A Pandemic Budget
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www.policymagazine.ca March—April 2021 Canadian Politics and Public Policy A Pandemic Budget $6.95 Volume 9 – Issue 2 Essential to the Economy Serving exporters, importers, retailers, farmers and manufacturers, CN’s transportation services are integral to modern life, touching the lives of millions of Canadians every day. $250B 25% WORTH OF GOODS OF WHAT WE TRANSPORT TRANSPORTED IS EXPORTED 24,000 $3B RAILROADERS CAPITAL INVESTMENTS (2021) cn.ca Everyone has the right to live free from harm and discrimination. That’s why the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is so important. Contact your Member of Parliament and urge them to support the quick passage of Bill C-15. Learn more at SupportUNDRIP.ca CanadianIn ThisPolitics Issue and Pu2b lic FromPoli cythe Editor / L. Ian MacDonald A Pandemic Budget Canadian Politics and 3 Kevin Page, Donya Ashnaei and Elo Mamoh Public Policy Canada’s Debt Narrative, from Financial Crisis to Pandemic EDITOR AND PUBLISHER L. Ian MacDonald 6 Kevin Page, Donya Ashnaei and Elo Mamoh [email protected] Fiscal Policy: Relief, Recovery and Reset ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jeremy Leonard and Angel Talavera Lisa Van Dusen 9 [email protected] Letter from London: Avoiding Austerity II in the EU CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kevin Lynch and Paul Deegan Thomas S. Axworthy, 11 Andrew Balfour, Yaroslav Baran, The Great Budgetary Pivot: But to Where? James Baxter, Derek H. Burney, Shachi Kurl Catherine Cano, Stéphanie Chouinard, 16 Margaret Clarke, Rachel Curran, The Mood of Canada: People, the Pandemic and Politics Paul Deegan, John Delacourt, Susan Delacourt, Graham Fraser, Dan Gagnier, Helaina Gaspard, Canada and the World Martin Goldfarb, Sarah Goldfeder, Patrick Gossage, Frank Graves, Jeremy Kinsman 19 Jeremy Kinsman, Shachi Kurl, The Brexit Post-Mortem: Now What? Philippe Lagassé, Brad Lavigne, Jeremy Leonard, Kevin Lynch, Sarah Goldfeder Leslie MacKinnon, Peter Mansbridge, 22 Carissima Mathen, Elizabeth May, The Biden Agenda: Restoring World Leadership for Velma McColl, David McLaughlin, Prosperity and Stability David Mitchell, Don Newman, Geoff Norquay, Fen Osler-Hampson, Suzanne Fortier Kevin Page, Robin V. Sears, 24 Vianne Timmons, Brian Topp, Building Back Better, Together: Lessons from Virtual Davos Lori Turnbull, Jaime Watt, Stéphanie Chouinard Anthony Wilson-Smith 27 Official Languages Reform: Failure is not an Option WEB DESIGN Nicolas Landry Lori Turnbull [email protected] 29 The Atlantic Bubble and Nova Scotia Politics SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Grace MacDonald 31 Column / Don Newman [email protected] Lessons from the Pandemic GRAPHIC DESIGN & PRODUCTION Monica Thomas Book Reviews [email protected] Review by Graham Fraser 32 Policy Newspapering: 50 Years of Reporting from Canada and Around the World Policy is published six times annually by LPAC Ltd. The contents are Norman Webster copyrighted, but may be reproduced Review by Rosalie Silberman Abella with permission and attribution in 33 print, and viewed free of charge at the Eleanor Policy home page at policymagazine.ca. David Michaelis Price: $6.95 per issue Annual Subscription: $39.95 PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY St. Joseph Communications, 1165 Kenaston Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1A4 Available in Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges across Canada, as well as VIA Rail Lounges in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Now available on PressReader. Cover photo by Adam Scotti Special thanks to our sponsors and advertisers who are solely responsible for the content of their ads. Connect with us: @policy_mag facebook.com/policymagazine Clean off-road vehicles. Made by foresight and Paul Achard, BEng’14, Sam Bruneau, BEng’15, ingenuity. Gabriel Bernatchez, BEng’16, co-founders of Taiga Motors Taiga Motors is poised to boost Canadian innovation in the clean technology market Taiga Motors’ co-founders built their first electric snowmobile prototype while studying at McGill. Now, they’ve secured funding to ramp up production of the world’s first electric snowmobiles and personal watercraft. Promising the same power as fuel-burning models, with zero emissions or noise pollution, Taiga’s first models will be distributed through dealers across North America and Europe. 2 From the Editor / L. Ian MacDonald A Pandemic Budget elcome to our look ahead ard and Angel Talavera of Oxford Eco- This in a minority Parliament, with to A Pandemic Budget, our nomics offer their thoughts. the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc W cover package on the first Former Privy Council Clerk Kevin Québécois all hoping to win more federal budget in more than two Lynch and communications consul- seats off the Island of Montreal in the years, one that has been shaped by tant Paul Deegan write that “We are at next election. the unprecedented events and cir- war on two fronts—against a virulent Dalhousie University’s Lori Turn- cumstances arising from the corona- pathogen and against a pandemic-in- bull writes of a testing time within virus pandemic. duced recession—but not always on a the political Atlantic Bubble. Outgo- So, not just any budget, but as Finance war footing.” ing Nova Scotia Premier Stephen Mc- Neil allowed that he was tired of the Minister Chrystia Freeland put it, “the Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus job months before leaving on Febru- most significant one of our lifetimes.” Reid Institute, checks in with new ary 23, with Iain Rankin replacing The Spanish Flu pandemic following polling numbers reflecting how Ca- him as premier. Onward, sort of, in the First World War and the Great nadians feel about the government’s the pandemic. Depression are the only comparable handling of the vaccine rollout, and health and economic crises in our his- whether they blame the prime min- And columnist Don Newman looks at tory, and they didn’t occur simultane- ister for delays, in a Mood of Cana- the lessons from the pandemic for Ca- ously as this one has in the last year, da piece. nadian diplomacy, especially how Ot- leaving more than 22,000 dead (at this tawa might strike a balance between writing) Canadians in its wake in two n Canada and the World, former an intelligent China policy and secur- waves, with a dread that a third pan- Canadian high commissioner to ing the release of the two Michaels— demic surge may result from high- I the United Kingdom and former Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor— ly communicable variants. As for the ambassador to the European Union as diplomatic hostages of Beijing. economy, with millions of Canadians Jeremy Kinsman considers the ques- inally, in Book Reviews, we of- losing their jobs, entire industries shut tion of what’s next after Brexit for the fer two reviews of important ti- down, and provinces in varying de- UK and the EU. tles for the spring season. Con- grees of lockdown, the federal govern- In a world where turmoil is the new F tributing Writer Graham Fraser con- ment has faced two major issues. normal, the return of normal Amer- siders Norman Webster’s memoir of First, how much money to throw at ican leadership is a welcome devel- a lifetime in journalism, Newspaper- the problem, and second, how to ac- opment, writes former Foggy Bot- ing: 50 Years of Reporting from Can- quire and distribute enough vaccines tom official Sarah Goldfeder, now an ada and Around the World. As Fraser to meet the needs of Canadians. Ottawa-based policy consultant. As notes: “this wonderful collection cap- From his post as president of the In- Goldfeder writes of The Biden Agenda: tures the essence of Norman Webster: stitute of Fiscal Studies and Democ- “Rebuilding and buttressing alliances cheerful, well-informed, shrewd, hon- racy, the redoubtable Kevin Page and will be critical.” ourable—and highly competitive.” his University of Ottawa team—he’s McGill Principal Suzanne Forti- And Supreme Court Justice Rosalie joined by fourth-year economics stu- er checks in with her annual World Abella weighs in with an opinion on dents Donya Ashnaei and Elo Ma- Economic Forum dispatch, this year Eleanor, the David Michaelis bio of El- moh—offer their look ahead to Bud- a Letter from Virtual Davos, from her eanor Roosevelt. America’s First Lady get 2021 in two outstanding articles, own office in Montreal. in more ways than one, but equally one on debt sustainability and the With the much-awaited release of Ot- a champion in her own right of the other on flexible fiscal frameworks. tawa’s new working paper on updat- suffering and dispossessed, including With Canada and the US both at- ing the Official Languages Act, Stépha- the judge’s own family of Holocaust tempting to stimulate economic re- nie Chouinard looks at the emphasis survivors, who emigrated to Canada covery while maintaining debt with- on protecting and promoting French from post-war Germany not long af- in sustainable levels, the question is in the federal context, with Quebec ter their displaced persons camp was whether Europe is on the same page. on the verge of reinforcing Bill 101, visited by Eleanor. In a letter from London, Jeremy Leon- its Charter of the French Language. Enjoy. Policy 3 3 Prime Minister Trudeau and Finance Minister Freeland in the PM’s West Block office during the Virtual Meeting with President Biden and his cabinet officials on February 23, where they discussed a bilateral agenda for a health and economic recovery from the pandemic. Adam Scotti photo Canada’s Debt Narrative, from Financial Crisis to Pandemic When the public health crisis of a deadly global pandem- Kevin Page, Donya ic became an economic crisis in the absence of a vaccine, Ashnaei and Elo Mamoh the economic worst-case scenario was always going to be about debt. Vaccines were patented, but their econom- e live in unusual, uncer- ic relief has been thwarted by delivery disruptions and W tain and unstable times.