Arivia posted:

They made us sing O Canada at my convocation over the weekend. It was actually really beautiful.

quote:

Trudeau government's lead economic guru offers peek into growth council's work

Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, October 13, 2016 4:04PM EDT

OTTAWA -- The global expert who heads the Trudeau government's economic advisory council has offered a glimpse into the group's brainstorming sessions on how best to lift Canada's drooping growth prospects.

Dominic Barton shared details of the team's focal points during his appearance this week at a public policy summit in Ottawa. They include easing immigration rules to attract more talent, retraining swaths of the workforce to adjust to the rapid rise in automation and creating what he calls the world's first infrastructure agency designed to rake in private and foreign capital.

The influential 14-member group, which has the prime minister's ear, will zero in on a handful of concrete ideas that will be rolled out a few at a time, Barton said.

Above all, he said the concepts will be ambitious and the results will be tangible.
Unless, of course, some of the ideas flop.

"We will know very clearly whether they're in or out, and whether we've failed," said Barton, a Canadian who is the global managing director of consulting giant McKinsey & Co.
"It's going to be very clear. It will either be exciting or very embarrassing."

Barton, a sought-after expert who has advised governments and corporate leaders around the world, was hand-picked by the Liberals to help revive the economy. He chairs a council of advisers with backgrounds in business and academia.

His remarks Wednesday didn't lay out many specific proposals, but they did shed considerable light on where the group has been digging -- as well as the general direction it hopes to go.

Council aims to 'jolt' the system

Barton told the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa not to expect the council, which has pored over reams of research, to come up with a "new silver bullet."
Instead, he said Canadians should anticipate "bold implementation" of existing ideas that aim to "jolt" the system.

Barton said he has confidence in Canada's prospects to boost its growth, as long as it takes advantage in several key areas and addresses some imposing challenges facing the economy.
The biggest headwind, he warned, is the country's swiftly aging population.

The size of a workforce is a critical driver of economic productivity, Barton said. Canada has seen, on average, GDP growth of about 3.1 per cent over the last 50 years -- growth Barton said could fall to 1.5 per cent if nothing is done.

"Demographics are pretty reliable to look at -- these are not just some forecasts," Barton said. "It's a call to action."

To respond, the council is looking at ways to take advantage of a national trait he described as unique to Canada: its openness to immigration.

He said he doesn't take that openness for granted, but stressed it's something on which council members feel Canada needs to "double down" if it wants to attract highly skilled talent, particularly young people.

Need help for 'job dislocation'

On the labour front, Barton said the council has explored ways to help people navigate "job dislocation" caused by advancing automation. Options include stepping up efforts to retrain workers whose jobs are at risk of becoming obsolete.

Research predicts that as many as half of Canada's nine million middle-class jobs are susceptible to automation and, over the next five to 10 years, the rate of job dislocation will double compared to what the workforce experienced in the last five to 10 years.

If the country doesn't do more to retrain its workers, he said Canada could eventually see frustration similar to what has emerged in places like the United States and the United Kingdom.
Canada, meanwhile, has many strengths it can use to its advantage, he said.

Assets range from world-class universities, to an ag-food industry packed with potential, to the political and fiscal stability that outside investors covet.

Attracting private capital to invest in economy-enhancing projects like infrastructure -- from outside and inside the country -- is crucial for Canada, he said.

Barton said that work would be easier through an institution that maintains some independence from government. That vehicle would combine private cash with public investments to create large-scale infrastructure that create jobs and boost productivity.

The idea of such an institution has been around for several years in places like Australia and the U.S., but no country has fully brought such a concept to life, he said.
In general, Barton said Ottawa has encouraged the council to think big.

"The government's been incredibly supportive to us to just say, 'Go for it. Don't worry about the politics, don't talk about interprovincial issues, that's none of your business. Just focus on the ideas."'

THC posted:

Real Change.

namaste faggots posted:

also, ban film industry subsidies by the provinces. if you're working class white trash, tough poo poo go and eat dirt motherfucker

Baronjutter posted:

Do they do the math and figure the film subsidies turn a profit? Like "ok for every dollar we subsidize the film industry we get $1.05 back in taxes and related benefits" or is it just straight up welfare payments but with rich middle men taking a huge share?

Helsing posted:

"bold implementation of existing ideas"

THC posted:

quote:

Ezra Levant is hoping Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will go to bat for his conservative online publication The Rebel, after he says it was barred from a United Nations climate conference.

Levant says The Rebel applied for credentials for three journalists to attend the UN climate conference known as COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco, in November.

The application was made a month ago and he didn't expect a problem, he says, because thousands of credentials are typically issued.

But when the response came about two weeks ago, it stated that the application was denied because credentials aren't issued for advocacy media outlets, he says.

quote:

Levant said he hadn't asked for help from the Canadian government before because he was hoping the issue could be worked out quietly before the deadline. But he said he's now seeking assistance from Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

"I know Justin Trudeau doesn't agree with The Rebel. I know that. But he should stand up for Canadian values like freedom of the press at the UN."

Ezra Levant posted:

“To Trudeau it’s always about him. When it comes to women, too, they’re for his use.”

“The idea of the nobleman of the estate, riding through like in medieval times to deflower whatever maidens he wanted, that’s still there in Trudeau.”

quote:

Nicholas Nuttall, a spokesman for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Conference, said the organization tries hard to make sure those who get accreditation are genuine media rather than advocacy groups or non-governmental organizations pretending they're media.

"We had never heard of Rebel Media before but we looked at their website and, to be honest, they seemed to be in the bracket of being something of a one person band, espousing an individual's view of the world, rather than being a serious media operation," Nuttall said in an email.

"Some of the headlines seemed to verge on extremism as well."

The Dark One posted:

This flag is also obviously photoshopped in. I wouldn't even be surprised if those were American kids!

colonel_korn posted:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ezra-levant-climate-conference-accreditation-1.3809345



lol


Let me know how that works out for you, Ezra.

This is also pretty funny (from the first article):

Dead Kelly posted:

I hope Trudeau runs after Levant while wielding a baseball bat.

The Dark One posted:

This flag is also obviously photoshopped in. I wouldn't even be surprised if those were American kids!

Risky Bisquick posted:

We don't really have exclusively black/white communities

infernal machines posted:

Lolwhut?

Have you never been outside of the GTHA/GVRD?

Wait, if that's and I'm not getting it, I apologize.

Jordan7hm posted:

We have a lot of exclusively white communities but not a ton of exclusively non-white communities, or at least not very big ones.

This isn't unexpected based on demographics though. Canada is a fairly white country.

infernal machines posted:

Lolwhut?

Have you never been outside of the GTHA/GVRD?

Wait, if that's and I'm not getting it, I apologize.

Risky Bisquick posted:

isn't a direct part of the confederation in my mind, it's Canada's European neighbour that sells cheap liquor at SAQ.


Have you been to Brampton lately

Postess with the Mostest posted:

I kind of see what he means

infernal machines posted:

The point is Brampton, and pretty much any other city in the GTHA, is not representative of the demographic breakdown of the rest of the country.


I know we're the only one that matters, but AFAIK we're not the only community in the country.

infernal machines posted:

I know we're the only one that matters, but AFAIK we're not the only community in the country.

Postess with the Mostest posted:

I think you think jm20 meant we don't have mostly white or mostly black communities but I think he meant mostly (white AND black). You could probably get a picture of kids in Canada like that somewhere, i'm sure it exists. But if you see a picture where half the kids are white and the other half are black, your brain should quickly process the stats and think "wow, what a nice picture of young americans".

Wistful of Dollars posted:

Trudeau should try to help Levant, but in a very smug manner.

Risky Bisquick posted:

Wouldn't Levant need to join the CAJ or something like that to be considered a journalist, and then would be bound by actual ethics?

Risky Bisquick posted:

Wouldn't Levant need to join the CAJ or something like that to be considered a journalist, and then would be bound by actual ethics? Isn't that why he was booted out of the BAR?

The financial post posted:

The international organization’s rejection of the media start up has also prompted major concerns about freedom of expression and freedom of the press from three prominent Canadian advocacy groups: PEN Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ). All three have intervened and petitioned the UNFCCC on The Rebel’s behalf.

“(The Rebel) consistently publishes original news stories that often go otherwise untold,” wrote CAJ President Nick Taylor-Vaisey in an October 13 letter to the UNFCCC.

Taylor-Vaisey said that CAJ is particularly concerned that the outlet “was denied accreditation on the basis of publishing ‘advocacy journalism,’ a term the UNFCCC website fails to define (which raises a serious concern that the label is provided arbitrarily).”

Arivia posted:

Hey ikantski http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-electricity-support-1.3809961 jfc Ontario Liberals