MP juggles fasting and legislation during Ramadan
The most challenging part of serving in Parliament during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month when adherents fast from sunrise to sundown, isn’t the long hours or hunger, it’s missing out on family gatherings celebrating the breaking of these daily fasts, says Liberal MP Salma Zahid. Ms. Zahid (Scarborough Centre, Ont.), a practising Muslim, said the first week […]
Canada’s choice for migrant workers: decent work or entrenched exploitation?
Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is at a crossroads. After years of escalating concern about employers’ growing reliance on, and widespread exploitation of, low-wage migrant workers, the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA Committee) is reviewing the controversial program and will report to […]
Putting the pieces in place for development
The Northwest Territories’ potential to contribute to the national economy is huge. While vast reserves of gas and oil have been identified, only small pockets have been exploited. Territorial mines have, for more than 80 years, produced gold, diamonds, tungsten, lead, and other minerals, and are the largest contributor to the territorial GDP. Much of […]
Building a modern shipbuilding workforce
As we modernize shipbuilding in Canada, we must also strive to modernize our workforce. The very same culture of innovation that drives us in the shipbuilding industry to pursue technological advancements in vessel construction, is driving us to find new ways to open doors for those underrepresented in the shipbuilding workforce. This is why, together […]
Territorial Development
Canada should make education a core theme in aid policy
No nation will achieve gender equality without quality education. Economic development and education similarly go hand in hand, as does educating a nation and ensuring healthcare for all its citizens. In fact, name a worthy, large-scale goal—poverty reduction, peaceful coexistence, good governance – and you’ll find a well-established link between the ability to attain it […]
Canada has yet to succeed as a scale-up nation
CANADA & THE 21ST CENTURY: PART 3 OF A 6-PART SERIES TORONTO—Canada is clearly succeeding as a start-up nation. New tech companies are being created in record numbers. This is where much innovation happens. But Canada has yet to succeed as a scale-up nation—it is failing to grow many of its start-ups into viable companies […]
Nurturing the next BlackBerry
TORONTO—Building a more innovative country, with good jobs, will depend on close collaboration among business, universities and colleges, and government. This is no time for limited or small government any more than it is a time for risk-averse businesses or academia operating in silos. As the old TV commercial used to put it, “together, we […]
The importance of military soft power
In the late 1980s, Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power” to refer to the ability of a country to shape the preferences of others. That is, the ability to shape their long-term attitudes and preferences without using “hard power” tools such as force or coercion. It is why embassies and consulates around the world […]
High schools should teach financial literacy: Chagger
Canada’s small business and tourism minister wants to see more high schools in Canada teaching financial literacy. Minister of Small Business and Tourism Bardish Chagger (Waterloo, Ont.) told a May 10 Ottawa panel that she has been crisscrossing the country “encouraging women to take the leap into business.” She said the issue of women’s lack […]
