ISED working with BIOTECanada to get better, much-needed industry data
BIOTECanada, the industry association that represents more than 200 Canadian biotechnology companies, has been in talks with Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada for “over a year” in an effort to get much-needed, comprehensive federal statistics on the biotechnology industry in Canada, says BIOTECanada president Andrew Casey. The department did not respond directly to questions […]
Canada should focus on game-changing technologies that can improve health care
With the federal election underway, Canadians across the country are going to be hearing a lot about health care over the next several weeks, and rightly so. With health-care spending exceeding 10 per cent of Canada’s GDP and accounting for nearly 50 per cent of many government budgets, it is an important topic and one […]
Biotech Policy Briefing
Cloud nein: Will the neuro-mash kill novels?
There’s a special sub-genre of technology writing that I like to think of as the Ativan of the new new journalism—the stuff that soothingly portrays boundary violating, privacy-invading, human rights abrogating technological innovation as cool and fun as opposed to creepy and horrifying. In the always-excellent FT Weekend last weekend, there was a piece headlined, […]
Parties take on phone bills, internet prices in election platforms
Unlike the 2015 race, affordable cell phone and internet bills—and better access in rural areas—are shaping up as key campaign planks so far this election, say consumer advocates, who are praising party pitches so far as a step forward but caution they’re short on details. There has been a “big shift” with these issues getting […]
Canadian government needs to have a more unified China strategy across all domains including innovation and research direction
Questions have been raised around Huawei’s funding of 5G research in Canadian universities and whether the government should continue to allow this or not. Stimulating the debate are the current Canada-China geopolitical and trade tensions and the ongoing investigation around the potential national security threat of implementing a Chinese network infrastructure. The decision is still […]
Universities play a crucial role in Canada’s competitiveness
TORONTO—Talent and innovation—and therefore universities—play a crucial role in Canada’s competitiveness. Canadian prosperity was built on the foundation of a rich stream of natural resources and commodities; and has been fostered by liberal trade policies. Recent international developments are complicating the global trade of goods and services. We need new competitive advantages to sustain and […]
‘Canada is warming at twice the rate of the global average. Is the government doing enough to combat climate change? Is your party offering anything powerful on that front?’
Cory Hann Conservative strategist “Canadians trusted Justin Trudeau when he said he would protect the environment and lower Canada’s emissions. Instead, all they got was a carbon tax. Not only is Canada failing to hit our Paris Agreement targets, we are getting further away. As an environmental policy, the carbon tax is a failure. It […]
Canadian Digital Service challenged to digitize government by 2025
At just a little over two years old, the growing team at the Canadian Digital Service is busy thinking about an ambitious goal—how to make many government services available online by 2025. Just under a year ago, the federal government convened a group of Canadian industry leaders to establish economic strategies for the country, including […]
Canada’s government needs to think harder about our aging society
TORONTO— In my column last week I argued that Canada was an under-performer, that we lack the ambition and strategies to realize our full potential. A key reason is a lack of serious and far-seeing vision and leadership in both our private and public sectors: our top business executives, politicians and senior civil servants do not […]
