Canada and Ecuador set to sign free trade deal in Ottawa

OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith caught some onlookers off guard on Wednesday when she said that she wanted to fix equalization, not kill it. Smith said her immediate focus is reversing the escalator the Harper government added to the equalization program in 2009, ensuring the funding pot grows with the economy. “(The escalator) is kind of counter-intuitive, because if the economy is growing and everybody’s doing better, they should be less they should be less reliant on the equalization,” Smith told reporters in Red Deer, Alta., where she was joined by Prime Minister Mark...