Canadian economic growth 1.7 per cent in 2019 followed by a slight decline of 1.6 per cent growth this year then growth of 1.8 per cent in 2021
None of the major trends of 2019 suggest impending economic doom for Canada, but nor do they point to much in terms of upside, says a new report by TD Economics. “In all cases, a ‘ho hum’ economic performance appears to be the best we can hope for . . . Some help will come…
Despite excellent recent PISA results, Canadians shouldn’t be complacent. From 2015 to 2018, scores fell in all three subjects
Canada’s 15-year-old students continue to do well on the gold standard of academic testing, but with some concerns. The Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) has randomly tested students worldwide every three years since 2000. It recently released results from reading, math and science tests completed by some half-a-million students in 79 countries in 2018.…
It took far more than our efforts during the Great War to nudge Canada out of its subordinate role in the British Empire
If you turn left upon entering the main gate of Toronto’s St. James Cemetery, you’ll soon come to a tall, imposing Celtic cross made of stone and inscribed with the family name Hagarty. There are three people buried there, but pride of place is given to someone whose earthly remains repose thousands of miles away…
The U.S., Canada and Mexico signed the same trade document, but each country is calling it something different
It took a couple of years, but the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, was finally signed on Nov. 30. Or was it? Let’s go back a few steps. All three leaders – U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (who was on his last day on the…
Compare Canada’s performance with other countries on measures that matter most to the health of people and the ecosystem
By Ross McKitrick, Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute Despite misguided claims to the contrary, Canada has an excellent environmental record when compared to most of the world’s wealthiest – and cleanest – countries. A new study published by the Fraser Institute compares and ranks 33 high-income countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation…
How an iconic brand lost its Canadian identity and why its corporate masters probably don't care
The bad news keeps piling up for Tim Hortons. Leger and National Public Relations recently released their annual report ranking Canada’s most admired companies. Google and Shoppers Drug Mart topped the rankings of most respected companies, regardless of where the company resides. Google has been No. 1 for six years. Kellogg’s, in eighth place, is…
We all must have access to high-quality health care. Unjustifiable variations are still too common across the country
By P.G. Forest University of Calgary and Danielle Martin Women’s College Hospital Canadian medicare would not exist without the actions of the federal government. But in recent years, there’s been an atrophy of the imagination about Ottawa’s role in health policy, as if federal transfer payments to the provinces and territories were the beginning and…
Trudeau's National Lampoon’s Indian Vacation was an embarrassment to Canada
Dear Justin, You don’t mind if we call you Justin, do you? In other circumstances, we’d call you prime minister, but – to be perfectly candid – your Indian family vacation wasn’t terribly prime ministerial. The complications arising from that trip continue to be felt, too. On Wednesday morning of last week – on what…One hundred years ago, a flu pandemic swept across the world, killing tens of millions of people, particularly those in the prime of life
From the wet and windswept northwest of Ireland to rural southwestern Ontario, the flu pandemic of 1918 to 1920 was remorseless. My mother and my wife’s father lost siblings to an illness where death might come within 24 hours of first symptoms. And sometimes it was particularly brutal. Historian John Barry has described it this…
The opioid manufacturer admits to illegal activity in the U.S., stops ads there and pays hundreds of millions in penalties. In Canada, it's business as usual
By Nav Persaud University of Toronto and Andrew S. Boozary University Health Network Canadians are paying dearly for government inaction over the opioid crisis. Purdue Pharma recently announced that it will stop advertising opioids to doctors in the United States after pleading guilty to misleading marketing more than a decade ago. This is a major,…