Federal panel lists 35 ‘plausible’ future threats to Canada … many already set in motion by the Trudeau government

 

In a new report, a think-tank within Employment and Social Development Canada cites 35 “plausible” global disruptions that could reshape Canada and the world in the near future.

The Policy Horizons Canada (PHC) panel drafted the list and then asked more than 500 stakeholders within and outside government to suggest which ones were more likely, when they might happen and how one might trigger others.

The authors of the report point out that the list is an exploration of theoretical — not guaranteed — threats. They say that even “seemingly distant or improbable” calamities can become reality and thinking about them helps governments create “robust and resilient policies.”

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford Asks Ottawa to Pause Approval of Safe-Supply Sites

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is asking Ottawa to pause approval of safe-supply programs in the province.

Mr. Ford made the comments in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on May 17.

“I’m now asking that you also extend the requirement for provincial support to ‘safe supply’ sites, which are approved solely and unilaterally by Health Canada,” the premier wrote.

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The Liberals are ripping up Canada’s trump card for productivity growth

It is the single greatest step the Trudeau government has taken to encourage corporate investment and to boost productivity – and all by letting companies decide on their own where their dollars should best be spent.

Called the Accelerated Investment Initiative and launched in late 2018, the policy aimed to bolster capital investment by speeding up how quickly companies could expense the cost of anything from new factory equipment to new computer systems. The result was a wave of corporate investment without the need for any additional administrative apparatus.

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LILLEY: Trudeau Liberals trying to scare voters to protect convicts

Should Canada be tougher or more lenient on those who commit heinous crimes? Ask most Canadians, and they will have little sympathy for Paul Bernardo, Russell Williams, Luka Magnotta or Alexandre Bissonnette who carried out the Quebec City mosque massacre.


Polling says “Desperation has set in”

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The Liberals lob their last-minute weapon 17 months from an election

It seems a little early for the kitchen sink.

But Justin Trudeau and his Liberals saw an opportunity, however slim, to attack Conservatives on abortion – and they grasped at it.

Abortion is one of the holy trinity of explosive issues that the Liberals lob at the Tories in every election campaign, along with guns and privatization of health care. But usually they wait until late in the writ period before they reach for those weapons.

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Canada is falling behind its peers in terms of living standards — can it catch up?

Canada, once admired for its robust economic health and high living standards, now faces a worrying decline. The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth trails its peers in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), while Canadian workers clock more hours for less output.

Business investment is shrivelling while government expenditure is ballooning, creating an unhealthy fiscal cocktail. The health-care system in Canada is also lagging behind its European counterparts.

The legal system has grown expensive and slow; the justice system is also experiencing a chronic under-staffing crisis. Young Canadians, feeling dissatisfied, have reported low happiness scores compared to their international counterparts (in 58th place, just before Ecuador).

This palpable downturn begs two urgent questions: what underlies this fall in living standards? And what can be done to stop, and perhaps even reverse, this unsettling trend?

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Trudeau government under fire over not compelling companies to ask unions before hiring temporary foreign workers

Canadian jobs are being lost to temporary foreign workers because of a decision years ago by the federal government to drop the need for companies to consult unions before they can bring in people from abroad to fill vacancies, Ottawa is being warned.

Union leaders in the construction industry, a significantly unionized sector, say the change has meant that Canadians are being bypassed in favour of temporary foreign workers (TFWs). They also say it could lead to wage deflation.

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Trudeau’s left-wing Court Challenges Program fleeces all taxpayers

The Court Challenges Program, under which people who claim to have a legitimate grievance against the operation of laws may be publicly subsidized to challenge the wording or implementation of those laws, is on its face an enlightened measure and a commendable recognition by the Canadian federal government that it and other governments in Canada could have inadvertently failed to see damage that could potentially result from ostensibly well-intended legislation and regulation. In principle, any admission by government of its potential fallibility is a good thing that would seem to moderate what Shakespeare called ”the insolence of office:” the blank authoritarian inhumanity with which governments frequently dictate people’s conduct and exact taxes and submission from them. Unfortunately, the appearance of a becoming humility helping to shape government conduct can be deceiving and in this case everything depends on the causes that the Court Challenges Program actually supports.

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U.S. ambassador ‘not aware’ of any plans for Trudeau-Trump meeting

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States says she’s “not aware” of any plans for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with former U.S. president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before the November American election.

“I think that’s a question for the prime minister,” Kirsten Hillman told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday. “I’m not aware of any plans in that regard.”

Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson Mohammad Hussain said there is no meeting scheduled between Trudeau and Trump during the prime minister’s visit this week.

Trump turned him down I bet.

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Oh look! Canada made international news again!

Canada’s standard of living on track for worst decline in 40 years

Canada is experiencing one of the country’s worst declines in the standard of living in 40 years, according to a study.

The authors of the study by the non-partisan Fraser Institute said the figures should serve as a “wake-up call” for the country’s Liberal government, led by Justin Trudeau, to enact “fundamental policy reforms”.

While Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown in recent years, driven by high population growth and labour supply, its GDP per person has fallen dramatically, the study said.

Thank Trudeau.

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Douglas Todd: In Vancouver, unhappily, it’s all about the price of dirt

It’s all about the land, the price of dirt.

The facts and figures are discouraging for people who don’t own urban property, which in a few decades has become the greatest source of wealth in the English-speaking world.

Although land inflation is a global urban phenomenon, Metro Vancouver residents suffer from the worst from it. The cost of dirt in Vancouver, for instance, hyper-escalated by 500 per cent between 2008 and 2016.

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What happens when a thin-skinned political lifer becomes prime minister? We may be about to find out

“You must be kidding.” That was one of the many emails I received in response to a column I published in Policy Options in 2021 titled ”Justin Trudeau: The Mature Brand.” It argued that the man once accused of being ”just not ready” in a barrage of attack ads by the Stephen Harper-led Conservatives had transformed into a seasoned, mature figure.
At nearly 50, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had just navigated the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. But I warned that while Trudeau starts from a position of strength, the unpredictable nature of the pandemic could affect voter loyalty. I wrote that “strong brands provide certainty, ease, and empathy, qualities Trudeau must embody to win the next election. Nonetheless, voter fatigue and a desire for straightforward solutions may challenge his campaign’s effectiveness.” He won another minority in October 2021. But the voter fatigue I warned of has grown into irritation. Many, including the person who wrote me that email, are now convinced Trudeau wasn’t ready to be Prime Minister. And still isn’t.
Blackie’s Star is getting more desperate by the day.
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In Trudeau’s Canada, bodies go unclaimed as costs put funerals out of reach

TORONTO, May 18 (Reuters) – Some Canadian provinces have logged a jump in unclaimed dead bodies in recent years, with next of kin citing funeral costs as a growing reason for not collecting loved ones’ remains.

The phenomenon has prompted at least one province to build a new storage facility. Demand for memorial fundraisers has surged. The overall cost of a funeral in Canada at the top end has increased to about $8,800 from about $6,000 in 1998, according to industry trade group estimates.

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