PCO clerk Sabia stayed on Mastercard Foundation board for a year with no conflict screen
The charity has met with several government figures during Michael Sabia’s tenure as Canada top civil servant, but says he was not involved
Joanna Smith
While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Joanna Smith.
Feds kick in $20M for battery-grade cobalt refinery in Ontario amid critical minerals push
The federal government is giving $20 million to Toronto-based Electra Battery Materials for its cobalt sulfate refinery in northeastern Ontario, The Logic has learned. The federal contribution to the $99.4-million project will flow through Ottawa’s $5-billion Strategic Response Fund, which replaced the flagship Strategic Innovation Fund last year.
Meet the fixer Carney called to save Canada-U.S. trade talks
Janice Charette likes to hear from others before she makes an important judgment call, inviting the views of colleagues as though seated around a family dinner table. But these days, fewer and fewer decisions can wait. Shortly before retiring as Canada’s top bureaucrat in June 2023, Charette described the current era of political and economic upheaval as one of permanent...
Mark Wiseman is out to land the biggest deal of his life
Around Christmas time in 2004, Mark Wiseman’s phone rang. It was a deal maker in Asia who was leaving the local office of U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group to start his own buyout firm in Seoul. The caller had the local knowledge and contacts, but needed capital. Wiseman, who led the private equity fund at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension...
Canada’s harder line on foreign steel a key step toward a deal with U.S., says LeBlanc
The federal government’s recent moves to guard against cheap foreign steel and aluminum flooding the domestic market could help Canada secure an economic and security deal with the United States, Dominic LeBlanc said in a recent interview with The Logic.
Beef and cheese on the table as U.K. and Canada revive talk of trade deal
Canada and the United Kingdom will strengthen ties by taking a fresh look at old trade irritants—including beef and cheese—and scanning the horizon for ways to grow the innovation economy together, says Britain’s envoy to Ottawa.
First Nations say they’re ready to fight the big projects Carney wants to hurry through
When Alvin Fiddler thinks back to the last time the federal government took a build-fast approach to major infrastructure projects, the first thing that comes to his mind is a small island on the Ottawa River, with a view of Parliament Hill. The Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation visited Victoria Island in Ottawa in 2013, after former Attawapiskat...
Danielle Smith wants Ottawa to do more to attract private investment in a new pipeline
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith believes Mark Carney is serious about constructing an oil pipeline to the North Coast of B.C., but says the prime minister must do more than speed up approvals to get anyone besides the federal government to build and pay for it.
Why Carney is counting on two Trudeau holdovers to tackle one of his top priorities
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to task two senior ministers with boosting economic co-operation across the country suggests he remains keen to keep pushing Canada to get out of its own way—even if his picks might remind voters of his unpopular predecessor. “We need to balance experience and new perspectives,” Carney said Tuesday after his new cabinet was sworn in...
Canadian warehouses want to become hubs for Chinese goods facing U.S. tariffs
Some U.S. companies selling Chinese goods have been diverting their wares to Canadian warehouses, hoping to wait out the sky-high tariffs from President Donald Trump. Jesse Mitchell, director of business development at Strader-Ferris International, a cross-border customs brokerage, shipping and logistics company based in Prescott, Ont., is trying to convince them to stay.
Liberals cementing lead over Conservatives on key trust questions, says new poll
The Liberals have kept up their lead when it comes to which party Canadians trust to manage the economy, according to a new The Logic poll by Abacus Data, the last in a series of surveys on economic priorities before election day. The Conservatives, meanwhile, remain competitive on the issue of affordability and are still viewed as the best placed...
Carney opens significant lead over Poilievre on economic trust, says new poll
The Liberals widened their lead over the Conservatives when it comes to which party Canadians most trust to steer the economy, according to a new The Logic poll by Abacus Data, although there was also a small drop in the share of people who plan to vote for them.
Canadians evenly split on whether retaliation is best way to fight Trump, says poll
Canadians are split right down the middle on whether retaliation—including with counter-tariffs—is the best way to handle U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a new The Logic poll by Abacus Data.
U.K. agency keen to back investments in Canadian nuclear power
The British government is looking to back investments in Canadian projects—including nuclear energy—through its export credit agency, which helps firms secure financing so long as 20 per cent of their procurement comes from the United Kingdom. U.K. Export Finance (UKEF) has been around for more than a century, but set up shop in Canada just last fall. Ozgur Kutay, a...
Canada is heading for a booze revolution—if the provinces stay out of the way
True bourbon can only be made south of the border, but a B.C.-made substitute for the iconic, corn-based Kentucky liquor has caught the attention of Canadians seeking homegrown products in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs. “Every time Donald opens his mouth on tariffs, or when he says even crazier stuff like the 51st state, there are spikes in sales,”...
Here are all the tariffs about to hit Canada—and which ones will hurt most
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened several layers of tariffs against Canada, while sowing confusion over the purpose and timelines of the levies in social media pronouncements and off-the-cuff remarks from the Oval Office.
Leaked audio: Trudeau says Trump wants to annex Canada for its critical minerals
In closed-door session with business leaders, PM suggests 51st state talk is serious and says Canada needs to mend fences with Mexico. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared his theory about what U.S. President Donald Trump is really after with his threats to annex Canada, and stressed the need to soothe Mexico, as he gathered business, industry and labour leaders to...
A key Trump advisor predicts ‘generational change’ is about to hit global trade
A key economic adviser to President Donald Trump shared a vision for transforming the international trading system last year that suggests the new administration views tariffs as far more than a short-term negotiating tactic to address grievances with allies such as Canada. “The desire to reform the global trading system and put American industry on fairer ground vis-à-vis the rest...