2017: The dawn of Trump... and two new leaders
The anti-globablization wave that helped push Donald Trump into the White House and Britain out of the European Union via the Brexit vote is "not an answer for Canada," says International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland.
- Global trade more important than ever, Chrystia Freeland tells Toronto audience
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"We are a trading nation and our prosperity is fundamentally linked with our connection with the global economy. There are only 35 million Canadians and if we just trade with each other, we're not going to be able to generate enough wealth to have those middle class," she told The House in a year-end interview.
"A lot of people are feeling, and I think they are right to feel, that the 21st century global economy isn't working for them. And they're right: middle-class wages have been stagnating across the western industrialized world, jobs are more precarious.... So I think there's real economic anxiety."
Freeland said despite Trump's promise to rip up NAFTA, trade with Canada will be important to the incoming administration.
"Canada is an integral part of the U.S. supply chain that is something that is really, really important for Americans to understand and I think they do," she said.
When it comes to other international trade opportunities in the new year, Freeland said she's tentatively booked to have her first face-to-face discussion with China in February as Canada explores a free trade agreement with that country.
In September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alongside Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, announced the start of exploratory talks with the goal of doubling trade between the two countries by 2025.
"China is very much a focus," said Freeland.
2017 'will be a big test' for Justin Trudeau: Rona Ambrose
If his father was right and living next to the United States is like sleeping with an elephant, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has restless nights ahead of him, predicts Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose.
"This next year will be a big test for him," Ambrose told CBC host Chris Hall from Stornoway, the official residence of the Opposition leader.
"[Donald Trump's] election changes everything for us. That is why I say the fun is over and hard work has to begin."
Ambrose says the Liberal government needs to adjust their policies in preparation of Trump's inauguration in January.
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"If he does what he says he's going to do, which is to lower taxes substantively whether it's income taxes or business taxes, and we're raising taxes on this side of the border we could see a brain drain. This could mean a loss of jobs to the United States. This is a huge issue," Ambrose said.
She said she believes the government was caught off guard by U.S. president elect Donald Trump's win and now has to deal the protectionist wave that pushed him to the White House.
Trump's "Make America Great" message played especially well in what's known as the rust belt, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where fears over the loss of manufacturing jobs have been bubbling for years.
"What does that mean for the one in five jobs that rely on free trade? Mr. Trump has already said he is going to target our softwood lumber industry and our beef industry. Those are two important job-creating sectors," Ambrose said.
She said she's urged Trudeau to call Trump to start the process of bringing back the TransCanada Keystone XL project from the dead, but "he hasn't said that he's done that yet."
"I am worried that it hasn't sunk in. This train is coming down the tracks and it's going to be a big impact on our jobs and on this country and I don't feel like we're prepared for it," Ambrose said.
Tom Mulcair's political future to be decided "together" with the new leader
Despite there being nobody officially in the running to replace him yet, Tom Mulcair says he will make a decision about his political future along with his successor.
"I basically have the choice between moving on in my career or finishing off this mandate," Mulcair told CBC Radio's The House in a year-end interview.
"It will depend a lot on whether the new leader wants to have an opportunity to bring somebody new in and I'm going to be very open one way or the other."
Mulcair has been the MP for the riding of Outremont since 2007. He succeed Jack Layton as leader of the NDP in 2011 following Layton's death and the Orange Wave that carried the party to its first Official Opposition status.
NDP members will choose a new leader in the fall after voting in favour of such a contest back in April, essentially showing Mulcair the door.
At the time, Mulcair said he would stay on until his replacement was chosen.
"I'm quite convinced that there will be a role if such is my desire," Mulcair said.
Mulcair said his focus over the coming months will be to continue to hold the governing Liberals to account and make sure everything is ready when the next leader takes over.