Stephen Harper

Not so fast, Mr. Harper

Prime Minister Harper seems to think that the final verdict on the proposed Northern Gateway project lies with the federal cabinet. Is he right? >

When he was younger, Max Fawcett wanted to make a mint in the markets. Now as the managing editor of Alberta Venture he gets to write about them. Close enough, right? He can be reached at mfawcett@albertaventure.com

Corporate tax cuts, investment and job creation: fact or fiction?

The Globe and Mail casts further doubt on the relationship between corporate tax cuts and capital spending, but the federal Conservatives don't seem to mind >

Eastern promises

A look inside the federal government's latest budget. >

Are the Tories bad for business?

by Max Fawcett, Managing Editor

It’s a widely held belief, both here in Canada and throughout the anglosphere, that conservatives are better managers of the economy than liberals, and conservative political parties have traded well and widely on that belief. Indeed, in an Angus Reid poll taken in May of last year when the possibility of a double-dip recession still loomed large, Canadians expressed a clear preference for Stephen Harper’s leadership when it came to the economy. While only 21 per cent of respondents indicated that they trusted Michael Ignatieff to handle the economy, 39 per cent said that they believed in Harper’s leadership. This could – and probably should – be read less as a vote of confidence than as one of negative affirmation. After all, a majority of respondents still said that they didn’t trust Harper to handle the economy. They simply mistrusted him less than they did Michael Ignatieff.
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The waiting game

By Max Fawcett, Managing Editor

Even at the best of times Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to have a hard time heeding the advice of experts. In fact, judging by the way his government handled the elimination of the mandatory long form portion of the census last fall, one wonders if he hasn’t developed some sort of allergy to informed opinion. But with the country in the throes of electoral foreplay, the likelihood of him yielding to the recommendations of an unelected body of non-partisan experts is even smaller.

That’s a shame, given the content of the report released today by the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy. >

Ditching Alberta’s Expo bid is a costly political mistake

Harper’s Tories can kiss their fortunes goodbye

By Paul Marck

So long, Rona Ambrose. See ya later, Laurie Hawn. Sayonara, James Rajotte. Been nice knowing you, Tim Uppal, Brent Rathgeber, Peter Goldring, Mike Lake, and maybe Rob Merrifield. Your leader, Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, has just made you collateral damage in next spring’s federal election, courtesy of the government’s cowardly decision not to back the Edmonton Expo 2017 bid.

Way Downtown

Fear Factor grips Calgary – not the TV show. Stephen Harper drops bomb on Calgary’s core, leaving bad cop Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to deliver the news: income trusts will be taxed (Flaherty later apologizes but doesn’t retract). >

An optimistic view of the Conservative victory. What Stephen Harper Can Do…

…may be less important than what he’s done already

by Paul Bunner

It’s a good thing her in-laws were a couple of thousand kilometres away when my wife realized Ontario voters had withheld a majority government from the Conservatives. “Thanks to them,” she thundered, “the next Parliament is going to be as dysfunctional as Lac La Biche town council!” >