Canada could be a world leader in innovation
Innovation and productivity drive economic growth. They allow countries to lead in today’s fast-paced global economy. They can raise living standards for everyone (if distributed fairly!). Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has said, “Productivity isn’t everything, but, in the long-run, it is almost everything.” For three decades, Canada has been lagging behind similar countries when […]
Focus on human dimension of innovation
Innovation is often defined in the context of those discoveries and systems necessary to sustain Canada’s competitive leadership in a global economy. We must realize however, that innovation is only as valuable as its capacity to reflect, to resonate with and to serve the human experience. Addressing the social, cultural, and ethical impacts of new […]
Is innovation an election issue?
Since 2006, at least a dozen major reports about innovation in Canada have come to three identical conclusions. First, future growth and prosperity depend upon innovation. Second, Canada is not very good at it. Third, what we are doing about it is not working. Such conclusions attract broad political and industry agreement. But it has […]
Driving innovation—are we there yet?
‘There has been no effective mobilization of advice and counsel from outside the public service and responsibility for the expansion of various activities has been borne by individual ministers without any evidence of their relation to national policy as a whole.’ (J. Grant Glassco, Commissioner, 1963) This salient observation on the country’s national science activities […]
Toronto tech conference an American Idol for innovators
Some of the country’s most innovative companies in digital media and information and communication technology were featured at the annual Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) in Toronto last month. The Nov. 18 event, which was attended by top innovative tech experts in Canada, is described as “a technology party for the industry” by founding co-chair Rick […]
Agriculture
Feds’ AgriCompetitiveness program has non-profits chasing new revenue streams
Opposition critics say the feds should play a greater role in providing “unbiased” business management training to farmers following recent changes in federal funding for educational non-profits under the Growing Forward 2 policy framework’s AgriCompetitiveness program. Non-profit organizations that previously relied on public funding to provide business and farm management training to Canada’s agriculture […]
Canada phasing out animal growth drugs that cause superbugs, ‘loopholes’ persist
Health Canada is moving to phase out antibiotic drugs for growth promotion in livestock over the next three years due to concerns over antimicrobial resistance. A Health Canada notice to stakeholders on April 10 said it’s working on “removing growth promotion and production claims of medically-important antimicrobial drugs,” and has been promoting “judicious” use […]
Agri-industry still fighting U.S. Farm Bill, but others say best bets are lower dollar, new markets
While some experts consider it a lost cause, the Canadian agriculture industry is still pushing back against American country-of-origin labelling regulations after the U.S. Farm Bill passed into law in February. With a U.S. constitutional challenge back on the docket, originally launched by a group of American and Canadian meat industry associations, and ongoing […]
Trade delegation to Korea seeks to get Canadian meat back in the game
Canada’s agriculture minister is hailing a trade mission he led to South Korea and Japan as a success that secured commitments for increased agricultural sales to those countries. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster, Sask.) extolled the benefits of a three-day delegation that ended April 16, which included a cooking demonstration for a number of […]
