Latest news with #JasonKenney
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Premiers need to ‘put up or shut up' on internal trade at first ministers' meeting: Jason Kenney
Former premiers Jason Kenney and Kathleen Wynne weigh in on trade with the U.S. and what Canada should be focusing on. Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney says the provinces and territories need to maintain the momentum spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and make quicker progress on eliminating interprovincial trade barriers. Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with all of Canada's premiers on Monday, with interprovincial trade — and his promise to eliminate barriers to that trade by Canada Day — on the agenda. During a panel interview with former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne for CTV's Question Period, Kenney said while he has 'a bit of skepticism' based on his previous experience trying to negotiate internal trade, he's hopeful. 'It's time for the premiers to put up or shut up,' Kenney told host Vassy Kapelos. 'This is, again, the time to be bold.' 'We had a sense of real urgency about 10 weeks ago because of the Trump threats,' Kenney added. 'Let's not lose that. Let's grasp this opportunity. Let's not waste a good crisis.' Repeatedly stating the longstanding Canada-U.S. relationship is 'over,' in the face of Trump's sweeping global tariffs, Carney vowed during the election campaign to diversify Canada's trading partners and 'create one Canadian economy out of 13.' Kenney said Monday's meeting has the potential to be 'hugely' significant, especially considering Carney 'has inflated expectations to sky-high levels.' He said while he's hopeful progress could come from the gathering, he also worries the prime minister could be 'setting himself up for great disappointment.' The former premier pointed to his previous efforts to 'create some momentum' on eliminating interprovincial trade barriers, but adding 'virtually no one followed suit.' 'Every premier is going to come with their own shopping list,' Kenney said, adding meetings between the prime minister and the premiers 'often devolve into what I call, derisively, begging-bowl federalism.' 'I hope they think in the national interest, they see the big strategic imperative to expand our economy, turn around the decline in productivity, expand our export markets,' Kenney said. 'This isn't an opportunity to go in front of the prime minister and just pitch for that highway you've been trying to finance or that new hospital you want to build.' Wynne said she thinks much of the provincial jockeying in service of regional self-interests will be put on pause for the sake of the national interest. The former Ontario premier added she doesn't think Carney will put up with the 'begging-bowl scenario,' which she called 'kind of a harsh version of it.' 'I think that he is going to be extremely clear about what the agenda has to be,' Wynne said. 'All the premiers have got their priorities, they've laid out their priorities. They're not going to get everything.' 'So, my hope is that there will be some clarity around at least what the plan is going forward,' she added. Some provinces have been taking action to remove some internal trade barriers, including New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt pushing for an Atlantic Canada free-trade zone. Ontario and Prince Edward Island are also working with Nova Scotia to introduce reciprocal legislation with the aim of eliminating internal trade barriers. And, on Friday, the Quebec government tabled what the province's economy minister called an 'ambitious' bill, which would help open the province's borders to products from other regions. Despite this, several sticking points remain in place and many interprovincial trade barriers continue to exist, such as geographic restrictions on the sale of certain goods, regulatory and policy differences across jurisdictions, and hurdles to labour mobility.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
CTV QP: What to expect when premiers meet with PM Carney
Watch Former premiers Jason Kenney and Kathleen Wynne weigh in on trade with the U.S. and what Canada should be focusing on.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Premiers need to ‘put up or shut up' on internal trade at first ministers' meeting: Jason Kenney
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney says the provinces and territories need to maintain the momentum spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and make quicker progress on eliminating interprovincial trade barriers. Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with all of Canada's premiers on Monday, with interprovincial trade — and his promise to eliminate barriers to that trade by Canada Day — on the agenda. During a panel interview with former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne for CTV's Question Period, Kenney said while he has 'a bit of skepticism' based on his previous experience trying to negotiate internal trade, he's hopeful. 'It's time for the premiers to put up or shut up,' Kenney told host Vassy Kapelos. 'This is, again, the time to be bold.' 'We had a sense of real urgency about 10 weeks ago because of the Trump threats,' Kenney added. 'Let's not lose that. Let's grasp this opportunity. Let's not waste a good crisis.' Repeatedly stating the longstanding Canada-U.S. relationship is 'over,' in the face of Trump's sweeping global tariffs, Carney vowed during the election campaign to diversify Canada's trading partners and 'create one Canadian economy out of 13.' Kenney said Monday's meeting has the potential to be 'hugely' significant, especially considering Carney 'has inflated expectations to sky-high levels.' He said while he's hopeful progress could come from the gathering, he also worries the prime minister could be 'setting himself up for great disappointment.' The former premier pointed to his previous efforts to 'create some momentum' on eliminating interprovincial trade barriers, but adding 'virtually no one followed suit.' 'Every premier is going to come with their own shopping list,' Kenney said, adding meetings between the prime minister and the premiers 'often devolve into what I call, derisively, begging-bowl federalism.' 'I hope they think in the national interest, they see the big strategic imperative to expand our economy, turn around the decline in productivity, expand our export markets,' Kenney said. 'This isn't an opportunity to go in front of the prime minister and just pitch for that highway you've been trying to finance or that new hospital you want to build.' Wynne said she thinks much of the provincial jockeying in service of regional self-interests will be put on pause for the sake of the national interest. The former Ontario premier added she doesn't think Carney will put up with the 'begging-bowl scenario,' which she called 'kind of a harsh version of it.' 'I think that he is going to be extremely clear about what the agenda has to be,' Wynne said. 'All the premiers have got their priorities, they've laid out their priorities. They're not going to get everything.' 'So, my hope is that there will be some clarity around at least what the plan is going forward,' she added. Some provinces have been taking action to remove some internal trade barriers, including New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt pushing for an Atlantic Canada free-trade zone. Ontario and Prince Edward Island are also working with Nova Scotia to introduce reciprocal legislation with the aim of eliminating internal trade barriers. And, on Friday, the Quebec government tabled what the province's economy minister called an 'ambitious' bill, which would help open the province's borders to products from other regions. Despite this, several sticking points remain in place and many interprovincial trade barriers continue to exist, such as geographic restrictions on the sale of certain goods, regulatory and policy differences across jurisdictions, and hurdles to labour mobility.
National Observer
22-05-2025
- Politics
- National Observer
Pierre Poilievre needs to fight for Canada
As a conspicuously educated and literate man, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney is surely familiar with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And yet, it still didn't stop him from creating his own political monster in the United Conservative Party, a sewn-together beast that is now wreaking havoc on both his province and country by empowering and amplifying Alberta's separatist movement. 'This is playing with fire,' Kenney told the media at ATCO 's recent annual general meeting. 'And if Albertans doubt that, look at a real historical example of what happened in Quebec's economy as a result of merely the election of a PQ government.' He wasn't the only Conservative warning about the economic risks associated with the Alberta government's de-facto surrender to the province's separatists. "I think the separatist discussion is very unhelpful and not constructive to Alberta," ATCO CEO (and longtime Conservative) Nancy Southern said. It's worth pointing out that the fire Kenney's warning Albertans about wouldn't be nearly as easy for Danielle Smith to start he hadn't brought the fringe elements of Alberta's Conservative movement into the province's political mainstream. It hasn't helped that Conservative politicians, pundits and business leaders have spent the last decade telling Albertans that their economic woes were the direct result of a hostile and malicious federal government. Those arguments may have helped them win elections, attract donations and otherwise keep their supporters properly lathered. Now, they're the kindling that's actively fueling the separatist fire. This fire won't get extinguished by fact-wielding progressives, much as they — and I — will try. Instead, it will have to be fought primarily by Conservatives like Jason Kenney. As former NDP advisor and podcaster Zain Velji said on a recent episode of The Strategists, 'you want to be really careful about who forms the opposition here. In some ways, if this could be a battle of Conservatism, that is actually what leads to potential success.' That means folks like former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former CPC interim Leader Rona Ambrose, and high-profile members of parliament like Michelle Rempel-Garner ought to step forward and defend their country. It also means that Pierre Poilievre's impending by-election in Battle River-Crowfoot, where the CPC candidate won 82 per cent of the vote in April, suddenly takes on even more importance. That's because it offers Poilievre an important opportunity to stand up for Canada and help advance the fight against the very same separatist Alberta Conservatives that he has courted in the past. As columnist Chantal Hebert said on a recent episode of Good Talk, 'no future prime minister can be grey on the issue of national unity.' That's especially true for a politician running in a province where the idea of separating from Canada is being actively debated. In some respects, he may have chosen the worst possible riding in which to do that. A recent poll found that 70 per cent of federal Conservative voters in Alberta support separating from Canada, and that figure is probably even higher in Poilievre's chosen riding given its rural (and deeply Conservative) nature. Coming out strongly against the idea of Alberta independence would guarantee a backlash from many of the voters who marked a ballot for his party in April. Pierre Poilievre avoided a fight by picking the safest Conservative riding in Canada for his byelection. Now, with Alberta's separatists on the march, he has one on his hands anyways. How he responds to it will determine his political future. If Poilievre wants to win the next federal election, he should welcome that backlash. It would help put some distance between him and the fringier elements of his political base, and show Canadians in the rest of the country where his loyalties really lie. It would almost certainly win him support in places like British Columbia, Ontario, and the Maritimes, where the idea of Alberta separating from Canada is seen as irresponsible and reckless nonsense. And it would give him the chance to reinvent himself as the person who protected Canada rather than the one who relished describing it as broken and stupid. This won't be easy for Poilievre. He would have to abandon the story he's told Canadians — and especially Albertans — for years now, one in which the Liberal government is the architect of all their pain and suffering. He would have to show Albertans they're better off as part of a united Canada than on their own, and in so doing renounce some of the lies they now treat as gospel. Canada isn't trying to kill their oil and gas industry — far from it, in fact. And Carney isn't the biggest threat to their prosperity. That would be Donald Trump. Hardest of all, perhaps, he'd have to at least implicitly acknowledge the damage his particular brand of politics has done to the fabric of our country. It's easy to get people to blame someone else for their misfortunes, and easier still to make them angry at some politically convenient scapegoat. That's especially true when you have access to the tools of social media, which Poilievre has wielded more effectively than any politician in Canada. Getting people to calm down and see reason after they've been fed a steady diet of partisan fearmongering and falsehoods is a much more daunting challenge. But if Poilievre actually wants to change the reputation he's earned over his long career in politics, he'll have to do more than just embark on yet another image makeover. Using his forthcoming byelection as an opportunity to renounce and rebuke Alberta's separatist movement, and the politicians enabling it, would be a good start.
Globe and Mail
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Letters to the editor, May 21: ‘As predictable as the sunrise: an early elimination of the Leafs … and the election of another Liberal government'
Re 'Separate out' (Letters, May 16): So now we have Preston Manning, still with matches in hand, suggesting that the forest fire he's tried to light can best be contained with Danielle Smith's referendum backfire strategy. Here's hoping that strategy backfires. Steve Pedretti Toronto I was pleased to read the sensible comments regarding Alberta separation by Jason Kenney and ATCO CEO Nancy Southern; much less so those of Preston Manning, who attempts a firefighting metaphor to justify Danielle Smith's words and actions. But firefighters would never deliberately make it easier for a fire to start in the first place. They would have no hesitation in saying that, after all, their goal is to put it out. Jamie Syer Mountain View County, Alta. A letter-writer from Saskatchewan asks if he is an 'owner' of Alberta. I say yes, and so is every other Canadian. Canada financed Alberta's development and connected it to the rest of the world, importing people and exporting its bountiful resources. All Canadians, through their elected representatives, would have to agree to any change to Alberta's status as a province within the federation. Until then, nobody's going anywhere. Jeremy Klein Ottawa Re 'Canada Post receives strike notice, workers set to walk out on Friday' (Report on Business, May 20): Here we go again, another strike that seems to ignore the seriousness and causes of the situation Canada Post faces going forward. Times, technologies and business models change all the time, and neither Canada Post nor the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have dealt with the problem in a timely fashion. I think the reality is that we do not need home delivery, and we probably don't need deliveries more than twice a week. Shift and work flexibility are likely required, along with a timeline to either adapt successfully or wind up the business. We cannot afford the current system. Richard Dean Sidney, B.C. Re 'Mark Carney's bulky and performative cabinet' (May 14): What is considered 'performative' seems to be the 'identity politics' of 'reinstituted ministers responsible for women and gender equality, seniors, children and youth.' As the term 'performative' is defined as something 'not sincere but intended to impress someone, prove something is true,' might the trade- and commerce-heavy cabinet also demonstrate the current desperate desire to exhibit a new concept of 'economy-signalling?' Chester Fedoruk Toronto Re 'The new math – the Carney math – of the new government" (Report on Business, May 16): The new cabinet is referred to as 'bloated' because there are 28 ministers and 10 junior ministers. Does it matter what we call them? If there weren't 'junior ministers,' would there not have to be 'senior associate assistants' or some such? If Mark Carney had named only 20 ministers, would that be 'lean?' Doesn't the same work still have to get done? This debate reminds me of the old story about the guy buying a pizza: When the cook asks if he wants it cut into eight pieces, the fellow says, 'Oh, I'm not that hungry. Better cut it in four.' Bob Rafuse Beaconsfield, Que. Yes, it looks like the old Ford Model T, same as before. But let's give Canadians an opportunity to open up the hood for themselves: There is a brand new engine inside. Let newly elected Mark Carney, with experience in crisis management, select the people he feels he needs. Robert Marcucci Toronto I recall some years ago visiting the British cabinet war rooms under Whitehall in London. The war cabinet had five chairs at the table. Just saying. A.S. Brown Kingston As predictable as the sunrise: An early elimination of the Leafs from playoff contention, with solemn promises of big changes to come, and the election of another Liberal government – with solemn promises of big changes to come. Even with a change of 'coaches' and the optimistic prospect of renewal, many of us pretend it will be different. But I can see it coming a mile away: the myopic focus on individual stats, or the convening of a comically wonky cabinet. I am now inured to the idea of such predictable mediocrity deriving from two groups who never seem to manage to equal the sum of their component parts. We might be fooled yet again, but I think the certainty of knowing the ultimate inadequacy of both teams makes the eventual failure oddly reassuring. Dave McClurg Calgary Re 'After another Leafs playoff failure, let The Core Four era end' (Sports, May 20): I am not upset that the Leafs lost Game 7, it's that I am disappointed at how they played. Laurie Kochen Toronto I don't pretend to be a hockey mastermind, but I have wondered for several years why the Leafs haven't gotten rid of one or more of the Core Four. In spite of the brilliance of each player separately, their collective radiance hasn't jelled. I was around the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967. It was a disappointing moment for a young Habs fan to watch the great George Armstrong hoist the vessel and parade it around the arena. Things have changed hundreds of times since then, but the definition of failure remains doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The Leafs should jettison that 'wisdom' and trade or buy out a couple of the Core Four. A move like that would cause the entire bench to give its collective head a hard wake-up shake. Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta. My late dad George adored the Buds. Family first, the Leafs a close second. Growing up in the 1950s, George's father was an academic type who couldn't understand the infatuation with the Leafs. So, logically, his father thought it would be good to take him to a game to see for himself it wasn't anything special. I'm glad my Dad didn't see fans throwing jerseys at Game 7. Frustration sure, but that's just disrespectful to all involved. Shame on them. Squeezing the sticks, melting under pressure: Yes, but that is a common thing and only the eventual champion can say they overcame these natural tendencies. I believe the Leafs will get there sometime soon, and it will be sweet. Can't wait. Love to the Leafs, love to Dad. Roger Wright Tokyo With the Leafs eliminated yet again, have they announced the date that ticket prices will be hiked for next season? Ian Campbell Toronto Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@
