Missile defence system would cost Canada $61-billion, Trump says in social media post
U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that a proposed Golden Dome missile defence shield that he has previously said Canada wanted to be part of would cost Ottawa USD$61 billion.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week that the country is looking at potential investments in the proposed US$175-billion project.
The Prime Minister's Office confirmed last week that there are 'active discussions ongoing' with the Trump administration over the missile defence shield.
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Globe and Mail
17 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Wealthsimple is taking on the big banks - and might just surpass them
Having redefined investing, Wealthsimple has attempted to create the country's best bank account. It's too early to hand this distinction to Wealthsimple because it hasn't fully introduced all of its new banking features, some of which are gimmicky. But who are Wealthsimple's challengers? Big-bank innovation is an oxymoron, and alternative banking has been slow to take advantage. A thought for anyone unhappy with their bank account or curious what modern banking can look like: Open a chequing account at Wealthsimple and give it a try. No monthly fees mean no harm done if you don't like it. Typically, banks are supermarkets selling chequing and savings accounts, mortgages, lines of credit and investments. Wealthsimple comes across like a higher-end retailing experience where all these services interlock in ways that reward loyal clients. The more business you do with the company, the more you receive in interest and the less you pay in fees. Wealthsimple plans paperless cheques and Uber-like delivery of cash to customers' doors Wealthsimple CEO says banks are a tax on Canadians The Wealthsimple credit card offers unlimited 2-per-cent cash back at a monthly fee of $10, but that fee falls to zero if you have $100,000 or more with the company or you set up direct deposits of paycheques totalling $4,000 or more a month. The card also offers zero foreign-exchange fees, compared with the usual 2.5 per cent charged by other cards on purchases outside Canada. The Wealthsimple line of credit, set to arrive by year's end, will let you instantly borrow at rates as low as 4.45 per cent. The amount you can borrow is tied to your level of savings and investments with the company – in other words, how much collateral you have. Rates for a home equity line of credit, which can cost hundreds to set up, start around 5 per cent these days. The no-fee chequing account from Wealthsimple offers interest with a base rate of 1.75 per cent, a lowball offer in today's market. But there's a boost of half a percentage point if you set up a direct deposit of your paycheque, and you can get as high as 2.75 per cent if you have extensive assets with the company. Not having a physical branch network allows alternative banks to offer zero-fee chequing and better rates on savings than the big banks. But no other alt bank leans into digital banking like Wealthsimple, while also providing services people usually access through branches. For example, the company will offer paperless cheques that can be ordered on its app and delivered to the recipient. Cash can be ordered for delivery as well, as can bank drafts. Here we have an example of gimmickry – are there any under-40s in Canada who ever use cheques, or who don't pass a bank machine many times a day? Another question about these services is pricing. Wealthsimple hasn't firmed up the cost for all of them yet, a reminder that there are always limits to free banking. A few more novel features of the Wealthsimple chequing account: Security is obviously on Wealthsimple's mind because the company offers $1-million in deposit insurance through Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. Wealthsimple places deposits at multiple unnamed CDIC-member banks, a workaround for the usual $100,000 coverage limit per eligible account. Wealthsimple began as a robo-adviser, a business it continues to dominate. Next came self-directed investing on a platform that led the way in offering zero-commission trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds, and fractional trades that allow investors to buy less than a full share. Wealthsimple is not the best investing platform, and its move to offer private-equity and debt investments suggests unwise trend-chasing. But Canadian investing is more open and inclusive because of Wealthsimple. On the banking side, there's an expectation that the impending arrival of open banking will spark a wave of innovation and competition. Open banking means bank clients can securely share their information with new apps and alternative financial players. Obviously, Wealthsimple isn't waiting for the federal government to introduce rules for open banking. It's ramming innovations through at a rate that exceeds what big banks do in 10 years. Anyone creating a short list of top alternative banks needs to include EQ Bank, which offers 3.5-per-cent interest for now if you direct deposit paycheques of $2,000 a month or more. The base savings rate is just 1.25 per cent. Koho, Neo Financial and PC Financial are also worth a look for banking, while Questrade is on a hot streak as an investing innovator and is expected to get into banking. What makes Wealthsimple unique is the way it's building a seamless, state-of-the-art financial company that offers everything and rewards clients who take advantage. Ironically, the onetime upstart could turn out to be the next big bank. You should try them. Are you a young Canadian with money on your mind? To set yourself up for success and steer clear of costly mistakes, listen to our award-winning Stress Test podcast.
Montreal Gazette
23 minutes ago
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: It seems the courts can only do so much to protect English institutions from overreach
By Shock waves rippled across the globe last month when U.S. President Donald Trump slapped a ban on international students at Harvard University, part of his escalating war against America's oldest institution of higher learning. Harvard fought back and the courts granted a reprieve to 6,700 international students attending one of the world's most prestigious universities, including 700 Canadians. But it's clear Trump has it out for Harvard in particular as he seeks to remould American universities to prevent them from spreading supposedly 'woke,' leftist ideology and challenging his administration's undercutting of democracy. He has withdrawn billions in grants and research funding, arrested international students or revoked their visas, threatened universities' tax status, and interfered with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. It's a terrifying blow to academic freedom — an attack intended to weaken a powerful institution, driven by political motives and petty resentments. Closer to home, it's hard not to notice parallels with how Premier François Legault has been treating Quebec's English universities. His efforts to hobble them started well before Trump returned to office and his methods are more subtle. But some of the consequences are similar. In 2023, his government without warning announced the doubling of tuition for out-of-province students, a move disproportionately affecting McGill, Concordia and Bishop's universities. While the amount was eventually lowered to 33 per cent and Bishop's got a partial exemption, English schools were later told they had to ensure 80 per cent of their graduates attain an intermediate level of French to graduate. The government also said it would claw back a portion of international student tuition from English universities and redistribute it to francophone institutions. The stated objective of these punitive measures was to protect French. Government ministers blamed English-speaking university students from other provinces for anglicizing downtown Montreal while also lamenting they leave Quebec after they come here to study, instead of integrating and paying taxes. The fee increase seemed intended to make students from the rest of Canada feel unwelcome — and knock the English schools, McGill in particular, down a few pegs. Business leaders, most French university rectors, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, academics, student groups and an advisory committee reporting to Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry all denounced the tuition hike, warning it would hurt the economy, academia, scientific research and the vitality of the higher education ecosystem. It went ahead anyway. McGill and Concordia launched a legal challenge while their revenues, recruitment and reputations suffered. In April, Quebec Superior Court overturned the tuition fee increase and the onerous French requirements for out-of-province students, calling them 'unreasonable.' This week, Déry's office announced the Quebec government won't appeal the judgment that used words like 'unfounded,' 'fuzzy,' 'erroneous' and 'incoherence' to describe the factual basis (or lack thereof) justifying the manoeuvres. Yet instead of emerging chastened, the Legault government has been emboldened. Déry's office confirmed she intends to double down on the tuition increase while also emphasizing that Quebec is under no obligation to guarantee students from outside the province access to its universities. Time will tell what the latter chilling statement really means. But in the current context, it sounds ominous for McGill and Concordia. What looked like a partial win may end up amounting to pyrrhic victory. Or maybe more like Groundhog Day. The Legault government may simply plan to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to do what it intended in the first place, this time in a way that passes legal muster. It's making a generous interpretation of the judgment — taking it as constructive criticism rather than a stern rebuke. Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour struck down the tuition hike and French requirements, but he mainly found fault with 'poverty of evidence' and contradictory arguments for failing the test of 'reasonableness.' 'It's true that discretionary power warrants a lot of room to manoeuvre and that the court must grant the minister all the latitude to act. Restraint is required when it comes to decisions based on political choices,' Dufour wrote. 'But as important as discretion is, the minister must nevertheless demonstrate that it's being exercised in a reasonable manner, that's to say in this instance, with respect to existent and founded facts.' It's a ruling largely based on administrative principles. The judge steered clear of bigger questions pertaining to rights that were raised in the case because the technical flaws made them moot to the ultimate outcome. These include McGill's argument that the tuition hike for students from other provinces violated its equality rights on the basis of language. Since the judge left these matters unanswered, perhaps this will give the universities recourse in the future. Because the fight seems destined to continue with a government that has a track record of trying to diminish English institutions, be they school boards, colleges, hospitals or universities. The battle may even ramp up if the government looks to meddle in the composition of the student bodies. All Quebec universities are reeling from a drop in enrolment from international students because of changes to both federal and provincial policy. Their higher tuition helps make up for government underfunding and is essential to conducting scientific research. The crackdown on international students may be part of a Canada-wide plan to rein in the surging number of temporary immigrants, which has contributed to the housing crisis. But in Quebec, it's also part of a broader effort to reduce immigration for the purposes of protecting the French language and culture. Legault has made it no secret that he considers anglophone students from the rest of Canada a threat to French, too. The use of the word 'access' by Déry's office with regards to students from other provinces suggests a toughening of Quebec's stand and a sharpening of previous complaints about Quebecers having to 'subsidize' the education of young people from the rest of Canada. This portends ill for McGill and Concordia's efforts to attract the best and the brightest, since many of their students come from elsewhere in the country. It appears the courts can only do so much to protect English institutions from political leaders who read encouragement into rulings that should leave them embarrassed, and who have no qualms about trampling constitutional rights to achieve their aims, invoking the notwithstanding clause to shield laws that otherwise would be struck down. It gives new meaning to the slogan on the novelty T-shirts often sold near the Roddick Gates during frosh week: 'Harvard: America's McGill.'
Globe and Mail
31 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Post-Mulroney, the Conservatives' brand is ‘loser.' It's time for an overhaul
How have Conservatives fared since making the big swerve rightward in the early 1990s? We recall that under Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative banner they won majority governments in 1984 and 1988. Then along came the dividers, the ideologues of the Reform Party, who grabbed 52 seats in the 1993 election and then proceeded to swallow the old Tories whole. And the rest is history – a primarily painful party history. Since the late Mr. Mulroney's departure from the party leadership in 1993, the Liberals have won eight elections to the Conservatives' three. The question now is whether the party will continue on its Liberal gift-giving track or clue in and opt, like the Liberal Party has just done, for a change of course: in the Conservatives' case, a change that broadens their identity beyond their Prairies-driven populist brand. Lawrence Martin: Why the Conservatives should dump Poilievre – but won't To be sure, the Conservatives' tradition is to lose most of the time. But in being bracketed further on the right in recent decades, they've lost even more of the time. If we count the four years (or so) to come under Mark Carney, the Liberals will have been in power for 27 years since 1993. The Conservatives? Nine. Their three victories came under Stephen Harper, who also lost two elections. Whether the wins were on account of ideology is doubtful. Two of the three wins came against Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, arguably two of the weakest leaders in Liberal Party history. As for the Conservatives' defeats, three came courtesy of Jean Chrétien, one from Paul Martin, three from Justin Trudeau and one so far from Mr. Carney. In the meantime, a more moderate form of conservatism, as practiced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, has resulted in three straight majority victories in the province. On that more centrist side is where the federal party has been most successful, as exemplified by multiple election winners John A. Macdonald, John Diefenbaker and Mr. Mulroney. More bad news for the Conservative Party in its current form is the advantage the collapsed NDP gives the Liberals. Their plight, and Mr. Carney's shift away from left-leaning Trudeauism to the centre, means Liberals' available real estate has significantly expanded. It is especially the case if the Conservatives are cocooned on the right. Another factor that suggests the Conservatives need a big rethink is the plight of the populist brand. Leader Pierre Poilievre, who joined the Reform Party as a teenager, is an embedded populist. What Donald Trump is doing to the image of populism is ghastly. Under him, it is authoritarian, xenophobic, demagogic, vulgar, imperialist ... and I'll stop there. Lawrence Martin: How the Conservatives can save themselves: Changing Canada's image as the great white weakling of the North With the election of Mr. Carney – a big banker, an establishment man, a globalist respected for his knowledge – Canadians have signalled a turn away from populism. They're fed up with the politics of polarization. Mr. Carney might even bring back a modicum of respect for elites. His Liberals are popular in Quebec. As Mr. Mulroney argued, without Quebec the Conservatives' chances of winning a majority are scant. Post-Mulroney, the party has scored low in the province. A political party's deficiencies can be overcome with a popular leader, but the current Conservatives are saddled with one who lost his own seat and who, according to a new Nanos poll, is almost 25 points behind Mr. Carney in approval ratings. In the election campaign, many of Mr. Poilievre's economic policies were welcome enough, so much so that they were copied by the Liberals. Policy was less his problem than personality, likeability and his concocted look. Having been an MP for 20-plus years and party leader for almost three, that image is ingrained, hard to change. There's an old saying about all politics being local. That is not the case now. With foreign threats on the rise, with the country being bludgeoned by Donald Trump's tariffs, with Big Tech and AI posing new challenges, politics is becoming more and more global. The Liberals found a man of global stature to meet the times. Ironically, given all his political experience, Mr. Poilievre looks unseasoned by comparison. He has spent precious little time abroad. He gives no sense of having an informed global perspective. Hard economic times are ahead for the country. The Carney honeymoon will likely end before long. How he hopes to pay for all his wide-eyed promises is a mystery. There's a good chance the Conservatives will benefit in the polls, thus dampening momentum for bold change. But that would be folly. The trajectory Conservatives have been on since being overtaken by the Reform ideologues has been predominantly a failing one. They need put this phase of their history behind them.
