Health Canada, CBSA under ‘wasteful spending’ reviews; Brison overseeing cabinet colleagues’ work
The federal health and public safety ministers are leading special reviews of their own institutions this year, looking for wasteful spending and obsolete programs, while Treasury Board President Scott Brison oversees their work. A Conservative MP on the Government Operations and Estimates Committee compared the arrangement to “having a fox in charge of the henhouse,” […]
To diffuse technology or not to diffuse: that’s the question
Let me give you a choice between two compelling narratives on the topic of diffusion—efforts to make technologies available by means of government policies. The first is an argument for the broad diffusion of biotechnologies, including synthetic biology and CRISPR (a genome editing tool). The other is an argument for a slow-down or clamp-down. You be […]
True North and true Nordic, new opportunities for global solutions
This fall, a Nordic studies program opens at the prestigious Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. The program will cover politics, the economy, society, culture, international relations, and history of the Nordic region. The program will be open to undergraduate and graduate students. The initiative is supported by the Nordic Council […]
Huge Health Canada branch could be moved to new ministry, unions blindsided
Unions representing most of the employees in Health Canada’s Indigenous services branch have lambasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for announcing that the branch would be moved under the jurisdiction of a new minister and likely a new department without consulting them ahead of time. The branch makes up nearly three-quarters of Health Canada’s total […]
We can make business-First Nations partnerships work
In two important decisions this summer, Canada’s highest court provided long-awaited clarity on the Crown’s duty to consult on energy projects that affect the rights of Indigenous peoples. This clarity is welcome, but it may not last long as the discussion of Indigenous rights now continues in the political arena. Meanwhile, another conversation is developing […]
Schools ought to follow court decision on copyright
Re: “We shouldn’t be paying more for Canadian content,” (The Hill Times, Aug. 14, p. 16). Since the Federal Court of Canada’s decision on Access Copyright v. York University last month, several universities across the country have largely disregarded the court’s guidance, just as Gerald Beasley does in his op-ed. This is odd, since many […]
Kids everywhere deserve a good start at life
I recently witnessed a baby being completely calmed down by the simple act of breastfeeding. I was on a plane soaring towards our cruising altitude of 28,000 feet and of course this was wreaking havoc on that small child’s eardrums. While the sucking relieved the pressure on her ears, it also provided deep comfort. It […]
Women in business: let’s go beyond tokenism and the status quo
In 1996, my first formal speech on women in business described the “female model of leadership,” and here we are still debating the same topic in 2017. Canada was one of the first signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in the early 1980s, and gender equality is […]
Foreign aid leadership is questionable without money to back it up
International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the Liberal government’s new feminist international assistance policy last week. It is a bold approach that will ensure our international assistance program looks at potential partners and recipients through a feminist lens. Minister Bibeau states that Canada will work toward increasing funding of local women’s organizations, with a view to […]
Girls everywhere should have access to quality education
I have a very clear memory of going with my father to register for Grade One. I can still feel his big paw wrapped around my little hand as we approached a nun sitting at a desk. She was to be my teacher and had taught my older sister a year earlier. She asked me […]
