From the Fraser Institute

By Kenneth P. Green

Canada has a regulation problem. Our economy is over-regulated and the regulatory load is growing. To reverse this trend, we need a deregulation agenda that will cut unnecessary red tape and government bloat, to free up the Canadian economy.

According to the latest “Red Tape” report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, government regulations cost Canadian businesses a staggering $38.8 billion in 2020. Together, businesses spent 731 million hours on regulatory compliance—that’s equal to nearly 375,000 fulltime jobs. Canada’s smallest businesses bear a disproportionately high burden of the cost, paying up to five times more for regulatory compliance per-employee than larger businesses. The smallest businesses pay $7,023 per employee annually to comply with government regulation while larger businesses pay $1,237 per employee.

Of course, the Trudeau government has enacted a vast swath of new regulations on large sectors of Canada’s economy—particularly the energy sector—in a quest to make Canada a “net-zero” greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter by 2050 (which means either eliminating fossil fuel generation or offsetting emissions with activities such as planting trees).

For example, the government (via Bill C-69) introduced subjective criteria—including the “gender implications” of projects—into the evaluation process of energy projects. It established EV mandates requiring all new cars be electric vehicles by 2035. And the costs of the government’s new “Clean Electricity Regulations,” to purportedly reduce the use of fossil fuels in generating electricity, remain unknown, although provinces (including Alberta) that rely more on fossil fuels to generate electricity will surely be hardest hit.

Meanwhile in the United States, Donald Trump plans to put Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will act as a presidential advisory commission (not an official government department) for the second Trump administration.

“A drastic reduction in federal regulations provides sound industrial logic for mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy,” the two wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal. “DOGE intends to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required at an agency for it to perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions. The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified: Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited.”

If Musk and Ramaswamy achieve these goals, the U.S. could leap far ahead of Canada in terms of regulatory efficiency, making Canada’s economy even less competitive than it is today.

That would be bad news for Canadians who are already falling behind. Between 2000 and 2023, Canada’s GDP per person (an indicator of incomes and living standards) lagged far behind the average among G7 countries. Business investment is also lagging. Between 2014 and 2021, business investment per worker (inflation-adjusted, excluding residential construction) in Canada decreased by $3,676 (to $14,687) while it increased by $3,418 (to $26,751) per worker in the U.S. And over-regulation is partly to blame.

For 2025, Canada needs a deregulatory agenda similar to DOGE that will allow Canadian workers and businesses to recover and thrive. And we know it can be done. During a deregulatory effort in British Columbia, which included a minister of deregulation appointed by the provincial government in 2001, there was a 37 per cent reduction in regulatory requirements in the province by 2004. The federal government should learn from B.C.’s success at slashing red tape, and reduce the burden of regulation across the entire Canadian economy.

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Transportation Minister Anita Anand, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and new Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc have said they will not run, but globalist-linked banker Mark Carney announced that he will vie for the Liberal leadership campaign.

The Liberal Party of Canada will choose its next leader, who will automatically become Prime Minister, on March 9.

In a announcement last week, the Liberal Party said that anyone who wants to join the leadership race must do so by January 23 but must pay a $350,000 entrance fee.

Anyone who wants to vote in the party leader election must be an official member no later than January 27.

It was previously reported that party membership was open to non-citizens living in Canada. This is still the case, but the party has tightened the rules somewhat. Now, to be a member of the Liberal Party, one must be over age 14 and be either a citizen or a permanent resident living in Canada. Also, anyone holding a membership in any other federal party cannot be a Liberal Party member.

The leadership race is now gearing up after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would resign.

Thus far, some high-profile current Liberal cabinet ministers such as Transportation Minister Anita Anand, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and new Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc have said they will not run for party leadership.

Globalist-linked banker Mark Carney announced Thursday at a news conference, which independent media were banned from attending, that he will run for the Liberal leadership campaign.

In early January, Trudeau announced that he plans to step down as Liberal Party leader once a new leader has been chosen. He was approved by Governor General Mary Simon to prorogue parliament until March 24. This means he is still serving as prime minister, but all parliamentary business has been stopped.

In all likelihood, once parliament resumes, the Liberal Party, with a new PM in tow, will fall in a non-confidence vote as all opposition parties have promised to bring down the government. This will trigger an election, with all polls pointing to the Conservative Party under Pierre Poilievre winning in a landslide.

Earlier this week, Trudeau said he would not be running for MP in the next election.