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Our current governor general is, David Johnston. He has been our governor general since 2010.

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Our current prime minister is, Justin Trudeau. He has been our prime minister since 2015

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This is our official government symbol since 1921. It was revised in 1994.

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Political cartoon depicting a federal politician, Canada.

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Quote said by Stephan Harper, previous Canadian prime minister.

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Concerns about the Canadian dollar.

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Introduction

My theme today is international trade, which is the lifeblood of the Canadian economy. Throughout our history, we have successfully relied on our exports and imports, particularly during the vast expansion of global trade in the decades following the Second World War, to support our rising standard of living. Today, exports and imports represent about 65 per cent of our output, one of the highest ratios among the G7 countries.

Few places in Canada illustrate the importance of trade and innovation as vividly as Saskatchewan. Historically, people living on the Prairies relied on exporting grain-and, more recently, potash and oil-to markets outside Canada's borders. They imported many of the products they consumed and the tools they used, from T-shirts to tractors. In the first several decades of Confederation, they often chafed at the trade barriers that were put in place to protect and nurture the growth of the manufacturing industries of central Canada. What is remarkable is how nimble businesses in this province have been. They have adapted and innovated not only to grow market share but also to develop new products and markets for them.

In recent years, the pattern and drivers of trade both nationally and in Saskatchewan have evolved dramatically in response to forces that have been acting at the global level. Innovations in many areas, notably information and communications technologies (ICTs) and logistics, have given rise to the development of new products and new ways of producing and trading them. A particularly important trend has been the emergence of global value chains (GVCs), with various stages of production located in different countries.

In this context, the progressive lowering of trade barriers worldwide has had outsized effects. Trade agreements have enabled much closer economic integration, and trade flows have burgeoned, leading to increases in productivity and living standards.

These trading relationships are now being called into question. Populist movements in some of our major trading partners are demanding new trade barriers. However, such protectionist measures would undoubtedly mean less trade, which would reduce economic growth. While I can't comment on the specifics of any particular agreement, we have certainly been assessing this shift toward protectionism, how it might affect the outlook for growth in Canada and its trading partners and ultimately what it would mean for the conduct of our monetary policy.

In my presentation today, I'll review the changing nature of international trade, the factors, such as innovation, that are propelling it and the benefits to Canada. I'll discuss the challenges Canada faces in its international trade and how they affect our economic outlook. I'll conclude with what this means for monetary policy.

The Great Unbundling

We used to think that the greatest benefits of trade accrued to countries with market dominance in specific industries. Think of Switzerland and watches or France and wine. Historically, Canada exported what we had in abundance-raw materials such as fur, fish and timber-and imported manufactured goods. Of course, this is still the case for much of our trade. But the biggest increase in world trade in recent decades has been intra-industry-that is, two-way trade within a given industry ( Chart 1). Some of that simply reflects product differentiation: Canada exports rye whisky and imports scotch and bourbon. But, even more importantly, the expansion of intra-industry trade has been enabled by the unbundling of different stages of the production process. 1

Consider the automobile industry: Canada both exports and imports auto parts at different stages of production as well as the finished product. The potential for this kind of unbundling was unleashed by technological innovations, particularly advances in ICT, which enabled the logistics needed to manage a supply chain that criss-crosses international borders. Bank of Canada research has shown that the separation of production into stages significantly increases the economic gains from trade. 2

In a world of GVCs, easing trade restrictions can also have outsized, positive effects on the economy and on trade flows. This has been described as "leveraging" because every unit of the final product-say, every car-incorporates a great deal of trade in the intermediate products and any reduction in costs imposed on trade can have cascading effects. Lower trade barriers also make it less expensive for firms to allocate different stages of production to countries where they are most efficiently produced. 3

What are the benefits to Canada of barrier-free, intra-industry trade within GVCs? Within any given industry, lowering trade barriers enables more efficient producers to expand to supply a wider market. That further lowers their costs as they move to a larger scale. Other, less efficient producers or plants may shrink or fail.

Canada's experience with the 1965 Auto Pact, the 1988 Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are good examples of the economic impact of lowering trade barriers. 4 The North American market opened in the wake of the agreements ( Chart 2). Employment in manufacturing declined in the short term, but productivity rose and, in the longer term, the number of jobs in the economy increased. Efficient plants were able to expand to a scale that allowed them to capture even greater efficiencies. The improvement in productivity supported the growth in the overall earnings of workers. 5

Exports and imports are a two-way street-and both help deliver the benefits of barrier-free trade. Canadian firms can compete in foreign markets partly by making use of lower-cost imported inputs, which raises their productivity. 6 And their exports of intermediate products are linked to their trading partner's trade performance. For example, when we export machinery to the United States, it is an efficiency-enhancing input into their exports.

Benefits from opening trade may also come from increased competition. 7 This is the result of both opening one's home market to imports and gaining access to foreign markets.

Creative Destruction

More generally, innovation drives changes in trade patterns. This is economist Joseph Schumpeter's idea of creative destruction. 8 The new replaces the old. Firms inventing new products may expand their exports by penetrating new markets. They can also develop new production processes that enable them to produce at lower cost.

There are many such examples throughout the economy-in the high-tech industry as well as in many other sectors. For example, 45 years ago here in Saskatchewan, pulses such as lentils and peas were a small part of the province's farm economy. 9 In the 1970s, however, researchers at the University of Saskatchewan began searching for a protein crop to complement wheat, which was suffering from an oversupply and low prices. They saw the opportunities in lentils and developed new varieties suitable to the climate and soils of Saskatchewan. Today, the province is the world's largest exporter of green lentils and the world's second largest producer ( Chart 3). In 2016, exports of the crop generated more than $2 billion in sales. 10

Innovations in the production process can also drive export growth. Historically, this has been a major part of the history of Saskatchewan. New technologies, such as farm machinery and seed varieties, drove the consolidation of Prairie farms to take advantage of the greater ability to cultivate and harvest crops on a larger scale. Saskatchewan's farm production and exports expanded massively, even while its population steadily declined. That freed up workers to move into job opportunities opening up elsewhere in the economy, while increasing the productivity and incomes of those who remained ( Charts 4a and b). This is a story that has a personal connection for me: half of my great-grandparents were farmers in the Prairies, but none of their descendants is still farming.

I've been talking about how innovation drives trade, but the reverse is also true: trade openness drives innovation, too. This happens for two reasons. First, access to foreign markets exposes firms to new technologies and provides incentives for them to invest in producing more efficiently. 11 And second, competition from trade encourages firms to innovate and invent new products to maintain market share. Trade is also an important channel for knowledge to spill over across borders: an operation in one country can become competitive by combining its home advantages with the best techniques developed elsewhere. 12

While trade and innovation have always been interconnected, the nature of these interconnections is changing rapidly with recent advances in digital technology, touching virtually all sectors of the economy. We are only beginning to appreciate how new fields, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, additive manufacturing and big data, may play out in new trade patterns. Even calculating their economic impact is challenging. Returns from patented intellectual property (IP), such as software, are an increasing part of value added in electronic products, and these are hard to measure. That's also true of trade in IP services, which is becoming increasingly important. Google Chrome and Dropbox-distributed worldwide across the Internet-are good examples. Since they do not physically cross the border, there is no customs paper trail, and they are difficult to track. They are also provided free to many users, so it's hard to place a value on them.

This whole process of expanding two-way trade and technological advancement is playing out in myriad industries. It is one of the most important drivers of Canada's growth potential, which, in turn, underpins rising living standards for Canadians. While these are basically positive developments, they do pose important challenges for society and for policy-makers.

Both trade expansion and innovation are by their nature disruptive for firms and individuals. They spur growth by enabling more advanced and efficient activities and encouraging producers to expand, displacing less efficient activities and producers. This is an integral part of the whole process. Improved productivity is essential to compete internationally; without increases in productivity, the business itself and all of the associated jobs can be lost.

Historically, these changes have created many more job opportunities than they have eliminated. In particular, Canada's service sector, which has become an increasingly important source of exports, has created many new jobs paying above-average wages. 13 But still, some workers have been left behind. Moreover, the rewards for innovation, particularly in the digital economy, often accrue to the few who own the related IP.

Can public policy help smooth the transition? I should make it clear that this is not part of the Bank of Canada's monetary-policy remit, which is to keep inflation low, stable and predictable, allowing Canadians to make spending and investment decisions with confidence. But the disruptive effects of trade and innovation have been major topics of discussion internationally. These are very challenging issues that do not offer easy solutions. Clearly, we can't turn back the clock on technological innovation; nor is the answer to try to limit its scope by closing our borders. What we can try to do is focus on supporting workers as they adapt to changing economic realities. That requires investments in retraining and lifelong learning as well as social safety nets. Another priority is to make sure that profits, including those derived from IP, can't be shifted to avoid taxation. This includes stronger international co-operation-an area where the G20 has made meaningful progress.

Trade and Canada's Current Economic Situation

Now let me discuss the part international trade plays in Canada's current economic situation.

The period since the early 2000s has been challenging for Canadian exporters. The commodity supercycle not only created opportunities for resource exporters but also put upward pressure on the Canadian dollar, undermining the competitiveness of Canada's non-commodity exports. Then, during the Great Recession of 2007-09, foreign demand for our products collapsed, and our exports plunged by about 20 per cent. They rebounded quickly but then hit a long stretch of lacklustre growth. This was part of the broader global pattern: before the crisis, global trade had been expanding by more than 7 per cent a year-about twice as fast as the world economy. Since then it has been growing at a much more modest pace, closer to the rate of GDP growth. 14

Because Canada's relatively weak export performance has been a central aspect of our economic situation, the Bank of Canada has examined it in increasing detail. New measures of external demand for Canadian exports have been constructed, which better take into account how Canadian industries are positioned in GVCs. 15 Our staff have also constructed new measures of Canada's effective exchange rate that better capture Canada's competitiveness, not just relative to our export markets but also relative to third countries ( Chart 5). 16 This analysis contributes to a better diagnosis of Canada's loss of competitiveness.

Moreover, in keeping with the new concepts in international trade that I have been describing, our researchers have been examining Canada's exports at an increasingly disaggregated level, down to the individual firms involved. During the recession and its aftermath, many Canadian exporters went out of business. With those firms went many of their supply-chain linkages.

Another complex set of adjustments have been playing out during the past three years, with the plunge in prices of oil and other commodities. The economic and human costs to the resource-producing regions were huge. For Canada's economy to continue growing, the non-resource sectors-manufacturing and services-needed to grow faster and export more. Increasing foreign demand and the 25 per cent decline in the value of the Canadian dollar were forces supporting this adjustment. While this expansion of non-commodity exports did take place-exports of services were especially robust-the expansion was smaller than expected based on previous experience. Regaining market share was not just a matter of getting foreign customers to switch to a Canadian product. It often depended on a reassessment of where to locate production within a GVC-decisions that are typically not made often. To support the continuing growth of our international trade, many new linkages may need to be constructed as both new and existing firms emerge with new ideas and expand their activities to a sufficient scale. This process inevitably takes time and is still not complete.

The prolonged weakness of Canadian exports has meant that Canada's economy has needed to rely on other sources of demand to drive its growth. In particular, we have depended heavily on household spending, supported by very low interest rates.

Now, economic data show that growth in Canada is becoming more broadly based and self-sustaining. We are seeing widespread strength in business investment and exports, in conjunction with a global economic expansion that is becoming more synchronous ( Chart 6). Imports are also expanding; the increases we are seeing in imports of machinery and equipment and of various intermediate products are early signals of rising business investment. It was in this context that the Bank of Canada decided, in July and again earlier this month, to raise our policy rate. We will be paying close attention to how the economy responds to both higher interest rates and the stronger Canadian dollar.

Looking ahead, Canada's openness to international trade is an important determinant of Canada's economic growth potential-that is, of how fast the Canadian economy can grow without giving rise to inflationary pressures. That growth potential could be greater than we think-if businesses find new ways to engage with GVCs and develop new products and processes to make them more productive and competitive. As in the past, further expanding Canadian firms' access to markets and to imported inputs could unlock more opportunities. An example is the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, most of which will be implemented in the next few days.

But some other developments are more concerning. With the rise in protectionist sentiment in some parts of the world, we have been entering a time of heightened uncertainty about the rules of the game on international trade. The possibility of a material protectionist shift-particularly regarding the outcome of negotiations on possible changes to NAFTA-is a key source of uncertainty for Canada's economic outlook.

Given the nature of international trade in the 21st century, the stakes are very high. As I discussed, the economic benefits we have experienced from trade liberalization were not only in expanding the markets for Canadian exports. We also benefit from the greater efficiencies that can be achieved by those exporters that do expand, the heightened competition and better access to imported inputs that come with greater openness to imports, and the resulting spur to innovation throughout the GVCs. If trading rules are changed in a way that undermines these benefits, the result would be both lost external demand for exports and lower potential growth for Canada as well as for the United States and other trading partners.

Conclusion

As an open economy, Canada's fortunes will continue to rise or fall with trade, as they have throughout our history. Global economic forces-the sharp movement of commodity prices; the Great Recession and the lacklustre global economy in its aftermath; and, for much of the past decade, a strong Canadian dollar-battered many of our export industries and splintered their supply chains. Rebuilding them requires the emergence of brand-new industries and the development of new linkages to international trade networks. While it will take time for many of these adjustments to play out, we are now seeing encouraging signs that exports and business investment are broadening and strengthening.

At the Bank of Canada, we have made a lot of progress in understanding the changing nature of world trade and especially why it has taken so long for our exports to recover. But as the dynamics of trade continue to evolve with technology and other forces, we will closely monitor and analyze these developments. This is essential, given the importance of trade to the economic well-being of Canadians.

I would like to thank Patrick Alexander and Karyne Charbonneau for their help in preparing this speech.

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How Canada's International Trade is Changing with the Times

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My theme today is international trade, which is the lifeblood of the Canadian economy. Throughout our history, we have successfully relied on our exports and imports, particularly during the vast expansion of global trade in the decades following the Second World War, to support our rising standard of living.

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OTTAWA - A Federal Court judge has ordered the central bureaucracy that serves the prime minister and cabinet to partially release pages of information on four senators at the heart of the 2013 Senate spending scandal, ruling they were improperly withheld.

Justice James O'Reilly ruled parts of the documents - including a memo Canada's top bureaucrat wrote to then-prime minister Stephen Harper - were wrongly classified as sensitive legal or ministerial advice, making them exempt from public release under the federal access to information law.

Joshua Roberts / Reuters

O'Reilly also agreed that portions of the documents related to senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, Pamela Wallin and former senator Mac Harb should remain out of public view - although those details of the written ruling were among large swaths that remained redacted in order to give the government a chance to appeal.

Information commissioner Suzanne Legault said the office is considering whether to appeal any aspects of the decision. The Prime Minister's Office deferred comment to the Privy Council Office.

"We are in receipt of the courts decision and are reviewing it while considering all options,'' said PCO spokesman Stephane Shank.

An expert on the Access to Information Act said the ruling exposes long-standing issues with the decades-old transparency law that may not be fully addressed in the Liberal government's proposed changes to the act.

"It's for the most part a good decision within the constraints of the act, but it is not as if the act is changing and the secrecy the act allows for hasn't changed and doesn't look like it's going to change under the federal Liberals,'' said Sean Holman, an associate professor of journalism at Calgary's Mount Royal University.

The Liberals have introduced changes to the decades-old transparency law that would let the information watchdog order departments to release documents, but fell short of a lofty campaign promise to make ministers' offices fully subject to the freedom of information regime. It would also allow for departments to refuse requests that are considered frivolous or "vexatious.''

The law allows people who pay $5 to ask for everything from internal federal audits and meeting minutes to correspondence and studies, but gives leeway for officials to withhold information for a variety of reasons.

PMO taken to court in 2015

In August 2013, The Canadian Press filed a request to the Privy Council Office, asking for any records created since March about the four senators. Officials refused to release 27 of 28 relevant pages, providing only what O'Reilly described as "innocuous information'' like letterhead, signatures, dates and names.

The information commissioner took the PMO to court in late 2015, believing officials "erred in fact and in law'' when they declared every word on the 27 pages to be exempt from the Access to Information Act.

O'Reilly found the documents had factual information that should have been released, including decisions Harper made at the time, and that portions considered to be legal advice were nothing of the kind. The judge also rejected government arguments that some of the information contained sensitive personal information - arguments that appear to have been applied to "discretionary financial benefits.''

Further details, again, were deleted from the written ruling.

It was in 2013 that the Senate was plunged into scandal when questions were raised, audits ordered, and criminal investigations launched about the housing expenses incurred by Harb, Duffy and Brazeau, as well as Wallin's travel expenses.

Harb resigned that summer after reimbursing some $231,000 to the public purse, and in November the upper chamber voted to suspend Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau without pay for two years.

Duffy was charged and then cleared last year of 31 criminal charges relating to his Senate expenses, and the RCMP subsequently closed investigations against Wallin and Brazeau.

Duffy is now suing the Senate and the government for more than $7.8 million, claiming his suspension was unconstitutional and a violation of his charter rights, and that the federal government is liable for the RCMP's alleged negligence in its investigation.

The Senate has worked to dig itself out from under the cloud of financial scandal, publicly posting expenses and trying to heed the call of the federal auditor general for greater transparency. There were calls Friday for the upper chamber to have outsiders oversee senators' expenses, rather than having senators sit in judgment of their peers.

"Canadians demand transparency, and an independent body will provide exactly that,'' Sen. Peter Harder, the Liberal point man in the Senate, wrote in a column for the digital magazine Policy Options.

"The lesson of the past few years is that light kills germs. The Senate has a duty to shine the light on itself in order to regain the confidence and trust of the people and country it serves.''

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Judge Orders Release Of Formerly Withheld Senate Scandal Docs

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OTTAWA - A Federal Court judge has ordered the central bureaucracy that serves the prime minister and cabinet to partially release pages of information on four senators at the heart of the 2013 Senate spending scandal, ruling they were improperly withheld.

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A map of the parliament buildings in Ottawa.

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News article about taxes in Canada.

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OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau is putting the squeeze on federal New Democrats, chiding them for failing to support his proposals to end what he calls unfair tax advantages for some wealthy small business owners.

In a letter to three New Democrat MPs, Morneau says he was surprised to receive a letter from them indicating that the NDP - normally a champion of reducing income inequality - supports "continued tax advantages for the wealthiest Canadians."

And he says he's disappointed by the NDP opposition to his "progressive proposal," which he contends is designed to "ensure a level playing field for the middle class."

The letter is in response to a letter sent to Morneau on Sept. 7 by Windsor-area MPs Brian Masse, Cheryl Hardcastle and Tracey Ramsey, in which the trio of New Democrats urge the finance minister to "heed the voices" of doctors, dentists, orthopedists and others who are vehemently opposed to the proposed tax changes.
READ MORE: Trudeau's tax reforms and how the loopholes work
They urge Morneau to "reconsider" his proposals and concentrate instead on "tax cheats" who hoard their money in illegal offshore accounts, robbing the federal treasury of some $6 billion per year.

In his response, Morneau notes that his proposed changes are supported by a number of organizations with which the NDP would ordinarily be aligned - the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Nurses Association, Canadians for Tax Fairness, the Canadian Association of Social Workers, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Broadbent Institute.

"They understand that hard-working middle-class Canadians are not the focus of our proposed changes," Morneau writes the three MPs.

VIDEO: Does closing a tax loophole really benefit the middle class?

"Quite the contrary, we want to ensure that as our economy grows the benefits of that growth are shared with the middle class and those working hard to join it."

Morneau said the government is in "listening mode" as consultations on the proposed changes continue until Oct. 2 and said he wants to hear from New Democrats and their constituents if they believe the changes will inadvertently hurt middle-class families.
READ MORE: Farmers, doctors lead blowback against proposed tax changes
"I can assure you that our focus is on ensuring the wealthiest do not get tax advantages over and above what is available to other Canadians - and I would have hoped to count on your support on such a crucial issue of fairness and equity."

His letter was sent Sunday as Liberals brace for today's resumption of Parliament. Conservatives are promising to pummel the government over the proposed tax changes, which have raised the ire of doctors, lawyers, tax planners and other small business owners who've used incorporation to reduce their income tax burden.

The changes would restrict the ability of incorporated business owners to lower their tax rate by sprinkling income to family members who do no work for the business. They'd also limit the use of private corporations to make passive investments in things like stocks or real estate and limit the ability to convert a corporation's regular income into capital gains taxed at a lower rate.

In his letter, Morneau says the current tax system allows someone earning $300,000 to use a private corporation "to save about as much as the average Canadian earns in a year."

READ MORE: Reality check: Will closing tax loopholes for the rich really help the middle class?

"This leads to situations where an incorporated doctor can be taxed at a lower rate than a nurse practitioner or police officer."

In their earlier letter to Morneau, the three NDP MPs argued that the proposed changes "may negatively impact the availability of health services in Canada."

The Canadian Medical Association and provincial medical societies have spearheaded opposition to the reforms, contending among other things that they'll result in doctors moving to the United States.

However, some doctors across the country are putting their signatures on a letter to be sent to Morneau this week in support of the reforms. They argue that the changes will promote tax fairness and give the government more money to spend on health care.

A copy of the open letter was obtained Sunday by The Canadian Press.

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Bill Morneau chides NDP for opposing end to 'unfair tax advantages' for wealthy

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OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau is putting the squeeze on federal New Democrats, chiding them for failing to support his proposals to end what he calls unfair tax advantages for some wealthy small business owners.

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VANCOUVER - Provinces have mostly ignored legal aid as they increase resources to meet strict time limits imposed in a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling, the head of the Criminal Lawyers Association says.

Anthony Moustacalis said while the so-called Jordan decision of July 2016 has forced provinces to make changes ensuring delays don't exceed 18 months in provincial courts and 30 months in superior courts, defence lawyers who take on legal aid cases have been left behind.

"In Ontario, the provincial government has appointed more provincial judges and (Crown counsel). And instead of funding legal aid to cover more of the work of private counsel they've funded legal aid to put duty counsel in the jails to make sure that people who are arrested get their bail hearings organized a bit faster."

Judges are now requiring defence lawyers to submit more detailed written arguments before starting a trial to accelerate proceedings but the extra workload isn't matched with more legal aid, he said.

"You get a limited number of hours per file and that was based on the average demands on a file in the 1980s" but more disclosure and meetings with judges and the Crown, along with increasingly complex scientific evidence, already chew up valuable court time, Moustacalis said.

Legal aid covers about 55 to 60 per cent of all cases in Ontario, far below what's required for people too poor to afford basic necessities let alone a lawyer, he said.

"If legal aid was properly funded it would be more like 80 per cent of all cases. Eighty per cent of people who are charged have either mental health or drug or alcohol dependency issues or a combination thereof."

About 10 to 15 per cent of Moustacalis's cases involve legal aid, he said.

Moustacalis said his association has been lobbying the federal Justice Department on legal aid funding and other issues in keeping with timelines established in the Jordan ruling, which set aside the drug convictions of British Columbia resident Barrett Jordan over unreasonable court delays.

Issues stemming from delays were on top of the agenda at a recent meeting in Vancouver of Canada's justice ministers.

The Justice Department said in an email statement that it could not comment on communication with the Criminal Lawyers Association but it is working with provinces and territories to reform the system and make it as efficient as possible.

"At the September meeting of federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice, ministers reinforced this commitment, agreeing on the need for urgent and bold reforms to reduce delays in the criminal justice system."

British Columbia Attorney General David Eby said justice ministers at the meeting were troubled by court delays, especially because over 200 cases have already been tossed since the Jordan decision.

"The concern is universal across the country about the impact that this Supreme Court of Canada decision has in really raising the disturbing possibility of people who have allegedly committed serous offences walking free," Eby said.

He said legal aid is one of several issues leading to delays in B.C. courts.

"We have a lot of people showing up in court self represented who are taking up a lot of court time and bogging things down because they don't know what to do."

British Columbia's former Liberal government slashed legal aid in 2002 and continued cuts that had lawyers protesting while numerous studies concluded lack of access to justice caused backlogs.

Eby said the provincial budget next February would provide some money for legal aid and other reforms.

Vancouver criminal lawyer Richard Fowler, a member of the board of governors of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., said legal aid cuts have meant senior lawyers can't take on junior lawyers who need training in court so their cases don't get thrown out over mistakes due to inexperience.

"It's the only way you can learn," Fowler said. "It's an apprenticeship system. The Crown does it, police officers sometimes come and watch other officers testify.

"There has to be an injection of capital into legal aid to encourage and to facilitate senior counsel, experienced counsel doing legal aid cases like murder cases, manslaughter cases and sexual assault cases," said Fowler.

"The immediate response to Jordan is we need more judges and we need more prosecutors," Fowler said. "Everybody's response is to do that and they did that in Ontario and Quebec. You can have all the judges in the world, you can have all the prosecutors in the world. But if you don't have defence counsel that are properly trained, properly skilled, those cases are not going to run smoothly."

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Lawyers call on provinces to prioritize legal aid to meet top court's time limits

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VANCOUVER - Provinces have mostly ignored legal aid as they increase resources to meet strict time limits imposed in a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling, the head of the Criminal Lawyers Association says.

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13 - A Canadian Politician’s Social Media Feed

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13 - A Canadian Politician’s Social Media Feed

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Are 140 characters enough to make or break a federal election campaign?

Canadians are about to find out.

The defeat of the Conservative government unleashed a torrent of political tweets. By midafternoon Sunday, more than 14,000 tweets had been sent out during the first day-and-a-half of the campaign related to the election or Canadian politics. With a potential reach of more 16 million people, it was a dramatic spike from the less than 2,000 tweets on the same topics the weekend before.

If there was ever a question before, it's clear now: Canada's first social media election is under way.

The raw commentary on Twitter is often anonymous and occasionally obscene. For parties with the proper tracking software, what potential voters say on social media can provide real-time feedback on the campaign to find out what's working and what isn't.

"That kind of information, to me, would be golden for a campaign," said Mark Blevis, an Ottawa-based digital public affairs strategist. Mr. Blevis provided the above-mentioned statistics to The Globe and Mail.

At a high level, Mr. Blevis said, tracking Twitter lets campaigns know what issues are resonating with voters. But parties could also drill down deeper and reach out to potential supporters.
The revolution
Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign is seen as the watershed moment for social media in politics. Mr. Obama's team used the online tools to make their candidate more relatable, while at the same time organizing local online groups with the goal of identifying people who would then be more physically engaged in the campaign by volunteering or donating money.

New Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi also won praise for using social media in the right ways - being genuine and responsive online rather than simply spewing news releases.

Mr. Nenshi's chief of staff Chima Nkemdirim said personal responses online from the candidate and an openness to critical feedback on policy issues are what worked last year.

"There was a good chance he'd actually tweet you back," said Mr. Nkemdirim, who served as Mr. Nenshi's campaign manager. "From the early signs, I don't see any of the [federal]parties using social media the way we used it in Calgary."

Conservative MPs increasingly took to Twitter over the past year - a loosening of the tight message control the party is known for under Leader Stephen Harper.

It's no secret that Twitter feeds from politicians like Tony Clement are must-reads for journalists and political junkies. The former industry minister is famously known for tweeting government policy - such as overturning a CRTC decision on usage-based billing on the Internet.

There are an estimated 17 million Canadians on Facebook, but fewer than five million on Twitter. The might of Facebook - particularly as it grows in popularity with older Canadians - means parties must ensure their sites are current and engaging. But the immediacy of Twitter - combined with the speed that it can transmit snapshots and news story links electronically from anyone, anywhere, via smartphones - adds a new intensity to this election.
The strategies
Organizers with the Liberals and the NDP say they plan to link up various leader town hall meetings online. That means that the standard community-centre gatherings that take place in the evenings for a few hundred local residents will now be available live online to all. Both parties say they also plan to have the leaders answer online comments in these and other forums.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is also expected to post regular blogs. So far, however, all three leaders appear to be ignoring the advice of social media experts by issuing tweets in the tone of press releases rather than casual conversation.

The parties will certainly be tracking the tweets of the various candidates and their staffers, ready to pounce at the first sign of a slip-up.

"You have a brain wave and bang: it's out there in the public domain," said Tom Flanagan, who has directed past Conservative campaigns in which candidates were urged not to blog in order to stay out of trouble. "I see it as a problem, but [Twitter]is so new, it hasn't really been tested yet ... Maybe the one saving grace is there's only 140 characters, so there's perhaps a limited amount of damage you can do saying something stupid on Twitter."
Does it work?
Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd, the founder of the social media lab at Dalhousie University, said the emerging Twitter tracking software is clearly of use to parties. While still in its infancy, he said, the data can provide real-time feedback, complementing traditional public-opinion polling.

"There are so many people using these tools and it's real-time," he said.

The professor will also be watching to see if Canadian parties learned the lessons of recent election campaigns in Canada and the United States. Efforts to engage voters by having them make their own YouTube ads or other interactive efforts are far better than simply sending out one-way messages, he said.

Nonetheless, a fundamental unknown remains. Does the politician who has the most Facebook friends, the highest Twitter score or the most iPhone app downloads necessarily mean more people will put down the mobile phone and pick up a ballot?

The results of last fall's U.S. midterm elections suggest yes. The site All Facebook reported that in 74 per cent of House of Representative races and 81 per cent of Senate races, a candidate's Facebook fan count was an accurate predictor of victory.

Will the same pattern play out in Canada? Mr. Blevin thinks social media may swing a few ridings. Dr. Gruzd said he will be watching to see if social media persuades Canadians to vote.

For now, he said, "We don't really know."

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Canada's first social media election is on, but will people vote?

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Are 140 characters enough to make or break a federal election campaign? Canadians are about to find out. The defeat of the Conservative government unleashed a torrent of political tweets. By midafternoon Sunday, more than 14,000 tweets had been sent out during the first day-and-a-half of the campaign related to the election or Canadian politics.

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Rona Ambrose is our leader of opposition.

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11 - Letter To The Editor Of A Canadian Newspaper or News

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11 - Letter To The Editor Of A Canadian Newspaper or News

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Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Nice words. Now get on with it
Re PM Stresses Indigenous Struggles to UN (Sept. 22): If only the Prime Minister's rhetoric about Canada's Indigenous suicide crisis was matched by action. In 2011, as the Harper government was about to torpedo an NDP private member's bill to create a national strategy for suicide prevention, Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons: "We need to have a national suicide strategy to reach people in need in every sector of our society. ... That is what we on this side of the House sincerely believe in and we hope the government will act accordingly."

So why hasn't the Trudeau government acted accordingly?
Jack Hicks, Saskatoon
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Justin Trudeau's speech was remarkably frank in providing, before an international audience, a litany of the ills suffered by Canada's Indigenous communities.

But this is Canada's 150th anniversary. We have not been a colony for a very long time.

If "Canadians get it," as Justin Trudeau claimed at the United Nations, then we should get on with it.

God knows, we have had enough time and enough governments of both stripes since our "colonial past."
Tom MacDonald, Ottawa
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'I do not think it is right'
Even ignoring the fact that their own incomes, pensions, benefits, and especially net worths dwarf those of most of the doctors, other professionals, and small-business owners Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are currently targeting, the very argument that their tax changes are about "levelling the playing field" exudes hypocrisy.

It is very interesting to hear Mr. Trudeau defend the tax-avoidance strategies he, his family and his accountants employ to maximize his "family fortune," with the argument that they "follow all the rules."

Especially when Mr. Morneau clarified only two weeks ago that the issue at hand is not a failure to follow the rules, but rather that the current rules mean that "some of the highest-income earners are effectively being taxed at a much lower rate than everyone else. It is legal, but ... I do not think it is right."
Michael Jansz, Vancouver
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Why buy interim fighters?
Re Ottawa Urged To Open Jet Competition (Sept. 21): Since Canada's CF-18 aircraft were retrofitted to operate up to 2025, many critics cannot understand why we would want to purchase Super Hornet aircraft from Boeing in the first place as a "stopgap" measure for the RCAF before a full fighter-jet replacement in the next decade.

Even though the Liberals during the election campaign stated that they didn't want to purchase the F-35, most NATO countries have committed to doing so. These fighter jets are operational in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Canada has already spent nearly $400-million with other countries in the development of the F-35 with Lockheed-Martin. It is time for the government to move ahead with this procurement initiative now and commence the tendering process to replace our CF-18s. There is no logical reason why such steps should not be taken today.
J.G. Gilmour, Calgary
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Rocket Man and the Dotard
President Donald Trump's provocative speech to the United Nations in which he threatened the potential total destruction of North Korea, and asserted in juvenile fashion that "Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime" was not only unprofessional, it was dangerous (Trump Uses United Nations Stage To Threaten North Korea, Sept. 20).

Engaging in a series of back-and-forth, stepped-up threats with a potentially unstable dictator in Kim Jong-un is not the way to approach the dangerous nuclear escalation currently taking place in North Korea.

Mr. Trump's words may end up increasing the odds of a tragic miscalculation - with millions of people living in the Korean Peninsula, and thousands of U.S. troops stationed there, at risk.

Professionalism is required to deal with this situation, not reality TV-style showboating.
Jeff Buckstein, Kanata, Ont.
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Your headline speaks of the United States threatening North Korea. North Korea is testing nuclear devices that now reach farther and are more accurate, and the stated intent by North Korea is to target the United States, and thereby, its allies and territories.

What do you think President Donald Trump should have said at the United Nations? "America and our allies are being constantly threatened by North Korea with nuclear rockets, oh woe, what shall America do?"

Would that have been more to your liking?
Sylvia Makk-Lainevool, Richmond Hill, Ont.
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It strikes me that "Rocket Man" and the "Dotard" are both on a suicide mission. Which, if it just involved the two of them and their administration/regime would be one thing.

For the rest of us, it feels a lot like being trapped inside their nightmare script, a reality show where the audience is powerless to control the plot.
Rebecca Simpson, Winnipeg
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Re North Korea Warns It May Test H-Bomb As Kim Calls Trump 'Deranged' (Sept. 22): Takes Un to know one.
Louis Desjardins, Belleville, Ont.

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Sept. 23. Nice words, Mr. Trudeau. Now get on with it

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21 - Results Of The 2015 Federal Election

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21 - Results Of The 2015 Federal Election

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The MP for Bnaff-Airdire is Blake Richards. He has been our MP since October 2015.

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Canada's Minister of Status of Women is Maryam Monsef. She has been our Minister of Status of Women since January 2017.

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Minister of Status of Women, The Honourable Maryam Monsef

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18 - Map Of Regional Representation In The Senate

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18 - Map Of Regional Representation In The Senate

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One of our Senators is Doug Black. He has been one of our Senators since 2013.

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This is a political cartoon that has to do with Canada's economy.

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An journalist that writes about government affairs in Canada is Chrystia Freeland.

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You may have read about a recent ruling in Canada which stated it is constitutional to require would-be Canadians to take an oath to the Queen . You may also have been surprised to learn Canada does, in fact, still have a queen, and she is the same Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ceylon, and Pakistan, among others. Here is a list of roles still served by Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

1. Technically speaking, Queen Elizabeth is the Sovereign of the parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy of Canada. Unless you frequently use Canadian money or are particularly savvy with regard to Canadian politics, you may not have known they had any kind of monarchy.

2. All ministers, legislators, members of the armed forces, public servants, and police officers swear allegiance to the Queen. Though the aforementioned court ruling is likely to be appealed, for the time being all new citizens swear allegiance to the Queen as well. All passports are likewise issued in the name of the Queen.

3. Queen Elizabeth appoints a governor general who acts at the federal level and subsequently appoints one lieutenant governor in each of Canada's ten provinces. The Queen and the governor general make their appointments on the recommendation of Canada's prime minister. The governor general and lieutenant governor serve as daily representatives of the Queen, and they also give honors and tributes to deserving recipients in her name.

4. In the political world, the Queen really doesn't do much-she's not supposed to. Because she is considered to be the personification of the state of Canada, she is meant to remain neutral on all matters of politics.

5. The Queen is a patron of a number of Canadian organizations, including the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Red Cross Society, and the Royal Canadian Humane Association. Her official website also states that Canada is the country she has visited most in her 60-plus year reign.

6. Along with her representatives, Queen Elizabeth partakes in various ceremonies and traditions in Canada, including frequent Royal Tours. Most important anniversaries or celebrations are attended by the monarch herself, while other members of the royal family may attend lesser events in her place.

7. The Queen acts as Colonel-in-Chief of numerous Armed Forces regiments, such as the King's Own Calgary Regiment and The Canadian Grenadier Guards. Like her other roles in Canada, this one is primarily symbolic and accompanying duties are normally carried out by the governor general.

8. The prime minister and the ministers in his cabinet are all appointed by the governor general on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. (Usually, the governor general will appoint the leader of the party with the majority or large plurality.) The Queen makes an effort to keep up-to-date on parliamentary matters with regular communications with ministers and meets with them when possible.

9. The Queen must apply her royal sign-manual, or signature, as well as the Great Seal of Canada to patent letters, specific appointment papers of the governor general, the creation of additional Senate seats, and any change in her Canadian style and title.

10. Along with the governor general, the monarch can grant immunity from prosecution and pardon any offenses against the Crown before, during, or after a trial.
Additional Sources: Parliamentary Institutions [PDF]; Canada, A Constitutional Monarchy; Monarchy in Canada

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10 Things the Queen of England Still Does for Canada

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You may have read recently about a recent ruling in Canada which stated it is constitutional to require would-be Canadians to take an oath to the Queen. You may also have been surprised to learn Canada does, in fact, still have a queen. Here is a list of roles still served by Elizabeth the Second.

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Ontarians may soon know whether their doctor, dentist or pharmacist is getting money from Big Pharma.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins is introducing new legislation Wednesday that will require drug companies and medical device makers to publicly report cash payments, free dinners and other benefits they've given to health-care professionals.

"I know that Ontarians want and deserve more access to information that can help them make better decisions about their own health care," Hoskins said.

The payment information will be posted online in a searchable database and will be broken down by the name of the health-care professional who received it. Hoskins said the payment details will be for all 26 regulated health-care professions, from nurses to psychologists, as well as hospitals and other health-care organizations.

Hoskins said he anticipates the data collection for public reporting will begin in 2019.

"When these transfers of value take place they can have unintended consequences," Hoskins said. "This isn't suggesting at all the transfers are inappropriate. It's important that the value and nature of those transfers . . . be made transparent."

News of the proposed law was met with broad approval, from a major pharma firm to a medical device industry group to nurses and doctors expressing their support.

"I think there's been a big blind spot in our health system for a long time. This helps address that," said Dr. Andrew Boozary, who spearheaded a national Open Pharma campaign that called on the provincial and federal governments to require disclosure of payments from drug companies to doctors.

"It allows us to gain insight into some of the interactions between the pharmaceutical industry and health-care professionals that we previously had no idea about."

Earlier this year, 10 major drug companies voluntarily released data showing they paid nearly $50 million to Canadian health-care professionals and organizations in 2016.
Read more: Big Pharma marketing scheme banned by Ontario Health minister considering forcing drug companies to reveal payments to doctors Open Pharma wants public to know ties between MDs and pharmaceutical industry
The disclosure did not reveal who received the payments, and several leading drug companies chose to not release any information at all.

For the health minister, voluntary disclosure by the companies wasn't sufficient.

"We needed to go further to really, truly serve the needs of Ontarians in a responsible way," Hoskins said.

This proposed legislation brings Ontario in line with countries such as Australia, Japan, France and the United States, which have mandatory disclosures on financial relationships between industry and doctors.

In the U.S., which began publicly releasing the payment details in September 2014, any cash or gift worth more than $10 must be disclosed.

The newly proposed legislation is deliberately silent on a threshold dollar amount that would require public disclosure.

"We want something that is meaningful and fair and not overly onerous. There are a lot of differing opinions in terms of what that threshold should be," said Hoskins, adding that the issue would be addressed in further consultations.

Dr. Joel Lexchin, a long-time advocate of transparency, said he hopes the government sets "a pretty low threshold," noting that studies out of the United States show that meals worth less than $20 can have an impact on doctor's prescribing practices.

"The legislation in my view needs to be quite aggressive," he said.

There have been numerous controversies in Canada over perceived conflicts of interest because of payment relationships.

In recent years, Toronto Star investigations have exposed a number of questionable relationships between big pharma and doctors.

The Star found drug companies routinely host and bankroll dinners at upscale restaurants as training for family doctors. Critics of the dinners say they are just marketing tools under the guise of education.

And there have been other controversies over perceived conflicts of interest because of drug company involvement, including alleged altering or ghostwriting of medical studies and physician endorsements of drugs.

Toronto's Dr. Nav Persaud supports the new legislation, adding that there was never a good reason to keep payment information secret.

"A patient should know if the company selling a medication paid the doctor writing the prescription. Patients ultimately pay for this marketing so they have a right to know where the money is going," he said.

Theresa Agnew, head of the Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario, said the group also supports Hoskins' bill.

"We think that the increased transparency will help to promote more evidence-based care getting through to not just clinicians but to patients as well," she said.

Hoskins said he will be encouraging the federal minister of health, as well as his provincial and territorial counterparts, to follow Ontario's lead and pursue similar legislation.

"I'm proud Ontario has demonstrated that leadership, but just as Ontarians want and deserve this information and greater transparency and accountability, Canadians deserve and want that, as well."

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Ontario bill will reveal drug company payments to doctors | Toronto Star

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Ontarians may soon know whether their doctor, dentist or pharmacist is getting money from Big Pharma. Health Minister Eric Hoskins is introducing new legislation Wednesday that will require drug companies and medical device makers to publicly report cash payments, free dinners and other benefits they've given to health-care professionals.

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Home - Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery

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A registered lobby group in Canada is the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

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28 - Connections Between The Federal Government And Banking/Business

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28 - Connections Between The Federal Government And Banking/Business

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26 - Public Service Message From The Government Of Canada

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26 - Public Service Message From The Government Of Canada

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In today's fast-paced world, a modernized public service requires a modernized staffing system. The New Direction in Staffing (NDS) is the most significant change to the staffing system we have seen in over ten years. Designed to simplify and streamline staffing, these important changes come into effect on April 1, 2016.

Departments and agencies will now have greater ability to customize their approaches to staffing, based on their own day-to-day realities. Our goal is to ensure that departments and agencies are able to attract talented people, with modern skills, in a timely fashion.

The NDS provides for:

More variety in hiring processes;

Agile approaches to staffing and policies;

More room for managers to apply their judgement when staffing; and

Increased focus on outcomes, including the quality of the person hired, and less on process.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) and other organizations have worked together to lay a solid foundation for this new approach. All indications we have received show organizations are ready and able to implement these changes.

For more than 100 years, the PSC has safeguarded merit-based appointments and non-partisanship in the public service and we will continue to do so in this new environment, in a more strategic way.

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new direction in staffing -- message from the public service commission to all public servants

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New Direction in Staffing -- Message from the Public Service Commission to all Public Servants

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In today's fast-paced world, a modernized public service requires a modernized staffing system. The New Direction in Staffing (NDS) is the most significant change to the staffing system we have seen in over ten years. Designed to simplify and streamline staffing, these important changes come into effect on April 1, 2016.

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A diagram of the seats in the House of Commons.

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35 - Canada’s Only Female Prime Minister

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35 - Canada’s Only Female Prime Minister

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The only female Prime Minister we have ever had is Kim Campbell.

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34 - Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms

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34 - Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms

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The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; a short documentary

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33 - Canadian Political Parties That Have Seats In The House Of Commons

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33 - Canadian Political Parties That Have Seats In The House Of Commons

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This a political cartoon thats showing some kind of government activity in Canada.

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Virtual tour of the Houses of Parliament