Mid-week pod: What should Canadians read into Barack Obama's last State of the Union?

This week on the mid-week podcast, The House is at...the White House!

Chris Hall is in Washington, D.C. to cover the aftermath of U.S. President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, along with Paul Frazer, president of PD Frazer Associates. How will Obama's legacy projects affect Canadian politics?

"The State of the Union set out the president's views on a variety of things — environment and energy being of particular importance," says the former ambassador and diplomat. 

"I think the new government of Canada has every opportunity to push on an open door and to look at the synergies that are there, or can be produced through collaboration. The possibilities are enormous."

While the economic picture south of the border is looking sunny, Canada's economy is slumping. With the loonie dipping below 70 cents U.S., TD Bank's deputy chief economist Derek Burleton joins us to give an overview of the Canadian economy — and looks ahead to this spring's federal budget.

"The [federal government] is keeping their cards close to their chest at the moment, but my view is very likely they're going to do more than what they even suggested in the campaign, and run higher deficits," says Burleton.

"I think their view would be to definitely push out [returning to balance] beyond the fiscal year 2018-2019. They're probably going to have it return to zero, but it's clearly going to take a longer period.

"I think that's a slam dunk."

What isn't a slam dunk is how the Supreme Court will rule on the federal government's request for an extension in drafting new legislation on doctor-assisted dying.

The CBC's senior reporter Alison Crawford has been following the story, and joins The House with the details.

"It was fascinating to see the to and fro, the back and forth, between the federal lawyer and the court," Crawford says.