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By  Kelly Garrity TARIFF TALK ON TRACK —  Wary of fraying relations between the federal government and one of Massachusetts’ largest trading partners. Gov. Maura Healey and other northeastern governors began looking for a way to bolster their economic ties with Canada, inviting leaders from a handful of Canadian provinces to Boston to talk at a time TBD .  Now we have a date :  Canadian premiers and New England governors will huddle in Boston June 16 to talk about tariffs The group of governors  , including five of the six New England governors plus Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, “are committed to preserving cross border travel, encouraging tourism in our respective jurisdictions, and promoting each other’s advantages and amenities,” they wrote in their invitation to their northern neighbors. The invite was extended to leaders from six provinces: Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The threat of a tra...

By  Kelly Garrity CHAINSAW VS. SURGERY —  A few weeks ago, state Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago was at an event with the Veterans of Foreign Wars national commander. The commander  was ruminating on cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs — and on his own experience fighting in Vietnam. If, he posited in Santiago’s recollection, medics had decided to take a “chainsaw approach” to treating a gunshot wound to his arm, he wouldn’t have an arm today. Instead, they took a surgical approach, removing the shrapnel and saving the arm. “ That's the type of targeted approach   we should be taking to any types of cuts,” Santiago told Playbook in a recent interview. “We all agree that waste, fraud and abuse needs to be addressed, right? But the way that folks are handling it, discussing it, treating it, raises some red flags.” The VA was one of the early targets   of the Department of Government Efficiency’s job cuts, with more than 1,000 employees, including ...