.
"I'll leave the grading to others," he said with a smile.
Arte scoffed at the prime minister's progress on youth issues.
She argued that the repayment threshold increase still means
people earning poverty-level incomes will have to start paying
back student loans (and that the government can start
collecting interest on those loans), and pointed out that
Trudeau has made no move to lower debt and tuition, which
would help accomplish the goal of making it easier to get new
skills in a changing economy.
As of 2012, student debt owed to Ottawa and the provinces
was more than $28 billion, up from $19.6 billion in 1999,
according to Statistics Canada. Average tuition for the 2016/17
school year rose to $6,373 and has tripled since the early
1990s.
"Young people are sounding the alarm and we need this
government to pay attention," Arte said.
Toronto Star (ONT)
NEWS Page: A3
It's also not lost on activists like Arte that Trudeau's Liberals
came to power with a significant boost from young voters.
Turnout amongst 18 to 24 year olds, the youngest segment
measured by Elections Canada, jumped from 39 to 57 per cent
between the 2011 and 2015 elections - the biggest jump of any
age group.
Trudeau also promised to create a lot of work for young people
during the election. The marquee pledge was "40,000 good
youth jobs" in each year from 2016 to the end of 2018. But
that's not what happened.
According to the final 2016 job numbers published this month,
just 9,000 jobs were created last year for workers aged 16 to
24. As Conference Board of Canada economist Craig
Alexander pointed out, this is the net number after 40,000 fulltime jobs were lost and 49,000 part-time jobs were created. All
the job gains for youth, in other words, were for part-time
work.
© 2017 Torstar Corporation
Promises promises . . .
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a mixed record when it
comes to keeping the promises made in the Liberals' 2015
election platform. Here's a look at some of the major pledges
on youth issues.
BROKEN
The pledge: "We will create 40,000 good youth jobs including 5,000 youth green jobs - each year for the next three
years, by investing $300 million more in the renewed Youth
Employment Strategy."
The result: There were 9,000 jobs created for people aged 15 to
24 in 2016, according to Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, the
2016 budget earmarked $164.5 million for the Youth
Employment Strategy. However, a month before the budget,
the government announced a $339-million investment over
three years in the Canada Summer Jobs Program, promising
this would create 35,000 seasonal gigs in each of the following
three years.
At the end of August, in its monthly labour survey, Statistics
Canada published data that showed that while youth
employment went up 22,000 that month, there were 48,000
fewer jobs for the age group compared with one year earlier.
The pledge:"We will invest $40 million each year to help
employers create more co-op placements for students in
science, technology, engineering, mathematics and business
programs."(2015 Liberal platform)
9
The result: The Trudeau government committed $73 million
over four years to create co-op placements in these areas.
That's less than half the annual funds that were promised.
The pledge: "We will invest $25 million per year in a restored
Youth Service Program, to give young Canadians valuable
work and life experience and provide communities with the
help required for much-needed projects."
The result: The 2016 budget included a pledge to invest $105
million over five years, and $25 million per year after that, in
support of the Youth Service Program. That's an average of
$21 million per year until 2021/22, then $25 million after that.
KEPT
The pledge: "We will increase the maximu m Canada Student
Grant for low-income students to $3,000 per year for full-time
students and to $1,800 per year for part-time students."
The result: The Trudeau government did exactly that in the
2016 budget.
*
The pledge: "We will ensure that no graduate with student
loans will be required to make any repayment until they are
earning an income of at least $25,000 per year."
The result: The repayment threshold was raised last year from
just over $20,000 to $25,000 in annual earnings.
*
The pledge: "We will create a Prime Minister's Youth
Advisory Council, consisting of young Canadians aged 16 to
24, to provide non-partisan advice to the prime minister on
issues facing the country." (2015 Liberal platform)
The result: The prime minister unveiled his 15 members of this
council last September, while another 11 joined the council in
late January.
Alex Ballingall
Le Devoir ()
ACTUALITÉS Page: A5
Éthique - Les conservateurs à la défense
des vacances de Rona Ambrose
Hélène Buzzetti
Le Parti conservateur se défend d'appliquer des normes
d'éthique plus souples lorsque l'un des siens est concerné. S'il
estime que le séjour de la chef intérimaire Rona Ambrose sur
le yacht d'un milliardaire le mois passé est moins grave que
celui de Justin Trudeau sur l'île privée de l'Aga Khan, c'est
parce que Mme Ambrose n'est pas, elle, au pouvoir.
" La différence, c'est que Justin Trudeau, lui, est premier
ministre. Lui est au pouvoir, nous ne le sommes pas, a expliqué
lundi le député Gérard Deltell. Il prend des décisions qui
affectent directement les Canadiens. Il a la mainmise sur 300
milliards de budget. Ce n'est pas le cas du chef de l'opposition.
"
Son collègue Steven Blaney a aussi soutenu que les deux
situations n'étaient pas comparables. " Lorsqu'on est premier
ministre, on est redevable devant les contribuables et, à cet
égard, on s'attend à un comportement irréprochable. On ne
s'attend pas à mettre le premier ministre de notre pays en
situation de vulnérabilité face à des influences de l'extérieur. "
La fondation de l'Aga Khan pilote des projets d'aide
internationale et reçoit à ce titre des fonds du gouvernement
canadien.
Il a été révélé au cours du week-end que Rona Ambrose a
séjourné sur le yacht de Murray Edwards du 3 au 14 janvier
dernier pour ses vacances des Fêtes. Murray Edwards est
présenté par la publication Canadian Business comme le 30e
Canadien le plus riche avec des avoirs évalués à 2,69 milliards
de dollars. Sa fortune s'est faite dans le secteur pétrolier et
minier. Il est aussi le copropriétaire des Flames de Calgary. Il a
déménagé en 2016 de Calgary à Londres, mais nie que c'était
pour éviter la hausse fiscale instaurée par les néodémocrates de
Rachel Notley. Le conjoint de Rona Ambrose, J.P. Veitch, est
un ami personnel de Murray Edwards. Le séjour en bateau a
mené le couple et leurs amis dans les Antilles françaises.
L'avis de la commissaire sollicité
Les conservateurs plaident que, contrairement à Justin
Trudeau, leur chef a réclamé l'avis de la commissaire à
l'éthique et aux conflits d'intérêts, Mary Dawson, pour s'assurer
que le voyage était acceptable. Mais voilà : Mme Ambrose n'a
contacté par courriel le bureau de Mme Dawson que le 12
janvier, alors que son voyage était presque terminé. Surtout,
c'est ce jour-là où Justin Trudeau a publiquement admis qu'il
s'était rendu dans l'île de l'Aga Khan à bord de l'hélicoptère
privé de ce dernier.
Le 12 janvier, les conservateurs ont écrit à la commissaire
Dawson, lui demandant de vérifier si une telle utilisation d'un
moyen de transport privé contrevenait à la Loi sur les conflits
d'intérêts. Mme Ambrose a alors écrit sur Twitter à propos de
M. Trudeau que " tout ce qu'il avait à faire est de dire non,
mais il ne pouvait pas résister au mode de vie des milliardaires
".
Au bureau de Mme Dawson, on prend soin de rappeler qu'" en
tant que députée qui n'est pas ministre ou secrétaire
parlementaire, Mme Ambrose n'est assujettie qu'au Code
régissant les conflits d'intérêts des députés ". En vertu de ce
Code, les députés ne peuvent accepter des cadeaux qu'on
pourrait raisonnablement croire donnés pour les influencer
dans l'exercice de leurs fonctions. Les cadeaux en provenance
de parents ou d'amis sont " normalement " admissibles. En tant
que premier ministre, Justin Trudeau est assujetti à la Loi sur
les conflits d'intérêts, qui interdit le recours à des moyens de
transport privés, sauf en cas d'urgence. " Aucune enquête en
10
vertu du Code n'a été lancée relativement au voyage [de Mme
Ambrose] ", conclut le bureau de Mme Dawson.
ideas about issues like health care, justice reform, economic
growth and Atlantic Canada's diminished profile in Ottawa.
Le NPD se montre plutôt timide dans sa critique de Rona
Ambrose. " Elle n'est pas ministre ou première ministre. Elle
est chef de l'opposition et elle n'aspire pas à arriver au pouvoir.
Elle est chef intérimaire. Elle ne sera pas chef du Parti
conservateur aux prochaines élections. Donc, c'est très
différent ", a fait valoir le député Alexandre Boulerice.
O'Toole, a former Sea King navigator who was stationed in
Nova Scotia with the Royal Canadian Air force, promised to
fight hard for the region as prime minister.
Cela dit, il reprend le proverbe " à propos de la poutre et la
paille dans l'oeil " pour conclure que " ça enlève un peu de la
force à l'argument des conservateurs. Mais nous, ça ne nous
étonne pas. Ce sont deux vieux partis de l'élite, de
l'establishment, qui fraient avec des millionnaires et des
milliardaires ". Le chef par intérim du Bloc québécois, Rhéal
Fortin, estime pour sa part que " ça pose un certain problème
au niveau de l'apparence ".
Former House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer described
his frustration when the Liberals voted against Energy East, a
4,600-kilo metre pipeline project designed to ship crude oil
from Alberta to refineries and port terminals in New
Brunswick.
''It happens every time there's a Trudeau in office,'' he said. ''It's
the same Ottawa-knows-best, centralizing, big-government
approach that the Liberals are famous for.''
Vancouver MP Andrew Saxton was cheered when he declared
''This Trudeau government is as economically inept as the last
Trudeau government.''
On that point, all the candidates agreed _ including O'Leary.
Page:
Would-be Conservative leaders set sights
on O'Leary in TV star's debate debut
HALIFAX _ The crowd of more experienced contenders for
the federal Conservative leadership set its sights on Kevin
O'Leary right out of the gate Saturday as the reality-TV star
and aspiring politician made his debate debut in Halifax.
O'Leary's unconventional, no-nonsense style and celebrity
status as star of the U.S.-based program ''Shark Tank'' has
made him the presumptive front-runner _ and the primary
target for most of the other candidates on the stage, who
derided him as inexperienced, opportunistic and politically
tone-deaf.
''We have a celebrity-in-chief'' in Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, Ontario MP Erin O'Toole said during his closing
statement.
''We don't beat the celebrity-in-chief with another celebrity-inchief.''
Ontario MP Michael Chong called him ''Rambo'' as he
slammed O'Leary for releasing a video clip of himself blasting
away with automatic weapons at a Miami gun range Friday _
the same day of the funeral for three of the six victims of the
Quebec City mosque shooting.
''(He) had the audacity to post that video on the very same day
we were burying the victims of one of the worst mass
shootings in Canadian history,'' Chong said.
''That video will cost us the next election.''
But O'Leary didn't steal the entire show.
He characterized the 32 Liberal MPs who currently represent
the region as ''lambs'' who do little and say less to represent
their constituents: ''The silence of the lambs.''
''Nowhere does it say you have to tolerate mediocrity'' in
government, he said. ''People are sick of politicians spinning
them BS. That time is over, my friends. That's why I'm in this
race. ''
O'Toole and Scheer both took shots at O'Leary, accusing the
Boston-based businessman of flip-flopping on the Liberal
government's carbon pricing plan for reasons of political
expediency.
Scheer also made light of O'Leary's musings about jailing
businesses that refuse to reduce emissions by 30 per cent over
20 years.
''I just want to put on the record right now that not only am I
opposed to a carbon tax, I'm opposed to a carbon jail,'' he said,
eliciting chuckles from the audience.
In her opening salvo, Ontario MP Kellie Leitch, sitting at
O'Leary's left elbow, made a point of ''welcoming'' him to the
Conservative party, then took a dig at his lack of party bona
fides.
''There have been some news stories recently about nonConservatives joining the party to stop me from becoming
leader,'' Leitch joked. ''I just never expected to be sitting beside
one of them.''
O'Leary, however, played it cool, refusing to rise to the bait of
his rivals and instead focusing on issues that played to his
background: fostering job creation and economic growth.
Businesses need ''rich soil to plant the seed'' in order to grow
and flourish, something he said doesn't happen much in
Atlantic Canada these days.
Between the sustained attacks and wisecracks at O'Leary's
expense that bookended the two-hour debate, the 14 candidates
took part in what was largely a measured and civil exchange of
11
''You can't even grow a weed here any more,'' said O'Leary,
whose candidacy has been compared to the unlikely political
success of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Capital is fluid, he added _ ''It goes to the place of least
resistance and most opportunity.''
O'Leary only formally joined the competition after the last
leadership debate, his timing an effort to avoid making his
debut during a French-only event _ despite having been born in
Quebec, he speaks little of that language.
His campaign claims to have signed up 9,000 members and
raised $300,000 in the first 10 days he was in the race. It took
Leitch, whose focus on immigration reform has also drawn
comparisons to the Trump campaign, three months to raise that
much.
Rebuilding Conservative Party support in Atlantic Canada is
considered crucial. And O'Toole and Lisa Raitt have both
played up their East Coast roots in launching their leadership
bids.
Raitt, born in Sydney, N.S., has been outspoken in her
criticism of O'Leary's decision to join the race. She noted
during Saturday's debate that her native province traditionally
sends Boston a Christmas tree every year, then added ''I just
never expected that Boston in return would send us a candidate
for the leadership.''
Raitt promised to put the region back on the national political
map.
''We have to earn back the trust of the voters,'' she said. ''We
deserve a voice; we have earned that voice, and I will listen to
that voice.''
Quebec MP and former public safety minister Steven Blaney
came out swinging on the justice file, vowing to reinstate
Harper-era tough-on-crime sentencing laws that put sexual
assault ''victims first.''
Former immigration minister Chris Alexander, for his part,
stressed there could be ''no room for complacency'' when it
comes to dealing with sexual assault cases.
And Raitt advocated for a victim-centred approach to dealing
with sex assault crimes _ one that begins at the ''front line''
with proper training for law enforcement officials.
O'Leary, drawing upon his extensive global travels, suggested
Canada's justice system could serve as a model for the rest of
the world.
''I have a very hard time criticizing our justice system or the
men and women who enforce it in this country, when every
time I come home, I want to get off the plane and kiss the
ground,'' he said.
Page:
Steven Blaney prône l'utilisation plus
fréquente de la clause dérogatoire
OTTAWA _ S'il obtenait le pouvoir à Ottawa, le député
conservateur Steven Blaney imposerait des punitions plus
sévères aux criminels quitte à contourner à répétition les
exigences de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés.
En affichant le nouvel appui du sénateur Pierre-Hugues
Boisvenu, M. Blaney a exposé ses réflexions sur la justice
canadienne, lundi matin, lors d'un point de presse à Ottawa. M.
Boisvenu est connu pour sa défense acharnée des droits des
victimes.
Le député de Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Lévis a promis
d'augmenter le nombre de juges et de limiter ce qu'il appelle
les "lourdeurs administratives" pour s'assurer que les accusés
passent plus rapidement en justice.
M. Blaney n'a pas réussi à identifier précisément quelles
étaient ces lourdeurs. "Il y a toute sorte de stratagèmes qui ont
été développés au fil du temps et font en sorte qu'on encourage
les personnes qui ont reçu des accusations à étirer les
procédures judiciaires justement pour arriver à les voir
éventuellement tomber", s'est-il contenté d'offrir.
Le député a également promis d'imposer plus de peines
minimales et de limiter les crédits pour le temps passé en
détention préventive, quoi qu'en dise la Charte.
Plusieurs lois adoptées par le gouvernement conservateur de
Stephen Harper, limitant ces crédits et imposant des peines
minimales, ont été déclarées inconstitutionnelles.
M. Blaney a rappelé qu'il suffit d'invoquer "la clause
nonobstant" lorsque les tribunaux invalident des lois qui
violent les droits individuels. Un gouvernement conservateur
mené par M. Blaney n'hésiterait pas à utiliser cet "outil".
"J'estime qu'il est temps que les politiciens mettent leurs
culottes et assument leurs responsabilités. Lorsqu'ils prennent
des décisions dans l'intérêt de la population, eh bien, qu'ils
s'assurent que ces décisions-là sont maintenues. Et il y a des
dispositions qui existent pour ce faire", a exposé M. Blaney.
Il s'est défendu de brandir la clause dérogatoire à répétition. En
octobre, il annonçait qu'il aurait recours à cette clause si les
tribunaux devaient invalider une éventuelle loi qu'il proposerait
sur le port du niqab. Cette loi forcerait tous les fonctionnaires
fédéraux, en contact avec le public ou non, à se présenter au
travail à visage découvert.
Ils sont 14 candidats dans la course conservatrice. Le prochain
chef conservateur sera choisi en mai. Selon les sondages menés
jusqu'à présent, M. Blaney est loin du peloton de tête. Mais le
12
président de sa campagne, le sénateur Jean-Guy Dagenais, ne
baisse pas les bras.
"Nous allons faire la démonstration que ce n'est pas
nécessairement celui qui a la plus grosse caisse qui va gagner
le 27 mai prochain", a promis le sénateur.
Le Devoir ()
Bloc québécois - Le parti pourrait
rémunérer son chef
Appelée à choisir entre Québec et Ottawa, Martine
Ouellet résiste
Guillaume Bourgault-Côté
" Il n'y en a pas, de problème. " La députée provinciale et
aspirante chef fédérale, Martine Ouellet, ne comprend pas les
critiques dont son projet de double emploi fait l'objet. Il y a
pourtant unanimité sur la question à l'Assemblée nationale. Et
le Bloc québécois signale pour sa part qu'il pourrait offrir un
salaire à son prochain chef.
" En regardant les avantages et les inconvénients, je pense qu'il
serait préférable qu'elle ne siège pas à Québec tout en étant
chef du Bloc à Ottawa,a notamment indiqué le chef péquiste
Jean-François Lisée lundi. Et je pense qu'il est tout à fait
possible de trouver au Bloc québécois une façon de financer un
salaire adéquat pour Martine en attendant la prochaine élection.
"
Vérification faite par Le Devoir, le Bloc québécois serait
effectivement disposé à rémunérer celui ou celle qui sera élu
chef le 22 avril prochain. " On a l'argent,indique le directeur
général du parti, Steven Héroux. Le bureau national pourrait
prendre la décision de donner un salaire. " Même son de cloche
auprès du président (et ex-chef) du parti, Mario Beaulieu. "
Financièrement, il n'y a pas de problème. Le Bloc est en
mesure de donner un salaire. On [verra] ça avec la personne
qui va être élue. "
M. Beaulieu n'a pas voulu dire lundi ce qu'il pense du plan
Ouellet de travailler sur deux paliers jusqu'aux prochaines
élections provinciales. Mais l'actuel chef intérimaire du Bloc,
Rhéal Fortin, n'est pas chaud à l'idée d'un cumul des tâches. "
J'aurais préféré qu'elle n'occupe pas les deux fonctions, mais je
n'irai pas plus loin parce que je ne veux pas me mêler de la
course à la chefferie ", a soutenu M. Fortin.
porte-parole de Québec solidaire, Manon Massé. " Je pense
que ses concitoyens sont à même de pouvoir s'attendre à ce que
leur députée soit là à temps plein. " Cumuler, c'est possible
Mais la principale intéressée estime pouvoir mener les deux
fonctions de front. " Je continuerai d'être présente dans ma
circonscription ", a-t-elle dit en point de presse lundi.
L'ensemble des questions des médias a porté sur ce dossier,
occultant l'annonce de l'appui du député bloquiste Gabriel SteMarie.
Mme Ouellet a fait valoir qu'elle a " un engagement de quatre
ans envers " ses électeurs et qu'elle fait " économiser 600 000 $
aux Québécois en évitant une élection partielle ".
Pour appuyer sa position, Martine Ouellet a remis en avant
l'argumentaire utilisé dimanche (qualifié de " loufoque " par
Gilles Duceppe) : " C'est un avantage de pouvoir faire la
courroie de transmission, parce qu'actuellement, les deux
gouvernements travaillent en silo " ; avoir un pied à Québec et
l'autre à Ottawa permettrait de " faire de la fluidité " ; " tous les
chefs de parti sont aussi députés " ; " c'est une tâche
supplémentaire qui ne nous empêche pas d'être présents "
auprès des électeurs, etc.
Elle a aussi présenté ce qui pourrait être un " horaire typique "
de travail entre les deux capitales. " Il pourrait y avoir une
journée par semaine à Ottawa, trois jours à Québec pour siéger
et trois jours dans le comté ", pense Mme Ouellet, qui a répété
que le commissaire à l'éthique lui a dit que ce serait légal. " Il
n'y en a pas, de problème. "
Quant au fait que son travail serait partagé entre deux paliers
de gouvernement ? Les " dossiers se ressemblent pas mal ", at-elle dit en évoquant Énergie Est ou les transferts en santé.
Manon Massé fait toutefois valoir que ce sont " deux
plateformes complètement différentes, avec des objectifs
différents et des pouvoirs différents ".
Les bloquistes doivent choisir leur chef le 22 avril.
A Québec, tant le premier ministre Couillard que Québec
solidaire ont dénoncé lundi les intentions de Martine Ouellet.
L'Association libérale de Vachon -- que la députée-candidate
représente -- parle d'un " manque de respect " à l'égard des
citoyens de la circonscription. " Si elle remporte cette course à
la chefferie, je pense qu'elle doit se questionner sur sa capacité
de représenter les gens de Vachon ", a aussi lancé la députée et
13
Winnipeg Free Press (Print)
City Page: A8
Kinew rules out federal NDP leadership
run
Mia Rabson OTTAWA - Manitoba rookie NDP MLA Wab Kinew will not
be a "game changer" in the federal NDP leadership race.
Kinew, the 35-year-old MLA for Fort Rouge, was approached
by some federal NDP members who wanted him to consider
running for leader of the federal party. He said he made a few
calls, but it didn't take long to reach a decision.
"I'm not going to put my name forward," he said.
The NDP rumour mill was working overtime in recent days
after several people reported receiving calls about him. One
NDP source said people were excited about the possibility,
saying he "would be a game changer."
Kinew, a former CBC personality and director of indigenous
inclusion at the University of Winnipeg, is articulate, bilingual
and charismatic - traits any candidate wanting to challenge
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will need.
He overcame the baggage of misogynist and homophobic
tweets and rap lyrics he made years ago to defeat then-Liberal
leader Rana Bokhari in one of the most-watched contests of the
2016 Manitoba election. But Kinew said a federal run is not an
option now.
He is undecided about whether he will pursue the leadership of
the provincial NDP. "I'm still looking at it," he said Monday.
He said the provincial party has a lot of work to do, and if
another great candidate were to step forward, he would offer
his support. Unless or until that happens, he will continue to
consider doing it himself.
The NDP at both the provincial and federal levels is struggling
since suffering election losses in 2015 and 2016. Both need
new leaders.
Manitoba NDP will choose one in September, but even the
process to decide the rules is threatening to tear the party apart.
The federal NDP will choose its leader in October. Nobody has
officially entered the race to replace Tom Mulcair, who lost a
confidence vote at the party's convention last spring.
British Columbia MP Peter Julian, Ontario MP Charlie Angus,
Quebec MP Guy Caron and Manitoba MP Niki Ashton are all
said to be considering a run.
[email protected]
NEWS Page: N2
Prime Minister Trump?
What could Canada's leader get away with?
Tristin Hopper
U.S. President Donald Trump has already pushed through an
astonishing portion of his campaign platform without needing
a hint of Congressional approval. And with more orders to
come, Trump opponents are suddenly dusting off their law
books to see just how much executive power he has to play
with.
But what if Trump woke up as the prime minister of Canada?
What kind of unilateral power would he have then? With the
assistance of Ottawabased Westminster expert Philippe
Lagassé (who probably had better things to do), the National
Post presents this guide to how much our head of government
is legally allowed to get away with. Buckle up, reader. It turns
out we've got some crazy rules in this country.
PM WITH A MAJORITY IS BASICALLY A DICTATOR
In his 2001 book, author Jeffrey Simpson called Canada a
"friendly dictatorship." During the years of U.S. president
Barack Obama, U.S. right-wingers were fond of noting
Stephen Harper was the most powerful conservative in the
Western Hemisphere.
These observations underlie a simple fact: When a Canadian
prime minister heads up a majority government that routinely
votes his or her way, the only true limit to their power is the
Supreme Court and/or rebellious city and provincial
governments.
Harper fully ensured marijuana dispensaries were illegal, but
the City of Vancouver decided to simply not act on it.
Similarly, Justin Trudeau can impose a carbon tax on
Saskatchewan, but Premier Brad Wall could simply rebate
every dollar collected from it.
WHAT CAN STOP A PM WHO GOES CRAZY?
Let's call this the Crazy Prime Minister Scenario: We wake up
one morning and Justin Trudeau is appearing in an emergency
broadcast to outline how he's abandoning all his other prime
ministerial duties to focus exclusively on fighting invisible
leprechauns.
In ideal circumstances, the Crazy Prime Minister is simply
shunted out the door in one of those caucus coups the British
and Australians are so fond of. But the caucus coup is still
dependent on a shunned leader politely deciding to resign.
The Crazy Prime Minister, however, can simply prorogue
parliament, dismiss the cabinet and begin filling civil service
positions with compliant lackeys. At that point, the only thing
the (prorogued) House of Commons can do is withhold
14
funding. Eventually, Prime Minister Crazy is going to run out
of money. And when they convene parliament to get a budget
bill, their joyride will come to an end with a vote of nonconfidence.
CAN THE GOVERNOR GENERAL SAVE US?
Yes, in fact. All of a prime minister's executive powers are
funnelled through the Governor General.
Stephen Harper could have technically ordered a unilateral
invasion of Mexico at a moment's notice. But, if he staggered
into Rideau Hall reeking of ouzo and holding a cocktail napkin
scrawled with the words "Mexico war planz," the hope is
David Johnston would have fired him and appointed a new
prime minister.
BOTH PM AND GOVERNOR GENERA L GO NUTS
There is some precedent for a Queen's representative putting
the brakes on a government leader. In the early 1990s, B.C.
Lt.-Gov. David Lam said he was fully prepared to fire scandalplagued B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm (it was ultimately a
moot point, since Vander Zalm resigned).
But there's a loophole: David Johnston, Adrienne Clarkson and
Michaelle Jean all got their jobs because a prime minister
recommended them to the post. Thus, we have the Achilles
heel of Canadian democracy: If a prime minister gets their
drinking buddy into Rideau Hall, they've suddenly got an allpowerful duumvirate. This duumvirate can't make any new
laws without the House of Commons, but they've got a whole
treasure chest of executive powers. But here again, the PM-GG
duo is still limited by cash.
THE QUEEN CAN FIRE A ROGUE PRIME MINISTER
All those pictures of Queen Elizabeth on the money are there
for a reason: She's Canada's head of state, and is technically the
vessel from which all power flows. If Canada suddenly found
itself in the grip of a duumvirate, we would have the legal
option of begging the Queen to fix everything.
Presumably, a (preferably multi-party) delegation would fly to
London, curtsy and request an audience with Her Majesty. If
the Queen sympathized with the plight of her Canadian
subjects, she would then tear up a 1947 document signed by
her father (King George VI) which effectively handed the
powers of the Crown to Canada's Governor General. Then,
with the Governor General thus neutered, the Queen would
pick a new prime minister to fix everything and hopefully
never bother her again.
[email protected] Twitter.com/TristinHopper
Page:
Le décret de Donald Trump affecte les
résidents permanents du Canada
OTTAWA _ Au moins 200 résidents permanents du Canada se
sont fait retirer leur carte Nexus, qui facilite la traversée de la
frontière canado-américaine.
Les autorités américaines ont retiré ce privilège à ces
personnes à la suite du décret présidentiel de Donald Trump
qui interdit l'entrée aux États-Unis de ressortissants de sept
pays à majorité musulmane.
Au lendemain de ce décret, depuis remis en question par les
tribunaux américains, les autorités canadiennes avaient assuré
que les citoyens canadiens et les résidents permanents du
Canada ne subiraient aucune conséquence même s'ils sont nés
en Syrie, en Lybie, en Irak, en Iran, en Somalie, au Yémen ou
au Soudan.
Lundi, le ministre fédéral de la Sécurité publique et de la
Protection civile, Ralph Goodale, a souligné que la carte Nexus
dépend du bon vouloir des autorités canadiennes et
américaines, que c'est un "programme discrétionnaire".
"Le document critique est le passeport. (...) Dans le cas d'un
résident permanent, il lui faut sa carte de résident permanent et
un visa valide. Et comme avant (le décret de Donald Trump),
avec ces documents, vous pouvez vous présenter à la frontière.
Et comme avant, la décision de permettre l'entrée aux (ÉtatsUnis) dépend de l'officier qui est à la frontière américaine", a
dit le ministre lors d'une brève mêlée de presse à l'entrée des
Communes, lundi après-midi.
Le gouvernement canadien peut-il y faire quelque chose?
"C'est un programme discrétionnaire", a répété le ministre.
"Nous présentons nos arguments avec le plus de force possible
pour dire que les résidents permanents du Canada méritent
d'être traités de manière équitable et correcte à la frontière", a
ajouté M. Goodale.
Le ministre n'a pas voulu confirmer que les cartes révoquées
l'avaient été à cause du pays d'origine de leurs détenteurs.
"Nous devons examiner avec les Américains la logique
derrière leur décision", s'est-il contenté de dire, assurant,
encore une fois, que Washington et Ottawa sont engagés dans
une "discussion active".
À l'intérieur des Communes, c'est la députée conservatrice
Michelle Rempel qui a exigé une intervention plus vigoureuse
de la part du gouvernement.
"Les Canadiens (...) veulent que leur gouvernement défende
leurs intérêts. Est-ce que les libéraux vont se porter à la
défense des Canadiens et faire renverser ces décisions
d'annuler (les cartes Nexus)?", a-t-elle réclamé.
15
À l'extérieur de la Chambre, en entrevue, la députée Rempel a
précisé qu'elle parlait autant des intérêts des citoyens canadiens
que de ceux des résidents permanents du Canada.
Au ministre qui, en Chambre, a assuré que son "gouvernement
est aussi en train de se battre" pour ceux qui ont perdu leur
carte Nexus, la députée néo-démocrate Hélène Laverdière a
répondu qu'il ne le fait pas avec assez de vigueur.
"Je pense que le ministre devrait venir à la défense des
résidents permanents de façon plus musclée", a réclamé Mme
Laverdière à sa sortie des Communes.
"Ça affecte le Canada de manière beaucoup plus globale. On a
des gens d'affaires, des chercheurs, toutes sortes de personnes,
qui ont plus de difficulté à circuler. (...) Ça nous affecte tous,
directement", s'est désolée la députée.
NATIONAL POST Page: N1 / FRONT
How welcoming to refugees are we really?
Canadians show support for our immigration and
refugee policies, but it's a 'soft' support at best
David Akin
Canadians may not be as tolerant of refugees and immigrants
as they might think, a new study concludes.
The study, a project of the McGill Institute for the Study of
Canada (MISC), also found while attitudes among Canadians
toward refugees and immigrants range largely from positive to
benign, those views are not necessarily strongly held.
Study author Michael Donnelly, a politicalscience professor at
University of Toronto, concludes that there is potential for
intolerant, anti-immigrant, and anti-refugee sentiment to
increase.
For the study, Donnelly took recent international public
opinion research about immigration and refugees and designed
a Canadian poll in order to compare Canadian attitudes against
the country's peers in the Western developed world.
The poll was conducted by the firm Ipsos, which surveyed
1,522 Canadians from Jan. 18 to 27, well before either Trump
announced his immigration and refugee restrictions or before
the shooting at the Quebec mosque that killed six Muslim
worshippers.
Respondents were invited to complete the online survey in
either French or English.
The survey found Canadians have what Donnelly described as
an "impressive" knowledge of Canada's immigration and
refugee system and most are satisfied with Canada's
multiculturalist approach to immigration policy.
Yet, as Donnelly writes in the study, "Whatever is driving
Canada's exceptionally positive history of immigration and
integration over the last half century, it does not appear to be
an exceptionally tolerant public."
Indeed, Canada was neither most tolerant nor most intolerant
but was around average compared to Europe and the U.S. on
issues, for example, of how generous countries ought to be
when considering a refugee application or whether immigrants
from poor countries ought be accepted.
But any tolerance by Canadians to be more generous toward
refugees and immigrants is "soft" in the sense that, as Donnelly
argues, there are a great many who do not have strong opinions
one way or the other.
The survey found what Donnelly described as "surprisingly
weak" opposition to the idea of stopping all immigration to
Canada.
While about 45 per cent of those surveyed would oppose any
policy that would end all immigration, just under 20 per cent
would support such a policy while nearly 35 per cent said they
would neither oppose nor support such a policy.
"These results suggest that a serious anti-immigrant movement
is not impossible," Donnelly wrote.
Just over half of those surveyed agreed with the statement "too
many immigrants don't seem to feel connected to Canadian
society," while better than two of three Canadians believe
immigrants should change their behaviour to be more like
Canadians once they arrive here.
For Donnelly, those data points are warning signs.
"There are some good things going on in Canada and there are
some potential problems," Donnelly said Monday. "There's
room there for growth of serious intolerance if people aren't
careful."
The study, Canadian Exceptionalism: Are We Good Or Are
We Lucky? - it shares a name with a twoday conference MISC
is staging in Montreal this Thursday and Friday, which will
further explore the theme - also touches on current political
debates by trying to measure differences in attitudes on
immigration and refugees between supporters of Canada's
three main political parties.
One of the dominant themes of the Conservative leadership
race has been immigration and refugee policy, a theme
purposefully put at the heart of that race by MP and leadership
hopeful Kellie Leitch, who favours new restrictions based on a
still-to-be-explained "Canadian values" test.
Before he resigned as Leitch's campaign manager, Nick
Kouvalis, who runs a public opinion research firm, predicted
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's policies on refugee and
immigration would lead to a Liberal defeat in the 2019
election.
That said, supporters of all three major parties - Liberals,
Conservatives, and New Democrats - seemed to prefer the
16
status quo when it comes to immigration levels. But there were
clear differences of opinion when it came to the size of
Canada's annual refugee program.
Survey respondents who identified as Liberal supporters
believe it a positive attribute for their party to advocate and
support a small, 1,000 persons a year, to moderate, 25,000
persons a year, refugee program, but were not supportive of a
large 50,000-a-year program.
Conservative respondents had negative views for all sizes of a
refugee program. New Democrats, too, were negative on a
moderate to large refugee agreement but see a small refugee
program of between 1,000 and 10,000 a year as a positive
attribute for that party to include in a campaign platform.
[email protected]
Page:
Elections Canada wants to know more
about electronic ballots for absentee
voters
OTTAWA _ Elections Canada is exploring the potential of an
electronic ballot delivery system to speed up the process for
absentee voters.
The agency is calling it a fact-finding exercise to learn more
from potential suppliers on how to design a system that would
allow voters unable or unwilling to vote on election day or at
advance polls to download and print a ballot _ instead of
waiting for one to show up in the mail.
''Elections Canada is seeking information on tools and
technologies currently available in the market that could help
improve the special ballot vote-by-mail service we currently
offer,'' Melanie Wise, a spokeswoman for the agency, wrote
Monday in an email.
''Specifically, this could involve electronic delivery of a blank
ballot, which voters can print on paper, mark by hand and
return to Elections Canada by postal mail.''
That would include people with disabilities, or living away
from home, as well as anyone who does not want to vote the
regular way.
Those who are serving in the Canadian Forces, or who are
behind bars, also use a special ballot, but this is not done by
mail.
Canada Elections Act would need to be amended before any
changes could actually take place.
A proposal to allow absentee voters the option to download an
electronic ballot was among a series of recommendations from
Marc Mayrand, who retired as chief electoral officer last year.
''This would mean that these electors would not have to wait
for a special ballot kit by mail, thereby increasing the
likelihood that their ballots will reach Elections Canada on
time to be counted,'' Mayrand wrote in his report.
This would be different from online voting, which Elections
Canada has no plans to implement without clear direction from
Parliament.
The House of Commons committee on electoral reform was
tasked with examining online voting, but ended up advising the
Liberal government not to go ahead with it.
Mayrand had urged caution when he appeared before the
committee last July, arguing that while no one could deny
online voting would benefit many Canadians, it would also
raise challenges regarding ''the integrity and secrecy of the
vote.''
Still, the committee did recommend that Elections Canada
explore the use of technologies to increase the accessibility of
the vote.
Wise said this initiative could end up paving the way for other
changes later.
''Offering electronic delivery of blank special ballots is one
way for the agency, parliamentarians and voters to get more
familiar with voting technology,'' Wise wrote.
''This experience can help inform deliberations about future
online electoral services,'' she wrote.
_ Follow ?smithjoanna on Twitter
Page:
Planners, policy makers look forward to
2016 census kickoff Wednesday
OTTAWA _ Michael Haan and his colleagues at Western
University's sociology department have a great teachable
moment coming up this week.
On Wednesday, Statistics Canada will release the first batch of
data from the 2016 census, an avalanche of detailed
information that sociologists, demographers, urban planners
and businesses watch every five years with a high degree of
interest _ and, admittedly, more than a little data-geek glee.
Haan, however, detects a degree of indifference in a surprising
place: his own London, Ont., classroom.
''I'm one of 15 faculty members here, and we all have our own
students, and I would say that very few of them (students)
actually see the value of the census,'' says Haan, whose
department is steeped in demography training _ a place one
would expect an intimate, intricate portrait of Canada and its
people to have a captive audience.
17
Maybe the census needs more social-media exposure, he
muses. Or maybe students these days are seized by more
pressing concerns _ being able to find a job, or buy a home, for
instance.
''They don't understand or they don't appreciate how important
it is to have accurate population counts and information on
population movements.''
Wednesday's release, which will focus on population and
dwellings, is only the first of seven data dumps to take place
over the course of 2017. Others include age and sex in May;
families, households and marital status in August; immigration
and Aboriginal Peoples in October; and education, jobs and
work patterns in November.
Wednesday's release will detail the overall population as it
stood on May 10, 2016; those regions where population levels
or climbing and falling; and where new homes are being built.
The data, from the mandatory short-form census, will be
readily comparable to that from the 2011 short-form
questionnaire, and will help form the foundation for decisionmaking across all levels of government.
''People may not realize how many decisions are being made
that affect them directly where they live that is based on the
census information we collect every five years,'' said Marc
Hamel, director of the census program at Statistics Canada.
''Things don't appear by magic. Decision makers want
information to make decisions, and we're the ones providing
it.''
Statistics Canada plans will meet with local officials and
through liaison officers on reserves to explain how useful the
data can be.
The population counts determine how much money Ottawa
transfers to provinces and territories for services like health
care _ a frequent source of consternation _ and how much it
sends to cities for infrastructure work through the federal gas
tax fund
Demographers use the information to see how the country is
changing. Multinationals like Starbucks and Tim Hortons use
the data to decide where to place their next store.
Census information lets urban planners know where people are
living so they can better plan for transit, roads, hospitals,
schools and new residential units. Local land-use decisions like
zoning bylaws are also based on census data.
''That data informs these plans and these policies,'' said Eleanor
Mohammed, president of the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Wednesday's data likely won't hold many surprises.
Demographics change slowly and predictably over time.
The population is likely near the 36 million mark Statistics
Canada predicted in its most recent annual forecast. Ontario,
hard-hit in past years by a downturn in manufacturing, is
expected to surpass 14 million people. Alberta, its red-hot
energy sector a big draw in 2011, will likely still be the fastestgrowing province, despite lower oil prices _ a phenomenon
whose full-blown effects won't yet have been captured.
Look also for population spikes in some of Canada's mediumsized cities _ the Hamiltons, the Kelownas, the Guelphs _ as
the urbanization trend continues.
Another prominent storyline in the 2016 census will be the
return of the mandatory long-form questionnaire, eliminated by
the previous Conservative government for the 2011 edition and
restored last year by the Liberals.
The voluntary nature of 2011's National Household Survey led
to concerns about data quality, given the smaller sample size _
swaths of downtown Saint John, N.B., lacked poverty
information, Haan recalls _ and the fact recent immigrants and
lower-income families were less likely to participate.
The newly mandatory long-form, which boasted one of the
highest-ever response rates, will provide details later this year
about immigration, the languages Canadians speak at home
and at work, poverty levels and even those ever-longer
commute times.
''The mandatory long-form census questionnaire provided
regions and cities and communities with really valuable and
reliable long-term information about the changing nature of the
city and its neighbourhood that's not available from any other
source,'' said David Gordon, an urban planning professor from
Queen's University.
Experts who use the long-form data are likely to just skip over
the 2011 data point, seeing it as a blip in time, and draw a
straight line between the long form census of 2006 and the
questionnaire of 2016, he added.
And it all starts rolling out Wednesday _ for those who are
paying attention.
_ Follow ?jpress on Twitter
''It tells us about how the growth in our communities is
trending and then it help us determine, 'OK, well, if we know
the population is going to grow by this much, how many new
facilities are we going to need? How do we have to change our
programming in order to accommodate this?'
''It's really important data for us to work with and it helps us
build these plans from a rational perspective.''
18
Page:
Canadian military to become first to issue
guidelines on child soldiers
OTTAWA _ The Canadian military is poised to become the
first in the world to issue guidelines for dealing with child
soldiers, which could be put to the test immediately in Africa.
The guidelines are intended to ensure Canadian troops are
properly trained and emotionally prepared for situations
involving child soldiers _ including where they may have to
shoot to kill.
''If a child has a gun pointed at you and they have the intent,
they have the capability, and they have the means by which to
conduct harm on you or your partners, you have to use force as
necessary to neutralize that,'' said Cmdr. Rory McLay, who is
overseeing development of the guidelines.
''That is a tough reality, but we cannot afford to have our folks
harmed because they hesitated.''
The guidelines are also intended to make sure Canadian
soldiers deal appropriately with a child soldier who isn't a
threat.
''If you're talking about detainees, for example, once it's
suspected or proven that the individual is a minor then they are
immediately removed from the adult population,'' said McLay.
''The real push there is separation and rehabilitation. That's
what you want to do with child soldiers...to try to get these kids
into a rehabilitated state and back to their families.''
The guidelines were ordered by defence chief Gen. Jonathan
Vance last March after a meeting with retired senator Romeo
Dallaire, who has championed the fight against using children
in conflict.
While a variety of rules and policies on how to deal with child
soldiers already exist, McLay said the new guidelines will be
the first to gather everything into one place for Canadian
military personnel.
Such direction is timely given the Liberal government is
expected to greenlight the deployment of hundreds of
Canadian soldiers to Mali in the coming weeks.
The UN and human rights groups say armed groups in Mali
have intentionally recruited and are using child soldiers in a
number of capacities.
The presence of child soldiers on the battlefield is a potential
minefield for militaries like Canada, as the French learned the
hard way last month when they came under fire for killing a
10-year-old boy.
While the French military says the boy was acting as a lookout
for one armed group suspected of planting improvisedexplosive devices, the killing has marred its counter-terrorism
mission in Mali.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which Canadian
troops are fighting in Iraq, has also made extensive use of child
soldiers.
While the British are developing similar guidelines, Shelly
Whitman, executive director of the Romeo Dallaire Child
Soldiers Initiative, said they aren't as far along as the Canadian
military.
Preparing Canadian soldiers for dealing with child soldiers in
the field is critical for a number of reasons, Whitman said,
which includes ensuring they are properly treated.
But it is also important to consider the impact of child soldiers
on the battlefield when planning missions from a legal
perspective and in terms of making sure Canadian soldiers
don't hesitate when threatened.
''A lot of soldiers would tell you they didn't have any
preparation for how to handle children in these contexts until
they saw it in the battlefield,'' she said.
''And that's where the emotional part of your brain kicks in
instead of the cognitive part of your brain. Which means you'll
make decisions based on emotion and not on what's the best
professional decision on that matter.''
_ Follow ?leeberthiaume on Twitter
Vance is expected to sign off on them in the coming days, after
which they will be distributed to commanders across the
Canadian Armed Forces to be included in training and other
mission preparation.
''Training is one of the best ways to mentally prepare them to
deal with the sights and sounds that they're going to
encounter,'' McLay said.
''So if you can specifically guide the training to deal with a
specific issue, you are better preparing your team to react
appropriately and to be able to deal with their own actions
during and down the road.''
19
CBC.ca: Canada ()
Page:
Ralph Goodale challenged on claim that
no Canadian passport holders lost Nexus
access
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says that although 200
people in Canada have been unable to use their Nexus cards to
cross the American border since U.S. President Donald Trump
issued his travel ban, none of them were Canadians.
"None of them are Canadian citizens," Goodale said during
question period Monday. "We are working with our American
counterparts to make sure that all Canadians are treated fairly."
Nexus cards started being revoked after Trump's executive
order barred entry to the U.S. to passport holders from Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The Nexus program allows citizens and permanent residents in
Canada and the U.S. to be pre-screened for clearance in a bid
to speed up border crossings.
But Goodale's claim that none of the people affected are
Canadian is being challenged by Toronto-based lawyer Cyndee
Todgham Cherniak, a customs lawyer, who says she is aware
of a number of Canadian passport holders who have had their
Nexus cards revoked by the U.S. government.
"Minister Goodale is misinformed," she said. "I have been
contacted by Canadian citizens who have had their Nexus
cards revoked."
CBC Toronto reported last week that a number of Canadians
had their cards revoked despite holding Canadian passports.
Since then she is aware of another five such cases.
Todgham Cherniak said that one of the people who has
reached out to her for help is a Canadian citizen who was born
here, someone who is not a dual citizen and does not have any
connections with one of the seven banned countries.
Another is a Canadian citizen who was born in one of the
banned countries, but also has permanent residency status in
the U.S. A third is a Canadian citizen with dual citizenship in
one of the banned countries.
Others, said Todgham Cherniak, did not want any details of
their cases revealed publicly.
Cases unknown to Public Safety
Scott Bardsley, Goodale's press secretary, said he could not
comment on any individual cases, but as far as Public Safety
Canada was aware, no Canadian passport holders have been
caught up in the crackdown.
"The understanding we got from the U.S. government is that
approximately 200 permanent residents [of Canada] had their
Nexus cards revoked because of the executive order, but dual
nationals ...were not being affected," he said.
Bardsley also said that there are a number of reasons that the
U.S. or Canada could decide to revoke a Nexus card, and many
of those reasons have nothing to do with Trump's executive
order.
"Sometimes people fill out their customs form incorrectly and
get caught and they are no longer considered trusted, because it
is a trusted traveller program," Bardsley said.
Crafting a process
Todgham Cherniak said Public Safety Canada should create a
process where the federal government could work with the
U.S. on behalf of Canadian citizens who have had their cards
taken away.
But Bardsley said that since the federal government is still
unaware of any such cases, and has not been in contact with
Canadians who have been stripped of the travel convenience, it
would be premature to set up a process to reverse those
decisions.
Bardsley also stressed that the situation was currently evolving
and that it would take time to sort out. It is a sentiment
Goodale expressed earlier Monday.
"This order is just over a week old. It is now subject to
extensive court proceedings. There is a good deal of
uncertainty around this whole situation," Goodale told
reporters ahead of question period Monday.
iPolitics ()
Page:
'Caustic' political speech ramps up risk of
radicalizing Canadians: RCMP's Paulson
Amanda Connolly - Ontario
One week after what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a
"terrorist attack" on a Quebec City mosque killed six Muslim
men, the head of the RCMP says he is concerned about toxic
political rhetoric radicalizing Canadians.
"It seems a more caustic conversation in some of the areas
around some of the politics these days, and I think we just need
to be mindful of properly examining our legislation and the
hate-filled conversation that takes place," said Commissioner
Bob Paulson. "Maybe there's an opportunity to be preventative
to that."
Quebec police have charged 27-year-old Alexandre
Bissonnette with six counts of first-degree murder and five
counts of attempted murder in connection with an attack at a
Quebec City mosque last Sunday.
20
Reports have suggested Bissonnette sympathized with the antiimmigrant rhetoric popularized by U.S. President Donald
Trump and France's Front Nationale Leader Marine Le Pen,
although police have not yet stated what his motivated may
have been for the attack.
Still, when asked for an assessment of the threat posed by the
"caustic" political discussions behind those changes, Paulson
was cautious.
"I wouldn't say it's overtaking the classic terrorist threat but it's
something we shouldn't lose sight of."
Paulson - who has called in the past for enhanced warrantless
access powers for police and has said privacy concerns are
trumping the ability of police to deter crime - said that while
the RCMP is not seeing an increase in what he called "criminal
extremism" like the mosque attack, he is worried about how
divisive rhetoric attracts and radicalizes many who would not
normally engage in politics.
Rising fear of Islam has been escalating for the past decade,
but the barbarity of ISIS militants and instances of lone-wolf
terror attacks in recent years have dovetailed with a spike in
politicians pandering to nationalist sentiments championed by
the so-called alt-right. Social media platforms like Twitter have
been accused of not doing enough to stop racist hate speech.
And while Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister
Ralph Goodale have called the mosque shooting an act of
terrorism, police have not yet used that term to describe the
attack and are still looking at whether laying a terrorism charge
is possible.
2017 ipolitics.ca
"Clearly something particular was motivating him," Paulson
said, using the term "criminal extremism" during his testimony
before the committee to describe incidents like the mosque
attack.
"Understanding that, and being able to represent that in
evidence, is the challenge."
Senator Mobina Jaffer, herself a Muslim, said the events of the
past two weeks have changed the world for her and many like
her.
Pointing to the aggressive anti-Muslim rhetoric coming out of
the White House, culminating in President Donald Trump's
widely condemned travel ban on individuals from seven
Muslim-majority countries, Jaffer asked Paulson what the
RCMP is doing to ensure any information shared with the
Americans doesn't result in another case like that of Maher
Arar, who was detained and rendered by American officials to
Syria - where he was tortured - on the basis of flawed
intelligence.
"It has changed. It was a very shocking and upsetting
development and I understand why you feel the way you do,"
Paulson told Jaffer.
He said the force needs to be smart and transparent in how it
shares information, and said he is confident the right measures
are in place to prevent Canadians' rights and privacy from
being violated.
"With respect to the Americans, we have seen this movie
before," he said.
Ottawa Sun (FINAL)
NEWS Page: A9
MP rips CBC article
Anthony Furey
An MP has lodged a formal complaint against the CBC for
what he considers "shockingly offensive remarks" made in an
opinion article featured on their website.
Garnett Genuis, the Conservative MP for Sherwood Park - Fort
Saskatchewan, submitted a letter to CBC ombudsman Esther
Enkin to raise concerns about an opinion piece by journalist
Neil Macdonald headlined "Simple truth is Canada's mass
shooters are usually white and Canadian-born."
Genuis takes issue with several of the assertions in
Macdonald's column, including a line that the shooter in the
Quebec City mosque attack was "Probably a Christian, judging
from his name."
"This is an entirely false and deeply offensive statement that,
were it to mention any other religious community, would be
recognized immediately as plain bigotry," the complaint reads
in reference to a tweet by CBC's The National regarding the
column.
Genuis highlights the personal history of several mass shooters
in Canada and states that out of the nine killers actually listed
by Macdonald, "only two, it seems, even grew up in families
that even attended church, and none of the nine appear to have
been self-identifying or practicing Christians."
The CBC's journalistic practices clearly state that "CBC
journalists do not express their own personal opinion because it
affects the perception of impartiality and could affect an open
and honest exploration of an issue."
Macdonald is a long-standing CBC journalist. For over a
decade he was the state broadcaster's Washington
correspondent and now holds the title "opinion columnist."
In the eight most recent complaint reviews posted on the
ombudsman's website, Enkin sides with the CBC in every case.
© 2017 Sun Media Corporation. All rights reserved.
21
Page:
Le commissaire de la GRC s'inquiète de la
militarisation de la police
OTTAWA _ Le commissaire de la Gendarmerie royale du
Canada (GRC) Bob Paulson s'est prononcé sur la décision du
corps policier de donner plus d'armes d'assaut aux agents de
première ligne et a exprimé ses craintes, lundi, quant à la
militarisation grandissante des forces policières au pays.
Devant le comité de sécurité nationale du Sénat, M. Paulson a
dit qu'il voulait que ses agents aient le meilleur équipement
possible pour appliquer la loi, tout en protégeant le public et
eux-mêmes.
Mais il a affirmé qu'il avait "peur de la tendance ascendante
dans le domaine policier quant à l'utilisation d'outils de style
militaire par des forces de l'ordre pour mener des opérations
policières".
Cette tendance incite les agents à se concentrer sur
l'application de la loi et à s'appuyer de plus en plus sur la force
"plutôt que de résoudre des problèmes en s'orientant vers la
communauté et vers une approche de prévention qui est mieux
adaptée au contexte canadien".
Le commissaire a admis que les agents de la GRC
n'éprouvaient aucune pénurie d'armes lourdes, ce qui inclut des
véhicules blindés, des drones et des mitrailleuses.
Plusieurs policiers de première ligne sont maintenant munis de
carabines. C'était l'une des recommandations formulées dans la
foulée de la fusillade à Moncton, en 2014, qui avait causé la
mort de trois agents de la GRC.
La distribution de carabines doit toutefois être accompagnée
d'une plus grande prise de conscience chez les policiers quant
aux enjeux entourant l'usage de la force, a indiqué M. Paulson.
"Allons-nous poursuivre les voleurs à l'étalage avec des
carabines? Nos politiques ont été peaufinées pour refléter cette
réflexion", a-t-il affirmé.
Les forces policières doivent passer plus de temps à réfléchir
sur leur façon de se présenter au public et d'interagir avec lui, a
souligné le commissaire.
Le plus grand risque est celui d'amener une mentalité de "nous
contre eux" parmi les policiers, ce qui créerait une distance et
une attitude potentiellement hostile envers les communautés
qu'ils sont censés servir.
Le comité du Sénat a aussi été informé d'une pénurie de
personnel dans les rangs de la GRC. En moyenne, les
détachements de la GRC sont aux prises avec une pénurie de 5
pour cent de leur personnel.
Le problème s'explique en partie par le fait que des policiers
quittent la GRC pour des emplois mieux payés dans d'autres
corps de police.
Une requête visant à augmenter le salaire des agents _ qui est
parmi les plus bas au pays, d'après ce qu'a entendu le comité _
est actuellement étudiée par le gouvernement fédéral.
La GRC veut aussi demander l'assistance du gouvernement
fédéral pour aider au recrutement, mais le commissaire n'a pas
précisé à quel moment cette requête sera déposée.
CBC TV: The National ()
Page:
RCMP Commissioner silent on viceadmiral's removal
PETER MANSBRIDGE
Participants: MURRAY BREWSTER, DANIEL LANG, BOB
PAULSON, PAUL CHAMP, RICHARD FADDEN, JAMES
BEZAN
PETER MANSBRIDGE (HOST):
The head of the RCMP is refusing to tell Canadians why the
force is investigating Canada's second-highest military
commander. Last month we told you Vice-Admiral Mark
Norman was suddenly relieved of his duties-no explanation, no
details. CBC News learned it was about a leak of classified
information. And as Murray Brewster tells us, today's
development comes amid new revelations about more leaks
from inside the Defence Department.
MURRAY BREWSTER (REPORTER): RCMP Commissioner
Bob Paulson was here to answer questions from senators
today. Unfortunately, he didn't have much to say about ViceAdmiral Mark Norman.
DANIEL LANG (YUKON CONSERVATIVE SENATOR):
(Ottawa) That individual has been put in the front page. His
professional credibility is obviously in question. And can you
give us an update?
BOB PAULSON (COMMISSIONER OF THE RCMP): I
cannot give you an update. I think if you had questions relating
to his duty status, those are properly placed before the military.
MURRAY BREWSTER (REPORTER): But the question
wasn't about his duty status. It was about whether or not
Norman was under investigation for allegedly leaking
classified information, possibly about shipbuilding. It is the
RCMP's responsibility to look into alleged breaches of national
security and to inform the public. To this point, what we have
learned about the case, strangely enough, has come through
leaks. That the public is relying on leaks to learn about an
investigation into alleged leaks alarms some in the legal
community.
22
PAUL CHAMP (HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER): The RCMP
needs to know where to strike the balance too between the
public's right to know and, you know, the RCMP's ability and
right to carry out an investigation that's unhindered.
MURRAY BREWSTER (REPORTER): Paul Champ has
fought many disclosure battles with the RCMP on national
security cases. He wonders how much of the RCMP's silence is
related to the failed and high-profile prosecution of Senator
Mike Duffy, something widely covered in the media before the
trial began. This former national security advisor to both
Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau says National Defence is a
leaky place.
RICHARD FADDEN (FORMER HEAD OF CSIS): Over the
course of my career, I have either asked for or ordered a
number of inquiries to be made when classified information
has been leaked.
JAMES BEZAN (CONSERVATIVE NATIONAL DEFENCE
CRITIC): I think as Canadians we deserve transparency. We're
not getting that from the government and we're not getting that
from the RCMP.
MURRAY BREWSTER (REPORTER): Richard Fadden says
that his concern about leaks at DND did not relate to top-secret
data. His remarks, however, do raise more troubling questions.
Foremost among them, whether or not the current RCMP
probe is more widespread. Murray Brewster, CBC News,
Ottawa.
News Page: A1
Police unite to reform sex-assault probes
By DANIEL LEBLANC, ROBYN DOOLITTLE - OTTAWA,
TORONTO
RCMP TO TAKE ACTION
Commissioner says force will adopt best possible practices to
deal with complaints
POLICE SERVICES RESPOND
Halton, Central Saanich, B.C., departments say they'll review
dismissed cases
PM SAYS OTTAWA WILL DO MORE
Trudeau says investigation will prompt action from federal
government
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government is
prepared to play a key role addressing issues around how
institutions deal with victims of sexual assault, as police
services across the country announce reviews into how such
cases are handled in the wake of a Globe and Mail
investigation.
On Monday, the chiefs of two Canadian police services - one
of the largest in the country and one of the smallest - became
the latest forces to commit to reviewing sexual-assault cases
that have been dismissed as "unfounded" - or baseless - in
recent years.
Speaking to reporters after appearing in front of a Senate
committee, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said he saw the
Unfounded series as a call to ensure that the national police
force adopts and consistently enforces the best possible
practices in dealing with complaints of sexual violence.
"We have very developed policies with respect to how we
assess evidence, how we collect evidence and we have to make
sure that our practices in those same respects are being
overseen and applied similarly, because it all turns on evidence
and doesn't turn on opinion," he said.
Meanwhile, the chief of Ontario's London Police Service
issued a formal apology "to any victims whose experiences left
them feeling that they were not supported or that may have
eroded their trust in this police service in any way." Chief John
Pare has already said that his service will be going back over
more than 690 unfounded sexual-assault cases, after The Globe
revealed the force was dismissing about a third of allegations
as unfounded, which is well above the national average.
A 20-month Globe and Mail investigation has revealed that
Canadian police services are dropping one out of every five
sexual-assault cases as unfounded, a term that means the
investigating officer does not believe a crime occurred. Once a
case is deemed unfounded, it is no longer considered a valid
allegation.
It is not reflected in local or national statistics and is not
reported to Statistics Canada.
Using data collected from 873 police jurisdictions across the
country, The Globe found Canada's unfounded rate for sexual
assault is nearly twice as high as the rate for physical assault
and that the numbers swing wildly from city to city. In total,
115 communities were found to be dismissing at least a third of
all sexual assault complaints as unfounded.
On Monday, the Prime Minister acknowledged more needs to
be done in wake of the series, saying it would prompt further
action from his government.
"Sexual violence, sexual assault, is still far too prevalent, not
just on campuses but in workplaces and in communities across
the country," Mr. Trudeau said at a question-and-answer
session with university students.
"As we've seen from the excellent bit of very deep
investigative reporting The Globe and Mail has just put out, it
is still not taken seriously enough by our society."
The Prime Minister said that his government will "do more,"
while adding that all levels of government and civil society are
part of the solution.
"I have tasked our Status of Women Minister to engage with
this as a broad topic, understanding that there is no one thing
23
we can do that is going to flip the switch on this, that there are
so many factors that go into violence against women in general
in society," he said. "We know that any solution will have to
be complex and come from all sides."
The Conservative Party raised The Globe's investigation at the
top of Question Period on Monday, with interim leader Rona
Ambrose calling on the government to ensure that all front-line
Mounties help victims to pursue justice.
"Over the weekend, research revealed that when a woman or
girl is raped in this country, their chances of being believed or
being able to pursue justice is inadequate," Ms. Ambrose said.
"I volunteered at a rape crisis centre, and I can tell you that one
of the most difficult decisions a woman makes is whether or
not to go to the police, and we need to make that decision
easier."
One of the most striking revelations to come out of The
Globe's review was that communities located in the same area
with similar demographics recorded dramatically different
unfounded statistics. For example, the Toronto police force's
unfounded rate was just 7 per cent, but next door in Halton
Region - a jurisdiction with nearly 550,000 residents that
encompasses the cities of Oakville and Burlington - the
unfounded rate was 30 per cent.
Halton Regional Police Service Chief Stephen Tanner issued a
statement on Monday promising to review all unfounded
sexualassault reports, beginning with 2016. (The Globe
reviewed data from 2010 to 2014. On average, the Halton
police dropped 64 cases as unfounded each year.)
"The Halton Regional Police Service views all sexual-assault
occurrences as extremely important ... There are a variety of
reasons that an incident that has been reported to police may be
cleared as unfounded. The reasons may vary from being as
simple as an incident being improperly classified in the
beginning to the investigation showing that the incident did not
occur," he said, adding that the results of the review would be
made public.
In British Columbia, the Central Saanich police department
presented one of the highest unfounded rates in the country at
60 per cent, although the service is also one of the smallest.
There are only 16,500 people in the police jurisdiction and in
the time frame reviewed by The Globe, there were only 25
allegations of sexual assault, 15 of which were deemed
unfounded.
"It's really damaging obviously to the ability for people to feel
that they can trust the police," Chief Les Sylven told The
Globe, noting that the sample size was small.
His service has already gone back and looked through each
unfounded case. In four instances, he said, complainants later
recanted their allegation. In six others, cases that were
determined not to be strong enough to take to court - but which
were legitimate sexual assault allegations - had been
improperly coded as unfounded.
"That is our learning. We clicked the 'UF' on the dropdown
box instead of the 'founded not cleared' one," he said.
In the five other cases, Mr. Sylven said two ended up not being
sexual assaults and three came in as a third-party call.
[email protected]
Journal de M ontréal ()
Actualités Page: 6
Des détenus se basent sur le salaire
minimum
Les détenus qui veulent forcer le gouvernement fédéral à
doubler leur paye au pénitencier se basent sur le salaire
minimum qui, contrairement au leur, n'a pas cessé
d'augmenter.
«Il y a toujours eu un lien entre les deux, pour que la
rétribution des détenus soit équitable, il faut faire le jeu de
comparaison avec le salaire minimum», a plaidé hier Me Rita
Magloé Francis, qui représente le regroupement de détenus.
avait bien fait ses devoirs.»
Mais 30 % de ce salaire est maintenant déduit
automatiquement afin de couvrir les frais d'hébergement, de
nourriture et du système téléphonique, a plaidé l'avocate au
juge Yvan Roy.
«Il faut aussi ajouter les retenues pour les dettes envers l'État»,
a ajouté l'avocate, qui rappelle l'existence d'une «suramende »
de 200 $ pour chaque chef d'accusation pour lequel un criminel
est reconnu coupable.
L'avocate a également plaidé que la rémunération des détenus
avait pour but de «ressembler le plus possible» au travail à
l'extérieur des murs.
«L'objectif était de les responsabiliser, c'est important de
comprendre cette philosophie, a poursuivi l'avocate. Il y a
toujours eu la volonté de comparer le salaire des détenus à
celui des travailleurs cana diens.»
OPPOSITION
Jusqu'à demain, l'avocate et ses collègues plaideront à la Cour
fédérale de Montréal dans le but d'obtenir un jugement qui
forcerait le gouvernement canadien à réviser les salaires des
détenus qui purgent une peine de plus de deux années
d'incarcération.
DÉDUCTIONS
À l'heure actuelle, un détenu fédéral gagne entre 5,25 $ et 6,90
$ par jour, soit le même salaire qu'en 1981. Le coût d'une
«cantine type», soit des objets non essentiels, a pour sa part
explosé de plus de 725 %.
«À l'époque, l'objectif était de cesser le travail forcé dans les
pénitenciers, le montant avait été décidé en lien avec le salaire
24
minimum, a expliqué Me Magloé Francis. C'était raisonnable,
le gouvernement
L'État, de son côté, s'oppose à la demande des détenus. Ses
avocats plaideront à partir d'aujourd'hui, mais dans le dossier
de cour, ils ont d'ores et déjà indiqué que, selon eux, tout est
conforme à la loi.
Les détenus fédéraux ont accès à tous les services essentiels, ce
qui coûte plus de 115 000 $ par prisonnier annuellement. Avec
plus de 14 600 personnes incarcérées dans les pénitenciers, un
simple calcul permet de constater que l'État dépense au-delà de
1,6 milliard $ par an-née pour prendre en charge ces
prisonniers.
Aux États-Unis, le salaire des détenus varie selon les États. En
Californie, un prisonnier est payé entre 3 $ et 14 $ par semaine
tandis qu'au Texas les prisonniers peuvent tout simplement ne
pas être payés.
******************** «IL Y A TOUJOURS EU LA
VOLONTÉ DE COMPARER LE SALAIRE DES DÉTENUS
À CELUI DES TRAVAILLEURS CANA DIENS» -Me Rita
Magloé Francis
Toronto Sun (FINAL)
NEWS Page: A4
How taxpayer bucks have been spent
Are we heading towards years of deficits and
mounting debt?
"The finance department has already projected that there could
be deficits continuously all the way to 2051," he said. "Right
now, even though the debt-to-GDP ratio looks quite reasonable
and the deficit as a share of GDP looks small, a lot of it is
under assumptions of continued relatively low interest rates."
Just a few percentage points on the approximately $750 billion
in federal debt would quickly drive up how much the country
owes, he said.
The Pearson-Trudeau deficits ran for 27 years consecutively the most in the country's history - with Trudeau leaving office
in 1984 without ever having balanced the books, Di Matteo
added.
"They were then followed by the longest ever string of
surpluses and that was only 11 years - 1997-2007," he said.
In the country's early years, the government ran up debt to
ensure the transcontinental CPR railway connected a new
nation, he said.
Government spending also ramped for the two world wars and
during depressions and recessions, he added.
"Those were situations where I suppose you could understand
it," Di Matteo said.
The Canadian economy is experiencing low growth but is not
in recession, yet Trudeau has no foreseeable plan to balance
the books, he said. "My question is how you can plan for a
scenario where you basically want to run deficits steadily for
the next 30 or 40 years," Di Matteo said. "I really found that a
bit disturbing."
Antonella Artuso
Canada could be on the deficit-paved path to a debt crisis.
Lakehead University Economics Professor Livio Di Matteo,
author of the Fraser Institute report, A Federal Fiscal History,
said he looked at Canada's history of deficits and debt for the
country's 150th birthday.
It turns out the country has been in the red for about 75% of
that time.
"On average, the country spends more than it takes in," Di
Matteo said.
But the only other time that the federal government ran up a
significant stretch of annual deficits - with the exception of
wars and economic calamities - was during the Liberal Lester
Pearson and Pierre Trudeau governments of the 1960s and
1970s, he said.
Like today, interest rates were relatively low but the level of
debt quickly became a crisis when rates later spiked, forcing
deep public spending cuts in the 1990s, Di Matteo said.
The Justin Trudeau government is clocking a $29.4-billion
deficit in 2016-17.
Page:
Feds' offer on health funding for
provinces falls short
new study
OTTAWA _ A new report suggests the federal government's
offer on health funding to the provinces doesn't provide
enough cash to help them keep up services in the coming
years.
The study, to be released Monday by a University of Ottawa
think tank, follows months of bitter federal-provincial talks
over health funding.
On one side, the Trudeau government says it has put forward a
''historic'' offer with the potential to transform health care in
Canada.
On the other side, five provinces _ representing more than 90
per cent of the country's population _ argue the federal offer is
inadequate and threatens their ability to maintain health
services at current levels.
25
The analysis Monday by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and
Democracy, which explores health-spending numbers and
projections for Ontario, agrees that the federal offer falls short
for all provinces.
The report estimates the federal offer amounts to average
annual funding increases of about 3.7 per cent over the next
decade.
In comparison, it predicts Ontario's health-care costs to rise by
an average of 5.1 per cent annually between 2016 and 2018,
due to factors such as the aging population. Beyond 2018, it
expects the province's health expenditures to expand between
4.5 and five per cent average per year.
The report considers Ontario as a conservative case-study
choice because, as the most-populous province, its per-capita
health costs are among the lowest in the country.
''Regardless of the forecasts used, the health-care cost drivers
are very real,'' reads the report by Randall Bartlett, chief
economist at the institute, which is directed by former
parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page.
The annual growth in federal health funding transfers is set to
drop in April to three per cent per year _ down from the six per
cent increase in place for over a decade.
Face-to-face negotiations toward establishing a new national
funding framework collapsed in late December when health
and finance ministers from across the federation rejected the
federal offer at a meeting in Ottawa.
At the time, the provinces declared the federal proposal _ to
increase transfers by 3.5 per cent per year and $11.5 billion for
the targeted areas of home care and mental health over 10
years _ simply wasn't enough.
Since then, however, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott has
reached bilateral deals with New Brunswick, Newfoundland
and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Yukon, Northwest Territories,
Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island.
The remaining five provinces _ Ontario, Quebec, British
Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba _ have made repeated calls
for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet face to face with the
premiers to resume negotiations.
These provinces have called for an annual increase in federal
health dollars of 5.2 per cent, a number they based on research
by the parliamentary budget office and The Conference Board
of Canada.
Philpott has said she wanted to transform the system,
describing the country's health-care outcomes as average
compared to similar countries even though Canadians pay
some of the highest per-capita costs in the world.
Ottawa has suggested the provinces, which are responsible for
health-care delivery under the Constitution, of channelling
federal transfers into their general revenues.
Data released in December by the Canadian Institute for Health
Information said health spending by all the provinces
combined grew by less than three per cent annually between
2012-13 and 2014-15.
The organization also forecasted the provinces only increased
total health spending by about 2.3 per cent in 2015-16 and
again in 2016-17.
Monday's report found the growth in health-care spending has
varied considerably for Ontario and at the national level.
Periods of restraint have been followed by periods of
investment, it said.
While provinces and territories have contained their health
costs considerably in recent years, the report said a notable
portion of the savings came from delayed investments by
governments.
''This is a recipe for increased expenditures in the future and is
not sustainable over the long term,'' said the report, which
recommended the provinces and Ottawa return to the
bargaining table.
Follow ?AndyBlatchford on Twitter
Page:
Federal government approves three
supervised injection sites in Montreal
OTTAWA _ Health Canada has authorized three supervised
injection sites in Montreal as the federal government looks to
address the opioid crisis.
One site will be located in Montreal's Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
district and two will be in Ville-Marie, the department said
Monday.
''This will have an important impact and it will absolutely save
lives,'' Health Minister Jane Philpott said outside the House of
Commons.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, a former Liberal cabinet
minister, has been a longtime advocate of supervised injection
sites for his city and raised the issue during the last federal
election campaign.
He said Monday it is a controversial issue and there will
always be opponents, but it's also a matter of public safety.
''This is something that could work,'' he said. ''I'm willing to
have that capacity, to have that transition to help people who
are suffering and need help.''
Canada currently has two drug injection sites _ both in
Vancouver _ and existing laws allow such sites to operate only
in exceptional circumstances.
Health Canada is still reviewing 10 additional applications for
injection sites, Philpott said, noting there are three from
Toronto, two from Vancouver, two from Surrey, B.C., one
26
from Victoria, one from Ottawa and one for a mobile site in
Montreal.
''Every application is in a different stage of the process and our
department is working very actively with all 10 additional
applicants to make sure that all the criteria are met,'' she said.
Currently, applicants for new injection sites must provide
medical and scientific evidence of benefit, along with letters
from provincial health ministers, local police and regional
health officials.
Advocates say the requirements create too many barriers for
the creation of new sites.
In December, the Liberal government announced legislative
amendments designed to remove 26 strict requirements for
supervised injection sites introduced under the previous
government.
Last week, the Liberals and the New Democrats agreed to
work together to speed up its passage, suggesting lives were at
stake.
The changes contained in the legislation will make it easier for
supervised injection sites to be established while adhering to
criteria set out by the Supreme Court of Canada, Philpott said.
Her department says international and Canadian evidence
shows injection sites, if operated properly, can save lives
without increasing drug use or crime in surrounding areas.
''There's not one single item that will resolve the opioid crisis,''
Philpott said. ''It requires a response that is comprehensive that
addresses prevention, harm reduction, treatment and law
enforcement.''
In January 2016, the Dr. Peter Centre in B.C. _ a site in
operation since 2002 _ received a formal exemption required
under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to sanction its
activities.
Insite in Vancouver was also granted an exemption in the
spring allowing it to continue operations for another four years.
Political leaders and public health experts Canada have
sounded the alarm about the rise in opioid deaths _ a national
crisis that was discussed during a summit in Ottawa last fall.
_Follow ?kkirkup on Twitter
Le Devoir ()
CULTURE Page: B8
Les Canadiens sont contre une "taxe
Internet"
53% des répondants au sondage sont favorables à un
appui financier du fédéral pour encourager les
médias canadiens
Philippe Papineau
Si un peu plus de la moitié des Canadiens se disent favorables
à la création par le gouvernement fédéral d'une nouvelle source
de revenus permettant un soutien aux médias du pays, 70 %
s'opposent à ce que cette aide provienne d'une " taxe Internet ",
une option qu'Ottawa n'écarterait pas.
Ces statistiques proviennent d'un sondage publié lundi et
commandé par OpenMedia, un organisme non partisan qui se
porte à la défense d'un Web " ouvert, abordable et sans
surveillance ".
Pour aider l'écosystème médiatique canadien à rester en santé
malgré les défis que posent les mutations numériques, le
gouvernement fédéral réfléchit depuis plusieurs mois à
différentes approches. Parmi elles : une application aux
entreprises étrangères de la taxe sur les produits et services
(TPS) et de la taxe de vente harmonisée (TVH) ou alors une "
taxe Internet " qui s'appliquerait au compte mensuel d'Internet
et de téléphonie mobile -- à ne pas confondre avec la " taxe
Netflix ", qui toucherait les abonnements des services de
diffusion en ligne.
Le sondage s'attarde à l'appui général des Canadiens à une aide
fédérale, peu importe sa forme. Ainsi, 53 % des répondants
approuvent un appui financier pour encourager le contenu
canadien en musique, en télévision et autres médias, alors que
20 % s'y opposent, tandis que 21 % restent neutres sur le sujet
et que 6 % " ne savent pas ".
La création d'une " taxe Internet ", qui pourrait s'élever jusqu'à
5 % sur les factures mensuelles des Canadiens, elle, reçoit un
appui de 14 % des répondants, 70 % des sondés étant " quelque
peu opposés " ou " fortement opposés " à l'idée. L'application
élargie de la TPS/TVH plaît davantage. En effet, 47 % des
répondants sont d'accord avec cette proposition, alors que 29 %
sont contre.
En ventilant les résultats, la recherche montre que 11 % des
Québécois sondés appuient une taxe Internet et que 40 %
d'entre eux seraient favorables à l'application élargie de la
TPS/TVH. Ce sont les résidents de Colombie-Britannique qui
appuient le plus la taxe Internet (19 %) ainsi que l'application
élargie de la TPS/TVH (57 %), laissant supposer que moins de
sondés dans cette province ont dit n'être " ni pour ni contre " ou
" ne pas savoir ".
27
Le coup de sonde d'OpenMedia montre que l'appui à une taxe
Internet est assez faible peu importe les allégeances politiques
des répondants. Aux extrêmes : 9 % des sondés conservateurs
appuieraient cette approche, un pourcentage qui s'élève à 20 %
chez les néodémocrates.
Le sondage a été mené du 27 janvier au 1er février et a utilisé
un échantillon en ligne de 2304 Canadiens, de différents âges
et issus de l'ensemble des provinces.
Radio-Canada.ca: Économie ()
Page:
Le CRTC interpellé pour sévir contre les
fournisseurs de services sans fil
« Les consommateurs paient plus qu'ils ne le devraient » pour
certains services de téléphonie sans fil, selon des groupes de
consommateurs. Ces derniers estiment que le Conseil de la
radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes (CRTC)
devrait sévir davantage contre les fournisseurs qui ne
respectent pas le code de conduite national.
Le code devrait être resserré et le CRTC devrait sévir de façon
« passive ou active » envers les fournisseurs de services sans
fil contrevenants. C'est du moins l'opinion de John Lawford,
directeur général du Centre pour la défense de l'intérêt public
(CDIP).
Le CDIP a répondu lundi à l'appel du CRTC invitant le public
à participer à une audience publique pour l'appuyer dans son
évaluation du Code national sur les services sans fil.
Ce dernier était entré en vigueur le 2 décembre 2013 dans le
but de rendre plus accessibles les détails des contrats qui
unissent les fournisseurs de services sans fil et les
consommateurs, notamment les particuliers et les petites
entreprises.
M. Lawford est d'avis que le code a aidé, dans une large
mesure, à diminuer les « factures surprises » reçues par les
utilisateurs.
Selon le sondage TNS Canada, mené en septembre, environ 20
% des consommateurs ont reçu de ces fameuses « factures
surprises » en 2015, comparativement à 28 % en 2014. Les
plaintes adressées au CRTC à ce sujet ont d'ailleurs diminué
depuis l'entrée en vigueur du code.
Or, après un peu plus de trois ans, le temps est venu de mettre
le code à jour, et les consommateurs ont plusieurs
modifications en tête.
Les données sans fil au cœur des discussions
Agissant au nom de l'Association des consommateurs du
Canada et de la Coalition des regroupements d'aînés de
Colombie-Britannique, le CDIP a entre autres demandé un
contrôle parental plus étroit sur les factures de données sans fil,
ainsi que des règles plus claires pour ce qui concerne les frais
d'annulation et les frais lors de dépassement de la limite de
transfert des données sans fil.
Selon les contrats, les données sans fil, qui permettent de
naviguer sur Internet, sont généralement incluses jusqu'à
l'atteinte d'une certaine limite. Après quoi, elles sont sujettes à
des frais supplémentaires qui peuvent monter très rapidement.
Le CRTC estime que 46 % des consommateurs ont payé des
frais additionnels pour avoir dépassé leur limite de transfert de
données sans fil, selon les données obtenues par leur plus
récent sondage.
Les fournisseurs peuvent prévenir l'utilisateur lorsque celui-ci
approche de la limite permise, mais il semblerait que les
enfants peuvent facilement outrepasser l'avertissement pour
autoriser le dépassement. C'est ce genre d'options qui
occasionnent les fameuses « factures surprises ».
À ce sujet, le président du CRTC, Jean-Pierre Blais, a demandé
lundi aux consommateurs s'ils jugent pertinent que le code
précise comment les fournisseurs doivent procéder pour
facturer un dépassement de la limite de transfert des données
sans fil.
Actuellement, le code fixe à 50 $ par mois les frais
supplémentaires que peut réclamer un fournisseur en cas de
dépassement de données. Or, certains fournisseurs appliquent
cette limite à chacun des appareils sans fil associés à un même
compte.
Le titulaire d'un compte familial peut donc se voir facturer un
supplément allant bien au-delà de 50 $ en l'espace du même
mois. Les groupes de consommateurs demandent à ce que le
code soit plus précis à ce sujet, et qu'il soit clair que la limite
doit s'appliquer à l'ensemble du compte.
Désaccord entourant la durée des contrats
Le code du CRTC visait à limiter la durée des contrats à deux
ans, mettant un terme aux contrats de trois ans qui étaient
coutume chez nombre de fournisseurs.
Or, il semblerait que, pour se conformer à cette nouvelle
norme, certains fournisseurs aient augmenté leurs tarifs
mensuels, leur permettant ainsi de récupérer les mêmes coûts
associés aux appareils intelligents vendus au rabais, mais en
deux ans, plutôt que trois.
Telus a d'ailleurs suggéré au CRTC de revoir cette limite de
deux ans, mais BCE et Rogers ne l'exigent pas.
Le CDIP conteste également le fait que certains fournisseurs
offrent des services voix et données en option, allant ainsi à
l'encontre de ce que prévoit le code.
Enfin, le président du CRTC a évoqué la question des frais de
déverrouillage des téléphones sans fil. Ces frais, parfois assez
élevés, peuvent représenter une barrière financière pour les
consommateurs désirant se défaire d'un contrat qui le lie à un
fournisseur.
28
Les groupes de consommateurs estiment que ces frais n'ont pas
lieu d'être, et demandent à ce qu'ils soient abolis, comme c'est
le cas au Japon depuis 2015.
Le Droit ()
LE PAYS ET LE M ONDE Page: 14
Foote devant le comité des langues
officielles
Paul Gaboury
Après des mois d'attente, la ministre des Services publics et de
l'Approvisionnement, Judy Foote, viendra expliquer jeudi
devant le comité des langues officielles sa décision de
maintenir le statu quo au Bureau de la traduction. S'appuyant
sur des mois de travaux au cours desquels les députés ont
entendu plusieurs dizaines de témoins, le comité des langues
officielles avait recommandé d'importants changements au
Bureau de la traduction, dans un rapport déposé en juin 2016.
En octobre dernier, la ministre Foote avait toutefois rejeté ses
principales recommandations. Sa réponse avait choqué
plusieurs membres du comité, incluant des députés libéraux, et
avait été déplorée par plusieurs universitaires et experts qui
avaient participé aux travaux du comité. L'Association
canadienne des employés professionnels, le syndicat des 800
traducteurs travaillant au BT, avait qualifié la « non-réponse »
de « décevante et insultante ». Le comité des langues
officielles a tenté de faire comparaître la ministre Foote avant
la période des Fêtes, mais il a été impossible de trouver une
date convenable. Jeudi, la ministre Foote sera accompagnée de
la sous-ministre Marie Lemay et du président directeur général
par intérim du Bureau de la traduction, Adam Gibson.
Le Droit ()
AFFAIRES Page: 19
La médiation n'a pas permis d'entente
Paul Gaboury
Les pourparlers sont rompus dans les négociations pour le
renouvellement du contrat de travail des 8000 employés de
l'Agence des services frontaliers du Canada (ASFC).
Plus de deux ans après la fin de leur contrat de travail, les
négociations qui s'étaient poursuivies en présence d'un
médiateur pendant trois jours, au début février, n'ont pas
permis à l'Alliance de la fonction publique du Canada (AFPC)
et au gouvernement d'en arriver à une entente.
Dans le cadre de cette ronde, le Syndicat des Douanes et de
l'Immigration de l'AFPC réclame des salaires et des conditions
de travail dont bénéficient d'autres agents d'exécution de la loi,
comme à la Gendarmerie royale du Canada.
La présidente de l'AFPC, Robyn Benson, a rappelé que les
agents de l'ASFC empêchent les drogues et les armes à feu
d'entrer au pays, retrouvent des enfants kidnappés et luttent
contre la traite des personnes.
« Ils doivent donc être traités avec le même respect que leurs
confrères d'autres forces de l'ordre, dont la GRC avec qui ils
travaillent quotidiennement », a rappelé la présidente Benson.
Devant le refus du gouvernement, l'AFPC a conclu qu'il y avait
impasse et a demandé la mise sur pied d'une commission de
l'intérêt public, autre étape prévue dans le cadre du processus
de négociation.
Entente de principe
Par ailleurs, l'AFPC a conclu une entente de principe pour les
11 000 membres du groupe des Services de l'exploitation (SV),
dont le contrat de travail a expiré en juin 2014. Ces employés
fédéraux sont chargés de l'exploitation des immeubles et des
services fédéraux et travaillent notamment comme pompiers,
gens de métier, magasiniers, cuisiniers, personnel de services
hospitaliers et au sein des équipages de navire.
L'entente prévoit des hausses de salaire comparables aux autres
groupes d'employés fédéraux, soit 1,25 % par année pour un
contrat de quatre ans, et des rajustements salariaux en fonction
du marché variant entre 0,5 et 15 %, en plus d'une bonification
de certaines indemnités.
Le syndicat s'est quand même dit déçu que le gouvernement ait
refusé de combler l'écart salarial de certains groupes
d'employés, ce qui compliquerait l'embauche et le maintien des
effectifs, alors qu'on assiste notamment à un exode des
pompiers fédéraux vers les municipalités où les salaires sont
plus élevés. De plus, l'AFPC souligne que le gouvernement
refuse toujours de financer adéquatement les programmes
d'apprentis et de formation pour pallier ces pénuries de
personnel.
[email protected]
Winnipeg Free Press (Print)
City Page: A8
Ottawa close to appointing new treaty
commissioner
Mia Rabson OTTAWA - The federal government is in the final stages of
appointing a new treaty commissioner for Manitoba.
It has been more than 10 months since the Liberals chose not
to renew the contract of former commissioner James Wilson,
who was appointed by the former Conservative government.
Information obtained by the Free Press Monday indicates the
new commissioner has been chosen and Ottawa is doing the
final administrative work to approve the appointment. Nobody
29
contacted by the Free Press would name the new
commissioner.
une fois pendant 12 semaines avant de recevoir ses prestations
parce qu'il y avait eu une erreur avec sa demande.
This is just one of more than 300 appointments the Liberal
government has struggled to make since taking office in 2015.
A new process to make appointments less partisan has also
delayed them. Creating that system was time-consuming, but
in recent weeks more appointments have been posted.
However, one source close to the commission said the process
to name a new commissioner in Manitoba was delayed because
of a disagreement between Indigenous Affairs Minister
Carolyn Bennett's office and the Assembly of Manitoba
Chiefs.
The Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba was created in
2005 through a joint agreement between the federal
government and the assembly. It allows the assembly to make
recommendations.
Ottawa did not want to accept the person first recommended by
the assembly.
The assembly dug in its heels, partly because it felt it had not
been consulted when the Tory government renewed Wilson's
appointment.
That impasse is now over.
Since Wilson's departure last March, several staff members
hired by him have also left, leaving a skeleton crew.
The assembly did not respond to a request for comment.
[email protected]
C'est dur quand vous êtes en train d'attendre. Personne ne peut
épargner autant qu'il l'aimerait. Alors lorsque vous êtes obligé
d'attendre pendant un temps supplémentaire, c'est dur, surtout
avant Noël
Carol MacLean, travailleuse saisonnière
Pour le député libéral, ce genre de problème est avant tout lié
aux compressions de l'ancien gouvernement conservateur qui a
supprimé 600 centres d'appels.
L'un des plus gros problèmes soulevés par les citoyens durant
les consultations publiques est qu'il serait difficile de trouver
une oreille à qui parler en appelant un centre d'appel, selon M.
Cuzner.
Radio-Canada.ca: Économie ()
Page:
Un député fédéral du Cap-Breton qualifie
de « frustrant » le régime d'assuranceemploi
Le député fédéral de Cap-Breton-Canso, Rodger Cuzner,
dénonce le manque d'efficacité du Régime d'assurance-emploi
du Canada. Cette déclaration survient une semaine après qu'un
rapport eut dévoilé que les Canadiens souhaitent des services
d'assurance-emploi qui correspondent mieux à leurs besoins.
Rodger Cuzner, qui a coécrit le rapport, a déclaré qu'il était
nécessaire que le système d'assurance-emploi embauche du
personnel à l'interne, le forme et modernise les technologies
auxquelles il a accès.
Selon lui, il n'est pas rare que des personnes aient à attendre de
six à huit semaines entre le moment où elles font une demande
auprès de l'assurance-emploi et le moment où elles reçoivent
une prestation.
C'est le cas de Carol MacLean, une résidente d'Ingonish qui
travaille comme jardinière saisonnière. Elle dit avoir attendu
Le comité d'examen duquel faisait parti le député de CapBreton-Canso souhaite à présent qu'Emploi et Développement
social Canada et la Commission de l'assurance-emploi
prennent en compte ces recommandations dans l'élaboration
d'un plan d'action pour l'amélioration des services aux
citoyens.
Report on Business Page: B2
Bill aims to reduce taxes on family
business transfers
Under existing rules, owners looking to pass the torch
to their children will pay more than if they sell to a
non-related corporation
By BRENDA BOUW Farmers, fishers and other smallbusiness owners looking to sell
the operation to their kids are awaiting a private member's bill
vote this week aimed at changing how the sale transaction is
taxed.
Bill C-274, tabled last spring by Quebec MP Guy Caron, calls
for a change in the Income Tax Act to give parents more
favourable tax treatment when they sell their incorporated
small businesses to a child's corporation.
Mr. Caron says current tax rules discourage small-business
owners from selling to their offspring, and encourages deals
with people outside of the family.
Under the existing tax rules, when parents sell their businesses
to a company owned by one or more of their children, the
proceeds are considered a dividend.
If the parents sell the business to a corporation owned by
someone they're not related to, it's considered a capital gain.
With a capital gain, the seller is entitled to a lifetime capitalgains exemption, which is $835,716 in 2017. If the business
30
was sold for $1-million, the seller would pay tax on $164,284.
The exemption doesn't apply to dividend income.
With a dividend, the full $1-million would be subject to regular
tax rates.
"This is the type of choice people are confronted with: 'Am I
going sell to my kids, even though I will be paying more taxes?
Or do I sell to a stranger, taking the company out of the family,
but at least I will have a decent retirement?' It's a choice you
shouldn't have to make," Mr. Caron says, who is also the NDP
finance critic.
The bill covers small businesses with a value of less than $15million. MPs are scheduled to vote on the proposal on Feb. 8.
Private members' bills typically have a slim chance of
becoming law and Mr. Caron is fighting an uphill battle. He
says he has the support of opposition parties, and needs about
30 votes from the Liberals to get it passed. The Liberal
government is opposed to the bill, saying the existing rules
"were designed to guard against corporations potentially
abusing the tax code to avoid paying their fair share of taxes,"
according to an e-mail from a spokesperson.
"As it is currently worded, the proposal brought forward by
[Mr. Caron] could be misused by corporations looking for tax
planning opportunities."
Mr. Caron says tax experts tell him a change in the act would
cost the government about $75million to $90-million a year,
while the Ministry of Finance suggests it would be about $800million a year in tax avoidance.
Mr. Caron says he doesn't believe that figure. "I'm fully ready
to fight them. If it costs $800-million, I'll remove the bill
myself," he says. "My intent is not for it to be overly costly.
My intent is to level the playing field, which I believe is unfair
right now."
Aaron Schechter, a Torontobased tax partner at accountants
Crowe Soberman, says the proposal could trigger sales of
companies between related parties without an accurate
valuation, which can have even greater adverse tax
implications.
"If those changes go through, the potential abuse would
probably be larger than the benefits they're trying to achieve,"
Mr. Schechter says. "It opens the opportunity for individuals to
strip money out of their corporation without paying any tax. It
may create an environment where business owners can create a
hypothetical sale of their business for the sole purpose of
getting out money tax-free. This will be a particularly abusive
situation, especially if the business isn't saleable to begin
with."
Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of
Agriculture (CFA), supports the bill and says it has checks and
balances to prevent misuse. For example, the child buying the
business has to be actively involved in it beforehand, and stay
involved for at least five years after the sale.
Mr. Bonnett said small-business owners often rely on the sale
of their business for retirement and the current tax rules cut
into those proceeds if they sell within the family.
"Your retirement pension is the equity you built in the
company," Mr. Bonnett says. "All of a sudden, if that equity
gets taken away in tax liability, you need a lot more money out
of that sale to survive," he says.
Mr. Bonnett says the bill recognizes that many small
businesses will be passing the torch in the coming years, in
what he calls "the most significant period of farm transfers in
the history of Canadian agriculture."
The CFA cites 2013 Statistics Canada data estimating about
$50-billion in farm assets are expected to change hands over
the next decade, and says more than 8,000 family farms have
disappeared in the past decade.
About two-thirds of small-business owners are planning to
retire over the next decade, according to a TD Bank poll.
About 98 per cent of Canadian farms continue to be
familyowned and operated, Mr. Bonnett says, and changes to
the tax act proposed by Mr. Caron's bill could help keep it at
that level.
"If taxation barriers aren't addressed, we will see fewer and
fewer family farms in Canada," Mr. Bonnett says.
Editorial Page: A12
Welcome to Billionaire Island
Pro tip for the Conservative Party of Canada: Don't criticize
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for vacationing on an island
owned by a billionaire philanthropist while the leader of your
own party is vacationing on a yacht owned by a billionaire
oilman.
And if you are the leader in question - hello, Rona Ambrose especially don't tweet sanctimoniously that Mr. Trudeau just
"couldn't resist the billionaire lifestyle."
Steward, fetch me another spot of bubbles while I criticize
Justin for his holiday choices and infer that he is out of touch
with the middle class. Oh, and tell the cook to make sure my
lobster isn't overcooked again tonight! The Conservative
Opposition scored real political points after it came to light that
Mr. Trudeau and his family had secretly holidayed on the
private Caribbean island home of the Aga Khan. The federal
Ethics Commissioner, Mary Dawson, is now investigating
whether the post-Christmas getaway violated the Conflict of
Interest Act - in particular the fact that Mr. Trudeau flew to the
island on the Aga Khan's private helicopter.
But as iPolitics discovered, the entire time the Opposition was
gasping in horror over Mr. Trudeau's transgressions, Ms.
31
Ambrose was a guest aboard a yacht owned by Murray
Edwards, one of Canada's wealthiest oil-sands developers.
Mr. Trudeau and Ms. Ambrose both have billionaire
acquaintances, apparently. The Aga Khan was an honorary
pallbearer at the funeral of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and has
maintained a friendship with the new Prime Minister. Ms.
Ambrose's partner, J.P. Veitch, is an old friend and former
work colleague of Mr. Edward's.
It's all just old friends having each other over for a holiday,
except the guests in this case are the Prime Minister and the
Leader of the Opposition, and their hosts are billionaires who
could have direct financial interests in decisions made by the
federal government.
In both cases, the optics are terrible. Mr. Trudeau's secrecy and
his decision to ignore a very clear rule about not accepting
flights on private aircraft make him appear indifferent to the
rules. Ms. Ambrose has a better leg to stand on, rules-wise, but
her hypocrisy is monstrous.
She and her party had the government in retreat with this issue,
but she has frittered away the advantage because she shares
two traits with Mr. Trudeau: his failure to accept that elected
officials shouldn't take favours from wealthy, influential
friends; and, as we now know, his inability to resist "the
billionaire lifestyle."
Toronto Star (ONT)
NEWS Page: A7
Leadership race flips into high gear
Chantal Hébert
MONTREAL-With Kevin O'Leary on stage, the Conservatives
had their first chance to watch the full slate of leadership
hopefuls in action Saturday night. Here is a look at the state of
play as the yearlong campaign to find a successor for Stephen
Harper moves into high gear.
Maxime Bernier has collected more money than any of his
rivals and the largest number of contributions. There are fewer
Conservative members in Quebec than in the other large
provinces. Given that, his tally suggests he has a broader base.
In the big picture, that matters. With every riding worth the
same number of leadership votes regardless of the size of its
membership, it is not good enough to have the most boots on
the ground if those are concentrated in a single region.
Bernier had a fundraising head start on most of the
competition. But he collected more than half of his 2016 funds
over the last three months of the year, at a time when all but
O'Leary had joined the race. The party's first bilingual debate
took place during that period. By all indications, Bernier
scored points for being able to debate in both French and
English, a skill most of his rivals do not command.
Kellie Leitch lost her chief strategist last week. Nick Kouvalis
quit his post of campaign manager just as her main plank - a
controversial plan to test newcomers to this country for socalled anti-Canadian values - was under attack from all
quarters of the Conservative movement.
Since the imposition by Donald Trump's U.S. administration of
a travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries,
a string of leading Conservatives ranging from former federal
ministers Jason Kenney and Peter MacKay to Saskatchewan
premier Brad Wall and Nova Scotia Tory leader Jamie Baillie
have cautioned the Conservatives against backing Leitch
and/or embracing Trump-style immigration policies.
In the last quarter of 2016, Leitch fell from first to second
place on the fundraising scoreboard. Campaigns are run on
momentum. The returns for the first quarter of this year will
tell whether she has any left.
To the surprise of some, Ontario MP Michael Chong finished
in the 2016 fundraising top tier. As the lone proponent of a
carbon tax, he has been swimming against the tide on the
debate podium. But there is a sizable constituency within the
Conservative party that does want it to be more proactive on
climate change and carbon pricing, and he has cornered that
market. An early campaign start also helped. Chong's problem
may be that he has relatively little room to grow past the first
round of voting.
Despite coming to the battle later than the previous three,
Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer raised more money than
Chong and almost caught up to Leitch in the last quarter. The
former speaker of the House of Commons scored points this
month when former Conservative minister Chuck Strahl joined
his campaign. Strahl is respected across the Reform/Tory
divide. Scheer has a strong regional base in the Prairies, but the
region has a relatively modest number of leadership votes.
Strahl is well placed to open up doors in British Columbia.
Of the nine other candidates who entered the race before the
end of last year, Ontario MP Erin O'Toole - who served in
Harper's cabinet over the final months of the Conservative
mandate - has done best on both caucus endorsements and
fundraising.
If victory in May ends up belonging to whoever is the second
choice of the largest number of Conservatives, he could be this
campaign's dark horse.
A word in closing on O'Leary - the late-entry candidate
presumed to be the front-runner even before he has run a single
lap.
He is not the first to try to parlay a business background into a
federal leadership ticket. But candidates such as Michael
Wilson, Brian Mulroney or Paul Martin all seemed to have a
deeper understanding of the federation and the party they
sought to lead than O'Leary has exhibited to date.
If the Conservatives were really looking for a seatless political
rookie with solid business credentials and a capacity to
32
articulate policy in either official language to lead them, they
would pick Rick Peterson - the B.C. outsider who is scoring at
or close to the bottom of the fundraising and polling charts over O'Leary.
But then Peterson is anything but a reality television
personality!
Chantal Hébert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Comment Page: A13
The great temptation of Kevin O'Leary
In disruptive times, the old rules cease to matter, and
I wouldn't bet against a Canadian-style populist
insurrection
By MARGARET WENTE Of all the disputes roiling Canada these days, there's one thing
on which the mainstream media unanimously agree: Kevin
O'Leary is appalling. He's a Trump-lite bully with no political
experience and no qualifications to lead a major political party.
A reality-TV star who's long on swagger and short on
substance.
A braggart with an iffy business record. Besides, he's basically
a carpetbagger. Most of the time, he lives in Boston! Arlene
Dickinson, his former sparring mate on Dragons' Den, is no fan
either. She says he's an opportunistic self-promoter who lacks
compassion. "I don't think [a government led by him] would
help the underprivileged," she told the CBC. "I don't think it
would be a country that would represent the core values that
we as Canadians adhere to."
I think he's a jerk. I once went on the business show he cohosted. I'd been asked to explain how the U.S. tax department
was terrorizing little old ladies and other U.S.-born Canadians
by demanding that they file U.S. tax returns, even if they hadn't
lived there for 60 years. The moment I opened my mouth, he
lit into me like a pit bull. He called me a naive, tax-evading
whiner. He didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
Mr. O'Leary is a blustering ignoramus. But he could well be
the Conservatives' best hope. Voters across the Western world
have developed a hankering for disruptive populists who aren't
afraid to challenge the establishment and break some china to
get things done. That's how he has positioned himself.
A recent Ipsos poll, conducted for Global TV, suggests that
Mr. O'Leary could be Justin Trudeau's worst nightmare in
2019. "Headto-head, it's competitive between Trudeau and
O'Leary," Ipsos CEO Darrell Bricker said. "Since the election,
this is the only scenario where Trudeau is challenged."
Well, it's just a poll, and 2019 is light years away. But if I were
Mr. Trudeau, I'd be worried. He, more than most people,
should understand the huge advantage of celebrity.
Mr. O'Leary also gets three things broadly right. He's focused
like a laser on economic growth and jobs. He's positive on
immigration. And he's indifferent to divisive social issues,
which are a bedrock of U.S. identity politics.
In an age when Canadians will have to compete in a harsh new
world remade by Donald Trump, Mr. O'Leary is running as a
breadand-butter centrist with no time for foolish carbon taxes.
He isn't wasting his breath tearing down the other candidates.
His target is Mr. Trudeau, and his message to the party is that
he's the only guy who can take him down.
He may well be right.
A lot could go wrong for Mr. Trudeau between now and 2019.
Mr. Trump could really hurt us.
The economy could go south. We could rack up whopping
deficits.
By 2019, you can be pretty sure that Mr. Sunny Ways will
have lost some of his allure. By then, voters might cotton on to
a noholds-barred pragmatist.
In disruptive times, the old rules cease to matter. Mr. O'Leary
doesn't have very many policy ideas, the pundits grump. But so
what? He doesn't have to. Consistency doesn't matter either.
Who cares what he may have said about this or that once upon
a time? What people care about is results. As for French - well,
he'll take lessons.
The leadership race has months to run, of course, and the party
structure matters. To win, Mr. O'Leary will have to woo
delegates from regions across the country and gain second- and
third-choice as well as firstchoice support. (A ranked-ballot
system will determine the winner.)
Generations of conservatives are spinning in their graves at the
prospect, and the eyeballs of eminences such as Brian
Mulroney and Stephen Harper are no doubt spinning their
heads.
On the other hand, everybody loves a winner - especially in
politics. If the choice is integrity versus winning, politicians
can be highly flexible. That's what we've learned from Donald
Trump.
We've learned that in disruptive times, some people can break
all the rules and get away with it, no matter what the media
say. In fact, the more they howl, the better.
Canada isn't the United States and Kevin O'Leary isn't Donald
Trump. But could we have our own Canadian-style populist
insurrection? Given the right circumstances, you betcha.
33
Le Devoir ()
Souveraineté - La pasionaria
Michel David
En fixant au 22 avril le choix de son nouveau chef, le Bloc
québécois a choisi de couronner Martine Ouellet. Personne ne
sera en mesure de lui faire une lutte digne de ce nom dans un
délai aussi court.
Il ne fait aucun doute que Mme Ouellet, qui ne passe jamais
inaperçue, redonnera au Bloc une visibilité médiatique qu'il n'a
pas eue depuis l'époque de Gilles Duceppe. Les prochaines
élections fédérales sont encore loin, mais la conjoncture
pourrait bien se révéler favorable. L'étoile de Justin Trudeau
commence à pâlir sérieusement, et ni le Parti conservateur ni le
NPD ne semblent vouloir élire un chef auquel les Québécois
pourraient s'identifier. Dans l'immédiat, c'est toutefois sur la
dynamique interne du mouvement souverainiste que son
arrivée au Bloc pourrait avoir le plus d'impact. Ceux qui ont
ouvert la voie à son couronnement, en commençant par
l'ancien chef bloquiste, Mario Beaulieu, font clairement partie
de la mouvance " pure et dure " à qui Jean-François Lisée
n'inspire pas une grande confiance.
En élisant M. Lisée, les membres du PQ ont clairement signifié
leur adhésion au nouvel étapisme qu'il préconisait. Proposer de
reporter la tenue d'un référendum à un deuxième mandat
semblait presque suicidaire au départ, mais les militants ont
fait preuve d'un pragmatisme auquel ils ne nous avaient pas
habitués.
Les 16 % de voix obtenues par Martine Ouellet au premier tour
ont montré que les " pressés " sont très minoritaires, mais le
PQ a démontré, depuis sa fondation, qu'une minorité peut y
être extrêmement dérangeante. A des degrés divers, tous les
chefs péquistes en ont fait l'expérience.
La " proposition principale ", qui est appelée à remplacer le
programme adopté en avril 2011, n'a pas été débattue au
conseil national du mois dernier. Elle cheminera dans les
instances locales et régionales du parti au cours des prochains
mois, en attendant que les délégués au congrès de septembre en
disposent.
Un des impatients les plus en vue, Pierre Dubuc, candidat du
SPQ Libre à la course à la chefferie de 2005 et directeur du
L'aut'journal, a fait savoir la semaine dernière tout le mal qu'il
pense de la " proposition principale ". Intitulé " Un programme
sans aventure ", son éditorial déplore que le PQ renvoie le
référendum aux calendes grecques au moment où la faillite de
la mondialisation et des institutions supranationales va remettre
la question nationale à l'avant-scène de l'histoire.
" Aux indépendantistes de s'y préparer en refusant de se laisser
engluer dans la gestion provincialiste et en se regroupant au
sein du Bloc québécois, avec une chef qui garde le cap sur la
grande aventure où nous ne serons plus que de simples
figurants, mais des acteurs de l'histoire ", écrit-il.
Durant la dernière course à la chefferie, Martine Ouellet n'a
cessé de reprocher à ses adversaires et à l'ensemble du caucus
péquiste ce même provincialisme que M. Dubuc reproche
aujourd'hui à la " proposition principale ".
Mario Beaulieu a été tout aussi critique des récentes
propositions de M. Lisée en matière de langue, qu'il juge
nettement insuffisantes pour assurer la protection du français.
Durant la course, Mme Ouellet se disait également prête à aller
beaucoup plus loin, y compris à utiliser la disposition de
dérogation pour revenir à l'affichage commercial unilingue
français, qui avait été déclaré inconstitutionnel par la Cour
suprême.
Elle s'entête à ne voir aucun problème à diriger le Bloc tout en
siégeant à l'Assemblée nationale, malgré des avis aussi
autorisés que celui de Gilles Duceppe et du doyen de
l'Assemblée nationale, François Gendron. M. Lisée lui-même
trouve l'idée mauvaise et suggère au Bloc de trouver une autre
façon de rémunérer sa future chef.
Le commissaire à l'éthique a averti Mme Ouellet que " les
risques de conflits dans l'exercice de ces deux fonctions sont
sérieux ". On peut imaginer la difficulté pour le Bloc québécois
de défendre les positions du gouvernement Couillard à Ottawa,
pendant que Mme Ouellet les critiquerait à Québec.
Sous la direction de la nouvelle pasionaria de l'indépendance,
le Bloc doit-il devenir au surplus une sorte d'opposition au PQ
au sein du mouvement souverainiste ? Il y a déjà eu des
divergences entre les deux partis, mais elles ne semblaient pas
aussi fondamentales. Faudra-t-il entreprendre des discussions
sur la " convergence " avec le Bloc aussi ?
Dans le débat sur le référendum, M. Lisée a toutefois reçu un
appui inattendu de Bernard Landry. L'ancien premier ministre
n'a pas toujours fait partie des admirateurs du nouveau chef
péquiste, mais il reconnaît son talent et estime qu'il " peut
rendre de grands services à la cause ". Non seulement il ne se
formalise pas d'un report à un deuxième mandat, mais il
suggère même d'attendre à un troisième ! Entre l'empressement
de Mme Ouellet et l'ultra-étapisme de M. Landry, M. Lisée
pourra toujours prétendre incarner le juste milieu.
La Presse+ ()
ACTUALITÉS Page: ACTUALITÉS_11
Quelque part entre Québec et Ottawa
Vincent Marissal
Rejetée deux fois par les militants du Parti québécois, Martine
Ouellet est visiblement attendue avec impatience par certains
députés et membres du Bloc québécois, qui sont même prêts à
s'accommoder d'une chef à temps partiel pendant plus de deux
34
ans. L'affaire est pour le moins inusitée et elle provoque des
remous dans la famille souverainiste.
Légalement, rien n'interdit à un élu de l'Assemblée nationale
d'être aussi chef d'un parti fédéral. Sur le plan éthique,
toutefois, les électeurs de Vachon seraient en droit de se
demander si leur députée sera vraiment dévouée à 100 % à sa
tâche, elle qui veut diriger un parti en pleine reconstruction, ce
qui exigera beaucoup de temps à Ottawa et partout au Québec.
On peut imaginer que Mme Ouellet, chef du Bloc, devra
régulièrement se rendre à Ottawa, rester à Montréal pour des
rencontres et arpenter les régions du Québec, ce qui fait qu'elle
délaissera son siège de députée de Vachon.
Il n'existe pas de règle stricte sur l'assiduité des députés à
l'Assemblée nationale. Au sein des caucus, c'est le whip (le
préfet de discipline, en quelque sorte) qui assure le bon
fonctionnement de l'aile parlementaire, qui prend les présences
et qui doit veiller à ne pas être à découvert lors des débats et
des votes. Mais lorsqu'un député décide de siéger comme
indépendant, il n'a de comptes à rendre qu'à lui-même.
Mme Ouellet a beau être efficace et énergique, le don
d'ubiquité et la téléportation n'ont pas encore été inventés, de
sorte qu'elle risque de passer pas mal de temps quelque part
entre Québec et Ottawa, sur la 40 ou la 417.
Cette situation desservira les électeurs de Vachon, qui ont droit
comme les autres à une députée à temps complet, mais aussi le
Bloc québécois, qui a aussi besoin d'un chef à temps plein.
C'est déjà difficile pour les partis de l'opposition (surtout pour
le troisième parti de l'opposition, qui n'a même pas de statut
officiel) de faire leur place dans la joute parlementaire,
imaginez quand le chef occupe ses fonctions à temps partiel.
Sans siège à Ottawa, c'est déjà tout un défi (Daniel Paillé et
Jack Layton ont dirigé le Bloc et le Nouveau Parti
démocratique sans être élus aux Communes et ils avaient
beaucoup de mal à se faire entendre), mais à 500 km de
distance, ça devient utopique. Il y a des limites à diriger un
parti et un caucus par conférences téléphoniques.
À moins d'une élection partielle providentielle, Martine Ouellet
ne sera pas élue à la Chambre des communes avant la fin de
son mandat à Québec, en octobre 2018. Elle devrait donc
porter les deux casquettes pendant 30 mois, ce qui, je le répète,
ne servira ni ses électeurs ni le Bloc.
Parti nationaliste a vécu moins de quatre ans (M. Léger en a été
le chef pendant sept mois), il aura été présent à un seul scrutin
et il n'a fait élire aucun député. Disons que la très brève
existence de ce parti a certainement demandé moins de temps à
Marcel Léger que le Bloc en exigera de Mme Ouellet si elle en
devient la chef.
Si la candidature de Martine Ouellet réjouit plusieurs députés
et militants bloquistes, elle en irrite profondément d'autres, qui
estiment qu'il n'y a pas d'urgence à choisir un nouveau chef et
qu'il faut ouvrir la course.
En coulisse, certains, dont Gilles Duceppe, travaillaient sur un
autre plan : retarder l'élection du nouveau chef à 2018, plus
près des élections générales d'octobre 2019, et attirer des
candidats prestigieux, dont une grosse pointure du NPD qui
s'est laissé courtiser, selon mes sources.
Gilles Duceppe est encore actif au Bloc (en privé), mais de
toute évidence, son influence s'est quelque peu émoussée. Il
faut dire qu'il ne reste pas grand monde de son clan à Ottawa
depuis la débâcle de 2011. L'ancien chef, qui avait accepté de
faire un retour lors des dernières élections, ne s'est pas privé de
critiquer la précipitation du Bloc à trouver un nouveau chef. Il
a également reproché à Martine Ouellet de vouloir garder son
siège à l'Assemblée nationale si elle devient chef du Bloc.
La décision du Bloc de choisir son nouveau chef en avril, dans
une dizaine de semaines, rend toutefois pratiquement
impossible l'entrée en piste de candidats qui n'ont pas déjà des
assises au sein du parti. Mme Ouellet, elle, compte déjà des
appuis, notamment parmi les 10 députés bloquistes, et elle est
la candidate des militants d'Option nationale très actifs au Bloc
québécois. Le nom de Martine Ouellet circulait déjà au Bloc et
au PQ pendant la course à la direction péquiste, l'automne
dernier.
La famille souverainiste se retrouve dans une étrange position :
les souverainistes « pressés » à Ottawa, devant un Justin
Trudeau très populaire, alors qu'à Québec, le Parti québécois
est dirigé par un chef méthodique qui a mis la souveraineté au
frigo au moins jusqu'en 2022.
2017 La Presse+
Martine Ouellet dit que sa double tâche lui permettra de relayer
à Ottawa les dossiers, les débats et les demandes du Québec.
En cette époque d'hypermédiatisation et de réseaux sociaux, où
le président des États-Unis peut faire avorter une rencontre
avec son homologue mexicain en un tweet de moins de 140
caractères, l'argument du « messager » de Mme Ouellet fait
sourire.
Mme Ouellet et ses partisans évoquent un cas de jurisprudence
: feu Marcel Léger a été, dans les années 80, député du Parti
québécois et chef du Parti nationaliste du Québec sur la scène
fédérale. La comparaison ne tient pas vraiment, parce que le
35
director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at John's Hopkins
University in Baltimore.
Calgary Herald (EARLY)
CITY Page: A4
Risk running high for alberta amid trump
upheaval
Don Braid
In Alberta we are adrift in the dark, covering our heads with
the life preservers, waiting for U.S. President Donald Trump to
turn his eye to Canada.
Albertans can sum up the stakes in a couple of short, scary
sentences: Nearly 90 per cent of the province's exports go to
the U.S. The new president wants big changes to the free trade
agreement.
Our over-dependence on the American market was encouraged
by the original Canada-U.S.-Mexico NAFTA deal. It fostered
two decades of unrivalled prosperity in Alberta, but now brings
frightening exposure.
If Trump turns trade talks hard against Canada, our reliance on
America could be ruinous.
One hopeful sign is that the president is no enemy of the
Keystone XL pipeline, which could actually increase our
energy exports.
There's no guarantee of that, though. Access to Canadian
tidewater east and west is still a decade away. Alberta's
vulnerability remains extreme; only Ontario comes close
because of its highly integrated auto industry.
Trump has so far been gentle with Canada. He hasn't levelled a
single insult on Twitter. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his
cabinet have in turn been restrained, mildly expressing
Canadian values while emphasizing the importance of trade.
In Alberta, it's not much of an exaggeration to say the Notley
government is obsessed.
Daily reports - sometimes several of them - come from the
province's Washington office, based in the Canadian Embassy.
Premier Rachel Notley sees them almost immediately.
"It would be irresponsible at this point not to be following
closely exactly what's happening on the ground in
Washington," says Cheryl Oates, Notley's press secretary. "It's
a new government, it's a new president. We can't predict what's
going to happen, so we have to be as prepared as we possibly
can."
One knowledgeable American thinks Trump is well-inclined
toward Canada for a simple reason - we don't cheat.
"Donald Trump's focus is not on getting rid of trade, or not
importing things from foreign countries, it's on countries and
governments that he thinks cheat," says Dr. Christopher Sands,
"He looks at what China does with intellectual property, the
way they open the state coffers, offer subsidies and sweetheart
deals, but then turn on American companies quite quickly once
they figure out how to knock off their products and then sell
them back to the U.S."
By contrast, "he seems to see Canada as the boy scout squeaky clean. He feels, like almost everyone else, that you're
not corrupt and you're not an enemy of the U.S. and you're not
taking advantage of him.
"I think he likes Canada. He's built a hotel in Toronto, he's got
Canadian friends, he likes the place."
Then Sands uses an unfamiliar word - exemptionalism (you
have to read it at least twice.)
"I think we could see a return to exemptionalism, which in the
postwar period meant we'd make a decision, and the Canadian
government would say 'wait, that really hurts us,' and the U.S.
would say, 'oh, right, we didn't mean you.' " "We would just
exempt you from what we were doing to everybody else. We
could see a return to that - us being tough on the rest of the
world but we don't mean Canada."
Canadians would find that condescending, to say the least,
after being an equal partner in NAFTA. The best hope is for a
re-negotiated trade deal, which would almost certainly be
bilateral, rather than trilateral with Mexico.
Sands says, "Trump believes bilateral agreements are better,
because if you negotiate a bilateral agreement and the other
side cheats, you can scrap the whole agreement. This creates a
powerful incentive for an individual country to discipline its
behaviour so it doesn't lose the whole trade relationship."
Albertans could live with that, as long as the Americans don't
cheat either.
But the trouble is in the details - thousands of them.
Trumpian goodwill will never extend to giving Canada a better
deal than he gets for America.
It's a risky time for Alberta.
Don Braid's column appears regularly in the Herald
[email protected] Twitter: @DonBraid
Comment Page: A13
PM's Goldilocks strategy with Trump is
the best approach
By COLIN ROBERTSON -
36
Canada's relationship with the United States is deep and
profound. The Trump challenge is going to test Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau's sunny ways and then some. No other country,
excepting Mexico, has such vital interests at stake.
As President, Donald Trump has tempered neither his language
nor his behaviour. His campaign punchlines on the TransPacific Partnership, North American free-trade agreement,
Muslim refugees and the Mexican wall have become executive
orders.
We need to take Mr. Trump very seriously, and often literally.
This means planning, not panic; a co-ordinated, all-of-Canada
strategy demonstrating that we are a fair trading partner and
reliable ally.
Mr. Trudeau understands that the most important relationship
for any Canadian prime minister is that with the president of
the United States.
With Barack Obama, it was a bromance built on a shared
commitment to climate, internationalism and progressive
politics. A working relationship with Mr. Trump will need to
be constructed on different lines, beginning with points of
convergence: shared perimeter security, continuing regulatory
reform and joint infrastructure projects.
Mr. Trump likes attractive celebrities. The Trudeaus have both
qualities. If this helps convince Mr. Trump of our security and
trade bona fides, then Canadian interests will be well served.
The first face-to-face encounter will be important. A working
visit to the White House would be preferable. It would allow
Mr. Trudeau to take the cabinet ministers responsible for
security, trade and energy, and they must spend time on
Capitol Hill with congressional leadership.
Mr. Trudeau has handled the initial phase well: inviting Mr.
Trump to Canada; having ambassador David MacNaughton
signal a willingness to reopen NAFTA; the reach out to Mr.
Trump's senior staff.
Importantly, Mr. Trudeau has kept the lid on anti-Trump
comments, in contrast to the unforced errors by cabinet, caucus
and senior staff during the Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and
Stephen Harper governments that unnecessarily marred
relations with the George W. Bush and Obama administrations.
The Trump cabinet - bankers, billionaires and generals - are
globally experienced executives whose views, as their Senate
confirmation hearings demonstrated, often differ from Mr.
Trump's. This does not trouble him.
We can hope that after setting the general direction, Mr. Trump
will leave the application to his cabinet secretaries, with
VicePresident Mike Pence acting as chief operating officer.
Mr. Trudeau should consider naming a deputy prime minister
as counterpart to Mr. Pence. The Trudeau cabinet should be all
over their Trump counterparts with practical initiatives that
serve both our interests.
Given Mr. Trump's transactional approach and businessminded team, Mr. Trudeau also needs to enlist business leaders
in Canada and the United States to make the case for our
mutually profitable economic integration.
The Trump challenge is testing governments everywhere.
Fellow G8 and G20 leaders will monitor the Trudeau
approach.
In testing our interests, Mr. Trump's actions are reaffirming our
values on pluralism and internationalism, underlining the
recent Economist cover: Liberty moves North.
For now, Mr. Trudeau is playing it cool. The Goldilocks
strategy is the right one: quiet engagement while not letting
relations get too hot nor too cold. Mr. Trump will provoke.
This is the "art of the deal." Our general operating principle
must be to keep calm and carry on.
Sticking up for our friends, especially Mexico, is important.
During his visit to Mexico last week, Natural Resources
Minister Jim Carr reaffirmed Canada-Mexico collaboration
with a new accord on mining, energy security and clean
energy. It should be followed up by a Trudeau visit to talk
about Trump, trade and hemispheric priorities.
Blazing across the global skies like a comet, Mr. Trump's
every action dominates the headlines and sets the news cycles.
Not since Napoleon has a leader bestrode the global stage with
such forceful unpredictability.
Like Napoleon, Mr. Trump appears to be championing the
rearrangement, if not disintegration, of the world order created
and sustained by predecessor presidents, Republican and
Democrat. In redefining the conduct of diplomacy through his
tweets and telephone calls, he is testing the norms of U.S.
engagement with the world.
How far can Mr. Trump's disruptive approach go? We have to
trust in the U.S. Constitution, with its checks and balances and
separation of powers. The founding fathers, whose statecraft
has endured for nearly two and a half centuries, were
determined to prevent a king.
A former diplomat, Colin Robertson is vice-president and
fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
37
paid for the removal, the content was quickly deleted without
issue.
Report on Business Page: B4
Did a Canadian court just establish a new
right to be forgotten online?
By MICHAEL GEIST Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the
University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law
The European Union shook up the privacy world in 2014 with
the creation of "the right to be forgotten," creating a system
that allows people to seek the removal of search results from
Google that are "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant."
The system does not result in the removal of the actual content,
but rather makes it more difficult to find in light of the nearuniversal reliance on search engines to locate information
online.
Since the European decision, Google has received nearly
700,000 requests for the removal of links from its search
database resulting in the evaluation of 1.8 million URLs.
Moreover, privacy authorities in Europe - led by France's
national regulator - have adopted an aggressive approach on
the right to be forgotten, ruling that the link removal should be
applied on a global basis.
While the Canadian courts have grappled with the question of
removing links from the Google search database (a key case on
the issue is awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court of
Canada), there has been little sense that Canada would
establish its own right to be forgotten. That may have changed
last week as the Federal Court of Canada issued a landmark
ruling that paves the way for a Canadian version of the right to
be forgotten that would allow courts to issue orders with the
removal of Google search results on a global basis very much
in mind.
The case - A.T. v. Globe24H.com - involves a Romanianbased website that downloaded thousands of Canadian judicial
and tribunal decisions, posted them online and demanded fees
for their swift removal. The decisions are all public documents
and available through the Canadian Legal Information Institute
(CanLII), a website maintained by the legal profession in
support of open access to legal materials (I am a former board
member).
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada received dozens of
complaints about the website and issued a report in June, 2015,
that it violated Canadian privacy law.
The case moved to the federal court, which agreed with the
Privacy Commissioner's privacy findings, but was left with the
question of whether it could do anything about it.
The court first ruled that it was entitled to assert jurisdiction
over the foreign website, noting that the courts have applied
Canadian privacy law to foreign organizations for many years.
Given the connections to Canada, it ruled that it met the "real
and substantial connection" standard required under the law.
Yet even if Canadian law could be applied to the site,
enforcing the ruling posed a more difficult challenge. The
court concluded that it could issue an order both requiring the
site to comply with the law and declaring that it was currently
violating it. The declaratory order was expressly adopted with
Google in mind.
The court noted that the declaration could be used to submit a
request to Google seeking the removal of the offending links
from its search database. While acknowledging that there was
no guarantee that Google would act, it was persuaded by the
Privacy Commissioner that "this may be the most practical and
effective way of mitigating the harm caused to individuals
since the respondent is located in Romania with no known
assets."
In doing so, the court may have created the equivalent of a
Canadian right to be forgotten and opened up an important
debate on the jurisdictional reach of privacy law as well as on
striking the balance between privacy and freedom of
expression. While more onerous than a direct request to
Google, the court's approach suggests there is now a road map
for the global removal of search results of content that may be
factually correct, but which also implicates the privacy rights
of individuals.
Since most decisions on CanLII are not indexed in Google,
their availability is not widely known and their content does
not typically come up in search queries.
Globe24H.com opened its database to Google, however,
leading to the discovery of the decisions for many for the first
time. When users contacted the site, they were told that a
"free" removal service could take six months or more. If they
38
National Post (NATIONAL)
FP COM M ENT Page: FP7
Adscam for 'fake news'
Kevin Libin
It was just a couple weeks ago that a judge finally convicted
the last of the Liberal adscammers, sentencing party organizer
Jacques Corriveau to four years in prison for siphoning
millions of dollars in federal ad spending as the central figure
in the sponsorship scandal. Evidently that's long enough for the
federal Liberals to think it safe to get back into the business of
using public ad dollars to reward supporters - or at least to
steer the money away from nonsupporters.
Few will complain about this one, since the media organization
the government ordered its ad money pulled from is the
Breitbart News Network, which everyone says is a hotbed of
hatred, although they don't usually offer much decisive
evidence to back the claim up. It certainly is inflammatory,
often tacky, extremely alt-right and flamboyantly politically
incorrect, so it's understandable that some in politics would
think it needs correcting.
The Liberals, for example, who had allowed their ads to be
rotated on Breitbart.com as part of an automatic system that
places ads on any number of sites that aren't specifically
blacklisted, have now blocked Breitbart from federal ad dollars
after deciding its content "did not align with the Government's
Code of Value and Ethics." When Kellogg's did the same
thing, facing pressure to cancel ads on the site from the same
Breitbart-haters that presumably got to the Canadian
government, Breitbart fought back by urging readers to boycott
the cereal giant; Canadian readers have yet to figure out an
effective way of boycotting the government.
Maybe that's why the federal Liberals have been so liberally
correcting so much media lately. Right around the time the
government was confirming its boycott of Breitbart, the prime
minister's press secretary was telling Fox News it had better
delete a news tweet about the Quebec City mosque murders
because it was no longer accurate. Fox, like dozens of other
outlets, including Reuters and La Presse, tweeted in the unclear
hours after the attack that one of the suspects was a Muslim,
which was apparently the case for a while. Eventually he
wasn't a suspect, but those early reports, including a Fox News
tweet, lingered online as early, inaccurate reports routinely do.
Kate Purchase, the PMO communications chief, emailed Fox
to say it had come to her attention that the tweet, with "false
and misleading language relating to the identity of the suspect
in the Quebec mosque terror attack" was not just wrong but a
"dishonour (to) the memory of the six victims and their
families." She reminded Fox of its apparent duty to "remain
focused on keeping our communities safe and united instead of
trying to build walls and scapegoat communities." Purchase
made sure to publicly show off her Fox letter, which was so
full of longwinded sanctimony about Canada being an "open,
welcoming country ... of millions of immigrants and refugees,
of hundreds of cultures, languages, and religions" all united in
their "unshakable belief" in the miracles of diversity that
network executives might have deleted whatever it took to
make it stop. But their executives also know that the regulators
in Purchase's government get to decide if Fox is even allowed
on Canadian airwaves (the network was, for many years, kept
out). The prime minister said the meddling was "a question of
getting the news right." The tweet - which, in case you didn't
see it before the Canadian government had it deleted - said
this: "Suspect in Quebec mosque terror attack was of
Moroccan origin, reports show."
While Purchase is busy admonishing journalists on failing in
their responsibility to promote diversity, Canadians await the
outcome of Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly's "conversation"
with Google and Facebook about the responsibility she wants
to give them to help her government "counteract" so-called
fake news.
Last year when the Liberals conversed with Google they were
telling the search engine to delete dozens of pages of results
linked to the Harper government. The Trudeau Liberals have
enjoyed Obama-levels of fawning from Canadian and foreign
press, so it's surprising how preoccupied they seem with
controlling media narratives. Maybe we should have seen it
coming after Trudeau banned all reporters from the Sun news
chain, back when it was owned by Quebecor, until the
company apologized for one of its commentators having
supposedly "crossed the line" by insulting Trudeau's parents on
TV.
Civil libertarians are known to get queasy when governments
warn journalists to "get it right," draw lines journalists can't
cross, and wield power to reward friendly media and punish
hostile ones. They're saying it's like Orwell's Nineteen EightyFour down there in the States, in part because President Trump
muses about suing newspapers for libel and scorns unfriendly
outlets (perhaps like Trudeau did The Sun). And just the other
day Europeans were alarmed to see reporters dragged away by
goonish guards after asking France's National Front leader
Marine Le Pen about an expenses scandal. But then neither
Trump nor Le Pen are censoring for tolerance.
The Liberal government's watchdogs for erroneous thoughts
are launching their fight against dishonourable news in the
midst of a sweeping review of how Ottawa funds and regulates
media, with think tanks and established news organizations
(including Postmedia) calling for favours to help fight foreign
Internet competitors. Hundreds of millions of dollars could be
shuffled around, and the MP who vice-chairs the Heritage
committee overseeing the review, the NDP's Pierre Nantel,
39
insists Ottawa needs "to intervene ... to make sure these
sources of information remain valid and remain in business."
He thinks one way to do it is for the government to use its
substantial ad budget to support news it considers valuable. So,
picture the government's Breitbart boycott, but with dozens
more media on the blacklist, and Liberal officials deciding
which outlets win fat federal ad contracts because they nicely
"align with the Government's Code of Value and Ethics." If
Jacques Corriveau manages to get his conviction overturned on
appeal, perhaps he can be of service.
CITY Page: A2
Looking beyond electoral reform
Three questions for the file's new minister in her first
committee appearance
Kady O'Malley
It would be unrealistic to expect MPs to pass up the
opportunity to grill Democratic Institutions Minister Karina
Gould over the still smouldering embers of the prime minister's
pledge to make the 2015 election the last to be held under a
first-past-the-post voting system.
Nor, indeed, should they even consider giving her a free pass
when she makes her first appearance before committee this
morning.
Gould may be relatively new to the job, but her predecessor
spent the bulk of her 13-month tenure - not to mention millions
of dollars and an incalculable amount of political capital ostensibly attempting to find some sort of consensus on how to
rejig the federal electoral system, only to be taken off the file
just weeks before the government threw up its collective hands
in defeat.
At the very least, Gould could be invited to share her
perspective on how, exactly, it all went so very, very wrong.
But with just one hour allotted for this particular briefing
session, committee members should resist the temptation to
turn it into a full-length post-mortem on electoral reform.
There are, after all, a few other items of future business in her
updated mandate letter that might be worth pursuing after the
first round wraps up.
1. Cracking down on "cash-for-access"-style fundraisers Not
only is this one of two new additions to the to-do list, but it
also has the distinction of being the first and thus far only issue
bumped up to high-priority status as a direct result of a live
political controversy: namely, the now notorious practice of
charging up to $1,500 a head to hobnob with cabinet ministers
- including, on more than one occasion, the prime minister
himself - at exclusive, intimate get-togethers often hosted in
private homes. First broken by the Globe and Mail last fall, the
"cash-foraccess" fundraising racket kept the Liberals on the
defensive for much of the fall sitting.
After months of insisting - correctly, if irrelevantly - that such
gatherings were fully in line with federal political financing
rules, the Liberals bowed to the inevitable last month and
announced a plan to, as the mandate letter puts it, "significantly
enhance transparency" by requiring that all fundraisers
involving cabinet members, party leaders or leadership
candidates take place at "publicly-available spaces," as well as
be advertised in advance, with the proceeds to be "reported on
in a timely manner after the fact.
"Other measures may follow after discussion with the other
political parties," the letter concludes.
That would seem to be the perfect jumping-off point for
questions at committee, starting with: So, how are those
discussions going? How have the other parties responded to the
idea of opening up the social planner, at least as far as their
respective leaders' - and leadership hopefuls' - participation on
the fundraising circuit? Were they given a heads up on the
initial announcement? What other suggestions or proposals are
on the table, so to speak? And, on a practical note, how soon
do they expect to table such legislation? Given that both the
Conservatives and the New Democrats are currently holding
leadership races, that would seem to be a crucial question for
future administrative purposes.
2. Limiting party spending both during and between elections
and setting up an independent commissioner to organize
debates Both of these policy proposals were included in the
previous edition of the mandate letter, but as yet, there's been
little to no progress on either front, although such measures
could, in theory, be included in the same legislative package
that would impose those new limits on certain fundraising
activities.
Still, it would be worth nudging Gould for a status update, at
the very least. Has the government been working diligently
behind the scenes to craft a draft proposal for new spending
limits? If so, how far have they gotten? Do they even have a
ballpark estimate on where those new caps might be set - and
how would such a rule be enforced without also forcing parties
to submit far more detailed financial reports to Elections
Canada while simultaneously giving the agency more power to
review that information? The creation of an independent
debate commissioner would also seem to be highly timesensitive: Ideally, the necessary enabling legislation would be
passed by the end of the year, and the first commissioner
appointed by early 2018. That would seem to be sufficient lead
time to ensure he or she is prepared to start negotiating timing,
format and other logistical issues with the parties well before
the writ drops for the 2019 campaign.
3. Looking into cyber-security and hacking within the
Canadian electoral system There's little indication that hackers
will cause virtual chaos on the campaign trail in 2019.
40
However, it's not an impossible scenario, so there's no harm in
running a quick check just to make sure everything is
reasonably secure, but it might be interesting to have the
minister outline the rationale behind the addition.
Meanwhile, a reference to having the Communications
Security Establishment "offer advice" not just to Elections
Canada but to the various political parties as well seems to
present a perfect opening to address the growing concern over
how those same parties protect the privacy of the personal data
constantly being harvested through fundraising pitches,
petition drives and other online entreaties.
A majority of Canucks want political parties to work together.
How's that for a radical concept? The destructive partisanship
that has dominated our politics for the past several years is
about as popular as a skunk at a garden party. And it certainly
isn't productive.
As it stands, political parties are exempt from most federal and
provincial privacy laws, although most do voluntarily pledge to
protect such information. Given the interest in hacking, it
might be worth asking the minister if she plans to survey those
parties to get a sense of what those mechanisms entail - and if
they turned out to be open to such an initiative, perhaps even
get the privacy commissioner in on that conversation.
The whole electoral reform thing comes into play here. The
folks in favour of replacing the first-past-thepost system say
the 70 per cent shows strong support for some kind of
proportional representation.
Since the Trudeau Liberals have chickened out on that thorny
issue, broad reform seems a distant possibility at best.
Brantford Expositor (FINAL)
OPINION Page: A4
If electoral reform dead, let's tackle
partisanship
Jim Merriam
Because question period at the federal level is televised, that
exercise is more about primping and posturing than it is about
real work.
Seventy per cent of respondents to the questionnaire prefer a
system where several parties "have to collectively agree before
a decision is made."
However, maybe there are other ways the parties could work
together. For example, debates in the House could become
real, instead of staged partisan rumbles. Then the best decision
could come from consideration of all points of view and
attendant compromise.
That would require MPs and MPPs to stop playing for the
cameras and the next election. Surely that's not as impossible
as it sounds. Most of our representatives are well intentioned,
are they not? The 70 per cent agreement in the questionnaire
extended to this statement: "a party that wins the most seats in
an election should still have to compromise with other parties,
even if it means reconsidering some of its policies."
A common complaint about government centres around the
phenomenon of the "elected dictatorship."
That's not always the term used in coffee shops and auction
barns in rural Ontario, but that's the concept at the root of
much grumbling.
Once a party gets a majority in the parliamentary system, the
leader is pretty much free to do whatever he or she chooses.
The checks and balances built into the American system don't
exist here. If they did, it's a safe bet Kathleen Wynne would
have been impeached long ago.
At the federal level in Canada the Senate could pull the reins
on government excess had it not become a barroom joke in
recent years.
The new non-partisan senators might have something to say
about that, but don't bet on it.
That seems so self-evident as to be trite and yet it bears little
resemblance to the way our system works in Ottawa or
provincial capitals.
Other than that slim possibility, the first minister of each
jurisdiction is next thing to a dictator, as long as elected party
members toe the line.
Goodwill and common sense would be a better start in both
Ottawa and Toronto. But don't hold your breath.
jmerriam@b mts.com
Canadians don't like this aspect of government, and now we
have more than just anecdotal evidence to prove it.
It's a clear conclusion in a federal questionnaire on electoral
reform.
© 2017 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.
As noted, upending the entire system with major electoral
reforms to reach such goals is not in the cards. But that might
be like using a sledge hammer to fix a wrist watch anyway.
Good leadership among the parties and a real commitment to
the good of the country always coming ahead of the good of
the party, might start us down a more productive path to good
governance.
The negative impact of the partisan divide was clearly evident
in the talk about electoral reform.
The issue was overtaken by hyperpartisanship so early in the
discussions that a referendum on the issue would have been
nothing but another battle of foggy ideologies.
41
L'Acadie Nouvelle ()
ÉDITORIAL Page: 12
Une tape sur l'épaule
François Gravel
Un brin d'empathie et de solidarité est parfois le bienvenu. Le
premier ministre Justin Trudeau l'a compris. C'est pourquoi sa
visite dans la Péninsule a été un succès, même s'il est venu sur
le tard et les mains vides.
Le premier ministre du Canada Justin Trudeau s'est laissé
désirer. Sa visite à Néguac et à Lamèque a néanmoins été une
réussite, tant du point de vue politique que dans le coeur des
sinistrés.
La crise du verglas a officiellement pris fin dimanche, quand
les équipes d'Énergie NB ont rebranché le dernier client à avoir
perdu l'électricité à la suite de la tempête de verglas tombée en
Acadie, les 24 et 25 janvier.
La crise aura duré 12 jours.
Malheureusement, nous n'avons pas eu droit à une embellie.
Dès lundi, la neige et le froid se sont mis de la partie dans l'est
de la province, si bien qu'en fin d'avant-midi, plus de 150
clients se retrouvaient à nouveau sans courant, la presque
totalité dans les limites de la Péninsule acadienne. Ils doivent
être très nombreux, tant au sein de la population que dans les
bureaux d'Énergie NB, à avoir très hâte au retour du printemps.
Etre victime d'une panne d'électricité sur une aussi longue
période, être forcé à vivre dans le noir et le froid ou encore
devoir se résoudre à déménager dans un centre de
réchauffement pendant plusieurs jours, finit à la longue par
avoir un impact négatif sur le moral.
A ce sujet, la visite de Justin Trudeau dans la Péninsule
acadienne a eu pour plusieurs l'effet d'un baume.
Il est dommage que le premier ministre du Canada ait pris
autant de temps à se déplacer dans notre région. La crise était
sur le point de se terminer quand il est enfin venu.
En tant que chef du gouvernement, M. Trudeau est
évidemment tributaire d'un horaire extrêmement chargé, qu'il
ne peut sans doute pas modifier à sa guise.
Néanmoins, de timides critiques avaient commencé à se faire
entendre, en laissant entendre que Justin Trudeau semblait plus
pressé à venir en Acadie l'été, en plein 15 août, que dans les
moments plus difficiles.
Pourquoi? Parce que Justin Trudeau a fait exactement ce qu'on
attendait de lui en allant à la rencontre de simples citoyens. Sa
popularité a fait le reste.
Il existe un mythe voulant que Justin Trudeau soit un accro aux
égoportraits (les selfies), un peu comme s'il se promenait
partout avec un téléphone cellulaire à la recherche d'une
occasion de se prendre lui-même en photo.
C'est d'ailleurs souvent de cette manière qu'il est caricaturé.
Mais dans les faits, ce sont plutôt les gens qui veulent se faire
prendre en photo avec M. Trudeau. On l'a encore vu à Néguac
et à Lamèque, alors que le premier ministre pouvait à peine
faire quelques pas sans se faire apostropher par quelqu'un
désireux d'immortaliser sa brève rencontre avec le premier
ministre du Canada.
Comme à l'habitude, M. Trudeau a joué le jeu. Ces bains de
foule stressent sûrement beaucoup les responsables de sa
sécurité, mais ils font des miracles auprès de ses partisans,
avec une serrée de main bien sentie par ici, quelques mots de
réconfort par là, et bien sûr de multiples photos.
Après dix jours (à ce moment-là) à vivre dans des conditions
difficiles, de nombreuses victimes du verglas avaient besoin
d'un tonique pour se faire remonter le moral. C'est exactement
ce qu'ils ont reçu.
Justin Trudeau n'a pas été avare de commentaires positifs. Il a
vanté la force et la résilience du peuple acadien dans les
moments les plus difficiles. Il a remercié les citoyens, les
bénévoles, les travailleurs, les soldats ainsi que ceux et celles
qui ont donné l'exemple en venant en aide aux personnes les
plus vulnérables. Sa déclaration aux Acadiens («Vous êtes
extraordinaires») a été applaudie et reprise à satiété dans les
jours qui ont suivi.
Quoi qu'en pense le chef progressiste-conservateur du N.-B.,
Blaine Higgs, qui a refusé d'aller à la rencontre des réfugiés du
froid pour ne pas donner l'impression de tirer un avantage
politique de la crise, un brin d'empathie et de solidarité est
parfois le bienvenu. Justin Trudeau tirera peut-être profit de sa
visite tardive dans la Péninsule acadienne. Mais ceux qui l'ont
reçu ne sont pas à la veille de lui en tenir rigueur.
Parfois, à court terme, une simple tape sur l'épaule est aussi
importante que l'annonce d'un programme d'aide.
N'empêche. Le moment venu, les fonds fédéraux devront tout
de même être au rendez-vous.
Notons aussi que Justin Trudeau s'est déplacé les mains vides.
Il n'a pas annoncé de programme d'aide, se contentant de dire
que son gouvernement sera présent pour appuyer les citoyens
alors que ceux-ci se remettent de la crise.
Pourtant, vous ne trouverez pas une majorité de personnes dans
les zones touchées par la tempête pour dire publiquement
qu'elles sont insatisfaites de la visite du chef libéral.
42
inefficiencies in production and processing. And the export
market is a no-go zone.
News Page: A6
Ottawa's support of supply management
at odds with Liberals' economic values
By BARRIE McKENNA - OTTAWA
Canada's dairy industry has long been the elephant - or rather,
the cow - in the room when it comes to making the country a
food-export superpower.
And so it's notable that a report released Monday by a panel of
advisers to Finance Minister Bill Morneau gently prods the
federal government to remove obstacles to growth in the
agricultural and food industries, including in the highly
protected supply-managed dairy sector.
The panel's language is ubercautious, and the report stops short
of explicitly calling for an end to the supply-management
regime.
Nonetheless, the council urges the industry to boost milk
production by six billion litres a year, or nearly 6 per cent, to
meet burgeoning global demand for dairy products. Among
other things, it recommends easing "rigid provincial quotas."
The report points to tiny New Zealand, which controls nearly
30 per cent of the world's dairy trade, as a model for what
Canada could become.
But therein lies the paradox of supply management - a system
set up in the 1970s to ease price fluctuations and guarantee a
steady income for farmers.
Structured as it is now, the industry can't export, even if it
wanted to. Large-scale exports of milk and other dairy
products are prohibited by the World Trade Organization,
which has determined that the high regulated prices paid to
Canadian dairy farmers are a subsidy.
The consequences are unfortunate. Instead of converting
growing surpluses of skim milk into such products as formula
for Chinese infants, Canadian farmers instead sell them as
cheap animal feed or, at times, throw them out.
Consumers are paying a steep premium for the subsidy at the
grocery store - an average of $2.6-billion a year from 2001 to
2011, or $276 a family, according to a 2014 Conference Board
of Canada report, Reforming Dairy Supply Management: The
Case for Growth.
Dairy farmers, with the backing of successive Liberal and
Conservative governments, have made the calculation that they
are better off in a closed domestic market than exposed to the
vagaries of global trade.
But the broader food industry suffers. Guaranteed prices
reward small inefficient farms. Strict provincial quotas
calibrate supply and demand, but also lead to chronic
Canadian dairy farmers aren't overly concerned about the
growth panel's call to boost exports and deregulate. Dairy
Farmers of Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Bouchard
characterized the recommendations as "aspirational." She also
pointed out that under the current regime, Canadian milk
production still managed to grow 5 per cent between 2013 and
2015.
"It is clear that the industry continues to grow under supply
management, due to ongoing innovation and investments," she
said in an e-mailed statement.
And in the House of Commons, federal Agriculture Minister
Lawrence MacAulay reaffirmed the government's staunch
support for the supply-management regime, which also covers
the poultry and egg sectors.
Growth council chair Dominic Barton said that while he
personally supports an end to supply management, other
members of the growth council argued against such a
recommendation.
Opposing supply management could trigger controversy and
protests that would create a distraction, he said.
The growth council's report comes at a critical juncture for
Canada's dairy industry. Canada is poised to give up an extra 2
per cent of its dairy market under the pending free-trade deal
with Europe. Meanwhile, surging imports of dairy ingredients
from the United States, including concentrated milk protein
used for making cheese and yogurt, are destabilizing the
carefully crafted domestic balance between supply and
demand.
Then there is Donald Trump.
The U.S. President is determined to renegotiate the North
American free-trade agreement to get a better deal for U.S.
workers. Dairy producers in states such as Wisconsin, which
Mr. Trump won in the November election, see the looming
talks as a golden opportunity to secure a much larger piece of
the Canadian market.
The growth-council report highlights an obvious disconnect in
federal economic policy.
The Liberal government's continued support for supply
management flies in the face of its guiding economic principles
- namely, removing barriers to growth, promoting innovation
and pursuing free trade, particularly in China and other
emerging markets.
The Liberals are trapped in a policy maze. They can't embrace
these principles, but then pretend they don't apply to a large
swath of a vital industry.
43
Ottawa Sun (FINAL)
NEWS Page: A8
Trudeau following dad's bad planning
Lorrie Goldstein
Call it like father, like son.
A new study by the Fraser Institute suggests Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau is taking the nation's finances down the same
black hole of never-ending deficits and debt that his late father
did when he was prime minister in the 1970s and early 1980s.
"Because the federal government seems to be on the road to
revisiting the damaging fiscal policies of the 1970s," Lakehead
University economics Professor Livio Di Matteo warns in, A
Federal Fiscal History: Canada, 1867 to 2017, "Canadians
should question whether we're embarking on another
transitional period ... that, like Lester Pearson's and Pierre
Trudeau's time in office, will lead to years of deficits and
ultimately another debt crisis."
Di Matteo says that aside from global wars and economic
downturns, "the only other time the federal government kicked
off a deficit spending spree and expanded the size and role of
the federal government, was in the mid-1960s and 1970s under
(Liberal prime ministers) Lester Pearson and then Pierre
Trudeau." That is, Di Matteo warns, until the election of Justin
Trudeau's Liberal government in 2015.
He notes that Pierre Trudeau never once delivered a balanced
budget during his 14 years as prime minister from 1969 to
1984 (interrupted only briefly by the nine-month Joe Clark
Progressive Conservative government of 1979 to 1980),
leaving behind a massive, for the time, $37.2 billion annual
deficit in his final year in office.
Under Pierre Trudeau, Di Matteo says, government program
spending skyrocketed from $12.9 billion to $84.3 billion, the
net federal debt ballooned from $19.3 billion to $212.6 billion
and the debtto-GDP ratio, a key indicator of overall economic
health, soared from 23% to 42.2%.
Di Matteo warns that given Justin Trudeau's financial track
record so far, he appears to be following in his father's
footsteps.
During the 2015 federal election, Trudeau promised Canadians
that in order to fulfill his election promises, his government
would record projected deficits of $9.9 billion in 2016-17, $9.5
billion in 2017-18, $5.7 billion in 2018-He also promised that
by 2019-2020, the Liberals would reduce the debt-to-GDP
ratio from 30% to 27%.
But following the election, when the Liberals presented their
first budget in March, 2016, Trudeau almost tripled his
projected 2016-17 deficit to $29.4 billion, followed by $29
billion in 2017-18, $22.8 billion in 2018-19, $17.7 billion in
2019-20 and $14.3 billion in 2020-21.
Since then, the Trudeau Liberals have added $31.7 billion to
their projected deficits and abandoned their election promises
to eliminate the deficit by 2019 and to reduce the debt-to-GDP
ratio to 27% by that year.
Indeed, Di Matteo notes, under Trudeau's current fiscal plan,
program spending is projected to hit $291.4 billion this year, a
$40 billion increase from 2014, while the net debt of $727.5
billion this year will increase to $759.5 billion in 2017/18.
[email protected] @sunlorrie
National Post (ALL_BUT_TORONTO)
FINANCIAL POST Page: FP1 / FRONT
Economy needs a little Maoist guidance,
apparently
Terence Corcoran
Before we wade too deep into the industrial strategy buzzland
of unlocked policy toolkits to scale up Canada's innovation
ecosystem by providing a blueprint for how the government
and private sector may work together to unleash a new globally
prosperous Canada filled with inclusive growth, a couple of
ideas stand out in the latest proposals from Ottawa's Advisory
Council on Economic Growth.
Most of the 100 pages of slick econo-jargon released Monday
by Finance Minister Bill Morneau call on Ottawa to get into
the new-old business of orchestrating, planning, financing,
purchasing, catalyzing, supporting and encouraging a range of
economic activities, including matching venture funds and
fostering a new bank-based investment vehicle.
But there are some positive ideas. A new retirement age is
welcome, for example.
The council also elevates NAFTA to Canada's top trade
priority, calling for "further market integration" with the
United States and Mexico.
That might seem like an obvious national trade objective, but
policy thinkers are often tempted to imply that, with Trump in
the presidency, Canada's prime trade policies should now focus
on China and India. The council puts those nations in distant
second place. "One of Canada's greatest economic assets," said
the council, "is our proximity to and long history of trade with
the United States."
The third headline recommendation is a call for Ottawa to
remove "obstacles to growth" in the food sector - or, as the
council calls it, Canada's "agfood value chain." Such obstacles
44
include supply-management boards, small farms in the dairy
sector and the fact that 26 per cent of agricultural economic
output "flows largely to farmers to smooth volatility and
manage risk."
Specifically, the council recommends that the country
"produce up to six billion more marketable litres of milk
annually by progressively reducing obstacles such as rigid
provincial quotas that curtail investments in productivity."
Good idea, but there goes Canada's marketing board protection
racket - unless the central planners decide to set up a separate
quota regime for exports while consumers continue to overpay
for milk and cheese.
Nothing in the council's reports released Monday are very clear
or detailed. Appointed by Morneau last year, the council is
headed by Dominic Barton, a former McKinsey global partner
with a Davosian tendency to lecture on how capitalism can be
reinvented by moving government into the business of running
business.
The council's report follows the script. In one strange
reference, it says Canada does not have the size or scale to let
"1,000 flowers bloom"- words that hark back to the famous
call from Chinese Communist dictator Mao Zedong. Mao said
he wanted a hundred ideological flowers to bloom in an open
national debate "to promote the flourishing of the arts and the
progress of science." Shortly after, Mao changed his mind and
sent the flowers off to prison camp.
ranging from $5 million to $15 million. At $400 million, the
matching fund would be backed by $130 million from
government and $270 million in private investment.
The council reserves its strongest endorsement for a Business
Growth Fund. In boldface type, the only such type in 100
pages, the council says it is "particularly enthusiastic by this
idea, which it views as a high-impact program that could be led
and financed by the private sector."
Why the boldface type for a proposal that the private sector
could do without the government? From the description, it
looks like the plan is to allow Canada's big banks to put money
- about $1 billion - into a fund that would be regulated with
lower capital requirements. The model is a similar fund in the
United Kingdom, which so far has loaned out half-a-billion
pounds to small projects but has earned no income.
Why would it be necessary to set up a new fund to do the job
that Canada's banks and venture capital players are already
supposed to be doing? Through more than 100 pages, the best
answer to that question might be the claim that the objective is
to "re-imagine the role of government (specifically, as a
convenor/catalyst and as an investor)."
The advisory council's message is that Canada is not big
enough to allow a flower market in innovation and investment.
"The time has come for new ways of working, to set a new
course for Canada's innovation economy, create innovation at
scale and set a course for becoming an innovation
powerhouse."
To get there, Canada apparently needs a little Maoist guidance.
"More selection, focus, co-ordination, curation and scale are
required in our innovation ecosystem," said the council. The
government needs to be "catalyzing innovation marketplaces."
These would be centres of technology and industry that are
developed and driven by the private sector, but with
government support.
The council identifies precedents in the United States,
including the Manufacturing USA marketplace and the
Obama-created ARPA-Energy agency that funds green and
other energyrelated private investments. There is widespread
fear in some U.S. circles that Trump's energy teams are out to
kill ARPA-Energy as a government boondoggle.
In Canada, such marketplaces would be "co-funded" by
government, receive regulatory support, and would benefit
from government procurement.
Government funding would be available, possibly through a
"Canadian Matching Fund" plan, to "give high-value-adding
investors" an incentive to invest. The matching fund would
serve "higher-risk companies" looking for cash injections
45
National Post (NATIONAL)
NEWS Page: A1 / FRONT
Morneau must find new revenue
Bound to upset sizable subset of Canadians
John Ivison
On Monday, Bill Morneau indicated that his government,
already on course to record a deficit of $25 billion, is set to
splurge still more.
"Our focus will be on helping those most vulnerable," he said
in question period, referring to "investments" he is planning to
make in the next budget.
It may be presumptuous to assume the Liberals care about how
much red ink is swilling around. But let's make the assumption
they would prefer to ensure the deficit is only three times as
bad as they said it would be when they got elected. If so, the
finance minister needs to find some revenue from somewhere anywhere. His problem is that whatever he does, it is likely to
upset a sizable subset of Canadians.
Having ruled out taxing health and dental benefits, he may opt
to eliminate the deduction on meals and entertainment that
make corporate boxes feasible at hockey games, or kill the age
amount tax credit claimed by people aged 65 and over.
Whatever he does, it's clear that all the low-hanging fruit has
been picked. If the government plans to spend any money in
this budget, it will have to be funded from new revenue
sources - and there is likely to be a political cost to tapping
those streams.
This will delight the Department of Finance.
When the late Jim Flaherty was finance minister in Stephen
Harper's Conservative government, the department
recommended he tax health and dental benefits, on the basis
that low-income Canadians without private health plans were
subsidizing those with employeesponsored plans.
To Finance, many of the 150 existing federal tax credits, worth
around $100 billion a year in foregone revenue, are simply tax
leakage - politically-motivated bribes aimed at buying votes.
Flaherty rejected the advice but the Finance mandarins are
patient souls - they simply waited for the next government to
show up, then wheeled out the same recommendation.
This time it got more traction, particularly after the panel of
seven external experts hired by the Liberals to make the tax
expenditure system more "fair, efficient and simple" also
endorsed it. However, word leaked that the $2.9 billion in
benefits was in the government's crosshairs and, as opposition
coalesced, Justin Trudeau concluded that upsetting millions of
voters by increasing their tax bills by more than $1,000 each
was too toxic.
Veterans of Flaherty's office suggest that the department's
major pet peeve was always the $670 million a year spent
subsidizing drinks and fine-dining for corporate executives.
The corporate sector argues that they are taxed on profits and
entertaining clients is part of the cost of doing business - 50 per
cent of which is tax-deductible.
But for a revenue-hungry government with aspirations to a
more equitable tax system, the prospect of making businesses
pay for their own largesse may provoke a contraction, rather
than an expansion of the deduction.
Again, such a move would bring blowback. The idea was
raised by former Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan back
in 2012 and the Ottawa Senators responded by saying the
move would put the team out of business.
An even bigger pot of honey for the Liberals is the age amount
tax credit, claimed by 5.2 million Canadians and costing the
federal treasury $3.4 billion a year.
The Macdonald Laurier Institute think-tank has targeted it as
"basically indefensible."
The credit was established in 1972 to help low-income seniors
cover their cost of living. Expansion of the Guaranteed Income
Supplement, the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age
Security program have diminished its importance. "Yet it
continues to provide public benefits to seniors earning as much
as $75,000 a year. It is now basically a tax benefit for being
aged 65 or more," MLI claims in a paper to be released later
this month. The public-policy defence for eliminating the
credit is that poverty for seniors, at just 6.7 per cent, is lower
than the poverty rate for children or for the workingage
population, which subsidizes the benefit.
It would be a very bold government that killed a credit for
seniors and spent the money on another segment of the
population.
But Morneau may find a way to take with one hand and give
back at least a portion with the other.
Both the meals and entertainment deduction and the age
amount tax credit would be high on any economist's list of
expenditures that distort the fairness, simplicity and efficiency
of the tax code.
But killing them would come with a cost.
As Brian Lee Crowley, managing director at MLI, put it: "Any
easy hits have been taken a long time ago by revenue-hungry
predecessors to the current government. Pretty much all the
choices available are politically hard and/or economically
damaging."
The Liberals are at a crossroads. One path leads to runaway
deficits; the other to bankrupt hockey teams and mutinous
seniors. Let's hope Morneau chooses wisely.
[email protected] Twitter.Com/Ivisonj

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