Time to stop funding Catholic school boards
OTTAWA—The passage of Easter and Passover, the most important days on the Christian and Jewish calendars, has led me to contemplate the role of religion in Canadian public life. While Canadian politics has not been infected with the sort of right-wing evangelism experienced in the United States, we remain a country where church and state […]
Without action, we will lose an entire generation of girls
This June, when it hosts the G7 summit, Canada will have five broad issues for the agenda, as set by the prime minister. One of these is gender equality and women’s empowerment. With less than three months until world leaders meet, the Canadian government has put out a social media call for Canadians to share […]
Liberal MP Khalid won’t back down after racists crash her town hall
A town hall meeting centred on how to remove systemic racism in Canada was derailed by a group of people yelling racist slurs, primarily directed at the host, Liberal MP Iqra Khalid who represents Mississauga-Erin Mills, Ont. The Toronto Sun reported on Feb. 23 that one man yelled “you’re a fraud,” another yelled “is this […]
Budget 2018 not an election-year spending plan, but Liberals ‘pre-staging’ some issues: stakeholders
The Trudeau government’s third federal budget is not an election-year spending plan crafted with an eye towards the campaign trail, though certain elements could hint at what issues the Liberals will run on in the 2019 vote, say stakeholders. Nearly 200 representatives from the private and non-profit sectors gathered in the Reading Room in Centre […]
How Canada can improve its STEM gender deficit
We recently celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and there’s much to celebrate—but also, much work to do. It’s a day to celebrate just how far we’ve come since Elsie MacGill, aircraft designer and Canada’s first female engineer, was asked to leave the University of British Columbia in 1921 because of […]
Innovation procurement programs looking to lure home-grown products
Yad Garcha, CEO of Bionic Power, understands why most small business owners are wary of doing business with the federal government, calling the process bureaucratic, but for him government procurement was always the end goal. The Vancouver-based Bionic Power was recently awarded a contract for $1.1-million for its Knee Based Energy Harvester through the Build in […]
Canada should heed lessons from Israel to become global innovation leader
Canada is by no means alone in seeking to boost innovation. But our country does have undeniable and enviable—potential to be a true global leader in research, development, and entrepreneurial thinking. To realize that potential, we need to invest in all aspects of innovation, including fundamental research. We also need to take every opportunity to […]
Kudos to Trudeau for education funding
Full kudos goes to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals for their recent pledge to the Global Partnership for Education of $180-million over three years. This couldn’t have come at a better time, with United States President Donald Trump’s recent slashing of more than half of America’s funding to the United Nations agency that runs schools for Palestinian children. […]
Buildings key to Canada’s clean-energy future
In Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr’s recent piece in these pages on the Generation Energy conference, he cites three things Canadians can do to work towards Canada’s clean-energy future: expand and improve renewable energy sources; decrease the greenhouse gas footprint of non-renewable energy consumption; and use less of both. When it comes to addressing the […]
Beyond the basics: Taking Canada–China collaboration to the next level
This century, the challenges facing any one nation are more often than not challenges faced by all. Aging populations, climate change, the unknown implications of technological advancements—these are global phenomena that demand, if not a fully collective response, at least a response that takes full advantage of collective knowledge. Put simply, collaboration is critical. Canada […]
