New data from Statistics Canada suggests how hard the Canadian economy was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the public-health measures intended to stop it: an 11.5-per-cent decline in GDP the second quarter ending June 30.
It’s the largest drop the monitoring agency has ever recorded. But economists say there are reasons for optimism. The drop was less than expected, they said this morning, and the recovery in June – as lockdown measures lifted – was faster than anticipated. What happens if a second wave hits, though, remains to be seen.
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During the same period, the federal government ran up a $120-billion deficit trying to prop up the economy through emergency payments and business supports.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Leslyn Lewis, who emerged as a new voice in the Conservative Party with her strong finish in the leadership race earlier this week, says she might run in a riding out west in the next election. The Toronto lawyer says her home is in Ontario, but she’s been receiving entreaties from Western ridings.
The federal government is looking to hire an executive search firm to help it find diverse candidates for high-ranking positions in the public service.
U.S. President Donald Trumpaccepted the Republican nomination for his re-election campaign with a political rally on the front lawn of the White House.
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister since 2012, says he is resigning due to health problems.
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And in Lebanon,negotiations will start Monday to select a new prime minister. The country was devastated by a massive explosion at the Beirut port earlier this month, and the cause of the explosion is being blamed on a culture of political corruption. One new figure emerging in the uncertainty is billionaire businessman Bahaa Hariri, son of one former prime minister and brother to another, who had mostly stayed out of politics until now.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on whether we’ll get a fall election: “Unlike the other major opposition parties, the NDP’s strategy is to work with the minority Liberals. Many senior New Democrats think their voters like to hear them talk about making Parliament work, and that their party succeeds when it claims credit for forcing progressive policies on the Liberals. The NDP isn’t flush with cash, so if Mr. Trudeau wants to, he can bargain for its support. He’d have a hard time presenting a big interventionist budget that doesn’t get it.”
Ian Waddell (The Globe and Mail) on how the Liberals and NDP can work together: “A potential road map for Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals and Mr. Singh’s NDP could be found in the 2017 confidence-and-supply agreement between the B.C. Greens and the B.C. NDP. Both parties agreed that they campaigned on some similar points, including making democracy work for people, creating jobs, acting on climate change, building a sustainable economy that works for everyone, fixing the services people count on, and making life more affordable for people. The written agreement established a method of more formal consultation between both caucuses, and even has a dispute resolution process.”
Sean Speer (National Post) on the NDP holding the balance of power: “The choice before the party may be bigger than whether we have a fall election. It strikes at the heart of what the NDP’s identity and purpose is. Is it a political party vying for power or an ideological movement trying to shift the political centre of gravity to the left?”
Dale Smith (The Globe and Mail) on why the old tradition of prorogation ceremonies should come back: “Associating a certain amount of pomp and pageantry with prorogation ensures that there is visibility for the exercise, and would absolutely curb its tactical usage. After all, it would have been hard for Mr. Harper to write a prorogation speech in 2008 about what he had accomplished from his Throne Speech three weeks prior. In 2009, it would have prevented him from simply phoning in a prorogation request to former governor-general Michaëlle Jean, forcing him instead into the visible exercise of him walking up to Rideau Hall to make the request. In this year’s example, it would have compelled Mr. Trudeau to draw attention to his request for prorogation, so he couldn’t simply append the news to his announcement about a cabinet shuffle that same day.”
Sarmishta Subramanian (Maclean’s) on going back to school: “But this isn’t a teachers’ issue. It’s a parents’ issue, a children’s issue, and much more broadly a citizens’ issue. If a poorly conceived back-to-school plan ends up jeopardizing our hard-won gains on COVID, straining health care systems and the economy further, we’ll all be affected.”
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
