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Political and Policy Analysis
The Bank of Canada has indicated they are about to become more aggressive in 2019 and 2020 with increasing interest rates. The Niagara Independent, November 2, 2018 – Interest rates are rising and many Canadians will begin to feel the pain. Last week the Bank of Canada hiked its key lending rate and major lending institutions followed…
The Niagara Independent, October 19, 2018 – As of Wednesday this week, Canadians can possess and share up to 30 grams of legal cannabis. We can legally buy it and we can grow up to four pot plants per residence for personal use. Reaction by our national leaders has been rather mellow. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau…
The Niagara Independent, October 5, 2018 – Tuesday morning the CBC ran a headline story: “‘Yay!’: How the Canadians won the argument that opened the door to a NAFTA deal” reporting a confident Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying, “There was [on Saturday] a sense things were falling into place.” In most news reports this week Canadians…
The Niagara Independent, September 28, 2018 – In December, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a tax plan that effectively cuts America’s top corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 20 per cent and allows companies to immediately deduct from their tax bills the full cost of capital spending. Proponents of the tax package predict this will…
The Niagara Independent, September 21, 2018 – Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill MP Leona Alleslev surprised everyone on the first day of the Fall Session of Parliament, rising in her place on the government backbenches to announce that she will “cross the floor” to join the Conservative party caucus. It is remarkable that a MP would leave a…
The Niagara Independent, September 14, 2018 – This week, the Liberal Caucus met in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan while the NDP Caucus hunkered down in Surrey BC. News out of both federal caucuses revealed that the MPs have been given their election scripts to begin their long march towards the 2019 vote. The two caucuses met with a backdrop…
The Niagara Independent, September 7, 2018 – Headline news from the Nation’s Capital through the summer focused on the fate of NAFTA and the evolving asylum seekers-border issues. A vast majority of Canadians enjoying their summer escapes likely missed any other federal news. Here are 6 news items (in no particular order) from the month of…
The Niagara Independent, July 27, 2018 – When Members of Parliament recess for the summer, they don’t don shorts and sandals to hit a beach like quick-change artists; but instead, the first step they take is to meet their local constituency staff and schedule “the summer break.” The 2018 summer plans of Niagara West MP…
The Canada-U.S. Trade Talks Saga is a three-part series first printed in The Niagara Independent. Part One In Ottawa, there are two prevailing threads of thought on what has become the never-ending saga of the Canada-U.S. Trade Talks. One is rallying behind Prime Minister Trudeau and supporting the Liberal Government’s attempt to reason with…
The Niagara Independent, July 20, 2018 – This is the third of a three column series on the Canada-U.S. trade talks, reviewing our National Leaders’ political gamesmanship and assessing what it means for the outcome of the trade talks – and for the 2019 federal election. To recap the last six weeks: on June 1st,…
The Niagara Independent, July 20, 2018 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet this week, bringing five new ministers to the table and creating a new portfolio for border security, an issue that has become a political vulnerability for the government over the past months. Political analysts view this shuffle as a political move…
The Niagara Independent , July 13, 2018 – This is the second of a three column series on the Canada-U.S. trade talks. This column reflects on the criticism that the Liberals have purposely sabotaged the trade negotiations for their political gain in an election year. Not all are supportive of the Trudeau Government’s trade negotiation…
The Niagara Independent, July 6, 2018 – In Ottawa, there are two prevailing threads of thought on what has become the never-ending saga of the Canada-U.S. Trade Talks. One is rallying behind Prime Minister Trudeau and supporting the Liberal Government’s attempt to reason with an unpredictable U.S. President. The second is highly critical, suggesting that…
The Niagara Independent – June 29, 2018 – As Parliament recessed for the summer, news leaked out that the Trudeau Government quietly renewed the current federal equalization formula for provinces through the year 2024. In the 584-pages of 2018 budget documentation, Finance Minister Bill Morneau had buried a provision that extended the existing equalization formula,…
On Parliament Hill, time stood stand, or rather any sense of time was lost in the surreal tension of Wednesday, May 2nd. Members of Parliament were shocked. News travelled in whispers of disbelief. And then there was an oppressive sadness that enveloped the Nation’s Capital and left anguished MPs groping for words, as we all…
Chris George has begun writing a weekly news column for The Niagara Independent covering federal politics and happenings on Parliament Hill. Here is his second column which appears on Friday in the Independent and Sunday mornings in By George. The rights of parliamentarians to oversee government spending dates back to 1215 and the signing of the Magna…
Chris George has begun writing a weekly news column for The Niagara Independent covering federal politics and happenings on Parliament Hill. Here is the premier column which will appear on Friday in the Independent and Sunday mornings in By George. There are only two weeks left in the House of Commons calendar before Members of…
