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Articles on Bill Morneau

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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland responds to a question during a news conference on Aug. 20, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Chrystia Freeland and the merit myth that won’t go away

Reactions to Chrystia Freeland’s appointment as finance minister demonstrate how qualifications and arguments about merit are deployed to women’s disadvantage in politics.
Research shows Canadians want to move away from the GDP as a measurement of progress, prosperity and happiness, and consider protecting the environment more critical than growth. A hiker is seen here in British Columbia. Alex Shutin, Unsplash

Are Canadians ready to ditch GDP as a key prosperity indicator?

With a deepening climate crisis, unprecedented biodiversity loss and widespread inequality, it’s pertinent to question if indefinite GDP growth will deliver true and long-lasting prosperity.
Canadian bank notes are seen in this 2017 photo. Ottawa finances deficit spending by borrowing money. Twenty per cent of the money is borrowed from the Bank of Canada. In other words, the government borrows that money from itself. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

How government deficits fund private savings

Critics complain that government debt saddles future generations with a financial burden. The critics are wrong.
Mary Ng is hugged by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after being sworn in as Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion during a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall on July 18, 2018. The cabinet shuffle sets the stage for the next federal election in the fall of 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle patches holes before next election

With a federal election next year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shuffled his cabinet. What do the new faces in new jobs tell us about where the government feels it could be challenged?
A protester holds a photo of an oil-soaked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a demonstration against the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Vancouver on May 29, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Justin Trudeau’s risky gamble on the Trans Mountain pipeline

The Trudeau government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan is incredibly risky. Here’s why.
A welder fabricates a steel structure at an iron works facility in Ottawa on March 5, 2018. U.S.President Donald Trump’s stated intention to impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports could start a trade war. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Canada can’t win a trade war with the United States

Ottawa seems utterly unprepared for a trade war with the United States. The recent federal budget upholding equity values is noble, but won’t mean a thing if the government runs out of cash.
The fact that Ontario’s health minister, Eric Hoskins, is resigning from his post to head up a newly announced advisory council on a Canadian pharmacare system bodes well, meaning Ottawa’s new initiative may go beyond being “just another study.” Hoskins is a longtime advocate for pharmacare. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Canadian pharmacare is closer to becoming a reality

Will Ottawa’s new advisory council on pharmacare amount to “just another study,” or is a national program truly within reach?
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is not the first Canadian politician to hold the job who’s been confronted with outrage over tax reform proposals. But it’s time to listen to people who get riled up about tax increases. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Why we should listen to people angry about their taxes

Outrage over tax reform is nothing new. But if we can’t be calm about tax, we can at least learn from the stories spoken in anger.
Dairy cows at a family farm in Chilliwack, B.C. Sylvain Charlebois, a noted academic on food policy issues, says the federal government’s proposed tax reforms will hurt family farms. CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Down on the farm: tax reforms will hurt family businesses

Family farms, restaurants, other food businesses and the rural economy will suffer under federal tax proposals for small businesses,

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