Gov. Gen. Julie Payette today encouraged Canadians to get outside and enjoy the winter in her annual New Year’s message.
Canada’s “breathtaking beauty” deserves to be celebrated and explored, she said.
“This time of year, we tend to cuddle inside and seek warmth,” said Payette. “But once outside, it is so worth it.”
For this year’s message, Payette continued her practice of avoiding the more formal, regal backdrops preferred by previous governors general in their end-of-year messages, and instead spoke from the grounds of the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park in the Outaouais region of Quebec.
(In 2017, she delivered her message while skating on the ice rink erected beside her official residence, Rideau Hall.)
In this year’s address, the governor general said Canadians can be proud of having an international reputation as “team players” and “peace seekers.” She also highlighted Canada’s diversity and paid tribute to Indigenous people in Canada.
Payette commemorated Canada’s fallen soldiers by reminding Canadians of her visit to Europe earlier in the year to mark the 75th anniversary of key events in the Second World War.
Finally, she urged Canadians to stand up to hate and violence and work together for the common good.
Julie Payette’s New Year’s message
“Mon pays ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver.
“My country is not a country. It’s winter. That’s the least we can say.
“This time of year, we tend to cuddle inside and seek warmth. Mostly because — as Gilles Vigneault points out in his famous song — ‘to avoid where the flakes swirl with the wind in this land of blowing snow.’ But once outside, it is so worth it.
“Whether you were born here or chose to come and live here. Whether you’re just passing through or came here to seek refuge. This is your country — a land of breathtaking beauty that deserves to be explored and celebrated — rain or snow or shine.
“For we are so fortunate. We share values and interests. We can be proud of our diversity and we are recognized around the world as open, curious, team players, peace seekers, peacekeepers.
“And we are accomplished. Like the Indigenous people, who have been living here on this ancestral land for thousands of years. Those who taught us to survive in the cold, to appreciate the gift of nature, and the importance of community.
“I have seen it everywhere I have been this year. Canadians are out there making a difference as artists, scientists, athletes, entrepreneurs. Young or old, every one of us is an ambassador.
“This past year in particular, we were also reminded that the peace we enjoy was won at a terrible cost. We went to France, to Holland and to Italy to commemorate the Second World War. For 75 years ago, our Canadian soldiers were fighting to help liberate Europe from tyranny. What is striking when we visit Canadian war cemeteries abroad are the rows and rows of identical tombstones — all engraved with a single maple leaf, a name, a date.
“As I watched our veterans — these brave soldiers from another era — walking amongst the graves of their fallen comrades, I could not help but be moved. Many had died before their 20th birthday. Some had died just before Christmas. All died in a distant land, far away from home.
“It forces us to reflect on the meaning of life — its surprises and its friendships but also its injustices and its suffering — and it forces us to reflect on the absolute necessity to stand up against hate and violence and to work together hand-in-hand for the common good.
“The great Gilles Vigneault also captured this essence in his beautiful winter poem. He wrote: ‘My home is your home. With time and space, I build a fire and prepare a place. For people, near and far. For we all share a human race.’
“I hope that you’re enjoying the holiday season with people you love, with friends and family. I hope that you’re staying active, and that you are lending a hand, in your own personal way, to those who have less and those who are in need.
“Happy New Year to all of you. Happy New Year, Canada.”
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney will present his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy when he meets with MPs in Nanaimo, B.C., today.
The party announced Carney’s new role as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth as MPs arrived for the caucus retreat Monday, where they are planning their strategy for the upcoming election year.
Carney will be reporting directly to the prime minister and the committee responsible for drafting the Liberal election platform.
The former bank governor’s comments will be made privately to caucus, but he is expected to address the media afterwards.
The Liberals have made other attempts to focus on economic and affordability issues since taking a major hit in the polls last year, but those efforts haven’t resonated in the polls.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also expected to address his caucus as a whole for the first time since several of his MPs have expressed privately and publicly that he is not the person to lead the party into the next election.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
The Israeli Government is carrying out a Starvation Campaign against the People of Gaza, or so says Democracy Now and the United Nations. While multiple trucks filled with humanitarian supplies and food wait to enter Gaza, the Israeli Forces hold them back for inspection and security reasons, so few enter this region of crisis.
Well over a year has passed as Israeli Forces continue to besiege Gaza claiming to be trying to eliminate Hamas as a military force. What many journalists, international politicians and Middle Eastern Specialists see is a nation-state military trying to drive millions of Palestinians out of their homeland by whatever means possible. Airstrikes, and tank and armoured vehicle movements strive to destabilize life in Gaza and make these native residents fear for their lives and very survival. Similar actions were carried out by the Germans when they invaded Poland long ago. Military actions have seemed to remain the same, as to their purpose. Eradication of the “Palestinian Problem” has been the goal of the Netanyahu Government all along, seizing Gaza for Israeli use and driving the perceived Palestinian threat away for good.
The United Nations special rapporteur on the right of food Michael Fakhri accused Israel of carrying out a starvation campaign against a civilian population. This action is internationally viewed as criminal and answerable to the International Courts in the Hague. 2.2 million people in Gaza need food urgently and they are being treated as pawns within a game of international intrigue and conflict management by the superpowers and their allies.
Look to the American elections as a time when Israel will open the doors to humanitarian aid just as election day arrives. Israel’s leader Netanyahu is a friend of former president Trump. Interesting idea?
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca
Note: Remember when Iran held American Hostages only to release them just before a election. That action empowered Ronald Reagan to victory. Interesting methodology of Republicans eh?
WASHINGTON – One of Canada’s most influential business lobby groups is warning Ottawa about damage to the relationship with the United States after the Biden administration escalated efforts to halt the federal government’s tax on large foreign digital services companies.
The Business Council of Canada called for the digital services tax to be revoked after the Office of the United States Trade Representative requested dispute settlement consultations under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement.
In a Sept. 9 letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and International Trade Minister Mary Ng, Goldy Hyder, the council’s president and CEO, said retaliatory measures by the U.S. would be harmful to Canadian families, businesses and the economy, while also negating any projected tax revenues.
Hyder cautioned the tax could also be destructive to Canada’s relationship with the U.S. ahead of the review of the trade agreement in 2026.
“In successive meetings with senior U.S. officials, we have been repeatedly told that if Canada’s unilateral DST remains in place it will imperil the upcoming mandatory review of the CUSMA,” Hyder wrote.
Americans have been critical of the three per cent levy on foreign tech giants that generate revenue from Canadian users. It means the companies will have to pay taxes on that revenue in Canada.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, after requesting dispute consultations in August, called the tax discriminatory and said it is inconsistent with Canada’s commitments not to treat U.S. businesses less favourably than Canadian ones.
If the two countries are unable to resolve America’s concerns within 75 days, the U.S. may request a dispute settlement panel to examine the issue.
Ng and Freeland have remained steadfast behind the tax. They said last month that consultations under the trade agreement’s dispute mechanism will demonstrate Canada is meeting its obligations.
Hyder said Ottawa’s strategy will neither address nor assuage U.S. concerns. Instead it will risk undermining the trade agreement and “our most important trade and investment partnership,” he said.
The digital tax was part of the Liberal election platform during the 2019 campaign. Both the Conservatives and New Democrats proposed similar levies.
The Liberal government, however, delayed its implementation in order to give more time to global efforts to establish a broader, multinational taxation plan.
But after significant delays to that process at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada went ahead with its own tax.
The Canadian ministers have said the preference has always been a multilateral agreement.
Greta Peisch, the former general counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said concerns around Canada’s approach to the tax have been raised for a long time.
“I think the United States has been clear about how serious it is,” said Peisch, a partner at Wiely Rein in Washington, D.C.
“The argument is not that you can’t have a DST, it’s just that it should be neutral and not be inconsistent with our trade agreement.”
Peisch said the issue is around global revenue. Canada’s tax applies to foreign and Canadian digital services providers that earn total annual revenue from all sources of 750 million euros or more, and annual Canadian revenue more than $20 million a year.
Peisch explained American’s issue with the tax: if two companies provide the same service and have the same revenue from people in Canada, the foreign company will be treated differently.
“We have commitments in our trade agreements not to discriminate based on national origin among the trade agreement partners, that would be inconsistent with our trade obligations,” Peisch said.
The digital services tax has drawn opposition from trade associations and business groups on both sides of the international border.
Last month, Google announced it will implement a 2.5 per cent surcharge for ads displayed in Canada starting in October. Groups representing Canadian advertisers have warned other companies could follow the tech giant’s lead.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
