Suchergebnisse

A third collection of columns and articles by L. Ian MacDonald, Politics & Players focuses on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's uneven leadership at home, the Canada-US relationship with Donald Trump in the White House, and Ottawa's management of health and economic policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Free Trade provides a historical framework for ongoing discussion of economic and environmental issues. While there is empirical evidence on trade flows - they increased dramatically in both directions - the debate on related issues continues. The impact of free trade on jobs and manufacturing productivity, the effectiveness of dispute settlement, the growth of foreign direct investment, the absence of adjustment programs, and the consequences for social programs are all issues for spirited discussion.

Free Trade provides a historical framework for ongoing discussion of economic and environmental issues. While there is empirical evidence on trade flows - they increased dramatically in both directions - the debate on related issues continues. The impact of free trade on jobs and manufacturing productivity, the effectiveness of dispute settlement, the growth of foreign direct investment, the absence of adjustment programs, and the consequences for social programs are all issues for spirited discussion. Many of the leading actors in shaping both the FTA and NAFTA participated in the conference, including former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, former President George Bush, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Secretary of State James Baker, former Canadian Trade Ministers John Crosbie and Michael Wilson, former U.S. Trade Ambassadors Clayton Yeutter and Carla Hills, as well as former Mexican Trade Minister Jaime Serra Puche. Other senior officials included Canada's Derek Burney and Simon Reisman. Donald S. Macdonald, chairman of the landmark Royal Commission that recommended the "leap of faith" of free trade, gave the keynote address. A Royal Bank of Canada impact study, "Two Cheers for the FTA," provided a baseline for discussion by a panel of eminent economists from all three NAFTA countries, and strong defences of positions against free trade included presentations by Andrew Jackson of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Jim Stanford of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), and Gerald Larose of Quebec's Conseil des syndicats nationaux (CSN). Participants from the provinces included former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, while NAFTA and the environment were considered by a panel led by former Quebec Premier Pierre Marc Johnson and joined by Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest. Other participants included Jean Anderson, Laurent Beaudoin, Fernando Clavijo, Thomas d'Aquino, William Dymond, Francis Fox, Jonathan Fried, Michael Hart, Stanley Hartt, Richard Lipsey, Victor Lichtinger, John McCallum, Peter McPherson, Jacques Ménard, William Merkin, Simon Potter, Charles E. Roh, David Schorr, Charles Sirois, Guy Stanley, Yvonne Stinson, Peter Watson, William Watson, L.R. Wilson, and Paul Wonnacott. Free Trade: Risks and Rewards is an important reminder of why the issue was so passionately debated at the time and why it remains important.

"My relationship with the Bronfmans has been compared to that of Tom Hagen's consiglière to the Corleone family in The Godfather - I was a surrogate son and adviser to the father and a friend and counsellor to the sons. I was brought into the family as an outsider and became privy to its secrets." Thus begins Leo Kolber's account of his remarkable relationship with the Bronfman family dynasty and the world of high-flying business.

"For thirty years, E. Leo Kolber was head of Cemp Investments, the Bronfman family trust, and Cadillac Fairview Corporation, one of the premier real estate firms in North America. A protege of the legendary Sam Bronfman and a close friend of Mr Sam's sons, Charles and Edgar, Kolber was the family's consigliere for decades of deals, including the buying of MGM in the 1960s. That deal foretold the disaster that overtook the third generation of Bronfmans after 1995, when Edgar Bronfman Jr sold Seagram's 25 percent interest in DuPont to buy MCA." "Named to the Senate of Canada by Pierre Trudeau, Kolber has served there for twenty years, including four years as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Throughout this period, he was a senior bagman for the Liberal Party of Canada. Kolber also served for more than twenty-five years as a director of Seagram and the Toronto-Dominion Bank, whose famous headquarters, the TD Centre, was built by Fairview Corporation in the 1960s. Formerly chairman of Cineplex Odeon Theatres, he was also a longtime director of DuPont and MGM, among other companies in which the Bronfmans once held an important interest." "Now Leo Kolber tells the story of a man of influence at the centres of power in business and politics, a life he calls "a tremendous ride"--With business tycoons, from Sam and Charles Bronfman to Kirk Kerkorian, with famous politicians, from Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney to Jean Chretien and Shimon Peres, with Hollywood moguls and nights out with the stars, from Danny Kaye to Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant."--Jacket