Carr’s cabinet post praised by Prairie stakeholders, but experts and MP wary of road ahead
After recovering from a blood cancer diagnosis that forced him out of cabinet after the 2019 election, Jim Carr is back in the new post as the special representative to the Prairies. The title is old—Mr. Carr has held it since the election—but the spot in cabinet is new. Prior to re-joining cabinet, Mr. Carr was […]
Finance Committee chair Easter top non-cabinet-MP target for lobbyists in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic kept MPs away from Ottawa for most of the year, but that didn’t stop lobbyists from meeting with MPs to try and influence both the government’s and the opposition’s agenda. Liberal MP and House Finance Committee chair Wayne Easter was lobbied 190 times in 2020, the most for an MP not serving […]
This is no time for half measures or vague aspirations
TORONTO—The most urgent task in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s forthcoming budget will be to set the country on the path to sustained and sustainable economic growth. Going forward, we will need more and better innovation to achieve good jobs, improved competitiveness, and increased productivity. The budget has to make this its priority. In her fall […]
A historic event is unfolding in India as farmers protest en masse
The last decade has witnessed a rise of populist and strongmen leaders in many countries. The United States, India, Brazil, and the United Kingdom elected governments that rose through dog-whistle slogans against corrupt establishments. Often, these movements begin with nationalism as a tool to counter opposition and control the majority. This has turned out to […]
MPs press Bibeau to give trade compensation timeline, details to struggling farmers
Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says there’s still a “few strings to tie,” and details could be months away, before the government can provide compensation timelines and totals for farmers experiencing market loss thanks to recent trade deals. Still, she told opposition MPs who pressed her on those details on Thursday that Canada wouldn’t give away […]
Stakeholders push feds to quickly reach transitional U.K. trade deal, as government says new pact ‘close to the finish line’
With Canada’s export competitors in the midst of trade negotiations with Britain, stakeholders are urging Canada to quickly finalize a transitional trade agreement with the U.K. Canada-U.K. trade will stop being covered by the Canada-EU trade deal—called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)—following the end of the Brexit transition period at the start of […]
The opioid crisis: let’s learn from the success of cannabis legalization
Two years after its legalization in Canada, cannabis is moving from plant pariah to public policy precedent. Legalization is working. The early data from Statistics Canada shows a significant drop in users between the ages of 15 and 18. Quebec is now following the science by tightening its rules and prohibiting cannabis consumption by anyone […]
As hunger rises amidst pandemic, Canada can and should make an impact
“When we were home, we used to eat good things, now there is nowhere to farm—it is too dry,” said Martin, a refugee from South Sudan, living in Uganda’s Rhino Camp Settlement. By 2017, there were more than one million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, forcibly displaced by violent conflict. Conflict, climate disasters, and economic […]
It’s time to bridge our country’s great digital divide
If you’re of a certain age, chances are you’ll never forget the screeching symphony of sounds your computer once had to perform just to get online. Today, dial-up internet is a relic of the 90s for most—something many reminisce and chuckle about. However, for many rural Canadians, particularly farmers, lack of broadband internet is still […]
Migrant workers have paid their dues and should be given a path to permanent residency
Canada has expanded its temporary migration system to bring in a steady supply of exploitable and interchangeable migrant workers who are coerced into accepting low wages and miserable working conditions below standards that Canadians would accept. Now, exposure to COVID-19 has been added to the terms of the bargain. As scholars, researchers, and teachers of […]
