Policy Topics | Policy Briefings

COLLAPSE

• Agriculture
• Biotechnology
• Defence & Security
• Environment
• Finance
• Fisheries and Oceans

• Foreign Policy​
• Health
• Industry and Manufacturing
• Infrastructure and Transport
• Innovation
• Intergovernmental

• Indigenous Relations
• Justice
• Labour & Employment
• Lobbying
• Natural Resources and Energy
• Women, Gender and Diversity

Environment

Canada needs to support its EV future more than ever

OpinionBY SAM HERSCH

• We have committed more than $50-billion, and have built strong momentum. Pausing and potentially weakening the EV sales standard would put that progress and Canadian jobs at risk, and also deprive Canadians of access to cleaner and better cars.

Canada needs to support its EV future more than ever

OpinionBY SAM HERSCH

• We have committed more than $50-billion, and have built strong momentum. Pausing and potentially weakening the EV sales standard would put that progress and Canadian jobs at risk, and also deprive Canadians of access to cleaner and better cars.

Canada needs a community rating system to tame rising flood costs

OpinionBY JASON THISTLETHWAITE, DANIEL HENSTRA

Will Inuit voices be heard when it comes to nation-building projects?

OpinionBY NDP MP LORI IDLOUT

Uncertainty surrounds assessments plans for national interest projects 

OpinionBY ROBERT B. GIBSON

Canada can’t cop out on the climate

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

Strengthening climate policy to build long-term prosperity

OpinionBY SIMON DONNER, LOUISE COMEAU, ROBERT HORNUNG

Environmental groups, LNG advocates conflict over natural gas demand as Major Projects Office launches

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Build Canada Homes must prioritize ‘right’ kind of housing, affordability and green energy, say advocates

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Safeguarding Canada’s freshwater heritage

OpinionBY CAMERON FIORET, MAUDE BARLOW

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Canada must lead on an all-encompassing treaty to end the plastics crisis

OpinionBY SIEN VAN DEN BROEKE

• Upholding Indigenous rights and protecting the health of Canadians means continuing to call for an ambitious plastics treaty that addresses upstream solutions.

Canada must lead on an all-encompassing treaty to end the plastics crisis

OpinionBY SIEN VAN DEN BROEKE

• Upholding Indigenous rights and protecting the health of Canadians means continuing to call for an ambitious plastics treaty that addresses upstream solutions.

Canada’s water security strategy starts with the Canada Water Agency

OpinionBY THOMAS S. AXWORTHY

A Liberal by the same name is not necessarily the same Liberal

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

Canada should not need more red flags to prepare for extreme weather

OpinionBY BLAIR FELTMATE

Canada overlooking a key aspect in adapting to climate change at our peril

OpinionBY JO-ELLEN PARRY

Feds must consider oil and gas conflicts for Canada Pension Plan appointees 

OpinionBY CHERYL RANDALL, LAURA MCGRATH

Ignoring the planetary crisis won’t make it go away

OpinionBY TREVOR HANCOCK

A nation-building project that will protect the environment and our health

OpinionBY RICHARD VAN DER JAGT, GEOFF STRONG

Canada’s leading AI-generated politician is back

OpinionBY SUSAN RILEY

AGRICULTURE

School food advocates hopeful program will survive fall budget cuts, but say Ontario falling short of ‘all in’

NewsBY STUART BENSON

AI can’t save farming if our soils keep dying

OpinionBY ASIM BISWAS

Treat agriculture as national defence with a strong water strategy

OpinionBY JOHN SIMPSON

Supply management works well for Canadians

OpinionBY BRUCE MUIRHEAD, JODEY NURSE

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Biotechnology

‘Cutting red tape,’ mental health and primary care on the health docket this fall

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Canada at risk of collateral damage in U.S. drug pricing war

OpinionBY ANNETTE ROBINSON

U.S. tariffs on pharmaceuticals could complicate an already complex supply chain

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

A different ‘philosophy’ steers new drug pricing guidelines, says top PMPRB bureaucrat after contentious path to rule changes  

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

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DEFENCE & SECURITY

The politics of fear: what ‘tough on crime’ gets wrong about public safety

OpinionBY DERICO SYMONDS

Canadian military colleges report offers honest approach to right the ship

OpinionBY KATE ARMSTRONG

A bigger defence budget may increase Canada’s hollow force risk

OpinionBY ANDREW ERSKINE

Future planning needed amid Canada’s defence budget boost

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

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FINANCE

Carney still has to tell us what kind of economy he’s trying to create

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

New budget watchdog says ‘deficit will absolutely be higher’ than forecast, feds have no clear fiscal anchors

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Canada faces a budget reckoning as deficit pressure mounts

OpinionBY JOSIE SABATINO

Local progress on energy, Arctic security must survive federal cuts

OpinionBY LYNNE COUVES

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Fisheries and oceans

Q&A | Cod quota ‘pressure is enormous’ on fisheries minister

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Federal fish science analyses continue to muddy the waters in salmon farm fight

NewsBY STUART BENSON

The markets are hungry for Canadian cod. Will we deliver?

OpinionBY SYLVIE LAPOINTE

Oceans must take centre stage in nation-building projects

OpinionBY DEREK ARMITAGE, TREVOR SWERDFAGER

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FOREIGN POLICY

Freeland’s cabinet exit a lesson in high ideals and harsh politics

OpinionBY BHAGWANT SANDHU

Russia’s air war of flimsy decoys

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Can the United Nations stop Israel? Canada can lead

OpinionBY EDWARD JACKSON, GORDON BREEDYK

‘Excessive secrecy’: PMO not releasing summaries of some Carney-Trump calls 

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

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health

Carney ‘did the right thing’: feds’ new support for national pharmacare ‘positive,’ but evolving stance surprises advocates

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Liberals need to get it together on pharmacare

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

The NDP race is on

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

Canada can’t afford to stop moving

OpinionBY ELIO ANTUNES

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Industry and Manufacturing

Industry Canada’s annual plan projects $3.9-billion boost to budget by 2027-28

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Canada, Europe, and NATO: a renewed commitment to shared security

OpinionBY LIBERAL MP STEPHEN FUHR

The return of the wildcat strike?

OpinionBY CARLO FANELLI

Any new industrial strategy must be an innovation strategy

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

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infrastructure and transport

Closing the First Nations infrastructure gap would benefit us all

OpinionBY JULIE PELLERIN

Second Hudson Bay port can link Western Canada’s resources to markets abroad

OpinionBY MORRIS BEARDY

First Nations chiefs criticize feds for failing to consult on Indigenous body tied to Major Projects Office

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Let’s fix our EV problem and break the Canada-China trade logjam

OpinionBY HUGH STEPHENS

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innovation

Canada needs a real digital sovereignty strategy—not half measures

OpinionBY JOHN RUFFOLO

Not investing in social innovation is holding back our economy

OpinionBY MARIE-CHRISTINE LADOUCEUR-GIRARD, ANDREA NEMTIN

Why Canada must lead on AI in higher education now

OpinionBY ANN FITZ-GERALD, DMYTRO CHUMACHENKO

From aid to advantage: re-imagining Canada–Africa relations

OpinionBY SELAH GETAHUN

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intergovernmental

Bloc eyes provincial PQ win, but says it won’t affect strategy in the House: ‘our goal has always been the same’

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Premier Legault’s cabinet shuffle takes his party nowhere

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

An autumn of contrasts in Parliament, and the Bloc Québécois will make its mark

OpinionBY BLOC MP CHRISTINE NORMANDIN

Define ‘Canadian’: questions loom over Carney’s ‘protectionist’ procurement policy push 

NewsBY IREM KOCA

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justice

Canada’s deafening silence defending the International Criminal Court 

OpinionBY MARK KERSTEN

Military police chief is ignoring the law, shutting down probes into complaints: watchdog report

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW, SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

Senate throws a lifeline to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

OpinionBY ERROL MENDES

Kelly looks at how governments react to judicial invalidation in Constraining the Court

FeatureBY JAMES B. KELLY

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Labour & employment

A retrofit mission could power Carney’s made-in-Canada agenda

OpinionBY BETSY AGAR

NDP MPs rally for Labour Code changes

FeatureBY ANDREW MEADE

‘Belonging is a two-way street’: New study examines immigrant retention as Canada loses one in five newcomers

NewsBY STUART BENSON

Upcoming budget critically important to meet challenges, cost of living, and unemployment, head on

OpinionBY NDP MP DON DAVIES

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Lobbying

Calls mount for the Arctic to make national-interest list with launch of Major Projects Office: there’s an ‘Achilles heel in the North’ 

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Steel, auto sectors seek relief after latest ‘crushing’ tariff hike 

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Economic lobbying in July rises to meet demand for nation-building projects, interprovincial trade

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

‘The honeymoon period will be over’: politicos expect high bar for Carney’s first budget, and omnibus-bill headaches

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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natural resources and energy

Canada should fast-track the idea that Indigenous rights and critical minerals go hand in hand

OpinionBY SAGA WILLIAMS, MARISA BECK, TAMARA KRAWCHENKO

A dose of realism about Canada’s LNG plans

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

How the Indigenous workforce can STEM the tide for the coming energy tsunami

OpinionBY JOHN DESJARLAIS

Canada and its allies must get smart about smart devices and limit chips to what matters

OpinionBY KATE E. TODD

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Women, Gender and Diversity

Canada’s public service needs updated visible minority hiring targets

OpinionBY WAHEED KHAN

Carney becomes second sitting prime minister in Canadian history to march at Pride

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

WAGE isn’t in a funding crisis—it has a design flaw

OpinionBY REBECCA BAILEY, SARAH HASHEM

Plan tackling gender-based violence needs funding renewed, say advocates amid concerns over budget cuts

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

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Indigenous Relations

Don’t pray in Quebec, but pray for Quebec

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

Indigenous consent isn’t a veto: it’s how durable, co-governed projects get built

OpinionBY TIM GRAY, EMILY MCMILLAN, RACHEL PLOTKIN, JESSICA CLOGG

Feds risk missing deadline for reducing tuberculosis rates in Inuit communities

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Air Canada mess is a lesson for government

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

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Upcoming Policy briefings

Exclusive lists

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The number of sick days claimed by bureaucrats, broken down by department

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

MPs’ annual office budgets for 2025-26

MPs’ annual office budgets for 2025-26

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

Ranking the best and worst federal departments, by public service survey results

Ranking the best and worst federal departments, by public service survey results

The PBO’s take on public service bloat and staffing cuts

The PBO’s take on public service bloat and staffing cuts

House and Senate steering committee members named

House and Senate steering committee members named

All eyes on Trump: meet the top 50 foreign policy influencers navigating Canada’s role in a rocky world

All eyes on Trump: meet the top 50 foreign policy influencers navigating Canada’s role in a rocky world