Browse "Policy"

A few minutes before Finance Minister Paul Martin was to deliver his budget speech in the House of Commons last week, he and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien met in Chrétien's second-floor office on Parliament Hill along with Martin's wife, Sheila, and Aline Chrétien.

If Martin has his way, there will be one more budget - if only because he could then announce the virtual elimination of the federal deficit by the turn of the century.

There were still three weeks remaining before budget day when Finance Minister Paul Martin sat down one afternoon for a strategy session in his fifth-floor office in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings.

"I wasn't sure if he was running for leader of the party or president of Cuba," one Liberal backbencher whispered as Finance Minister Paul Martin wrapped up his one-hour, 20-minute budget speech to Parliament last week.

By any standard it was a meaty budget. On taxes, Finance Minister Paul Martin's first fiscal plan for the new century laid the table for five years of gradual cuts to corporate and personal rates.

YOU COULDN'T BLAME John Manley for not seeing it coming. He rises in the House of Commons making like a department-store Santa handing out goodies like there's no tomorrow - yet everybody's mad at him.

Canada Corn Act, passed in 1843 by the British Parliament and applying to all grains, allowed Canadian wheat to enter the British market at a nominal duty, and flour manufactured in Canada at a proportionate rate.

The Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs was established in 1967 to bring together under one minister the administering of federal policies regulating the marketplace.

The Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) is an inter-governmental trade agreement regulating trade within Canada. It took effect on 1 July 2017. The goal of the agreement was to reduce or eliminate regulations against the free movement of goods, services, and investments within Canada. The officials who framed the new deal said they wanted to ensure that Canadian firms got the same access to the Canadian market as firms from the country’s international trading partners. CFTA also more closely matches the terms of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), which began taking effect in 2017.

Mutual Aid is the principal economic means by which Canada assisted its allies with food, raw materials and munitions from May 1943 until the end of WORLD WAR II. The Mutual Aid Board, chaired by C.D.

The Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (Macdonald Commission) was appointed in 1982 to examine the future economic prospects of the country and the effectiveness of its political institutions.

 The White Paper on Employment and Income of 1945 described the Canadian government's immediate postwar fiscal and economic policies. Presented to Parliament by the Honourable C.D.

The Automotive Products Trade Agreement of 1965, better known as the Canada-US Auto Pact, led to the integration of the Canadian and US auto industries in a shared North American market. While it brought great benefits to Canada, it was eventually found to be contrary to international trade rules and was cancelled in 2001. By then it had accomplished its biggest goal — an integrated North American industry with a much stronger Canadian presence.

Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Ltd. (FBM) is an architectural firm in practice since 1917, making it one of the oldest in Canada.

Canada Savings Bonds differ from other government bonds in that they can be cashed at any bank for the face value plus accrued interest. They cannot be sold by the original buyer but must be held until cashed or until they mature (usually in 7 years) from the time they were bought.

Canada's federal and provincial governments follow a budgetary process, designed to ensure control, accountability and planning in the spending of public money.

During the Great Depression, the federal government sanctioned the creation of a system of unemployment relief camps, where in exchange for room-and-board, single men did physically demanding labour. The government was criticized for establishing the camps rather than addressing the need for reasonable work and wages.

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is an earnings-related, public pension plan that transfers income from workers to the retired. The CPP covers all Canadian workers except those in Québec who are covered by the parallel Québec Pension Plan (QPP). The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board manages about $300-billion in CPP assets, making it one of the largest pension fund managers in the world.

Election laws regulate most aspects of federal political party financing, both during and outside of election periods.