Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau has made the relatively high cost of Canadian of cell phone data an election issue by promising to slash subscriber costs by up to 25%. Do insiders at BCE sense riskier times ahead for the domestic cell phone industry as we approach election day on October 21st? INK Research tackles that question in the September 25th Morning Report and Ultra Money video. Below is a free version of the video that was distributed earlier on INK Ultra Money.

INK trading day morning reports and videos are available through INKResearch.com or Canadian Insider Club Ultra memberships. INK is subscriber supported and does not accept payment for stock coverage.

Script (check against delivery):

        BCE stock has been setting new highs

Monday, the Honourable Jane Philpott MD, the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, resigned from the Trudeau government over the handling of the SNC Lavalin affair. Read her full statement below.

Updated (March 2nd) - In my latest Howe Street interview with Jim Goddard, I make the case Justin Trudeau and his cabinet can no longer effectively govern. The obstacles facing the Trudeau regime go beyond the question of whether a law may have been broken by him or his government in trying to get the Attorney General of Canada at the time, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to change her mind on prosecuting SNC-Lavalin (SNC). Leaving that issue aside for the lawyers, the reality of the situation boils down to:

1. Favouring the well-connected and powerful
2. Putting national unity at risk
3. A lack of trustworthiness

The first surprise we learned from Ms. Wilson-Raybould in her February 27th testimony (click to watch, listen or download)  was how Bill Morneau's office was involved. As it turns out, according to her testimony, his office was one of the first to intervene to try and get her to change her mind. According to testimony, his office continued with interventions despite being asked to stop. So, here we have Canada's Finance Minister who appeared allegedly to be willing to have his office push the boundaries of the law to help a large Canadian corporation facing corruption charges.

From a Vancouver perspective, the Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau war with small business over proposed tax increases makes no sense. If this duo are really interested in tax fairness, why are they not devoting the same energy and government resources to cleaning up the money laundering industry and its related big dollar tax evasions?

It took longer than I expected, but the loonie is now trading about one U.S. cent higher than when Justin Trudeau took over as Prime Minister on November 4th of last year. On Thursday the Canadian dollar was worth 77.11 U.S. cents according to Thomson Reuters data. So can Justin Trudeau and his Finance Minister Bill Morneau take credit for the loonie's comeback?

Age has never stopped me from trying something new. I quit my relatively secure job with one of Canada's largest pension fund managers in my 40s to start up INK Research, an internet based independent research firm. The odds were against my business partner and me, but we did it. After more than 10 years of ups and downs associated with that decision, I am still not afraid to do something new when a business case is strong. Next Monday, I will be doing just that. For the first time in my life I will be voting for the Liberal Party of Canada.

Some commentators have argued Ottawa's reported return to surplus is good news. I respectfully disagree. It is not. The Harper conservatives' road to surplus has been shifty, pushing us into recession along the way and leaving taxpayers vulnerable to rising interest rates. Meanwhile, as Ottawa banks on housing to boost the economy, the long-term ability of our economy to compete and create viable jobs becomes less certain.

We are working on two themes for Monday's Market INK report in wake of the Thursday's double-header for the markets. First up was Janet Yellen and her band of monetary policy makers. After months of preparing investors for a rate hike, she not only delayed, but also backtracked. For months we have been flagging the losing battle that the Fed has waged to get inflation back to their target (not our target I might add). Now, finally they are being up front with investors that they do not see hitting their target until sometime after Obama is long gone from the White House.