How Government Initiatives Help Teachers' Effectiveness

 Staples: have we got a deal for you!  Shutterstock

 

"We know that many teachers have been paying out-of-pocket for supplies."

"While school boards receive funding for classroom resources, we have not always seen those dollars consistently reach every classroom."

"That is why we are putting funds directly in the hands of teachers to ensure their classrooms are equipped to support student achievement."

Ontario Minister of Education Paul Calandra

 

"This $750 is, for the most part, more than what teachers have been given in the past, but the problem with it is that school boards are best equipped to navigate these things."

"I would suspect that the prices at Staples -- if not now, then soon -- will cost much higher than what you could get in bulk at the board level."

David Mastin, president, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario 

 

"We were like, 'No, that's got to be a mistake' ... surely they don't want us to pay almost $5 for a set of Crayola markers. Surely, that can't be the discount for us."

"It's sending the message that taxpayer dollars don't matter. Teachers' time scouring the sites to figure out what the best deals are doesn't matter."

Kimiko Shibata, teacher, Waterloo, Ontario

Education Minister Paul Calandra announced that a Staples portal can provide Ontario teachers with competitively low prices on 221 essential classroom products. The province had decided to provide $750 annually for all Ontario elementary teachers to enable them to purchase needed classroom supplies and that Staples was chosen by the province to provide a purchasing portal at the lowest possible prices for classroom materials.

 

It took little time for teachers, given access to the portal, to discover items appeared to be more costly through that portal than the prices appearing on Staples' main website. The Classroom Supplies Fund, a new initiative undertaken by the Ontario government to address teachers personally paying for classroom supplies, revealed the province's no-bid agreement with Staples to host Service Ontario counters in its stores.

 

Teachers had been pre-surveyed and had taken part in focus groups in an effort to fully understand which were the essential items to be discounted on Staples' new store set up specifically for the provincial teachers under agreement with Supply Ontario. That included writing utensils, paper, art supplies and classroom decor. When some teachers logged on to the site they found some essential items not to be available at the lowest possible price.

 

Staples Canada argued that their pricing for "core items" identified by teachers "are the lowest available at Staples". Many other items, outside those initially identified 221 items, are contained as well in the offerings at the portal. Items, Staples emphasized, that "are priced the same or less than can be found at Staples in-store or online". 

 

Ontario has launched its online classroom supply portal, providing elementary homeroom teachers a $750 allowance through a provincial deal with Staples. Some educators say the portal's prices are higher than those in store.  CBC

 

"[Teachers identified 221 essential items during the government's survey and focus groups, and those items] are the absolute cheapest  you can find across Staples or across any platform."

"We have an example of pens that are $8 on the Staples website, and I think it's 81 cents for teachers."

Education Minister Paul Calandra 

Staples location in Etobicoke. Photo: Staples Canada

  

"I've seen a couple of TikToks that say, 'Oh my gosh. The ministry is screwing us."

"If you find a mistake, then let your principal know. [They] can tell us, and we can work with Staples to fix it."

Education Minister Paul Calandra 

 

Motion to Remove Accreditation From Toronto Metropolitan Law School

"The report of the Honourable Mary Lou Benotto, released August 14, 2026, describes how Jewish students, faculty and staff at TMU [Toronto Metropolitan University] experience hostility 'that crossed into intimidation, dehumanization and antisemitism', abetted by the failure of TMU to 'consistently and decisively enforce its rules intended to prevent such misconduct." 

"According to the Benotto Report, many Jewish TMU community members report feeling unsafe attending classes, that they have to hide their Jewish identities, and that they tell their Jewish friends not to let their kids go to TMU. "

"Simply put, the Benotto Report establishes a prima facie case that TMU has, through its actions [or lack thereof], created a discriminatory environment which discourages Jews from attending TMU, and, by extension, Lincoln Alexander School of Law."

Formal motion to the attention of the Law Society of Ontario 

 

"Why should there be any further delays on taking action on TMU's toxic environment?"

"Why should this fester at an institution that receives government grants?"

"Why should Jewish students continue to be fearful at TMU?"

"Some sort of significant action must be taken now, today, and not delayed by yet another study into what we all know is a cesspit of antisemitism. The Law Society of Ontario has a chance now to make an important statement. We hope it will."

Sam Goldstein, signee of motion to Law Society 

A pedestrian walks past Toronto Metropolitan University signage. (Credit: Peter J. Thompson/National Post files)

 

Ten practising Ontario lawyers sent a motion to the Law Society of Ontario, requesting that the LSO hear the motion whose result could invalidate the practise of law in Ontario by graduates of Toronto Metropolitan University law school. The request cited an investigation conducted by a former Ontario Appeal Court Justice, Mary Lou Benotto in which she validated that TMU has allowed an aura of viral antisemitism to permeate the school. One where Jewish students have been intimidated, harassed and threatened; basically terrorized.

 

According to Justice Benotto's analysis, the university failed to come to grips with the scourge of antisemitic incidents that have characterized the school as a venue for hate expressed against Jews that erupted in the wake of the deadly 7 October Palestinian savage Hamas-led mass terrorist incursion from Gaza into southern Israel. The lawyers have requested that the Law Society accept their motion to be included on the September 16 agenda of its Annual General Meeting. 

 

The response from the Law Society was that the proposed motion had arrived past the given deadline for submission of motions to be included for discussion at its AGM. Which brought the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation in support of the motion, asking lawyers to sign a petition to persuade the Law Society of Ontario to hear the motion nonetheless. And that the Lincoln Alexander School of Law accreditation be withdrawn in recognition of its signal failure to respond to the poisonous atmosphere prevailing there of rampant antisemitism to which they have failed to respond.

 

Students demonstrating for Palestine in front of TMU   The Breach

 

The Law Society of Ontario's own rules are that accreditation of a law school at a university which exercises policies discouraging attendance by students "is contrary to the public interests inconsistent with the Law Society's function to ensure a competent bar and deeply offensive to the public", a signal observation that the motion specifically points out.  

 

There is an undercurrent of outrage stemming from the fact that a task force was commissioned by TMU president and vice-chancellor Mohamed Lachemi, for a followup report on TMU's antisemitism. The resulting task force to be chaired by a former Ontario premier, interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and recently Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae. 

 

Instagram

"What [an employer] should never do is effectively investigate the investigation."

"[Toronto Metropolitan University's response to the Benotto report is] troubling."

"An independent investigation has a purpose. An organization brings in an outsider to determine what happened, where it failed and what should be done."

"The value lies in the investigator's independence."

Labour Lawyer Howard Levitt 

White, Straight, Male Applicants...Kindly Don't Bother

"[Of 302 government job openings 42 percent were subject to] explicit or potential prioritization based on group identity."

"These postings go beyond signalling an inclusive workplace culture or encouraging applications from particular communities."

"They explicitly disclose that certain groups may or will receive priority consideration in the selection process." 

"The expansion of identity-based selection practices risks undermining both the integrity and perceived legitimacy of the federal staffing system." 

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy report 

 

"To achieve a representative workforce, selection may be based on qualified candidates self-declaring as belonging to one or more of the designated groups: Indigenous Peoples, members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and women."

Defence Intelligence Office, position posting, Department of National Defence 

 

"[Applicants must declare whether they are members of a] designated employment equity group."

"Diversity and inclusion are foundational values at Transport Canada and are core to who we are."

"We strive to become an organization where everyone feels that their voice, views, values and life experiences are heard."

Transport Canada position posting 

Department of National Defence headquarters in Ottawa. A job ad posted by DND this year for a Defence Intelligence Officer said “selection may be based on qualified candidates self-declaring as belonging to one or more of the designated groups: Indigenous Peoples, members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and women.” Photo by Spencer Colby/Postmedia

 

In Canada, hiring based on 'equity' has become sacrosanct in the Liberal federal government's playbook of hiring, to reflect an official position that government-based organizations must match precisely the Canadian demographic within the broader population. Deviations from this process are not to be countenanced, as evidence of systemic discrimination sullying the hiring atmosphere. According to the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, Canada has gone to lengths unprecedented to ensure it is well understood that this is a  country definitely not "rigged to disfavour racial minorities".

 

Critical jobs within the federal government such as safety inspectors and intelligence agent applicants are informed explicitly that if their profile fails to fit within an "equity-deserving" identity category -- where new personnel before hiring are screened based on race and identity -- they are likely to be rejected. Fully 100 percent of new hires are screened based on race and identity in some key federal departments, as is made clear by a newly-released report by the Aristotle Foundation.

 

As example, an emergency management position within Parks Canada was prioritized for equity: "We promote employment equity and encourage you to self-declare if you belong to one of the designated employment equity groups when you apply", potential applicants were advised. Three departments were identified in the report's analysis -- which pointed out that equity-based screening was de rigueur throughout the federal government -- stating that based on race, gender or ability, candidates would be prioritized.

 

The National Research Council, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada deem that every job they post must contain an "explicit or potential prioritization based on group identity". At the Department of National Defence, 92 percent of job postings inform candidates they would be subject to identity discrimination. Not unlike earlier finding in 2025 examining Canadian university hiring practices, where "...98 percent of academic postings ... directly or indirectly discriminated against non-minorities".

 

It is within the past decade that these practices taking the form of mandatory hiring quotas based on race, gender and other 'identity' characteristics have been implemented. A decade reflected by Liberal government rule. As example, internal 'equity targets' set in 2018 at the Department of National Defence, now require that 25 percent of uniformed personnel be female, 3.5 percent be Indigenous, and 11.8 percent 'visible minority'.

 

Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy report

 

Transgeder Females in Women's Prisons

"Throughout their sentence, offenders may apply for a voluntary transfer to a men's or a women's institution according to their gender identity or expression."

"[All transfers are assessed on a case-by-case basis with the Deputy Commissioner for Women having the final decision-making capability]."

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) 

 

"In each specific factual context, CD 100 has been implemented in good faith and consistent with the principles of fundamental justice, including not being arbitrary, overbroad, or grossly inappropriate."

"[The government] wholly denies that any alleged harm to inmates housed in women's institutions flowed from the implementation of CD 100."

Government of Canada 

 

"Female inmates are being exposed to real risks and real harm."

"This case is about protecting their safety, dignity and constitutional rights."

Chris Fleury, constitutional lawyer 

Photo credit: Leah Hennel

 

Canada's federal government filed a statement of defence in a constitutional challenge to Correctional Service Canada's "gender diverse" policy permitting some inmates' transfer on request to women's prisons. One inmate, according to the filing, was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment, following a female inmate filing a complaint in May of 2020. That inmate was also charged as an instigator in five  other incidents committed against three female inmates.

 

Additionally, a female inmate filed a complaint in October of 2024, leading to a charge of two counts of sexual assault. That inmate was identified in another incident. When particulars in the charges were demanded, the plaintiff spoke of 45 women who had been affected, whom she identified, in 59 incidents of harm. The government responded that "insufficient particulars were provided to allow Canada to respond".

 

Ten of the remaining 14 claims took place at Grand Valley Institution for Women, located in Kitchener Ontario, while three occurred at Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia and one other took place at the Okimaw Ohei Healing Lodge in Saskatchewan, on the Nekaneet First Nation. A police investigation took place in 2018 with no charges being laid; there was a 2019 report of sexual assault, and finally, a complaint in 2021 alleging sexual and physical assault.

 

Prison facility (Courtesy of Stocker)

 

Correctional Service of Canada's Commissioner's Directive 100: Gender Diverse Offenders, was implicated in the constitutional challenge against the federal government, brought by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms in 2025. In May of 2022 CSC introduced the policy on "gender diverse" offenders. The Investigative Journalism Bureau found that between 2017 and 2025, 57 transgender women had made 129 requests for transfer to a women's prison.

 

Of those requests, 35 were approved. There were 90 transgender women in federal prison by October 2025, 73 located in men's prisons and 17 accommodated in women's prisons. Of that number, eight had undergone gender-affirming surgery. Funded by the JCCF, lawyers brought the lawsuit on behalf of Canadian Women's Sex-Based Rights, with the argument that allowing transgender inmates to be housed in women's prisons exposes female inmates to potential physical and psychological harms, violating their Charter rights.

 

Constitutional lawyer Chris Fleury, in a JCCF news release, stated that the defence used by the government indicates that serious complaints have been raised by female inmates regarding their experiences in women's prisons. The government has been revealed to have responded to claims involving 13 gender-diverse inmates alleged to have "taken and will continue to take, advantage of CD 100."  No specific allegations were provided for four of the inmates -- "It is their mere presence in a women's institution that is alleged to cause harm to cisgender female inmates". 

 

Correctional facility (Courtesy of Jeffrey Zalesny)

 

Nepal's Flood-Rescue Plight

"There are too many challenges. There are no roads, they have all been washed away, and many areas are just not accessible."

"It is very difficult for my men. The area is still flooded, and elsewhere it is all marshland."

"Once my men are dropped, they have to roam over large distances to conduct search and rescue. But the helicopters have to return because there are not enough of them."

"For example, an area that was dry yesterday is completely flooded today [as the swollen river changes course]."

"It is unpredictable. Floods can come at any time."

E. Hawadi, Nepali police coordinator of rescue efforts, Nuwakot district 

 

"This is the Himalayas."

"We have to be very careful when starting any rescue operation or relief operation."

"The gorges are very deep and steep, so that's the difficulty."

Nepali Foreign Ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri  

Structures partially submerged in mud brought in by flash floods stand at the banks of the Trishuli river in Nepal's Nuwakot district, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

 

More than a week after catastrophic flooding killed over 1,200 people in Nepal when an unstable glacier broke off and plugged a river to swell into a lake, then went on to cause massive flooding near the border between Nepal and Tibet, rescue work is continuing, with the fading hope of finding some of the 4,471 estimated missing still alive. 

 

Teams of rescuers face treacherous marshlands and an unpredictable river as they search for survivors. Nepal has suffered the majority of deaths and those missing, while Tibet saw 15 dead and 546 people missing, according to Chinese state media.

 

The fate of hundreds of missing hydropower project workers where the full force of the torrent occurred stands at 639 people unaccounted for. According to the Nepalese disaster agency, there remain 3,333 missing citizens. Among them are 45 Nepali army soldiers, 38 police officers, and 18 customs and immigration officers.  

 

Another project the floods hit, the Upper Trishuli 3A facility took rescue workers six days to locate the tunnels encased in the thick mud. Roughly 30 to 40 people stuck in the tunnels there are believed to be alive. "We are expecting survivors in there because we are told there is a dry space inside. We are trying to break into the tunnel now", a Nepali army spokesperson explained. 

A week after the flash-flood hit the Nepal-Tibet border, some officials believe trapped workers at the Rasuwagadhi hydropower plant could still be alive. Photograph: Naveen Srivastava/X/Reuters

 

Where floodwaters have receded, the ground has been transformed into deep, slippery mud whose effect complicates rescue operations, slowing down movement. In other areas floodwaters remain high. Families have been left homeless in heavy rain as entire communities were swept away. Some have found shelter in temporary facilities. Mass graves are receiving unidentified bodies.  

Rescuers, as a result of the difficult conditions they face in the remote settlements, must rely on helicopters presenting as the sole means of reaching those stranded communities. 40 bridges have been washed away in the floodwaters. Teams are dispersed across the sprawling disaster zone, with reinforcements being brought into the small town of Bidur on the banks of the Trishuli River. The problem of supplies reaching those who need them rests in the town, now the main hub for rescue operations.

An aerial view shows vehicles lying amid debris at Timure Bazar following the deadly flash floods and mudslides in Rasuwa, Nepal, Sept. 3, 2026.   Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

Some 93,000 people are felt to have been affected by the floods, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Declaring that "many homes have been destroyed or severely damaged".  Both India and China are sending quickly-assembled prefabricated Bailey bridges where no heavy equipment is required.

The UN World Food Programme is shipping in 2.4 tonnes of high-energy biscuits to sustain homeless families lacking the capacity to cook food. "Damage to roads, bridges, settlements, and critical infrastructure has severely disrupted access to affected communities, creating significant challenges for relief operations", they explained. 

 

The swollen river responsible for widespread destruction changes course from time to time, and rescuers are forced to reassess their plans, while struggling with a lack of adequate equipment. Flotation devices are required to safely operate in floodwaters. Nighttime operations have been made impossibly hazardous in many areas, resulting from that unpredictability, while pressure to accelerate the search continues.

 

Nepal army personnel prepare to construct a bridge across Trishuli river at Devighat in Nepal's Nuwakot district on Sept. 3, 2026.    Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images

 

 

Giving Haven in the U.S. to Hate-Persecuted Canadian Jews

Columbia University students maintained a protest encampment on their campus following arrest of more than 100 protesters. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

 

"[We appeal to you to expedite a method of entry into the United States for Jewish Canadians] who are experiencing persecution or who credibly fear for their safety because they are Jewish."

"[There exists] an alarming climate of harassment intimidation, vandalism, threats and violence [faced by Canadian families since the Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October 2023]."

"Advocates working directly with these families report that more than 2,000 Jewish Canadians have expressed interest in relocating because of growing concerns for their safety."

"Accordingly, we respectfully ask that you direct the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to identify and implement lawful, secure, and appropriately expedited pathways for eligible Jewish Canadian nationals and their immediate family members who face persecution."

National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL)

The NACL letter urged the administration to coordinate with state and local governments, Jewish organizations, churches, nonprofits and employers willing to help families establish new lives in the United States.

 

This Christian group forwarded a proposal to the White House, attention of the President of the United States, appealing for a legal pathway to welcome Jewish Canadians fearing for their safety during a renascent flood of antisemitism whose effects have impacted the sense of security of Canadian Jews for the past three years and more. Led by Palestinian student groups, fuelled by hatred of Israel, incited and paid for from abroad through the Muslim Brotherhood and its sponsor Qatar, manifestations of that in-your-face antisemitism have taken place in the streets through mass protests, on university campuses and has seeped into public medical institutions where Jews now fear being treated in hospitals that employ Muslim medical staff where they are met with hostility.

 

There have been far too many instances of vandalism perpetrated against Jewish-owned businesses and institutions, in Canada, with Jewish parochial schools and community centers and synagogues being targeted with the violence of being shot at, vandalized, and fire-bombed. Crowds of Jew-hating Muslims and leftist allies have marched through Jewish neighbourhoods in Toronto and Montreal, shouting invective, chorusing 'Globalize the Intifada', 'Final Solution', and 'From the River to the Sea', terrorizing the residents, with insufficient response from municipal authorities and related police services.

 

Christian organizations like that of the NACL have expressed their sympathy at the plight of Jews in North America and Europe being verbally attacked and facing violent threats. Their empathetic responses, fellowship and offers of assistance have been heart-warming and serve as a balm to the wounded sentiments of Jews everywhere. However, the solution sought here, to encourage and formalize a system whereby Jews can leave Canada for haven in the United States, while a kindly gesture, would only move Jews from one threatened place to another, since American Jews are also facing very similar circumstances of exposure to racist hatred from the very same sources.

 

Trump shared a link to the report on Truth Social on Sunday evening, but did not comment on the contents.

 

The letter, sent to the attention of President Donald Trump, signed by Jason Rapert, founder and president of NACL, along with state representatives and religious leaders, with copies to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. senators and representatives, expresses a heartfelt concern with the hope of ameliorating the pain and vulnerability being felt by some Jews in Canada who have expressed a wish to leave the country for another that they believe promises them greater safety, respect and dignity. Yet, there too the harassment and hatred will assail them. Just as fundamentalist Muslims in Canada preach hatred of Jews, so too do those in the United States.

 

People set up a makeshift memorial for the hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led militant attacks on Israel near an ongoing pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the Columbia University campus. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

 

As good-hearted as the move by the Christian group is, in the expression of its concern for a beleaguered community with which they feel a brotherhood, it is but a band-aid solution to a serious disease immune to band-aid responses. Calling for the Trump administration to cooperate with states, local governments, Jewish organizations, churches, non-profits and employers willing to assist arriving families does nothing to solve the larger issue. That issue is the presence of antagonistic, hostile religious exponents of fundamentalist Islam for whom obligatory jihad for the faithful begins with expunging the presence of Jews.

 

Statistics Canada's latest data reflect that 71 percent of religious hate crimes in the country targeted its Jewish population. In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League's August report highlighted that 63 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2025 targeted American Jews, according to data from the FBI, making 2025 the third-highest year on record of anti-Jewish hate crimes in America. "We believe this moment presents another opportunity for America to demonstrate those principles" of "America's historic commitment to stand against religious persecution", the letter states.

 

CHRISTIAN LEADERS HOLD EMERGENCY SUMMIT IN JERUSALEM TO CONFRONT GLOBAL RISE IN ANTISEMITISM   Fox News

 

"For generations, America has served as a refuge for people fleeing religious persecution."

"We urge you to ensure that, consistent with federal law and the security interests of the United States, that door remains open to our Jewish brothers and sisters in Canada who need it today."

National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) 

Students demonstrate on the campus of Atlanta's Emory University on Thursday as campus protests across the U.S. lead to confrontational standoffs with police, mass arrests and accusations of antisemitism. (Elijah Nouvelage/AFP/Getty Images)

 

 

Dead In The Water : With or Without

"If  your vetting process the first go-round mandates that you have to claim that the 2020 election was stolen, then the pool of candidates was probably already small and getting smaller now."

Marc Short, served in the first Trump administration

 

"President Trump has built the greatest political movement in history, staffing his administration with talented, dedicated patriots who work tirelessly to execute his agenda."

"This movement is bigger than any one staff member, and the president's mission to make America greater than ever before will continue unabated." 

Taylor Rogers, White House spokeswoman

 

"This also is, without question, the hardest time to hire into an administration."

"The real question is, who's going to fill these roles? Will they be the right people, an will they be people that the president listens to?"

"It's not so much about the vacancies, but who's willing to go into the second two years of an administration that largely will face headwinds with a change in Congress."

Lisa Camooso Miller, former Republican National Committee communications director 

 

"Nothing but choppy waters ahead, treacherous waters ahead."

"But I’m not so sure that these departures are — it’s sort of we’re talking about degrees of being dead in the water — he’s dead in the water with or without them."

"It’s going to be ugly and unproductive and maybe even worse over the next two years."

Chris Whipple, political analyst, contributing writer, Vanity Fair 

President Donald Trump, joined by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks to the media at the White House on July 15, 2025.  Anna Moneymaker/Getty 

 

Halfway through his second term, with two more years to follow, President Donald J. Trump is facing a situation where he has been left without the services of some of his senior staff, with the circle of his trusted aides shrinking. The president's chief spokesperson, his top legal adviser, a key national security adviser and his liaison to Capital Hill have all resigned. Nothing to be nonchalant about, particularly since there are other senior officials considering their own exit in the next few months, revealed by insiders familiar with what's happening. 

 

It is the departure of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that appears to have taken some within the establishment with its particular unexpectedness by surprise. A week following Press Secretary Leavitt's announcement, James Braid, director of legislative affairs in the White House announced his own plans to leave. Two trusted advisers close to the president who fiercely defend him, taking the comfort level of their loyalty with them as they leave. Also set to leave are deputy national security adviser Andy Baker and White House Counsel David Warrington.

 

 

 

Dealing with foreign and domestic challenges, these departures could not have come at a more awkward time for President Trump. His party is facing the prospect of congressional majority losses in the November midterm elections; opening the potential of subpoenas against his administration leading to investigations under a Congress led by the Democrats, particularly  troubling for him as he faces abysmally low approval ratings, an insecure economy and a war in Iran whose unpopularity links to a global energy crisis. 

 

The legislative affairs branch under director James Braid had already lost a good proportion of his staff over the last six months, making his job to press congressional Republicans on the president's legislative agenda beyond difficult. The team that remains, in addition to resolving conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, is conflicted, with some among them pushing the White House for new plans for the economy inclusive of tax cuts linked to the president's tax and spending law. 

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

"I think people are seeing the writing on the wall and thinking Republicans probably aren’t going to have the House, might not have the Senate either, and things are going to be stalled."

"People are thinking, ‘what are my post administration business prospects? Is it worth taking these hits every single day, being part of these battles, and how does that hurt my prospects when I go to the private sector'?"

Identity-protected first Trump term official