December 13, 2024 | Advertise with us

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Trudeau and Freeland at odds while PMO recruits Carney

The federal finance minister Chrystia Freeland will stand in the house and deliver a fall economic statement on Monday, one that she reportedly disagrees with.

Back in April, Freeland said that her fiscal guardrail was a $40 billion deficit this year. Freeland and the finance department reportedly disagree with increased spending, including the recent GST Holiday and $250 cheques, saying they are inflationary and will increase spending beyond the guardrails she set.

The Globe reported, “Five senior Liberal Party veterans and three political staffers confirmed that tensions have risen between Ms. Freeland’s office and the PMO overspending. Two of them said it is more pronounced since the summer, but a third source said they couldn’t characterize just how serious the divisions were. Others described the relationship as “healthy tensions” between the Finance Minister and PMO and noted that it’s common across governments.”

The tensions were brought up in Question Period by the Conservative leader. Poilievre prodded, “She wants a large deficit of $40 billion. He, on the other hand, wants an even larger deficit on steroids, bigger than $40 billion. We know that Canadians are going to lose from all this inflation, but which one of those two is going to win?"

It was reported that earlier this year the Prime Minister was actively recruiting former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to serve a role in his government, possibly in finance. It was said that Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford believed Freeland was not an effective messenger. New reporting from the Globe and Mail says that there is a new, re-energized effort to recruit Carney.

There is rumoured to be a federal cabinet shuffle in the coming weeks, one that may see Freeland removed from finance.

Freeland will present the fall economic statement on Monday and The SKoop will bring you all the details.

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New Regina council holds first meeting, forgives unpaid Roughrider rent

Regina’s city council had a productive first meeting this week and made several decisions.

Mayor Chad Bachynski was happy with how it went and told reporters, “One of my biggest priorities was getting an operating model together and getting people to buy in, and so far everybody has. The goal is to have that regular communication and cadence with every councillor to ensure we all understand where folks are coming from.”

The council unanimously approved several items, including a 1.34% mill rate increase required to take on debt associated with the $100 million water network expansion project.

The council also voted 9-2 to retroactively reduce the rent of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ use of Mosaic Stadium. The riders owe from seasons that were cut short due to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. The city decided to retroactively slash $1.3 million in rent while the Riders would pay $2.2 million. This is the deal that had been negotiated prior to the election and tabled by the previous council.

City Manager Niki Anderson said, “As far as the Riders are concerned, this is as reasonable as it gets before it would move on to a court case. Administratively, I can absolutely see both sides. But from a legal perspective, the risk of going to court and where it could land is not a risk that I would want to take, financially.”

This was the first official council meeting in Regina. The next meeting will be the end of January.

In Saskatoon, the city council is mulling the possibility of a future carbon tax cut if the Conservatives win federally next year.

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Details emerge from Premiers meeting with Trudeau as Moe heads to Toronto for Council of Federation

Trudeau's government is considering spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect the Canada-U.S. border — possibly even more than $1 billion — in an attempt to allay Trump's concerns. The plan was missing some details but was otherwise well received by the premiers, a provincial source told CBC News.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is the Chair of the Council of Federation and spoke to the media following the meeting. He said the tariffs are 100% coming, "Folks, this is coming ... it's coming January 20th or 21st, and we need to be prepared. We need to stand as a country." Ford said the premiers asked for better information-sharing about tracing fentanyl and precursors, and more RCMP and CBSA officers to monitor the border.

Ford also made headlines by saying he would shut off power to US States if the tariffs went forward. "We will go to the full extent depending on how far this goes. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin. I don't want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole since we're the largest province," Ford said.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke to the possibility of retaliatory tariffs, "Some premiers proactively identified products that their provinces produce and export to the United States — and which the U.S. relies on — and which should be considered as part of the Canadian response." Earlier this week, Premier Scott Moe was notably named by the Prime Minister for having allies south of the border. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also been spending time in the states. She met with multiple cabinet nominees earlier this week. Smith has said she will attend the inauguration of the President.

The Premiers are headed to Toronto this weekend to meet in person. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe will be in attendance, however, he will first head to British Columbia for the funeral of the late Premier and Canadian ambassador to Germany John Horgan.

More news and info

• Former Alberta premier Rachel Notley quitting legislature seat as of Dec. 30 (Canadian Press)

• North Battleford city councillor faces sexual assault charge (CBC Saskatchewan)

• Sask. NDP bangs drum to eliminate PST from kids clothing this Christmas (CKOM News)

• TIME Magazine 2024 Person of the Year (TIME)