Thursday, November 29, 2012

Evening News Wrap

By Keith Edmund White, Editor-in-Chief

So, yes, this is a gross simplification of a BIG BIG week in news.  But we got news at the belly-aches in both nations' legal professions, tax-carping, election-updates, trade, top Canadian fiction, and more!

Canada-U.S. News

Life, death, and taxes…and Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Law in Canada.  Canada and the United States are in tax treaty talks, and it seems like Canadian banks are going to have to deal with the administrative burden of checking if their clients are dual citizens.  The lurking issue: dual citizens in Canada avoiding U.S. taxes.

Canada’s Late Entry to the TPP…Not a Huge Worry, But There’s Still Reason to Worry.  While slamming subsidies U.S. states use to lure companies, and how they hurt Canadian merchants, Peter Clark—in this detailed review of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, it’s impact on Canada, and the global economy—says (1) Canada doesn’t have much to fear with it’s late arrival to the TPP and (2) concludes:
“It’s far too early to either dismiss TPP as a useless exercise or embrace it as a cure for what ails the global economy. While we see problems now, they can be fixed, with flexibility and compromise. If the TPP is a wine, it clearly needs some ageing before we can properly pass verdict on it quality.”
Canada News

Bye, Bye By-Elections!  Mark Abley, at The Gazette, talks on Monday’s by-elections in Canada, arguing that while Canada’s Conservative lost ground, a united Left is the only way to see a change in Ottawa.  Monday’s by-election results in brief: Conservatives held on to seats in Calgary-Centre and Durham, with a NDP-Green battle in Victoria going the NDP’s ways.

CETA Imbalance?  So What?  Paul Wells, taking note of imbalance concerns regarding Canada-EU trade talks, defends progress on the deal.  And at the National Post, Andrew Coyne gives his thoughts on the “logic of trade negotiations” in general:  “The whole situation is an absurdity.  It’s like a hostage negotiation in which both sides have guns to their own head.”

Moving Out:  Financial Post on the rough road ahead for Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney’s coming move to England; and the Globe and Mail on the importance of vetting cabinet officials and the resignation of Quebec’s environmental minister Daniel Breton. Added-Bonus:  Stephen Gordon at Macleans  on how much credit Carney should get from Canada’s robust post-financial crisis economic performance:
“What I take away from this is that we could have done much worse, but I don’t think we could have done much better. Stephen Harper and Mark Carney were dealt good hands and they played them well.”
Must-Read List.  The Globe and Mail picks the top 23 Canadian fiction books of the year.

Legal News

Going to (U.S.) Law School Worth It!  Lawrence E. Mitchell, Dean at the Case Western University School of Law, defends going to law school in the NYTimes:  
"We could do things better, and every law school with which I’m familiar is looking to address its problems. In the meantime, the one-sided analysis is inflicting significant damage, not only on law schools but also on a society that may well soon find itself bereft of its best and brightest lawyers."
Canada’s Lawyers in Crisis?  The Globe and Mail reports on the state of Ontario’s legal profession: “…it was clear that some of the country’s top legal minds believe their profession is, in effect broken.”

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