Commentary
The scenery and venues in Banff, Alberta, are world-famous and make it a popular destination for conferences and political summits. While those factors surely played into the Liberal government choosing the mountain town to host its fall cabinet retreat this week, the underlying national unity issue with a referendum approaching in Alberta surely impacted the location choice as well. It’s a subtle way of indicating that the federal government is taking the referendum seriously, without appearing to be intervening directly in it.
The ongoing trade tensions with the United States surely dominated the agenda as cabinet tries to grapple with the impasse in negotiations before facing scrutiny in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Carney called the latest White House measures “relatively modest” compared with earlier blows. That’s message discipline, not calm. Trade is still the file that can wreck the fall sitting if cabinet can’t decide how hard to hit back, what to protect, and how to sell diversification as more than a slogan….