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CBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Are first ministers' meetings cool again?
Social Sharing When Mark Carney sits down with the premiers in Huntsville, Ont., on Tuesday, it will be the third time in four months that he and the premiers have met face-to-face. Going back to the waning days of Justin Trudeau's premiership, Canada's first ministers will have now sat down together a total of four times already this year. That is, by recent standards, an unusual amount of time for the prime minister and the premiers to spend in each other's midst. In the last 35 years, such gatherings have been generally rare and, in fact, consciously avoided. But it's possible that the day of the first ministers' conference has come (again). After years of relative estrangement, Canada's leaders may need to get reacquainted, not simply for their own sake, but to reinforce a country that is faced with new threats and a new era of instability. Coming out of the shock of the pandemic and now amid both the profound disruption brought about by Trump's presidency and the emergence of new internal threats to Canada's federation, there have been calls to strengthen relations between the federal and provincial governments. Most concretely, that could include reviving the sort of summits that used to be commonplace. WATCH | What's on the agenda for Carney's Tuesday meeting?: U.S. tariffs, trade to top agenda when Carney meets with premiers 2 days ago Canada's premiers are gathering in Ontario for a three-day meeting to discuss U.S. tariffs, interprovincial trade barriers and infrastructure. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has said a trade deal with the U.S. may involve accepting some export levies, will join the talks on Tuesday. Lori Turnbull, political science professor at Dalhousie University, weighs in. "We need systemic reform designed to foster trust, not just transaction," Jared Wesley, a political scientist at the University of Alberta, wrote in May. "This means re-introducing routine, rules-based intergovernmental relations, where leaders know they'll meet regularly, under shared agendas, with accountability built into the process. "That starts with institutionalizing first ministers' meetings, moving them from sporadic events to annual fixtures with jointly determined priorities." In previous eras that would have been an unremarkable recommendation. The rise and fall of the first ministers' meeting According to a tally compiled by Alasdair Roberts, a Canadian professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, prime ministers and premiers met 25 times during the busy post-war period between 1945 and 1970. They then met 31 times between 1971 and 1992, a period highlighted by tumultuous negotiations over the Constitution. But as Roberts documents in The Adaptable Country, his 2024 treatise on the need for institutional reform in Canada, the fraught and exhausting negotiations of the '70s and '80s gave such meetings a bad name. And there followed a succession of prime ministers who were, either personally or politically, disinclined to meet the premiers as a group. Jean Chrétien met the premiers just four times in 10 years. Stephen Harper also convened the first ministers on just four occasions, two of which were dinner meetings. Trudeau came to office promising annual meetings, but ultimately convened only a handful (though he did hold regular video calls with the premiers during the pandemic). WATCH | Ford hails Saskatoon meeting: That different levels of government should communicate and collaborate as much as possible, particularly in a decentralized federation such as Canada, might seem fairly obvious. But the conventional political wisdom in Ottawa has come to be that, at least for prime ministers, meetings with the premiers as a group are to be avoided. A prime minister who wants to pursue an initiative that requires provincial agreement is better off, the thinking goes, dictating terms and negotiating with provincial governments individually — as the Trudeau government, for instance, did on child care, health care and school nutrition programs. Meanwhile, in the absence of regular meetings, the premiers have contented themselves with semi-regular demands that the prime minister meet with them to address some complaint about federal policy or demand for federal funding — thus reinforcing the accepted wisdom that the prime minister was better off avoiding them. Do we need an annual Canada summit? In The Adaptable Country, Roberts identifies three purposes to summits like first ministers' conferences. First, and most obviously, such meetings can lead to agreements on policy. But, Roberts writes, "equally important is the goal of demonstrating solidarity." "Leaders gather to show the world that they are committed to an alliance, even when they have sharp differences, and also to show they can talk civilly about those differences," he writes. Relatedly, such meetings can also allow for sharing information and perspectives, improving understanding and promoting co-ordinated action. Set against the long and torturous history of federal-provincial conflict in Canada — a tradition as old as the country itself — such expectations for first ministers' meetings might seem optimistic. But in making the case for an annual meeting of first ministers, Roberts points to the example of the G7. And while the future of that body has been called into question lately, Carney himself defended the value of those gatherings when he closed this year's summit in Kananaskis, Alta., last month. "At a time when multilateralism is under great strain … that we got together, that we agreed on a number of areas … that's important, that's valuable," the prime minister said. If the world benefits from such meetings — which have occurred every year since 1975, with the exception of 2020 — could Canada not benefit from its own regular summits? If first ministers' conferences had come to be associated with acrimony, that might have had much to do with the subject matter — namely, the Constitution. And while avoiding such meetings might have been the politically expedient thing for a prime minister to do, there might be less freedom to aim for mere expediency these days. That Carney will have met the premiers face-to-face three times already might suggest he is more inclined toward working through these kinds of gatherings. But all these meetings have been prompted by the need to respond to an immediate crisis — the American president's tariffs. What Roberts envisions is an annual summit — including Indigenous leadership — that would focus not on hammering out agreements on specific initiatives, but would, like a G7, aim more broadly. It would help drive and focus a longer-term discussion about the direction of the country at a time of incredible change (a royal commission would be another option). Because what Canada is faced with now is not a short-term crisis — and Roberts fears the Carney government is still framing Canada's current situation as a temporary challenge. "What we need is a conversation to get everybody on the same page, so far as we can, about what the country is going to look like a generation from now," he says. "I'm not thinking of that Canada summit as a mechanism for handling some agreement about, you know, interprovincial trade barriers. I'm talking about it as a planning event, something with the kind of scale and gravitas of the G7 because that will focus national attention on long-term priorities." There is no shortage of big and serious things to talk about and figure out right now. And in the interests of figuring them out, the nation's leaders might do themselves — and the country — some good by simply sitting around the table on a regular basis to talk about them.
Travel Weekly
17-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Summer golf trips are in full swing. Will an inbound drop be a handicap?
The destination golf market, which has been booming since the pandemic, is primed for another strong year as summer begins. The impact of one setback, however, is still to be determined: a drop in bookings from inbound golfers to the U.S., which tour operators are reporting. According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), 12.1 million U.S. adults played golf as part of an overnight vacation in 2024, either domestically or abroad. The figure is slightly down from 12.2 million in 2023 but is still tracking approximately 20% above the average of the three years preceding Covid. NGF surveys show that this year, 41% of people who play at least eight golf rounds per year plan to take an overnight golf trip, down just slightly from the 43% who did so last year. "Overall, the golf travel economy really seems to be moving along with continued strength," CEO Greg Nathan said. Nathan said the marketplace has been especially buoyed by unyielding demand for the most prestigious U.S. golf resorts, such as Pebble Beach on California's Monterey Peninsula and the seven-course Bandon Dunes facility along the Oregon coast, where the newest course, called Shorty's, opened last year. "Trophy courses -- for the most part, they are booked a year in advance," Nathan said. Meanwhile, courses that cater to the travel market are making up an increasing share of the U.S. golf course stock. Overall, just under 10% of the nearly 14,000 U.S. golf courses are affiliated with a resort, the NGF said. But over the past five years, 31% of new openings are resort-related. When destination courses that don't have a resort affiliation are included, that number increases to approximately 40%. Nathan said the trend will continue, in part because it has become cost prohibitive in many cases to build courses in major metropolitan areas. Many of the relatively small number of courses that are being built are located in farther-afield locations suited primarily to the destination market. The 18th hole at Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island, S.C., one of the most recognizable finishing holes in golf. Photo Credit: Golfbreaks Growth in destination properties KemperSports, operator of more than 180 golf courses nationwide, including Bandon Dunes, classifies more than 25 courses in its portfolio as destination properties. It's a number that has grown over the years with the development of bucket-list destinations Streamsong in Florida, which opened in 2013 and has for four courses, and the similarly acclaimed Sand Valley in Wisconsin, which has five courses and debuted in 2017. KemperSports has also grown its portfolio of midmarket destination golf courses, including Tidewater in South Carolina's Myrtle Beach area, which it added in 2023. CEO Steve Skinner said the growing emphasis that consumers, including young adults, began placing on experiences during the pandemic carried over to the golf market and hasn't abated. "We have not seen any signs of a slowdown caused by a recession or economic turmoil at any level of the destinations," Skinner said. "Tidewater is going to have a record year this year. For the rest of this year and early next year, demand remains strong." Tidewater, in the Myrtle Beach area, is expecting a record year in 2025. Photo Credit: KemperSports Strength, with areas of weakness Golf tour operators are similarly reporting strength, both in U.S. domestic sales and bookings for golf trips abroad. Daniel Grave, CEO of Golfbreaks, said the multinational company's U.S. operation grew 27% in its previous fiscal year, which ended on May 1, and projects 25% growth this fiscal year. Golfbreaks, which is the market leader in the U.K. outbound golf tour operator market, expanded to the U.S. in 2016. An area of weakness, however, is inbound golfers from Canada, Grave said, adding that 10% to 15% of Golfbreak's North American business is typically Canadians traveling to golf in the U.S. This year he is anticipating a 50% drop-off in that market. "The Trump effect is definitely negatively impacting travel into the U.S., and that includes golf travel," Grave said. Joe Cerino, owner of the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based tour operator Sophisticated Golfer, said concern about the impact Trump policies are having on the sentiment of European golfers was pervasive at the European Convention of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators, which was held last month in the Canary Islands. "A lot of the operators that are based in Europe, and some of them that are in business for a long time and sold the U.S. as a destination — that business has really taken a major hit," Cerino said. He particularly noted concern from German tour operators who attended the conference. Skinner, though, said that KemperSports' courses have yet to see a related impact on their businesses, though he noted anecdotal reports of a slowdown in Canadian bookings. "Time will tell," he said. "We might see that impact coming later this year."
Reuters
16-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Poland has deals to allocate 45% of its EU pandemic recovery funds, ministry says
WARSAW, June 16 (Reuters) - Poland has signed agreements to distribute over 117 billion zlotys ($32 billion) of European Union pandemic recovery funds to local beneficiaries, 45% of the country's total allocation from Brussels, the Development Funds Ministry said on Monday. EU Resilience and Recovery Funds are meant to boost member states' economies following the COVID-19 pandemic and Poland is counting on them to boost growth to 3.7% this year. Poland's allocation totals 255 billion zlotys and is split into grants and preferable loans. "After one and a half years we have already contracted 117 billion zlotys. These investments are already happening," Development Funds Minister Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz said during a press conference. "(It's) 774,000 signed contracts. This gives you an idea of how many beneficiaries there are, how big this project is," she added. The contracts include 66.5 billion zlotys in grants, 60%of the allocation, and close to 50.7 billion zlotys in loans, 33.5% of the allocation, according to the ministry data. Poland has so far received 67 billion zlotys of the recovery funds under three payment requests and expects further 26.3 billion zlotys from a fourth and fifth request in August. The ministry plans two more payment requests this fall, one next spring and a ninth request in September 2026. Last week, the European Commission extended the deadline for Poland to carry out investments under the programme till the end of 2026. It previously had run through August 2026. ($1 = 3.6829 zlotys)
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Supporting R.I. kids' mental health? There's a plan for that. And it's working.
Key metrics tracked by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island show improvement in the mental health of Rhode Island children. Despite progress, there is more work to be done. (Photo by Evgeniia Siiankovskaia/Getty) It's Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, and we are encouraged to see some positive trends continuing as the pandemic fades into the past. Back in 2021, the national percentage of high schoolers feeling sad and hopeless rose to 42%, a peak after several years of worsening scores. Since then, here in Rhode Island, key internal indicators we track at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island have been moving steadily in the right direction for members ages 18 and under. From 2021 to 2024, we have seen year-over-year improvements for both inpatient admissions (down 25%) and for emergency department visits (down 13%). For those of us working in mental health, the pandemic exposed a problem we had seen growing for years and prompted the U.S. surgeon general to issue an advisory calling on the nation to 'step up for children.' Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island had already recognized we had an important role to play. In 2018, we eliminated many prior authorization requirements for mental health services to improve access to care. After carefully considering how we could best serve our members and their communities, we launched a three-year plan in 2023 aimed at supporting the mental health of 110,000 Rhode Island youths and children, about half of the state's under 18 population. Highlights of the plan include: Assisting vulnerable populations: We worked with providers in our behavior health network to increase the availability of urgent appointments, potentially avoiding unnecessary visits to hospital emergency departments, and we collaborated with Bradley Hospital on offering clinicians free autism and anxiety training, plus stipends, to help them better serve children and youth. Early identification and treatment: We increased reimbursement rates for early intervention care, offered incentives to pediatric primary care sites to integrate behavioral health care into their practices, expanded virtual care options, supported behavioral health startup Braver's use of trained coaches to ramp up its exposure therapy program for children's anxiety, and provided assistance to school-based mental health intervention programs, including Project SUCCESS and Mood Check. Prevention and awareness: We coordinated Teen Mental Health First Aid trainings, promoted digital emotional wellness coaching for parents and caregivers through The Greatest 8, seeded the expansion of the Chris Collins Foundation's school-based peer-to-peer program and supported youth recreation programs run by Recess Rocks in RI and Boys & Girls Clubs. We're encouraged by our progress so far. Over the past two years, we estimate that our collaborative efforts have helped touch the lives of about 130,000 youths, exceeding our original goal, and we are likely to surpass 200,000 by the end of 2025. New KIDS COUNT Factbook outlines what's a stake for vulnerable R.I. kids We've named just some of our valued partners here, but they and many others are foundational to the goals of our plan. They share our commitment to building healthier families and communities and we're proud to support their efforts to launch and grow programs and services that promote the wellbeing and mental health of Rhode Island youths. Clearly, there is still much work to do. For example, the just-released 2025 RI KIDS COUNT Factbook noted that there was a significant increase in mental health hospitalizations for children on Medicaid in 2024 and that the number of calls to the Kids' Link RI triage service, although down in 2024, still totaled 5,386. We know we join all our partners throughout May in recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month — a time to reflect on the progress we've made and, importantly, to recommit ourselves to creating safe and supportive environments, promoting mental health education, reducing, and ensuring access to high quality mental health care. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
