Trudeau government’s promise on Indigenous education gets a failing grade
What would you do if education officials in your children’s school board falsified graduation rates or failed to track why so many children were unable to pass basic literacy tests? What would you do if, year after year, education officials covered their tracks by ignoring orders to compile useable data to ensure better education outcomes? […]
Canada leads the way to a historical pledge of $3.8 billion at G7 for girls’ education in conflict and crises
It’s been more than five years since I spoke to Zeinab, a young girl from Syria living in a tattered tent within a makeshift refugee camp in Lebanon. But her story is seared into my memory, one of both paralyzing fear and burgeoning hope. It’s Zeinab who I think of today when celebrating the G7’s historic […]
Canada needs its youth to show swagger to be global leaders in the entrepreneurship and innovation game
Our global reputation for being nice means we sometimes take a back seat on the world stage when it comes to creating the next big ideas, organizations, or initiatives. This puts Canadians at a disadvantage in business, economic, and political development. My co-founder and I are both Canadian. We started 42 Technologies, a big data […]
Trans Mountain buy adds to Liberals’ betrayal of Indigenous voters, say activists, NDP
The backlash to the federal government’s decision to purchase Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline project could cost the Liberals in 2019, as some Indigenous, environmental, and youth activists gear up to respond to what they see as a broken attempt at reconciliation, say activists, opposition MPs, and observers. On May 29, Finance Minister Bill Morneau […]
How Canada can ensure workplaces remain safe before marijuana becomes legal
Senators will vote next week on Bill C-45, the government’s proposed cannabis law. If the bill receives royal assent, recreational marijuana use will be legalized by this summer. When the government introduced Bill C-45 and Bill C-46–a companion piece of legislation aimed at cracking down on impaired driving–some industries raised concerns that the laws fail […]
Phoenix building and implementation an ‘incomprehensible failure, says auditor general
In a scathing report released on Tuesday, Auditor General Michael Ferguson concluded the department responsible for building and implementing the Phoenix pay system knew about all of the expected issues, lacked an adequate contingency plan, and still gave the project the green light. Calling it an “incomprehensible failure of project management and oversight,” the report […]
As bargaining restarts, largest federal union threatens to campaign against Liberals if talks go south
The Public Service Alliance of Canada has set bargaining dates for groups representing the majority of its federal workers to negotiate their next contract, and newly minted national president Chris Aylward says if the government doesn’t fairly negotiate, it will be more ammunition for PSAC to use, should they campaign against the Liberals in 2019. […]
Feds must act to protect nuclear workers’ pensions
This fall, 3,400 of Canada’s best and brightest nuclear workers will find themselves unable to contribute to their public service pension plans. In fact, any recently hired federal nuclear worker never even had the chance to do so. Hidden away in one of the previous government’s many omnibus budget bills was a provision that doomed […]
Oil and gas companies in limbo await decision on Arctic offshore drilling licences
Energy companies with active licences to explore Arctic waters for oil and gas expect an announcement from Ottawa by July that could spell the fate of their future in the North, after a year of consultations with licence holders were held following a December 2016 decision to freeze drilling in Arctic waters for five years […]
We’re moving forward on northern development
I believe three coordinating pieces are necessary for northern development to better proceed: governance evolution, social investment, and economic development. Reviewing the actions our government has taken so far during our mandate, I am pleased to see forward and positive movement on all of these fronts. In the governance arena, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and […]
