Happy Sunday, Canada! Start your business week informed with our latest news update:
1. Cabinet Shuffle: The biggest news in Canadian politics this week was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle. Here’s a quick breakdown of the shakeup (The Globe and Mail):
- Reassignments:
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Chrystia Freeland, Foreign affairs (replacing Stéphane Dion)
- Patty Hajdu, Employment, workforce development and labour (replacing MaryAnn Mihychuk)
- Maryam Monsef, Status of women (replacing Patty Hajdu)
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- New additions:
- François-Philippe Champagne, International trade (replacing Chrystia Freeland)
- Karina Gould, Democratic institutions (replacing Maryam Monsef)
- Ahmed Hussen, Immigration (replacing John McCallum)
- Departures:
- Stéphane Dion – now leaving politics
- John McCallum – Recommended as Canada’s Ambassador to China
- MaryAnn Mihychuk – now a ‘Back bencher’
2. Cross-Country Tour: Justin Trudeau’s cross-country “transparency” tour kicked off in Ontario this week with the PM answering questions and listening to complaints at town hall meetings in a number of cities. One memorable moment occurred at a public meeting in Peterborough, where a women struggling to pay her bills questioned the PM’s justification for charging Canadians a carbon tax. Check out this article (and video) from CBC for more details.
3. Trump’s “News Conference:” Donald Trump held his first official news conference as President-elect on Wednesday, where he adamantly denounced reports that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him. It is reported that intelligence officials informed Trump last week about an unsubstantiated report to this effect, which Trump has called a “disgrace” and “fake news.” (iPolitics)
4. CPC Debate: The second Conservative Party of Canada (bilingual) leadership debate takes place this Tuesday, January 17 in Québec City. The debate will be moderated by former journalist Pascale Déry and will cover two themes – government and taxes, and national security and defence. (iPolitics)
5. Obama’s Farewell: U.S. President Barack Obama delivered his final presidential speech on Tuesday in his hometown of Chicago. The full text and video from his speech can be found here, courtesy of The New York Times.
