Paul Deegan

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 Paul Deegan.

Elbows up! It's time to reform government procurement

Elbows up! It's time to reform government procurement

U.S. President Donald Trump has denigrated our sovereignty and threatened our livelihoods through a pernicious and unjustifiable trade war. Against this backdrop, we need to push back and build up the Canadian economy by urgently tackling our weak productivity and excessive reliance on the U.S. market.

Six questions federal candidates had better have answers to

Six questions federal candidates had better have answers to

With Mark Carney now prime minister, we are, perhaps, days from him heading back to Rideau Hall to trigger the federal election. What the election should boil down to, paraphrasing Democratic strategist James Carville, is: “It’s Trump and the economy, stupid.” In this reality, the candidates must be laser-focused on serious issues with clear policy prescriptions, not campaign slogans and...

It's time for some tough choices, Canada

It's time for some tough choices, Canada

With his tariffs now a reality, U.S. President Donald Trump is weaponizing uncertainty to coerce businesses to move their operations to the United States. While we are now subject to 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs (10 per cent on energy), it’s unlikely all his tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports will remain in place. The cost to Americans, both producers...

Protecting Canada’s Economic Integrity in a New Threat Environment

Protecting Canada’s Economic Integrity in a New Threat Environment

A group of Canadian tech entrepreneurs recently launched something called Build Canada, which bills itself as “a platform of bold ideas for growth, innovation, and prosperity”. Perhaps because of the supersized influence of Elon Musk on Donald Trump and Big Tech CEOs lined up in an unseemly pay-to-play scheme at Trump’s inauguration, some are skeptical about Canadian tech entrepreneurs wanting...

We’re on the verge of a trade war with an agent of chaos. Here’s what Canadians need to know

We’re on the verge of a trade war with an agent of chaos. Here’s what Canadians need to know

Canadians don’t get U.S. President Donald Trump and why, though he’s agreed to a temporary reprieve, he’s still threatening to impose tariffs on us. We think he doesn’t understand how important we are to the U.S. We cite statistics like Canada is the largest export market for U.S. goods, the top export market for 34 states and accounts for the...

Beyond Tariffs: Reconciling Trump’s Demands and Canada’s Interests

Beyond Tariffs: Reconciling Trump’s Demands and Canada’s Interests

Canadian political leaders were caught flat-footed by President-elect Donald Trump’s warning that he would impose punitive tariffs on Canada and Mexico on day one of his presidency, citing our porous borders, which, he complains, have facilitated the movement of illegal immigrants and drugs into the United States. With his 25% tariff salvo, Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t...

The next federal election needs to be about the economy, stupid

The next federal election needs to be about the economy, stupid

Federal law says there has to be an election by Oct. 20 of next year. The current level of rancour in the House of Commons suggests it may come sooner rather than later. We believe, echoing Democratic strategist James Carville, that whenever it does happen it needs to be “about the economy, stupid.” Three issues should top the list: sound...

It’s Time for Corporate Canada to Take Action on Antisemitism

It’s Time for Corporate Canada to Take Action on Antisemitism

In a recent op ed in The Globe and Mail, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist wrote about “the disbelief among far too many in Canada that rising antisemitism is real, alongside the disbelief by many within the Jewish community that antisemitism has returned in a manner unseen since the Holocaust.” He asked Canadians to “simply believe us”. In...

The Geopolitical Economy: Nationalism, Populism and a New ‘Yes, We Can’

The Geopolitical Economy: Nationalism, Populism and a New ‘Yes, We Can’

The reality today is an uncomfortable mix of geopolitical turmoil, rising nationalism and rampant populism. A useful lens to try and make sense of it is “economic nationalism” – an old problem, recently re-framed on both the left and the right for a 21st-century economic reality. While the economy has influenced political trajectories and electoral outcomes since long before James...

A Global Context for Canada’s Budget: The IMF’s ‘Policy Tests’

A Global Context for Canada’s Budget: The IMF’s ‘Policy Tests’

“Without a course correction, we are indeed heading for ‘Tepid Twenties’ – a sluggish and disappointing decade.” While International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was speaking to the global community in her “curtain raiser” remarks in advance of the IMF/World Bank Spring 2024 meetings, her comments certainly apply to Canada’s diminished prospects, particularly for growth in real GDP per...

Dismissal of Royal Bank CFO is no run-of-the-mill firing

Dismissal of Royal Bank CFO is no run-of-the-mill firing

When corporations have bad news to deliver, they often put it out late on a Friday.   Article content That’s exactly what Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest company by market capitalization, did  when it announced “changes to its executive team” in a press release that landed this past Friday at 6 p.m. ET. 

Budget 2024 Preview: Time for the Long View

Budget 2024 Preview: Time for the Long View

A year ago, we wrote in these pages that “The ‘new normal’ for Canada is slow economic growth.” We wish we could say what a difference a year makes, but we can’t. Growth seems stubbornly mired well below two per cent, barely half of what we averaged over the last half-century. Our weak productivity is translating into weak GDP growth...

Trump 2.0 would be a high risk for Canada

Trump 2.0 would be a high risk for Canada

There are fewer than 300 days to the American presidential election, and Donald Trump is leading Joe Biden in almost every major poll. The world needs to start thinking seriously about the implications of a second Trump presidency. Beyond the domestic disruption as he erodes American democratic norms, undermines institutions, and threatens to abuse the rule of law, a man...