Louis Cooper

Last week’s general elections in Canada ended in a minority government and the sense of an east-west divide to the nation. Canadians wanted to teach Trudeau a lesson but they also wanted him back. (more…)

The most recent poll, commissioned by Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC, has the Conservatives, led by Andrew Scheer, at 31.7%. the Liberals, led by PrimeMinister, Justin Trudeau, are at 30.8%, the New Democratic Party, led by Jagmeet Singh is sitting at 8.5%. (more…)

At eleven o’clock on Wednesday, September 11 this year, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, arrived at Rideau Hall, the official residence of Canada’s Governor-General, Julie Payette, and asked her to dissolve parliament, allowing a federal election to be called for October 21 2019. (more…)

Earlier this month – in a long-awaited decision – Canada’s federal ethics commissioner concluded Trudeau had violated an ethics law in his handling of a corporate criminal case. Commissioner Mario Dion said that the prime minister had used his office “to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit” Canada’s former justice minister and attorney general, Judy Wilson-Raybould, by improperly pressuring her to seek a civil penalty against SNC-Lavalin, a major engineering company, rather than a criminal conviction. (more…)

Canada has a national election in October and a recent poll shows the electorate is feeling worried and conflicted. Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party be re-elected? (more…)

 What is causing the slip in a poll taken last week is a complicated set of circumstances, centering on a Quebec-based engineering company called SNC-Lavalin. Several former executives of the company face or have faced charges of bribing a foreign public official, under Canada’s Corruption on Foreign Public Officials Act, as well as with fraud, under Canada’s Criminal Code. The offences are alleged to have take place between 2001 and 2011 and are related to SNC construction contracts in Libya. Charges were laid in February 2015. The RCMP alleges SNC paid almost $C48-million to Libyan public officials to influence government decisions, as well as defrauding Libyan organizations of another $C130-million. (more…)

NAFTA came into force on January 1 1994. It replaced the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA’s basic premise was to ignore the international borders and reduce or eliminate tariffs for much of the trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico. For the most part, it has been beneficial to the North American economies and the average citizen,  but harmful to a small minority of workers in industries exposed to trade competition. (more…)

Given the problems with the Trump White House, Trudeau gives every appearance of being a strong, smart leader on the Canadian and world stage. (more…)

The political, economic and social connections between Canada and the United States of America are being kicked and stomped on.  (more…)