A tax holiday, Trump tariffs, and killer robots

The Liberals are planning to make Christmas shopping a little less expensive this year — they announced a tax holiday starting mid-December on top of rebate cheques set to roll out in the spring. Who comes out on top from this decision? CBC’s chief political correspondent joins The House to break down the politics behind the move. Then, a former Bank of Canada governor explains the economic consequences of the proposal and whether it will affect Canada’s inflation rate.

Plus, The House travels to Halifax, where international security officials are meeting each other at an important conference, and speaks to a Republican senator about what Donald Trump means for the war in Ukraine and Canada’s border security. A Google executive also comes on the show for an exclusive interview about the risks and rewards of AI development as several countries race to become the dominant power in evolving the technology.

Finally, a Canadian civil servant who was falsely accused of terrorism in the Indian media joins the program with his lawyer to share his story and discuss how foreign governments are working to sow doubt in Canada’s institutions.

This episode features the voices of: 

• Rosemary Barton, CBC’s chief political correspondent
• Stephen Poloz, former Bank of Canada governor
• Jim Risch, Republican senator from Idaho
• Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs at Google
• Sunny Sidhu, a Canadian civil servant
• Jeffrey Kroeker, Sidhu’s lawyer