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- Subscribe to The House podcast here<\/a><\/li>\n
- ANALYSIS – Trump’s 1st week reshapes U.S. relationship with Canada<\/a><\/li>\n
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Trump won’t rule out torture as a way to ‘fight fire with fire’<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In one of his first interviews after assuming office, Trump\u00a0told ABC News he embraced\u00a0torture as a way to “fight fire with fire<\/a>.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I have spoken… with people at the highest level of intelligence. And I asked them the question, ‘Does it work? Does torture work?’\u00a0And the answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely,'” Trump said.<\/p>\n
Later in the week he eased off, saying he’ll let\u00a0his defense secretary James Mattis,\u00a0who has come out against such interrogation tactics, override him.<\/p>\n
“I don’t necessarily agree, but I would tell you that he will override because I am giving him that power,” Trump said during a joint conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday.<\/p>\n
“I happen to feel it does work. I have been open for a long period of time. We are going to win with or without, but I do disagree.”<\/p>\n
Any use of torture would put pressure on the intelligence community. Canada shares information with the United States as members of the Five Eyes\u00a0alliance that also includes the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I will certainly do so when the occasion arises,” said Goodale when asked if he’ll raise the issue of torture with the new administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“\u200bThere is no change here. This has been the clear cut position of the government of Canada for a very long time.”<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan MP said his officials are in the process of setting up a first conversation with his U.S. counterpart,\u00a0Gen. John Kelly, the new secretary of homeland security.<\/p>\n
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\nKevin O’Leary:\u00a0Justin Trudeau needs to ‘pivot’ policies under Trump:<\/h2>\n
O’Leary says Trudeau’s tax and budget plans are ‘ass backwards’<\/strong>0:48<\/p>\n
Investor-turned-reality-television-star-turned-Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to “pivot” Canada’s economic and environmental policies now that Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
“Here we are driving into a budget before we even know what’s happening with our largest competitor and trading partner. It seems sort of ass backwards,” he told\u00a0The House<\/em>.<\/p>\n
“I would have waited to see what the policies are south of the border on tax, corporate and personal, on trade, definitely on deregulation and on carbon. We have to be competitive.” \u00a0<\/p>\n
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- Kevin O’Leary makes late entry into Conservative leadership race<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
Trump’s priorities are crystallizing in his first week in office. So far he’s signed about a\u00a0dozen executive orders and memoranda that include pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership, reviving\u00a0the Keystone XL pipeline\u00a0and increasing border security.<\/p>\n
O’Leary says even though Trudeau was elected more than a year before Trump, the Liberal government should repeal some core pillars of its mandate, including the incoming carbon pricing plan.<\/p>\n
“That’s what great leaders do.\u00a0When the facts change, when the environment changes, when the world shifts, you pivot,” he said.<\/p>\n
“When I get there in 2019 every single policy that [Trudeau] put in place regarding\u00a0what makes us competitive or not will be repealed by me. All of it.”<\/p>\n
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\nU.S. and China: Canada can “walk and chew gum at the same time,” says John McCallum<\/h2>\n
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![\"McCallum](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/74b5c_mccallum-concordia-20160920.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFormer Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum is about to become Canada’s ambassador to China. (Sean Kilpatrick\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Canada’s next\u00a0ambassador to China says this country can “walk and chew gum at the same time,”\u00a0by establishing friendly relationships with U.S. President Donald Trump while at the same time maintaining healthy relations with the Chinese leadership. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former immigration minister John McCallum\u00a0is heading to China at the same time as\u00a0Canada begins exploratory talks on a free trade deal with the country. The beginning of those talks\u00a0are set against a backdrop of rising tensions between the U.S.\u00a0and China as Trump threatens to levy tariffs on Chinese imports.<\/p>\n
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- Canada can manage relationships with China and U.S. at same time, says John McCallum<\/a><\/li>\n
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John McCallum ‘excited’ to be next ambassador to China<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Asked by The House<\/em> host Chris Hall if Canada risks getting caught up in a tug of war between the two economic superpowers, McCallum\u00a0expressed optimism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“As I say we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” McCallum said. “The United States relationship\u00a0is by far and away the most important, and the prime minister is actively pursuing that along with his cabinet, but meanwhile over in China, I am pursuing Canadian interests and values and I believe there is great scope there.”<\/p>\n
Despite Trump’s\u00a0anti-China rhetoric,\u00a0McCallum says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hasn’t altered his objectives for relations with China.<\/p>\n
“I think [Trudeau]\u00a0is very clear that we want to pursue stronger ties with China,” he said. “We think that in the medium term this will lead to more Canadian jobs.”<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Minister\u00a0Chrystia\u00a0Freeland, the former\u00a0international trade minister, said the first round of exploratory face-to-face talks with China on\u00a0free trade will begin next month.<\/p>\n
McCallum\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0hazard a guess on when a deal will be signed, but said hopefully it will take Canada less time than Australia did to strike its\u00a0free trade agreement with China, which came into force in December of 2015.<\/p>\n
“Australians, may I remind you, took 10 years to complete such a deal. I think now that we have Australia as something of a\u00a0model, or template, it might take less than 10 years,” he said. “I can’t say for sure.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\nSuper Bowl ads in Canada: a political football<\/h2>\n
![\"Nate](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/457f3_nate-ebner.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCanadians TV watchers may get to see those U.S. advertisements that air during the Super Bowl after all, following a recent court decision. (David J. Phillip\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons aren’t the only two sides lining up for a fight on Super Bowl Sunday.<\/p>\n
The National Football League says the Donald Trump administration is now aware of its ongoing dispute with Canada’s broadcast regulator surrounding the ban on the substitution of Canadian ads over American ones during the upcoming Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
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CRTC’s Super Bowl ad ruling on Trump’s radar, says NFL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- Marco Rubio doesn’t want you to see American Super Bowl ads<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Court rules against Bell in bid to overturn ban on U.S. ads airing during Super Bowl<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This year’s game will be the first time Canadians tuning into Fox will be able to watch those much-anticipated, big-budget American spots during the championship game. Canadian ads will still play on CTV.<\/p>\n
But the the CRTC’s decision to wade into business contract has angered Bell Media, which owns CTV and exclusive rights in Canada to the NFL championship through to 2019, Canadian advertisers and the league itself.<\/p>\n
![\"Falcons-Packers-30102016\"](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/457f3_falcons-packers-30102016.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMohamed Sanu of the Atlanta Falcons, left, attempts to break a tackle by Julius Peppers of the Green Bay Packers, during October, NFL action, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
“We have raised this with all levels of government here in the U.S. and Canada. This is on the Trump\u00a0administration’s radar,” Jocelyn Moore, the NFL’s senior vice-president of public policy and government affairs, told The House.<\/em><\/p>\n
“We are very, very hopeful that this will be resolved before the Super Bowl.”<\/p>\n
Moore says she understands how popular the American commercials are, but argues the heart of the dispute is with a public\u00a0tribunal interfering in a contact between two businesses.<\/p>\n
“Look, if any American company, whether they’re in Canada already or seeking to do business with Canada, when they look at this example of two entities, one U.S and one Canadian, entering into a contract and then that contract in the middle is kind of retroactively undermined,\u00a0I think they have to question the lack of business certainty in Canada,” said Moore.<\/p>\n
Besides alerting the new administration, the NFL has also written to\u00a0David MacNaughton,\u00a0Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. And before handing in his keys, outing\u00a0U.S. Trade Ambassador Michael Froman wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland urging the Canadian government to overturn the ban, pointing to a\u00a0section of the Broadcasting Act allowing the\u00a0governor-in-council to overturn a decision of the CRTC.<\/p>\n
Heritage Minister Melanie\u00a0Joly\u00a0has said the Liberal government will respect the\u00a0CRTC’s\u00a0independence.<\/p>\n
The ongoing legal battle threatens to poke Canada-U.S. relations in the first few weeks of Trump’s presidency. \u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s a real big question mark and a real challenge to businesses like ours who are already in Canada but certainly businesses looking to do business with Canada. I think it’s a real problem,” said Moore.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\nIn House: The beginning of the Trudeau-Trump relationship<\/h2>\n
![\"PM](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/457f3_pm-meeting-20170110.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPrime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under fire for taking part in so-called ‘cash-for-access’ fundraisers. A Liberal source confirms the government will move to make the events more transparent and accountable to Canadians. (Sean Kilpatrick\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Besides signing executive orders, Donald Trump’s found time to fit in the first meeting with a foreign politician. Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May crossed the Atlantic this week, and a similar offer has been extended to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n
So how should Trudeau\u00a0advocate for Canada without setting off a a man who’s easily annoyed?<\/p>\n
“I think by repeating numbers, a lot of numbers,” said\u00a0Jo\u00ebl-Denis Bellavance, Ottawa bureau chief for La Presse, referring to the millions of jobs that depend on a strong U.S.-Canada commercial relationship.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t get bogged down in a big philosophical\u00a0views of the world with Mr. Trump. Keep it very simple with him.”\u200b<\/p>\n
Mia\u00a0Rabson, the Parliament Hill bureau chief for the Winnipeg Free Press, said Canada will still need to be cognisant of the differences, such the two countries’ approaches to Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n
“I can’t imagine that there’s not going to be Americans who are going to be concerned about what might come over the Canadian border and they’re going to use that against Canada,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Trudeau can’t back down on that because that’s something Canadians in general are proud of.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Domestically the Liberals are tightening the rules around the so-called cash-for-access fundraisers that landed them in hot water before the Christmas break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
- Marco Rubio doesn’t want you to see American Super Bowl ads<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
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- Canada can manage relationships with China and U.S. at same time, says John McCallum<\/a><\/li>\n
- ANALYSIS – Trump’s 1st week reshapes U.S. relationship with Canada<\/a><\/li>\n