Barry Campbell
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The Canadian Dollar in the Digital Age of Money
There is good reason to be sceptical about volatile private digital currencies. But with legislative and regulatory developments underway in the world’s largest economy, digital currencies (in the form of US Dollar backed “stablecoins”) have now gone mainstream. Stablecoins are a less volatile version of crypto currency – not just because of the clever name;…
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The Politics of Pageantry. A New Parliamentary Session Begins.
The participation of King Charles III in the rituals which launched a new session of the Canadian Parliament was no casual thing. His presence was sought, and his participation calculated. The King’s remarks served to remind Canadians, and signal to our neighbours to the south and the world, that Canada has its own history and…
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PM Carney’s Cabinet: Purpose Built For A Hinge Moment
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his first Cabinet on Tuesday (if you don’t count the caretaker Cabinet he appointed after assuming the leadership of the Liberal Party a few weeks ago). Of necessity that original Cabinet retained a lot of Trudeau holdovers. This one “purpose built for a hinge moment” is truly Mark Carney’s Cabinet,…
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Federal Election 2025: Our Analysis
We Won (Barry Campbell) What Happened? In the years leading up to the current Federal election, there has been increasing concern about covert foreign election interference from China or Russia. As it turns out, the most malign influence on Canada’s 2025 election was overt and from our erstwhile ally to the south! In the lead…
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A New Liberal Leader. A Perilous Time. The Federal Election to Come.
With a new Liberal Leader in place and Parliament on the verge of resuming, a Federal election will soon be upon us. In that contest Liberals will want Canadians to forget the past ( “Liberal sins” Conservative call it) and focus on the challenges of these ” dark times”. Conservatives will want to make Canadians…
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(US) Buyers Beware: Canada’s New Economic Security Screen Will Keep out Predatory Acquisitions
While the USMCA or CUSMA (as Canadians prefer to call it) remains in force (or for however long it remains in force), acquisitions of Canadian assets by American entities are exempt from the requirement to pre-notify Investment Canada about the transaction. Over the last decade, Canada has moved to bolster its power to review and…
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“Country Risk” For Investors: It’s Not Canada. It’s the United States.
In this upside down and volatile world investors now inhabit, it is the United States which astonishingly is starting to fail most benchmarks in country risk and political risk assessments. These assessments are normally applied to investments from the so-called “developed” world into the “less developed world” to determine whether an investment requires a risk…
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Strategies for Canada in the New World Order
New language for the planet we’re on. The Fertile Crescent, the Ukraine’s wheat fields, the fractious Balkans, the Sudetenland. “Geography is destiny”. But Canada? Yes, for Canada, geography will always be destiny. Three oceans to the north, east and west, provided a degree of isolation while the world’s longest (hitherto-for) “undefended border” provided access to the…
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Reflections on Trudeau’s Departure and a Look Ahead
It is with some sadness that we should watch the end unfold. It is not, as some Opposition leaders have chosen to make it, a time for celebration, an opportunity to sing the political equivalent of “Ding dong the witch is dead”. Shame on them. As they ought to know, or will learn in time,…
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Where Do The Liberals Go From Here?
Political pundits are rarely at a loss for words. Yesterday’s unprecedented events in Ottawa could strike one dumb. But we will take a stab, political knifing being in season, at saying something. A Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister who, by her own admission, had lost the confidence of her Prime Minister, has resigned. But…