Federal minister plans to hold consultations this summer on immigration intake
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Lena Metlege Diab rises during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday, June 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld ajw flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: pubinfo.section: cms.site.custom.site_domain : thestar.com sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false firstAuthor.avatar :
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Getting business onside — Carney's next job
Opinion Canada Day marks just over 100 days of Mark, as in Carney. Since being sworn in as prime minister on St. Patrick's Day, our new prime minister has enjoyed no small 'luck of the Irish' after winning an election he wasn't supposed to. Napoleon once said he would rather have a general who was lucky than one who was good. So far, Carney has been both lucky and good: lucky to have Donald Trump in the White House, and pretty good at winning elections and being prime minister. He may have been green going into the job as PM and party leader, but Carney is proving no novice in the role. He single-handedly powered his party and government into an unprecedented fourth term in office. Since then, he has embarked upon a rapid-fire series of actions and changes to achieve his goal to 'build the strongest economy in the G7,' with internal trade barriers to come down; major energy and infrastructure projects to be built faster; defence spending to rise higher and sooner than anticipated. The Canadian Press files Prime Minister Mark Carney's next job is to convince Canadian businesses that they have to step up their game. Carney clearly does not lack for ambition. 'We will need to think big and act bigger. We will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations,' he said in his victory speech. But what if this big ambition isn't matched by business, big or small? What if the public doesn't share his vision that Canada is at a 'hinge moment of history,' as he put it? The prime minister is inheriting a country more risk-averse and complacent than it should be. A country more righteous than realistic about its place in the world — 'the world needs more Canada,' we intone. A country too comfortable in its entitlements and expectations, real or imagined. That risk aversion carries over to the business community. A 2023 survey by the Conference Board of Canada found that when it came to innovation, more than half of Canadian entrepreneurs stopped doing more because they feared failing. That was 10 points higher than for businesses in the U.S. and across 16 other developed countries. Part of this is a weaker industrial and research ecosystem that successfully carries innovation to market, but there's no denying a CEO mindset alongside. That mindset won't be easy to dislodge. It has been fed for more than a quarter-century by easy access to the largest market in the world, our next-door neighbour. It has been nourished of late by low-cost labour and high immigration. And it has been enticed into a rent-seeking, subsidy-demanding, high-consumption, low-value manufacturing economy by companies and governments hooked on handouts. The result: Canadian businesses have become less competitive and more risk-averse when it comes to investing in the innovation, technology and people needed to build more wealth. Consider the results: Canada's economy today is actually smaller than it was in 2019, adjusted for inflation and immigration. We've fallen from the sixth most productive advanced economy in the world in 1970 to the 18th most productive today. Average annual labour productivity growth was less than half of what it was in the U.S. in the 20-year period from 2001 to 2021. We've deindustrialized, with manufacturing contributing less than half of what it did to the economy in 2000. Capital investment spending levels are lower than they were a decade ago. The business innovation rate in 2022 was 36 per cent in Canada, far below the 50 per cent rate in America and the 45 per cent rate for other advanced industrial economies in the world. Unless these trends are changed, the OECD predicts Canada will enjoy the worst performance of advanced member countries over the next four decades, as measured by real GDP per capita. That means lower living standards for Canadians and less economic wealth generated to invest in health care and education. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Blaming the government is easy and fashionable. But these are structural problems not easily fixed, owing to years of tepid investment and innovation decisions by business themselves. Government policies may have contributed, but it's the CEOs and the boards of directors, or the entrepreneurs and innovators, who made the calls. 'Sell the beach, not the flight' is the classic travel-industry business model. For too long, our politicians have practiced the political equivalent to voters. Big goals and grand pronouncements were set without telling people the journey might be long and hard. 'Inconvenient truths,' as in climate change, were traded for 'reassuring fibs' so everyone could have 'their nice things.' Applying this same mentality to this time of economic emergency would simply invite more failure. The PM may be moving at the speed of need now with his checklist of initiatives, but 'thinking and acting big' requires an overdue mind-shift by Canada's business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs. Carney needs to confront complacency with candour. He told voters what he planned to do; now he must tell businesses what they need to do. His 'hinge moment' hinges on it. David McLaughlin is a former clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary in the Manitoba government.
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
For many South Asian and Muslim New Yorkers, Mamdani's political upset gives them hope
Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks at his primary election party, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa) HK flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Toronto Sun
8 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Carney puts Canadian jobs at risk over foolish tax idea
Canadian jobs are now on the line over a foolish move to bring in a Digital Services Tax that is angering all sides in the United States. Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox Prime Minister Mark Carney holds a closing press conference following the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS Mark Carney has decided to put Canadian auto jobs, manufacturing jobs, and the whole steel and aluminum industry at risk over a yet-to-be implement tax. It's a foolish move for the Liberals from both an economic point of view and from a negotiation standpoint. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account On Friday, Donald Trump announced that trade talks with Canada, the ones to try and ease the tariffs, were off. The reason, Carney's insistence on pushing ahead with a Digital Services Tax that comes into effect next week. Industry told the Liberals to scrap the asked them to drop it. The Biden admin started a pending trade dispute with us. The Liberals kept this tax. Now Trump has cancelled all trade talks with us. We are killing other industries over this dumb tax. It must go. — Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) June 27, 2025 Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It will require big tech companies like Apple, Uber, Amazon and others to pay 3% of their revenue from Canada — that's revenue, not profit — to the Canadian government. It also comes with a retroactive payment of roughly $3 billion for the American tech companies to cover the period going back to 2022. The bill imposing this legislation and the retroactive payments to 2022, only passed Parliament on June 20, 2024. No wonder President Trump calls this legislation unfair. Trump, like Biden before him, has been asking us to drop this tax, which both sides in America believe violates CUSMA, and we have refused to budge so now, he's walking away from talks. 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Trump posted to his Truth Social account. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Speaking with reporters in the White House during a signing ceremony on Friday, Trump was blunt at times when asked about Canada. At first, Trump batted away a question about trade with Canada noting that the ceremony was about a peace deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Moments later, he made his views clear. 'Canada put a charge on some of our companies and Canada has been a very difficult country to deal with over the years,' Trump said. 'Economically we have such power over Canada. I'd rather not use it,' Trump said. 'It's not going to work out well for Canada. They were foolish to do it.' Foolish is correct because this means tariffs stay in place, jobs are put at risk and Canada suffers. It's not just voices in Washington saying that, it's coming from business groups and provincial premiers as well. Various industry groups have been warning the government that this was the wrong path to take and the Business Council of Canada had come out strongly against the tax. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More 'In an effort to get trade negotiations back on track, Canada should put forward an immediate proposal to eliminate the DST in exchange for an elimination of tariffs from the United States,' BCC president and CEO Goldy Hyder said after Trump's announcement. Last October, when it still looked like Kamala Harris and the Democrats would be the likely winner of America's November election, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was calling for the DST to be scrapped. Speaking to the Empire Club in Toronto, Ford said the tax threatened Canadian jobs. 'I talk to Democrats, I talk to Republicans, and they are furious,' Ford said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We cannot put millions of Canadian jobs in our historic economic partnership with the U.S. at risk because of a stubborn refusal to listen to the concerns of our American friends,' Ford added. 'The federal government needs to pause the implementation of the digital services tax.' We need the federal government to pause the implementation of their Digital Services Tax. For our American partners, this is nothing but an unfair tax that's putting millions of Canadian jobs at risk. — Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 19, 2024 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Carney Liberals, much like the Trudeau Liberals refuse to listen to the Americans when they have issues with us on trade, but we expect them to listen to us. The Liberals seem to think this is a one-way conversation where we talk, they listen, and we get what we want. I've been hearing for months that we haven't caved on the DST because we are holding out to get something in return for dropping it. The tax comes into effect Monday, we have refused to drop it and we have gotten nothing in return. This isn't a Mark Carney elbows up moment; this is a complete and utter failure that anyone paying attention could have predicted. 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