
Final day for Canada's premiers to meet at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ont.
Canada's premiers are set to meet for the third and final day in Ontario cottage country Wednesday with internal trade, public safety and health care on the agenda.
The premiers met with Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday as the August 1 deadline looms to strike a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Carney says he's not worried about the impending deadline, stating that his government will use all the time that's necessary to get the best deal.
The prime minister described his ideal agreement as one that preserves, reinforces and stabilizes the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. while still leaving Canada free to pursue other interests.
Related Articles
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Toronto Star
44 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
How can Canada fight Trump's tariffs? Take a page from his ‘One Big Beautiful Bill'
Once he signed his aggressive tax and spending strategy aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, President Trump wasted no time ramping up his global tariff war. For Canada, that means facing the potential threat of a 35 per cent levy on top of sectoral tariffs. With Canada exporting more than 70 per cent of its goods to the U.S. and the U.S. exporting just over 17 per cent of its goods to Canada, President Trump knows the math is not in Canada's favour for an extended tariff war. So how can Canada fight back — and win? By diversifying trade, streamlining regulations and cutting taxes. I believe tax cuts, in particular, are extremely important to attract investment, skilled talent and help businesses and the economy grow. Prime Minister Carney is already taking steps to position Canada for a future where the U.S. plays a lesser role in our economy. How Canada is adapting If there is one silver lining in the chaos President Trump has created, it's that Canada and the rest of the world are forging new trade partnerships that do not include the U.S. The result: Canadian exports to the U.S. have decreased from 75.9 per cent in 2024 to 68.3 per cent in May 2025 — their lowest since 1997, excluding COVID — while exports to countries other than the U.S. rose for a third consecutive monthly high in May. This is likely not an outcome President Trump had anticipated and I expect this trend will continue. It's a good development for Canada and the rest of the world. The federal and provincial governments are also working to remove all interprovincial trade barriers. This could boost GDP by between three and eight per cent, lower prices by up to 15 per cent and add up to $200 billion to the national economy. Canada is taking care of business and implemented Bill C-5 to accelerate major projects such as building pipelines and infrastructure for Ontario's Ring of Fire rare earth minerals project. The case for tax reform Focusing on trade and deregulation are important and a great start, but there is a third action Canada needs to take if it wants to succeed in this trade war. And that requires taking a page from the President's landmark budget. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the One Big Beautiful Bill is about stimulating growth and increasing GDP, in part by using tax cuts to incentivize investments in U.S. manufacturing. He argues that a growing economy will offset the growing national debt. I agree. To that end, the new budget extends corporate tax breaks, provides specific tax benefits to spur the building of new manufacturing facilities, and allows 100 per cent tax writeoffs for equipment costs in the first year of purchase versus amortizing these costs over multiple years. All are good for business. For individuals, the budget eliminates tax on overtime and tips — increasing take-home pay and wages. Why would anyone in Canada want to work overtime when it could put you in an even higher tax bracket? It's not worth it. Not taxing overtime wages helps the bottom line of businesses, workers and the economy by improving productivity — a big issue for Canada. If we are going to compete against our biggest trading partner, we need tax reform, and Canada's new one per cent cut for the middle class is not enough. Carney has asked cabinet, the Bank of Canada and Crown corporations to cut spending by billions of dollars over the next three years. The focus of those cuts should be to drive growth as Canadian GDP has been flat for much of the year. Now is the time to lay the foundation for future growth. In a decade, we will look back on 2025 as the year Canada changed — hopefully for the better. If we can negotiate good trade deals around the world, open up trade domestically and become less reliant on the U.S. then that would be a long-lasting benefit for our children and grandchildren. We can't fight tariffs with tariffs, but if we can look at every policy through the lens of improving business and growth — this is how we win.


CTV News
44 minutes ago
- CTV News
Auditor general to study hiring, promotion of public servants with disabilities
OTTAWA — The federal auditor general is planning to study the recruitment, retention and promotion of people with disabilities in the federal public service. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through Access to Information indicate that the audit is expected to be tabled in the spring. Claire Baudry, a spokesperson for the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, said in an email that while auditor general Karen Hogan expects to table the report in Parliament in 2026, the audit is in the planning phase and any comment on its scope or timelines now would be 'premature.' Hogan's office sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Board Bill Matthews on March 7 notifying him of the upcoming study. The most recent employment equity report for the public service says that since March 2020, the number of people with disabilities has increased steadily in the core public service — the federal government departments and agencies that fall under Treasury Board. But that number remains below the rate of 'workforce availability' — the metric used by the government to measure the share of the national workforce that is eligible for federal public service work. As of 2024, 21,089 people with disabilities were working in the federal public service, up from 17,410 in 2023, 14,573 in 2022 and 12,893 in 2021. The report also found that representation of people with disabilities among government executives was above the rate of workforce availability. As of March 2024, 9.7 per cent of federal executives were people with disabilities, up from 4.6 per cent in March 2019. The employment equity report also looked at promotions in the core public service. It found that 2,517 federal public servants with disabilities were promoted in 2024. The report also tracked 1,642 promotions of Indigenous public servants, 1,788 promotions of Black employees, 8,115 promotions of members of visible minorities and 19,578 promotions of women in the core public service. Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, said he hopes the report will take into account the impact of the government's return-to-office mandate on people with disabilities. The government has gradually increased the number of days public servants must be in the office since the end of the pandemic. As of last fall, most public servants are expected to work in-office at least three days per week, while executives are required to be there at least four days per week. 'We hope to see from the report a snapshot before and after the forced return to office took place to see how many workers with disabilities are leaving the federal public sector and taking their expertise with them, while other workers struggle with increasing workload and now cuts — all when we had an easy and workable solution in front of us this whole time,' Prier said. 'During the pandemic we saw on a large scale how telework worked well for so many workers with disabilities, and we've been disappointed to see that, since the forced and mismanaged return to office, those same people have not been getting accommodations or have been made to jump through hoops in a long, drawn-out process,' he said. Rola Salem, a spokesperson for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, said in an email that the Government of Canada has committed to building an accessible and inclusive public service and, in 2024, exceeded its goal of hiring 5,000 people with disabilities. Salem said the secretariat welcomes the opportunity to work with the Office of the Auditor General on the planned audit. The Employment Equity Act defines 'persons with disabilities' as people who have a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment or believe that an employer is likely to consider them disadvantaged. The definition also includes people whose limitations have been accommodated in the workplace. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2025. Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press


Globe and Mail
44 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Fowl play
Clandestine surveillance, allegations of unsafe chicken and a broken business relationship: the story behind a Canadian lawsuit against Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Susan Krashinsky Robertson Retailing reporter The Globe and Mail Augo Pinho, president and CEO of ADP Direct Poultry, at the company's Etobicoke chicken processing facility. Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail to view this content.