Month: April 2019

Pelvic floor health is already one of the hottest topics of the year. More and more physiotherapists are specializing in pelvic floor issues as research shows strong correlations between poor pelvic floor function and many health conditions and postural misalignments. Yes, pelvic floor function affects both men and women, and faulty mechanics can contribute to back pain, hip issues, incontinence and SI Joint dysfunction to name a few.

Medical communities in various parts of the world treat the pelvic floor differently. In Europe, for example, pregnant women and new mothers receive physical therapy to recondition this area of the body as part of the regular medical protocols around pregnancy and birthing. In North America, this is a relatively new line of thinking that is only starting to catch on.

What is the pelvic floor?

The pelvic floor is made up of a series of muscles that fold and drape over each other, wrapping around the openings at the base of the pelvis. Women have three openings and men have two. You can think of the pelvic floor muscles like a layered hammock that stretches from front to back (pubic bones to tailbone) and side to side (between sitting bones). The pelvic floor has four functions, and one of the most important is how it helps to support our pelvic organs (bladder, bowels, and uterus).

The two primary muscle groups of the pelvic floor are the levator ani set at the front and the coccygeus muscle at the back. There is a causal relationship between the two. Interestingly, the pelvic floor works in an automatic, reflexive, and voluntary way. To ensure optimal function in this area of the body, manual intervention by a trained physiotherapist along with specialized exercises to improve timing, strength, and elasticity of the pelvic floor can work wonders.

Too tight? Too weak?

When we look at how the pelvic floor works, it is not an either-or situation of being too tight or too weak. We want the pelvic floor to be elastic and supportive, front to back and side to side so that it can fulfill its different roles. A typical scenario of dysfunction occurs when the coccygeus muscle at the back becomes overly contracted, while the pubococcygeus muscle at the front becomes weak and non-supportive. The result is a fixing and downward pull on the tailbone; the sacrum, in turn, can become destabilized and the deep spine stabilizers, elongated and weak. In this most common case, the sitting bones (ischial tuberosities) are unable to widen when we sit down, reinforcing poor mechanics that then can result in pain syndromes, incontinence, or even sexual dysfunction.

What causes pelvic floor problems?

When it comes to pregnancy, the sacred Kegel is not as beneficial as we once thought. Doing hundreds of Kegels a day as often prescribed, may end up strengthening the part of the pelvic floor that is already strong and weakening other areas by default. In fact, you may end up exacerbating existing problems or creating new ones. Some cues may also create imbalanced tension and weakness in the pelvic floor.

The pelvic floor muscles are often referred to as the pelvic diaphragm because they move the same way that the thoracic diaphragm moves in your chest. In other words, when we breathe in, the pelvic floor musculature is supposed to expand and move slightly downward; on the exhale it should recoil and gently contract. Ideally, this process happens naturally within the body.

Because most of us breathe somewhat inefficiently, however, our pelvic diaphragm and chest diaphragm motions can be poorly timed (or non-existent), and the pelvic floor cannot stretch and contract naturally. So, if you are a shallow breather, you may lose the natural rhythm between the two diaphragms and adversely affect the way your pelvic floor functions.

The pelvic floor is part of a deep fascial support sling in the body. Tension and weakness in the wrong areas are more often than not caused by numerous factors: Breathing, how we hold our pelvis, strain due to obesity, improper lifting techniques, pregnancy, inappropriate exercises, and even stress can play a role in creating an imbalance.

Do not self-diagnose

To get the pelvic floor working efficiently, a combination of manual and active therapies is often the best course of action. By reconditioning and re-educating the pelvic floor this way, other postural issues or pain syndromes may start to dissipate.

Our kinesthetic sense (our ability to feel and sense our bodies), will often inaccurately assess what is happening in the pelvic floor. And when we self-diagnose, we may create or exacerbate an existing problem. Therfore, it is essential to have manual testing done to determine the specific pelvic floor issues.

Seek out a pelvic floor physiotherapist, osteopath, or manual therapist trained in internal examinations and manual techniques to release or stimulate the layers of muscle and fascia of the pelvic floor. The key is to get an accurate diagnosis as a baseline. You may need to focus only on manual intervention for a while before integrating active exercises to condition the area. Depending on the issue though, it may be better to do manual and active therapy simultaneously.

Active therapy

When the conditions are right in your pelvic floor, your sitting bones at the base of the pelvis should widen slightly as you squat, and then narrow when you stand up. During the squatting phase, the pelvic floor elongates and widens. As you stand, the muscles shorten and gently contract. This tiny movement of the sitting bones helps make the pelvic floor elastic and strong so that it can fulfill its supportive and reflexive roles. A natural movement like squatting helps improve pelvic floor health.

As North Americans start to understand the importance of the pelvic floor, during and after pregnancy, and for musculoskeletal health for both men and women, we can move towards effective treatment and preventative measures. Below are five simple exercises that would be part of active therapy to keep your pelvic floor healthy.

The Canadian arm of Tesla, Inc., is taking the Ontario government to court, claiming it has been treated unfairly in the cancellation of a program providing rebates to residents who bought electric vehicles.

In an application for judicial review, Tesla Motors Canada says the decision by Premier Doug Ford’s government to halt the program in July left hundreds of its customers no longer eligible for rebates they expected to get when they ordered their vehicles.

It claims that Tesla was left out of a program that allows purchasers of other brands to still get rebates during a transition period.

“The decision has already inflicted substantial harm on Tesla Canada in the form of lost sales and the creation of an impression among Ontarians that Tesla Canada may be singled out for future arbitrary treatment under the law,” says the statement filed Aug. 10.

It asks the Ontario Superior Court to quash the “arbitrary and entirely unreasonable” decision, adding that the government has given it no reason for its exclusion from the rebate extension.

None of Tesla’s claims has been proven in court. The company said it would not provide further comment.

A spokesman for the Ontario Transportation Ministry said Thursday it would not comment on the situation because the matter is before the court.

In July, the government announced the cancellation of the rebate program but said that incentives would be honoured for vehicles ordered through a dealership if they are delivered and registered by Sept. 10.

Tesla sells vehicles directly to customers rather than through a dealership, making its vehicles ineligible for the incentives under the new rules.

Customers who have been waiting for Tesla Model 3 cars to be delivered say the Ontario government move has them rethinking their purchase.

Canceled orders

Toronto teacher Kurtis Evans, 38, said he was planning to sell his current vehicle — and was counting on receiving the maximum $14,000 rebate — to be able to afford the $71,000 price of the car he ordered in June.

“My wife and I are still not sure if we are going to take delivery without the rebate … we are not millionaires,” he said, adding he fears losing a $4,200 non-refundable deposit if he cancels the order.

However, Matthew Cheung of Mississauga, Ont., said the Tesla he helped his father order in June has already been cancelled because it would not have been affordable without the rebate.

He added Tesla has agreed to provide a refund of the deposit.

Dealers unhappy

Dealers who handle brands other than Tesla are also unhappy with the sudden cancellation of the rebate program and the brief extension to September, said David Adams, president of the Global Automakers of Canada.

“Our view would be that it really shouldn’t matter when the vehicle is delivered if the consumer ordered the vehicle prior to the government cancelling the program,” he said, adding Tesla is not a member in his organization.

Subsidies are generally frowned upon by his members because they distort the marketplace but the rebates for electric vehicles are seen as providing a balance for the substantial difference in price versus fossil-fuel powered cars, Adams said.

According to data compiled by FleetCarma, 7,477 battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles were sold in Ontario last year, up 120 per cent from 2016 when increased rebates were implemented.

Overall vehicle sales in Canada grew 4.8 per cent to a record 2.08 million last year. By December, electric vehicles accounted for 1.4 per cent of all sales.

‘Star Wars’ fans have been showing solidarity with actress Kelly Marie Tran, after it was noticed she had completely wiped her Instagram page.

Kelly made her debut as new character Rose Tico in the eighth instalment of the regular ‘Star Wars’ series, ‘The Last Jedi’, and became a favourite among fans when it emerged that she was also a huge fan of the franchise.

Unfortunately, as one ‘Star Wars’ fan account pointed out, Kelly’s deletion of her social media comes after months and months of both racist and sexist abuse hurled at her from certain ‘Star Wars’ fans (mostly men) unhappy with the fact she’d been appointed to the cast.

In response to this, many of the franchise’s fans have been sharing messages of support and solidarity with Kelly on their own accounts, to let her know that there is still a lot of love for her out there:

One of the most vocal supporters was “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson, who praised Star Wars fans in general, but lashed out at “manbabies” and distinguished between criticism and trolling:

In August 2016, then-newcomer to the ‘Star Wars’ universe Daisy Ridley also decided to delete all of her social media accounts.

Having previously used her Instagram to speak out about causes close to her heart, the final straw for Daisy appeared to come when she shared a post about gun violence, and quickly sparked a heated discussion in the comments section.

Both Daisy and Kelly will be back in the upcoming ninth ‘Star Wars’ film, which will be the final instalment in the current series, which JJ Abrams will return to direct.

The currently-untitled film is scheduled for release in December 2019.

OTTAWA — “Since we formed government, the Canadian economy has created over 60 per cent more full-time jobs than the Conservatives did over the same time period.” — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Aug. 14, 2018.

___

Hoping to beat back Conservative claims that their environment-friendly agenda is a costly jobs killer, the Liberal government has been burnishing its economic record lately, insisting that it has done better at creating jobs than its Tory predecessor.

It’s an important exercise in spin for a government whose central brand is about convincing Canadians that “the environment and the economy go hand-in-hand” — that fighting climate change, in other words, needn’t come at the expense of economic growth.

Hence the recent message from Trudeau and other cabinet ministers that since being elected in 2015, the Liberal government has created 60 per cent more jobs in Canada than the Conservatives did during the same time period.

Are they telling the truth?

Spoiler alert: The Canadian Press Baloney Meter is a dispassionate examination of political statements culminating in a ranking of accuracy on a scale of “no baloney” to “full of baloney” (complete methodology below).

This one earns a rating of “a lot of baloney.” Here’s why.

THE FACTS

Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office pointed to Employment Minister Patty Hajdu’s office to provide a breakdown of how Trudeau came up with that 60 per cent figure.

Veronique Simard, a spokeswoman for Hajdu, said the Liberal government created 542,500 full-time jobs in the 33 months since winning the 2015 election, while the Conservatives under former prime minister Stephen Harper “created just 322,300 full-time jobs in its last 33 months in office.”

Trudeau wasn’t the only one spreading the message: in a response to Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre deriding the Liberal carbon plan as a “job killer,” Environment Minister Catherine McKenna tweeted, “Our government has created 60 per cent more jobs than the Harper Conservatives did in the same time period.”

“The Canadian economy is humming,” she wrote. “Our emissions are dropping. We have a plan and it’s working.”

THE NUMBERS

To calculate the number of jobs created over a specific period, The Canadian Press relied on figures from Statistics Canada for full-time jobs each month. The agency reports the total number of people employed monthly, which stood at 15.1 million full-time workers in July.

Calculations by CP confirmed the data provided by Hajdu’s office: 542,500 new full-time jobs between October 2015 and July 2018, and just 322,300 new jobs between January 2013 and October 2015 — a difference, for the record, of 59.4 per cent.

But there’s more to the claim than just the numbers.

THE EXPERTS

For one thing, there’s the familiar political convention of taking credit for economic growth — a practice that brings to mind the old saw about “lies, damned lies and statistics.”

Any suggestion that the Liberals are “somehow responsible” for those numbers confuses the sequence of events with causality, said Stephen Gordon, an economics professor at Laval University.

“The fact that this is done so often doesn’t make it any less wrong,” said Gordon — no fan, he said, of using such statistics to suggest that the arrival of any new government results in more jobs.

But for the sake of argument, the Liberals should be comparing their first 33 months not with the end of the Harper era, but the beginning — a period that saw 635,400 new jobs between January 2006 and October 2008.

“If you’re going to argue that the arrival of a Liberal government leads to increased employment, you might as well argue that the arrival of a Conservative government has an even stronger effect on employment,” Gordon said.

“It’s a stupid game to be playing, and I wish politicians would stop playing it.”

Governments often “claim credit for — and take blame for — economic performance for which they often have little control,” added Emmett Macfarlane, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo.

“Stephen Harper was no more responsible for the 2008 global recession than Justin Trudeau was for job growth in the month he was elected.”

Using month-by-month statistics to measure performance in the job market can be unreliable, since the story can change dramatically, depending on which months are chosen as reference points, said Sheila Block, senior economist from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

During the Conservative government’s first 33 months in office, the economy was booming, while their last 33 months included a collapse in oil prices, she noted.

THE VERDICT

In truth, governments of all stripes take credit for short-term and medium-term economic indicators that are actually beyond their control. And they are selective about the data they choose to promote, as well as the time frames, to ensure it supports their narrative.

Indeed, by contrasting their first 33 months with the Conservative government’s last 33 months, they are effectively comparing apples and oranges.

METHODOLOGY

The Baloney Meter is a project of The Canadian Press that examines the level of accuracy in statements made by politicians. Each claim is researched and assigned a rating based on the following scale:

No baloney — the statement is completely accurate.

A little baloney — the statement is mostly accurate but more information is required.

Some baloney — the statement is partly accurate but important details are missing.

A lot of baloney — the statement is mostly inaccurate but contains elements of truth.

Full of baloney — the statement is completely inaccurate.

Canadians can save a lot of money by driving electric cars instead of gasoline-powered ones, according to a new study.

A report released last week by environmental group the 2 Degrees Institute showed that Canadians can save from 66 to 77 per cent of fuel and operating costs by driving battery electric cars. It also found that since electric cars have fewer moving parts, as well as less scheduled and virtually no routine maintenance, service costs were also lower.

Depending on the province, this could range from $23,000 to $36,000 over 10 years, or $27,000 to $38,000 over a vehicle’s lifetime of 250,000 kilometres driven.

The study compared two vehicles with their battery electric counterparts: the 2018 Volkswagen Golf hatchback and the 2018 Kia Soul EX hatchback. The electric versions cost an additional $12,850 and $7,860, respectively, in every province but Quebec and British Columbia.

Currently, two provinces offer rebates for purchasing electric vehicles: British Columbia and Quebec. Ontario’s electric vehicle rebate, scrapped by Premier Doug Ford in order to make gas prices cheaper, ended Sept. 10.

Quebec’s rebates bring the price difference for the Kia down to $4,850, and around $140 for the Volkswagen.

In B.C., the price difference could be as low as $1,850 for the Kia and $2,860 for the Golf after rebates if the purchase is also part of the province’s Scrap-It program, which offers $6,000 if another car is traded in for a new electric vehicle.

Electric vehicle sales are low in Canada — in May, they accounted for just two per cent of all vehicle sales — likely in part due to their reputation of being more expensive.

Institute director Ryan Logtenberg, who co-authored the study, also drives an electric vehicle. He told HuffPost Canada he estimates his hydro bill has gone up by about 25 per cent, though he has solar panels installed to offset the costs as well.

The study recommends transitioning to an electric vehicle if you live in an area where the electrical grid is powered by renewable energy, such as hydroelectric power.

“Driving an EV is probably the single-biggest step that people in those provinces can make to significantly reducing their carbon footprint,” Logtenberg said.

If you live in an area where the grid is largely powered by fossil fuels, like in Alberta and Saskatchewan, it suggests installing solar panels to reduce your carbon footprint.

Lack of long-term data

The study does acknowledge that it has some caveats due to a lack of historical data. For example, service costs are a bit uncertain because there haven’t been enough people owning electric cars for long enough to know what the average life of a battery pack is. Therefore, it’s not clear whether 10-year service costs for electric vehicles should include replacing a battery pack.

However, early data from Tesla car owners shows an initial five per cent drop in capacity after 40,000 kilometres, and no drop below 90 per cent until after 250,000 kilometres.

The study also didn’t include depreciation and insurance costs because of a lack of long-term data.

Logtenberg said he thinks a lot of fellow electric vehicle drivers feel similarly about how archaic gasoline-powered vehicles are.

“I think 20 years from now, hopefully sooner, we’ll be looking back at this period of time when we all were driving gas vehicles around and thinking like, ‘Isn’t that crazy that we were doing this?'” he said.

“And compare it to how we feel now about say, smoking in airplanes or in restaurants, and how nowadays that seems so archaic that we would be feeling it’s completely normal to be polluting the air all around us.”

The royal wedding is less than 48 hours away, and anticipation is building about who designed Meghan Markle’s wedding dress (and what it looks like) almost as much as the event itself.

This week, Markle’s mom, Doria Ragland, was spotted carrying a Burberry garment bag as she made her way to the airport to fly across the pond to reunite with her daughter, causing the internet to wonder whether it held a clue about what Markle would be wearing on her wedding day.

Although we won’t find out who designed Markle’s wedding dress until Saturday, many names have been thrown about, including Ralph & Russo, Alexander McQueen, and Roland Mouret. But some of us Canadians, especially those of us who have been fans of Markle since she started filming “Suits” in Toronto more than seven years ago, have wondered whether the 36-year-old former actress will opt for wearing a Canadian designer, such as Erdem, on her special day.

If she did, it wouldn’t be completely out of her style wheelhouse. When she lived in Toronto, Markle was wearing Canadian fashion in her everyday life and she’s been a champion of Canadian designers since she and Prince Harry got engaged in November.

Whether or not Markle wears Canadian at her wedding, we still love that a soon-to-be member of the Royal Family is putting Canadian designers on the world stage.

Here are some of Markle’s favourite Canadian designers, some of whom could be contenders as her wedding dress designer.

Erdem

Erdem, created by Montreal native Erdem Moralioglu, has long been rumoured to be Markle’s wedding dress designer, and with good reason. Markle has worn his signature floral designs at least a couple of times, including a gorgeous “Ava Night Bird Gown” at Prince Harry’s friend’s wedding in Jamaica last year, and a “Sebla Convertine Crepe De Chine Dress,” which she wore in Toronto after the Invictus Games opening ceremony in September.

Reitmans

Before she got engaged to one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet, Markle was the face of Canadian fashion institution, Reitmans. The former actress collaborated with the brand on two capsule collections in 2016, one of which was described by the Toronto Star at the time as a “five-piece line … modelled after what she wears in real life, running from day to night engagements, on and off of planes.”

Pieces included a faux leather pencil skirt, grey and white ponchos, silk blouses, and a fitted black bodysuit. Markle told the Star that she wanted the collections to represent, “the girl I was when I was struggling to make it.”

But last April, Reitmans confirmed that their partnership with Markle had come to an end.

Sentaler

Royal watchers first got a taste of the Canadian luxury outerwear brand when Markle’s future sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, sported one of their iconic ribbed coats during her and Prince William’s royal tour of Canada in 2016. And it seems like Markle is taking a page out of the duchess’ style handbook.

“Many will remember [Sentaler] as popping up on the royal fashion map after Kate wore it on the [royal tour of Canada],” Amanda Dishaw, editorial director of Meghan’s Mirror, previously told HuffPost Canada, “but Meghan has been a fan of the brand for years, wearing their warm alpaca outerwear to bundle up against the Toronto cold in the past.”

Markle also sported one of the brand’s coats, the “Long-Wide Collar Wrap Coat,” at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, U.K. for a Christmas Day service with the Royal Family, and was spotted wearing more of their coats while she was still living in Toronto.

Aritzia

The “Meghan Effect” took off after she was spotted wearing a burgundy Wilfred dress, one of Aritzia’s in-store brands, during the Invictus Games opening ceremony in Toronto last September. The dress was completely sold out hours later, thus marking the beginning of her status as a style icon.

Markle also took a khaki trench coat by Babton for Aritzia out for a spin during a visit to Bath, England, in April.

Mackage

At the same Invictus Games ceremony where she wore her Aritzia dress, Markle also wore another Canadian label, Mackage. The “Suits” star sported the brand’s “Baya Moto” leather jacket over her shoulders, all the better with which to show off her gorgeous pleated dress.

The Canadian label got an international audience when Markle wore one of their coats — the “Double Breasted Military Maxi Coat” for her and Harry’s first official work engagement in December.

And during her and Harry’s surprise visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland, Markle wore the brand’s “Mai Coat in Sand.”

Birks

The Canadian luxury jewelry brand is known for engagement rings, their “bee” collection, and their simple but stunning jewelry, and Markle is certainly a fan of the latter.

“Birks has featured prominently in Meghan’s jewelry box, most notably in royal engagement photos and at several engagements since. We love how she is keeping true to pieces, brands and styles that she embraced before her royal life began,” Dishaw previously told HuffPost Canada.

Meghan’s Mirror can count 10 instances where Markle has worn Birks jewelry in public, including their “Iconic Stackable Yellow Gold and Diamond Ring” at her and Harry’s first visit to Wales; their “Snowflake Large Jacket Earrings” when she visited Buckingham Palace for the Royal Family’s Christmas lunch (and again at Sadringham on Christmas day); and their “Rose Gold and Diamond Snowflake Ring” for her first official visit to Scotland.

Line

When the world saw the first pictures of Markle and Prince Harry as an engaged couple, they looked at two things: her engagement ring, and her gorgeous white Line wrap coat.

“Meghan has an effortlessly chic sense of style, which we’ve always admired. We know this particular coat is one of her favourite pieces so we have officially decided to name it the ‘Meghan.’ We are elated for Meghan and wish her a lifetime of happiness with Prince Harry,” John Muscat, president and co-founder of the Canadian brand, told Today Style.

Markle also wore a Line draped trench coat while watching the Invictus Games closing ceremony in Toronto.

Smythe

Smythe, known for their collection of luxury blazers, has long been a style favourite among celebrities and royals. (The Duchess of Cambridge is a big fan of the Canadian brand.) And Markle has also jumped on the Smythe bandwagon, wearing their “Brando Coat” during a visit to a South London radio station in January.

“[Markle]’s owned this coat for over a year and has worn it previously,” the label’s designers told Hello magazine. “We are so proud and flattered that it made it to her new home in London.”

Recently, Markle wore their “Pagoda Coat” at the Dawn Service to commemorate Anzac Day in London.

Markle’s bestie, Jessica Mulroney, was also recently seen wearing Smythe. The Canadian bridal stylist was spotted in the brand’s “Duchess” blazer while arriving at Heathrow Airport (her three children are part of Harry and Markle’s bridal party) on Wednesday. While probably unintentional, it’s a fun coincidence that Mulroney’s outfit is a reference to a possible title Markle could get once she marries Prince Harry.

WASHINGTON — A prominent congressional ally of U.S. President Donald Trump fired a pointed NAFTA broadside across Canada’s bow Tuesday as Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland travelled to Washington to resume efforts to forge a new version of the continental trade pact.

House of Representatives majority whip Steve Scalise, who represents the state of Louisiana, gave voice to a sentiment some trade observers say is building among members of Congress who suspect Canada is ignoring their timetable and dragging out the talks for its own political purposes.

“There is a growing frustration with many in Congress regarding Canada’s negotiating tactics,” Scalise said in a statement that appeared timed to coincide with Freeland’s planned return to Washington.

“Members are concerned that Canada does not seem to be ready or willing to make the concessions that are necessary for a fair and high-standard agreement.”

Scalise insisted Congress does indeed want to see Canada join the bilateral U.S.-Mexico deal those two countries negotiated in Freeland’s absence last month — much to the consternation of the federal Liberal government.

But it’s neither willing nor able to wait indefinitely, he warned.

“While we would all like to see Canada remain part of this three-country coalition, there is not an unlimited amount of time for it to be part of this new agreement,” he said.

“Mexico negotiated in good faith and in a timely manner, and if Canada does not co-operate in the negotiations, Congress will have no choice but to consider options about how best to move forward and stand up for American workers.”

That appeared to be a response to recent indications from the federal Liberals that they won’t be held to any artificial deadlines, nor will they rush the talks to settle for an agreement that’s not in Canada’s best interests — a sentiment Freeland repeated Tuesday upon learning of Scalise’s statement.

The minister, who will resume talks Wednesday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, said Canada has been negotiating in good faith throughout the process, which is about to enter its 14th month.

“From the outset of these modernization negotiations, Canada has been extremely co-operative,” Freeland said. “Canada is very good at negotiating trade deals; Canada is very good at finding creative compromises. We have been extremely engaged.”

Negotiators have been working “extremely hard” and are committed to doing the necessary work to reach an agreement, she added — but they aren’t about to settle for just any agreement.

“It is our duty — it’s my duty — to stand up for the national interest and I will always do that.”

Freeland has for weeks been cultivating the narrative that Canada is holding out for the best possible deal, but Scalise’s statement is evidence that there are those in Congress who believe the delay has been motivated by political considerations north of the border.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier this week that a deal could be days or weeks away, but also hedged a little on the grounds that the government won’t sign at any cost.

While Canada has been pushing for wording in NAFTA aimed at strengthening labour protections and gender equality, the overall negotiations are said to have stalled over Canada’s insistence that an agreement contain an independent dispute-settlement mechanism.

Trudeau has also vowed to protect Canada’s so-called supply management system for dairy and poultry products against U.S. demands for greater access by its farmers to Canada’s dairy market. Canada has offered some limited concessions on access, sources say, while also ring-fencing the supply management system itself.

Supply management has been a big issue in the provincial election campaign in Quebec, home to about half of Canada’s dairy farms. Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard has warned there will be “serious political consequences” if there is any further dismantling of the protections for dairy farmers through NAFTA negotiations.

That has some trade watchers suspicious that Ottawa may be trying to get past Oct. 1, which is election day in Quebec — and also the deadline imposed by Congress for Canada to get on board with the U.S.-Mexico deal in order for it to receive congressional approval before a new government takes office in Mexico Dec. 1.

That suspicion is making the rounds on Capitol Hill.

“The rumblings around Washington have been Canada may attempt to push any deal beyond Oct. 1, largely due to the Quebec election,” said Dan Ujczo, an Ohio trade lawyer with Dickinson Wright.

“Rep. Scalise is putting down the marker that these are real deadlines.”

Related Coverage

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