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 Peter Zimonjic.
During his short tenure as Canada's interim parliamentary budget officer, Jason Jacques endured accusations of partisanship, criticism over his message delivery and, in the end, praise for representing an institution now ranked first among its international equals. Appointed in September by Prime Minister Mark Carney to sit in the chair until a permanent parliamentary budget officer (PBO) could be appointed...
Conservative leader warns 'China is not a substitute for the United States.' In a speech laying out the details of how Canada should respond to the Trump administration, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre directly attacked U.S. President Donald Trump's trade and tariff policies, urging Canadians to focus on what they can control. Quoting Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Poilievre said Canadians have...
Canada is expanding its Express Entry immigration stream so it can bring in a range of skilled workers the Liberal government says are critical to growing the economy and defending the country. The new categories for Express Entry are giving priority to workers who classify as: researchers and senior managers, pilots, aircraft mechanics and inspectors as well as skilled military...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre may have secured the overwhelming support of his party in a recent leadership vote, but cautioned that elections are not won on the convention room floor. Poilievre secured 87 per cent of the delegates in Calgary last month at the party's convention, pulling in more than what former prime minister Stephen...
Interim federal NDP Leader Don Davies is accusing Ontario NDP deputy leader Doly Begum of undermining democracy after announcing she will run federally as a Liberal for the seat vacated by former MP Bill Blair. "When Canadians see politicians betray the values and policies that they claim to believe in, I think it damages our democracy and it breeds cynicism...
Critics also call on PBO to expand use of peer review. This year, two things will happen to Canada's fiscal watchdog: Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques will be replaced or made permanent, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will publish its review of the office. While the OECD report will not come out for several months...
Liberals roll out a personal support worker tax credit to run from 2026 to 2030. The coming year will see some changes to existing tax measures, the abandonment of others and some help for personal support workers. But overall changes to the taxes individuals pay will be minor in 2026. Daniel Rogozynski, an accountant and professor at the University of...
The federal government announced Friday that it's buying six new Global 6500 jets from Bombardier to replace its existing fleet of four CC-144 Challengers. A government statement said the $753-million contract includes production, training for aircrew, maintenance personnel and any military modifications that will be required. The jets will be built and maintained in Canada, where the government said it...
Government says report doesn't account for future spending, private investment. Spending on housing programs will decline by more than half over the next four years with the federal government’s $13-billion signature housing initiative leading to the construction of just 26,000 new homes, a new parliamentary budget officer (PBO) report says. The budget watchdog's report specifically looks at Prime Minister Mark...
Federal Immigration Minister Lena Diab says she’s unaware of a directive that was reportedly sent to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa from the Trump administration ordering its envoy to press Canada to lower most immigration levels. Asked if Canada takes advice from the U.S. when setting Canada's immigration levels, Diab said she consulted for months with economists, department officials and...
U.S. vice-president takes aim at CBC and Canada's political leadership in X posts. U.S. Vice-President JD Vance made a series of posts criticizing Canada’s political leadership, public broadcaster and immigration system, saying our living standards are “stagnating” because of all the “foreign-born” people living here. In posts to his X account Friday, Vance says Canada’s elected leaders have created “immigration...
A report from Canada’s victims of crime advocate says survivors of sexual violence are being systemically betrayed by the criminal justice system as allegations are often disbelieved and cases are regularly delayed or dropped.
A watchdog that investigates the fair and humane treatment of federal prisoners is leaving his post two years early after becoming exasperated with what he says is the government’s unwillingness to address systemic human rights issues.
Some MPs will have to decide if the sweeteners merit letting the budget pass. Prime Minister Mark Carney insists the federal budget was crafted to contain a number of measures championed by MPs from other parties, and that those olive branches will become apparent in the coming days. With one MP already crossing the floor to join the Liberals, Carney...
High-level trade talks between Canadian and U.S. officials are trudging on this week in Washington, D.C., where Canada is looking to strike deals on specific economic sectors currently bedeviling trade relations between the two countries. Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of Canada-U.S. Trade, Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia and other officials are specifically focused in the short term on securing deals...
New capital budgeting framework will also break out capital spending from day-to-day operational spending. The Liberal government is ending a long-held tradition of presenting a spring budget and will instead adopt a relatively new tradition borrowed from the U.K. that will see all future budgets delivered in the fall, Finance Canada said Monday. As a part of the change, the...
Canada Post's latest offer to the union representing 55,000 striking postal workers includes a number of measures from its last offer — while removing a signing bonus the corporation says it can no longer afford. "Due to the company's deteriorating financial situation, a signing bonus for employees is no longer on the table," Canada Post said in a statement Friday.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says his government is not ready to announce when and for how long its gun amnesty program will be extended, six weeks before the current extension is set to expire. "More information will be forthcoming as we announce the program," Anandasangaree said on his way into the Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa Wednesday.
Listing on market for over a year after GAC bought new apartment on 'Billionaires' Row.' After being on the market for more than a year, the former residence of Canada's consul general in New York has still not sold and is now listed with over $2 million taken off the asking price. The now empty 12-room, five-bedroom apartment on Park...
45th federal election cost Canadians an estimated $570M, slightly down from 44th election. The spring federal election saw its share of misinformation and disinformation as people tried to interfere in Canada's democratic process, but Elections Canada says none of those efforts had any impact on the outcome of the 45th general election. "Neither the agency nor the Security and Intelligence...
Prime Minister Mark Carney rolled out a series of measures on Friday that he says will transform Canada's economy into a force that can withstand the trade shocks of the Trump administration. The measures announced in the strategy have been targeted to specifically help workers and businesses that have been most impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and trade...
PMO says Alberta-based office will have outposts across the country. Dawn Farrell, chair of the board of directors of the Trans Mountain Corporation, has been named the CEO of the Liberal government's Major Projects Office, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday. "Canada has always been a nation of builders," Carney said in a statement announcing the opening of the office...
Several members, including Canada's major banks, left group after Trump's re-election. An international green banking alliance that Prime Minister Mark Carney helped establish is now suspending its activities and holding a vote to determine its future. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) is the industry-led banking element of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) that was created when Carney...
Immigration status is one of many factors considered during sentencing: law professor. The Conservatives want to change the Criminal Code to eliminate what they say is a double standard in the justice system that allows non-citizens to get lighter sentences than Canadians who have been convicted of the same crime. "When it comes to sentencing non-citizens, Canada has essentially adopted...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Mark Carney's development agenda is stalled — and he's promising to "legalize" pipelines through new legislation to speed things up. Poilievre said his party's Canadian Sovereignty Act, if passed, would ensure two pipelines, a new LNG project and a road to Ontario's Ring of Fire will have begun construction by March 14 —...
Prime Minister Mark Carney kicked off his meeting with Canada's premiers in Huntsville, Ont., promising to battle the Trump administration at the negotiating table to ensure the country gets a good trade deal, while also doing everything he can to strengthen the Canadian economy. "We are looking for the best deal for Canada; we are only going to accept the...
Canada's premiers arrived in Ontario cottage country on Monday eager to discuss Canada's ongoing trade crisis with the United States and settle into a plan for how they can work together with Indigenous leaders to strengthen the country's economy. On his way into the summit, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said it's becoming obvious Prime Minister Mark Carney's warning that it's...
Clutching a teddy bear and trembling through her story in the witness box, a female former Afghan interpreter who worked for Canada in Afghanistan detailed the harrowing sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of a Canadian government employee. For four days this week, the woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, recounted to an Ottawa courtroom...
Former privy council clerks say there are upfront costs to long-term savings. The federal government has started its comprehensive review of government spending, but what will it mean for Canada's public service, what balance will it have to strike and can the Liberals really cut so much? These are the questions facing Prime Minister Mark Carney as he embarks on...
Experts say Carney could make adjustments instead of ending mandate outright. With U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and light-duty vehicles continuing to batter the Canadian automobile industry, the CEOs of Canada's big three automakers are asking for a break. They met with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week to lobby for the elimination of the Liberal government's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV)...
Tax cuts, European defence agreement, removing trade barriers among PM's goals. During the spring campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised a re-elected Liberal government led by him would move fast to solve problems and meet challenges by Canada Day. After his victory, those promises left Carney a little more than 60 days to address issues that have bedevilled previous governments...
'I’m proud to join the Conservative caucus and be part of a strong team that stands up for Canadians.'The formerly non-affiliated New Brunswick Sen. David Richards has joined the Conservative Senate Caucus. Richards, a bestselling author and one of only a handful of writers who has received a Governor General's award in both the non-fiction and fiction categories, was appointed...
When King Charles III and Queen Camilla visit Canada later this month for the monarch's reading of the speech from the throne, it will kick off two days of pomp and ceremony across the capital. The King's visit will mark the third time a British monarch has read the speech from the throne in Canada, with Queen Elizabeth ll having...
Prime Minister Mark Carney's new cabinet has taken shape without 11 of the ministers he brought around the table barely two months ago. On the outs are former defence minister Bill Blair, former president of the Treasury Board Ginette Petitpas Taylor and former energy and natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson. All of those experienced ministers held numerous posts under former...
U.S. President Donald Trump said former prime minister Justin Trudeau led the effort to have Russia removed from the G8, even though the decision took place more than a year before Trudeau came to power. Speaking alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino at a World Cup event in Washington on Tuesday, Trump said Trudeau and former U.S. president Barack Obama "didn't...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to clean up Canada's streets and parks by giving police the power to dismantle encampments and arrest their occupants for setting up tents and shelters to live in. "Public spaces must be safe for everyone. We will take back our streets and restore order in our communities," Poilievre said during a campaign stop in...
Canada's political leaders are remembering Pope Francis as a humble leader with a deep moral obligation and the spiritual courage to help the world's most vulnerable. "Today, the world lost a man who profoundly touched the lives of billions of people," Prime Minister Mark Carney said during a campaign stop in Charlottetown on Monday.
Leaders' Debates Commission says party's decision to remove candidates for strategic reasons led to decision. The Leaders' Debates Commission, which is tasked with organizing the French and English debates, has removed the Green Party from federal leaders' debates for failing to meet participation requirements. "Deliberately reducing the number of candidates running for strategic reasons is inconsistent with the Commission's interpretation...
Liberal Leader Mark Carney laid out his party's public safety plan on Thursday, promising to crack down on gangs, protect children, reduce intimate partner violence and tackle the illegal flow of drugs and guns coming from the United States. "Tariffs are not the only American policies that are threatening our economy and our society. They're also threatening the safety of...
Conservative leader would offer whistleblowers up to 20% of recovered tax revenue. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to crack down on the use of offshore tax havens and recover as much as $1 billion a year in lost revenues. In a video posted on X, Poilievre said the money recovered through the initiative will be used to help pay...
'There is a fairly profound divide within the Conservative movement': University of Calgary's Lisa Young. Long-simmering tensions within the Conservative movement are bursting out into the federal election, experts say — undercutting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's efforts to present himself as a unifier who can take on U.S. President Donald Trump. Those tensions materialized again after ex-Reform Party leader Preston...
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says a government led by him will issue "Victory Bonds" to raise the money needed to strengthen the Canadian economy through the trade war with the United States. The plan would see the federal government offer five- and 10-year bonds that Canadians can buy through a payroll deduction. The NDP is promising that none of the...
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its annual list of global trade barriers Tuesday, and it includes Quebec's controversial language law Bill 96 as a trade irritant between the two countries. The nearly 400-page National Trade Estimate Report lists in almost encyclopedic detail all of the tariff and non-tariff barriers present in countries that import U.S. goods and...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced his second tax cut of the campaign targeted at investors Sunday, promising to exempt capital gains from taxes if the proceeds are reinvested in Canada. "The current capital gains tax locks up investment in old assets, because selling them would force a big bill," Poilievre said in a statement.
Voting day will either be April 28 or May 5, according to sources. Prime Minister Mark Carney will ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election this Sunday, Radio-Canada has learned. The election campaign will kick off barely a week after Carney was sworn in as prime minister and appointed his cabinet.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada can stand up for its own sovereignty in response to annexation talk from the U.S. administration as he wrapped up his first international trip. Carney met with King Charles and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Monday evening after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris earlier in the day. Speaking...
Liberal government signs new deals with provinces, Indigenous nations. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works through what is likely to be his last week in office, he and his government appear to be moving to cement his political legacy. Trudeau and his ministers have been making significant announcements on infrastructure, social programs and reconciliation. Trudeau has also made recent international...
Experts say criticism that some members couldn't vote is better than the alternative. The problems some registered Liberals are having with online voting in the party's leadership race shouldn't be a surprise and may even be a good thing, say some experts. "You can't have a wide open, hardly at all verified process for selecting the prime minister of Canada,"...
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly concluded her recent tour of Europe saying she delivered a "wake-up call" to Canada's allies across the Atlantic about the economic and political threat the Trump administration is posing to Canada. "Based on my conversations with many European colleagues, many of them are not necessarily completely aware of what is going on, first in the...
Economist argues U.S. could be worse off if it had a surplus with Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that his country subsidizes Canada with hundreds of billions of dollars every year has become a key plank in his argument for annexing the country. But do his numbers add up? His argument hinges on a belief that the deficit in...
As athletes from 25 countries gather in B.C. this week to compete in the seventh Invictus Games, a Canadian veteran who suffered life-changing injuries in the previous games is suing the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for $2.4 million. Scott Snow, a poster boy for Team Canada in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2023, was injured during...
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told business leaders at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto that U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to annex Canada "is a real thing." "Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing. In my conversations with him on…," Trudeau said, before the...
Experts say Trudeau has the powers he needs to deal with Trump without sitting MPs. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with Canada's premiers and works with cabinet to craft his government's response to an unpredictable Trump administration, he's also batting away repeated demands from opposition leaders to recall Parliament.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday that if he becomes prime minister he will implement a plan to boost internal trade in Canada that he says will increase the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by more than $200 billion. Poilievre said Trump's decision to slap 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports, and 10 per cent on energy imports...
Six of the seven Liberal leadership candidates who submitted their nomination papers have now been approved by the party to run in the race to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Former central banker Mark Carney, former finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste, former government House leader Karina Gould and former Brampton, Ont., Liberal...
Conservative leader dodged question over whether he backs Alberta, or rest of provinces and federal government. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre won't say whether he backs the premiers and prime minister's threat to impose export tariffs or restrict the supply of oil and gas bound for the United States as a possible response to president-elect Donald Trump's promised tariff regime.
Carney soft-launched his campaign for the leadership on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Monday. Mark Carney will launch his candidacy for the Liberal Party leadership at an event in Edmonton on Thursday, according to a notice from Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal. The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England will join Ottawa MP...
As a giant of industry and the world's richest man, Elon Musk wields influence across the global economy. He's now leveraging that success to extend his influence into the democratic process in Canada and elsewhere. In the past week alone, Musk has dipped into Canadian politics on his social media platform several times; endorsing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, showering him...
Ontario has reached an agreement with the federal government that will see $108.5 million roll out over the next three years to help fund a school food program in the province. Officials said the money represents a first round of funding, with federal support for the program in the years ahead still to be negotiated.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has written to Canada's premiers asking them to match his pledge to remove the GST from daily essentials by doing the same with their provincial sales taxes. "Working people are being gouged every time they pay their cell phone bill or stop at the grocery store to grab something for dinner," Singh said in...