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CBC cbc national TV ', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_" > AT Issues Airs each Thursday night on The National, and repeats on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. ET and 5:30 p.m. ET on CBC Newsworld.

Archive
CBC archive contains our most popular feature items from the National, back to January 2007. The features are organized by subject, with the most recent items appearing first. You can watch the video, and in some cases, we have included interview transcripts, reporter and producer blogs, and other extras. If there is something you'd like to see that's not here, feel free to contact us and we'll try to make it available.

2009

Friday 01 May 2009 OTTAWA: GDP DECLINE LESS SEVERE
Statistics Canada reports that Canada's gross domestic product declined by .1 per cent in February. The decline was lower than the .7 drop recorded in January but better than the .2 per cent drop predicted by many economists. The federal agency says a 19 per cent improvement in sales of motor vehicles and auto parts were insufficient to outweigh losses in construction and mining activities, excluding oil and natural gas. Excluding automotive activity, manufacturing fell .8 per cent.

Monday 27 April 2009 OTTAWA: DOMESTIC SPY AGENCY CRITICIZED FOR MISTAKES
Canada's domestic spy service, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), is coming under severe criticism from its inspector general, Eva Plunkett. In a secret report about the agency's activity, Ms. Plunkett notes what she calls a "disconcerting" number of mistakes. The mistakes occurred in applications for eavesdropping warrants and in raising concerns about rights and privacy. Ms. Plunkett concluded that CSIS acted legally in general, and used its powers reasonably. But in comparison with her four previous reports, she found an increased number of errors and instances of failure to comply with operational policy. A declassified version of Ms. Plunkett's report to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan was obtained by the Canadian Press under Canada's Access to Information Act.

Mar 16, 2009 Canada: Unemployment Surges
The Bank of Canada has reacted appropriately to deteriorating economic conditions, but will have to remain proactive throughout 2009.

Saturday 21 February 2009 OTTAWA: MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN DECLINE
Statistics Canada has presented figures which show the country's manufacturing sector in serious decline. The federal agency says 322,000 manufacturing jobs were lost between 2004 and 2008, more than one in seven. At the same time, 1.5 other types of jobs were created. The only areas of the sector which showed improvement were manufacturers of equipment for transport, oil and coal products and computers. The statistics for transport exclude vehicles and car parts, which lost great numbers of jobs. Almost one-half of the jobs in textiles and clothing disappeared between 2004 and 2008.

Friday 13 February 2009 OTTAWA: TEMPS NOT WANTED
A member of the Canadian Senate says with the current economic turndown the Conservative government should suspend its foreign worker program. The program provides temporary work visas to foreigners who want to work in such areas as agriculture, mining, manufacturing and forestry. New Brunswick Liberal Senator Pierrette Ringuette says that temporary foreign workers should be banned from the country for stealing jobs from the growing ranks of unemployed Canadians. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney called Ringuette's comments unfortunate, because, he argues, many businesses would go under without access to immigrant labour. He also pointed out that a temporary foreign worker is not allowed into the country to fill a vacant job unless the employer can prove that no Canadian was willing to take it. A member of the left-of-centre New Democratic Party, Olivia Chow, also wants to see the number of temporary workers curbed, but her reasoning is that they drive-down wages. Rather than focus on bringing cheap temporary labour into Canada, she says, the federal government should be allowing in more immigrants as permanent residents.

Tuesday 03 February 2009 OTTAWA: FOOD UP, GAS DOWN
Canada is not yet experiencing price deflation, but it's getting close. Statistics Canada has released the cost-of-living figures for December, when the inflation rate dipped to 1.2-percent. It was 2-percent in November. It was a dramatic 26-percent drop in the price of gasoline that pushed down the cost-of-living. Food prices, on the other hand, continued to rise, by more than 7-percent in December.

Tuesday 03 February 2009 OTTAWA: BRACING FOR DEFICITS
The Conservative government will be running high deficits for the next five years in response to the global economic crisis. It's predicting a $64-billion deficit in the next two years alone. The government says the deficit prediction was released ahead of next week's federal budget to try to prevent speculation.

GENEVA: CANADIAN RIGHTS RECORD UNDER SCRUTINY
The UN Human Rights Council will be taking a close look at Canada's record when it meets with government officials in Geneva later this week. Council members plan to question the Canadian delegation, drawing upon material from their presentation, as well as from two independent reports. Those are expected to provide a less flattering view. Canada's presentation paints a generally positive picture, but acknowledges improvements are needed in areas such as poverty, homelessness and ways to deal with inequalities faced by Aboriginal peoples. After the presentation, the UN body will issue a report with its own findings and recommendations.

Thursday 29 January 2009 Canada’s Conservative minority government announced an expansionary federal budget involving the first fiscal deficit since 1996, together with a bigger buy-up of mortgage-backed securities, in an effort to offset the economic slowdown. Opposition parties criticised some of the details of the budget, but seemed unlikely to try to bring the government down. See article

Wednesday 24 December 2008 TORONTO: FEDERAL DEFICIT MADE TO DISAPPEAR>br> Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the government will run a deficit next year but that it won't be "structural." Mr. Flaherty says that as the economy recovers, the deficit will be transformed back into a surplus. The deficit will be due in great part to spending to jolt the economy out of recession. A coalition of the opposition Liberal and New Democratic parties supported by the Bloc Québécois came close to overthrowing the Conservative government over the lack of a stimulus package in Mr. Flaherty's fiscal update last month. The minority government avoided falling in a confidence vote by suspending Parliament until Jan. 26. On another matter, Mr. Flaherty announced the creation of a registered disability savings plan to enable parents and siblings of severely disabled children to accumulate money in a tax shelter when they can no longer support such children.

OTTAWA: EXECS JOIN CALL FOR FEDERAL STIMULUS
The country's top executives have called upon the federal government to spend an additional $15 billion to stimulate Canada's flagging economy. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives sent the suggestion in a letter of suggestions for the Jan. 27 budget. The CEOs call on Ottawa to accelerate spending for infrastructure projects, to cut personal taxes and to aid business. Council President Thomas d'Aquino says the $15 billion plus special provincial expenditures should suffice for anticipated current need but that additional government aid could be required. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week that his government is assuming a budget deficit between $20 billion and $30 billion, a remark which suggested a stimulus package of between $15 billion and $25 billion.

OTTAWA: FEDERAL SURPLUS SHRINKS
The finance department reports that the federal surplus for the current fiscal year has fallen to $200 million. The department says it ran a $600-million deficit for October, the third straight month of deficit. Government revenues so far have increased by $1.2 billion, while spending is up by 7.2 per cent to $7.8 billion. At this time last year, the government enjoyed a surplus of $6.1 billion, and would finish the year with a $9.6-billion surplus.

Sunday 21 December 2008 Canada to aid car manufacturers
The Canadian government pledges C$4bn in loans to rescue subsidiaries of US car manufacturers there.

on December 18, 2008 A very Canadian coup
Let us make no mistake about what happened in our land this month. The political posturing, particularly of the NDP and the Bloc, created a crisis far more acute and far-reaching than any economic challenges we may face...

TORONTO: FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL DEAL ON SHORT-TERM NOTES REACHED
The federal government and those of Ontario and Quebec have reached an agreement to "partner" in supporting a restructuring the non-bank asset-backed commercial paper that have been frozen for the past 16 months. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says talks are underway with Alberta as well. Trade in the short-term notes was marooned after investors came to fear they might contain American subprime mortgages and other risky assets.

OTTAWA: BUDGET SURPLUS YEARS OVER: PM
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has acknowledged that the federal government's string of a dozen straight budget surpluses will come to an end next year. The prime minister says the deficit could come to as much as $30 billion as the government implements an economic stimulus package to counter the deepening recession. The spending will include billions of dollars for infrastructure and public housing construction, tax breaks to promote consumer spending and training for unemployed workers. The sum of $30 billion represents about two per cent of the Canadian GDP, a target urged by the International Monetary Fund after the Group of 20 summit in Washington. Only three weeks ago, Mr. Harper's government delivered an economic update which the political opposition in the House of Commons criticized as overly optimistic.

December 15, 2008 Immigration/Diversity "The Stalin Rule"
Teenager Dmitri Lennikov of Burnaby, B.C. may be facing obligatory military service in Russia, a country he hardly knows, because the Canadian government has issued a deportation order against his family due to his father, Mikhail's, past connections to the KGB

Sunday 07 September 2008 Ridings to watch this election
OTTAWA – Individual campaigns can be bellwethers of where a general election is heading, or they can be spectacles, fascinating to watch. The following are some ridings that bear watching over the next five weeks.

Canadian PM calls snap election

Election called

Harper pulls plug on government, sending Canadians to the polls on Oct. 14

The 2008 federal election campaign will officially get under way this morning when Prime Minister Stephen...

• Full Story
• Voters want majority gov't: Poll
• Video: Looming election
• PM trying to buy union votes: Hargrove
• PM trying to buy votes: Bloc
• Video: Polling election
• Tory majority? Maybe not, poll says
• Video: Stephen Harper calls election
• Harper challenge: convincing voters he's a steady hand, not micro-manager
• Soundoff: The Oct. 14 vote

  Sunday 27 July 2008 TORONTO: NATIONAL FISCAL UPDATE DUE IN OCTOBER
  Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the government will present a fiscal update in October. If the update contains new fiscal measures, they would constitute an opportunity for the opposition to overthrow the government. The minister's department announced that the government had a $500-million deficit in the first two months of the fiscal year as tax cuts and a slowing economy affected its revenues. Mr. Flaherty affirmed, nonetheless, that he sticks by his prediction that that the government will enjoy another surplus in 2008.

  Thursday Jul 24, 2008 The 'curse' of rich earth
  Economists warn of a potentially debilitating affliction that has wreaked havoc with other booming economies

  Saturday Jul 12, 2008 Foreign Affairs does 'decent job,' poll finds
  The United States remains the most important country for Canada, but China is catching up fast.

  see Diana's Canada & the UN

  Saturday 17 May 2008 Tories defend Bernier's travel bill
  Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has to travel first class to "stand tall" on the world stage, Conservative government House leader Peter Van Loan says.
  Bernier's flight was the most expensive taken by a government minister or official since the Tories came to power in 2006, according to government records.
  "We need to know the details on how it managed to be that high," Rae told reporters. [so what?]
  ... has to do with his spending $22,573 on return airfare to Laos for a Francophonie conference, when one of his own staff made the same trip for $2,676.

  Friday Apr 11, 2008 Critics denounce citizenship bill
  Would deny status to children born outside country whose parents' births were abroad
  Galloway was testifying yesterday before a Senate committee examining Bill C-37, a series of proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act aimed at resolving the embarrassing and long-standing problem of so-called Lost Canadians.

  Monday Mar 17, 2008 Canada, Mexico discuss case of jailed woman
  Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier meets with his Mexican counterpart today in Washington to try...

  Monday Mar 17, 2008 Electric car made here, but don't try to drive it
  A Canadian manufacturer is crying foul over a bureaucratic tussle it believes is blocking its low-speed...
  ZENN Motor Co. has sold thousands of its vehicles in the United States, but the Zero Emissions No Noise vehicles cannot be purchased for use on Canadian roads.

  2007

  Archives Canada Fed Gov Notes
  • Latest news on Fed Gov
  • 1st half 2002
  • 1st half 2001
  • 2001

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