The executive order by President Trump to pull the U.S out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) marks the beginning of higher prices for dairy products in Canada. Canadian negotiators spent more than seven years and millions of dollars to be part of the agreement. TPP presented a glimmer of hope for reforming the Canadian dairy […]

Since the end of the oil boom in mid-2014, Alberta has shed 113,000 payroll jobs ¹. However, this conjures up an image that job losses were concentrated in searching for and extracting oil outside of urban areas. In fact, only one-third of the losses occurred in oil and gas mining. It will surprise many that […]

There is no doubt that free trade policies, and their accompanying open border principles, have taken a political beating in 2015. The vote in the United Kingdom to exit the European Union (Brexit) along with the protectionist and isolationist tone of the U.S. Presidential debate (on both sides) reflect a shift in public support for […]

After the 2008 financial crisis, Canada was recognized as having developed a strong framework for financial regulation that enabled it to avoid the mortgage crisis that wreaked havoc in the United States and Europe. While Canada weathered the 2008 financial crisis better than most other wealthy, industrialized democracies, the reform process in the aftermath of […]

Canada currently has no comprehensive national legislation protecting the rights of people with disabilities to participate in education, work and daily activities. This is particularly concerning since Canadian youth with developmental disabilities have poorer health, lower educational achievement, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. Federal leadership is needed to […]

In the 1980s Canada departed from its uniquely multilateral focus on trade policy and embraced bilateralism. It made sense at the time. The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations was proceeding very slowly given its complexity and large number of participating countries. Since Canada’s main objective within each multilateral round was to secure better access […]

Ever since it took office last year, the Trudeau government has been on the horns of a dilemma over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12 nation trade agreement it inherited from the Conservatives. The Liberals know that if the TPP goes ahead, Canada has to be part of it. It would be unthinkable to have to […]

Over the past decade, the federal government has played a prominent role in funding provincial and municipal infrastructure projects. From 2000 to 2015, the federal government contributed $20.3 billion to such projects. Where did all that money go? Did all of the money go to the big cities to fund public transit projects? Were smaller […]

As the details of Alberta’s proposed carbon tax have emerged, so have many questions. Most of the discussion has focused on whether the tax will reduce the province’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, where the revenue will go and what impact it will have on the economy, businesses and taxpayers. Even though a tax is seen […]