Chief trade promoter embodies work-life, public-private balance
Ailish Campbell’s eight-year-old son tells his friends his mom sells bread and airplanes. And he’s not totally wrong—wheat and aircraft are two of Canada’s largest exports. As Canada’s chief trade commissioner, Ms. Campbell travels about one week per month promoting Canadian business, helping Canadian exporters, and attracting foreign investment. “I’m like, ‘okay cool, on some […]
Greed is not a social policy
OTTAWA—When the CBC sought comment about efforts by Tim Hortons heirs Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri Lynn Horton-Joyce to recoup benefits from employees soon to be making $14 an hour, the reporter was told the pair wouldn’t be available to comment because they were at their winter home in Florida. Of course it wasn’t only […]
Senate ethics officer halts Meredith harassment probe pending outside inquiry
The Senate’s ethics watchdog has suspended a two-year investigation into allegations of workplace harassment by former Ontario Conservative Senator Don Meredith pending the results of a probe by another authority. On Dec. 1, a notice on the Senate Ethics Office’s website announced that the inquiry “concerning former Senator Don Meredith, regarding allegations raised in a […]
Phoenix backlog up by 70,000 cases, but 54,000 collective agreement cases are priority
A new Phoenix pay system update shows there remain 54,000 open cases related to collective agreements yet to be processed, signalling the lingering backlog will probably continue for several months. There were 335,000 cases beyond normal workload reported as of Nov. 29, meaning a total of 589,000 open cases are waiting to be processed, according to […]
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 […]
Hill security officers, PPS to meet to discuss wages as labour dispute hits seven-month mark
After seven months, House of Commons security officers are still protesting and all three unions representing security officers on the Hill are set to sit down with their Parliamentary Protective Service employers in Ottawa on Dec. 18 to discuss wages. Roch Lapensée, head of the Security Service Employees Association (SSEA), which represents the roughly 240 […]
I’m okay, you’re screwed: the inequality time bomb
As if the anecdotal evidence weren’t overwhelming enough, a study published Nov. 15 in the research journal Nature warned that record levels of income inequality, particularly in the United States, could produce social instability. The Republicans in Congress, apparently fearing an unruly mob, responded by passing massive tax breaks for the people who make the barricades. The U.S., […]
No Phoenix civil suits for public servants, but unions filing loads of grievances
If you’ve wondered why federal public servants have not filed a class-action lawsuit against the government over the problem-plagued Phoenix pay system, it’s because they can’t. Section 236 of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, which governs the rules between the federal government and its employees, says unionized workers are not allowed to individually […]
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 […]
The case for taking student advice on science policy
This year’s Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa earlier this month saw the number of students and postdoctoral fellows in attendance triple to 22 per cent of total participants, compared to only seven per cent in 2016. The increase may be due to improved social media presence or the draw of high-profile speakers. But other […]
