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

Uncertainty over ‘sunsetting’ programs as Environment Canada’s spending slashed in half by 2028, pending fall budget update

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

• The department's plan for 2025-26 says the massive cuts are due to programs that set to expire, and a significant reduction in the returns from the industrial carbon tax proceeds.

Uncertainty over ‘sunsetting’ programs as Environment Canada’s spending slashed in half by 2028, pending fall budget update

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

• The department's plan for 2025-26 says the massive cuts are due to programs that set to expire, and a significant reduction in the returns from the industrial carbon tax proceeds.

‘Drill, baby, drill’ is outdated

OpinionBY JORY COHEN

Global progress on renewables but climate tipping points still on the horizon

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Bill C-5: RIP reconciliation?

OpinionBY DOREEN BARRIE

Coal mine expansion a dangerous step backward for public health and our environment

OpinionBY STEPHEN WILTON

What will kill the electric car this time: Trump or Canada’s haplessness?

OpinionBY SUSAN RILEY

Can Canada be a clean energy superpower? Not without tax credits

OpinionBY SHAWN MCCARTHY

Carney is walking a political tightrope on our energy future

OpinionBY ANDY HIRA

Carney’s plan should emphasize public health rather than fossil fuels

OpinionBY RICHARD VAN DER JAGT, MARIA MEDELEANU, GEOFF STRONG

MOST RECENT POLICY BRIEFINGS

Environment

• DOWNLOAD

EVs and EV Infrastructure

• DOWNLOAD

Carbon tax special report

• DOWNLOAD

• VIEW ALL POLICY BRIEFINGS

Canada’s wildfire response infrastructure is failing when lives depend on it

OpinionBY KEVIN FERNANDES

• Wildfires require unprecedented co-ordination across jurisdictions and countries. Yet our communication infrastructure remains siloed, fragmented, and vulnerable to the conditions these disasters create.

Canada’s wildfire response infrastructure is failing when lives depend on it

OpinionBY KEVIN FERNANDES

• Wildfires require unprecedented co-ordination across jurisdictions and countries. Yet our communication infrastructure remains siloed, fragmented, and vulnerable to the conditions these disasters create.

Canada can’t ignore climate change just because the U.S. is missing in action

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Environment groups want ‘national interest’ defined in Liberals’ One Economy law

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

‘Early days’ to grade Carney’s climate policies, say advocates who point to ‘welcome’ campaign pledges

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Today Tuvalu, tomorrow the world

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Connecting regional electricity grids should be Canada’s top nation-building project

OpinionBY PETER NICHOLSON, RICK SMITH

Canadians’ right to a healthy environment is already being tested

OpinionBY LYNDIA DERNIS, JANE MCARTHUR

Breaking down C-5: Carney’s ‘build, baby, build’ bill draws support from business sector, but heavy pushback from environmental, Indigenous groups

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Saskatchewan Senator pushes for a national emergency response agency to fight wildfires

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

AGRICULTURE

Turning the tables on ‘Positive Nutrition’

OpinionBY JACQUES J.M. SHORE, SUZANNE SABOURIN

Backing down on DST is understandable, but doing so on supply management would be another story

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

‘They were emphatic in their foolishness’: Senate defers to House on Bloc supply management bill despite concerns

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

Rural Canada is finally getting its moment

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

See all

Biotechnology

Canada’s next top doctor must be a ‘focal point’ for public health amid changes in the U.S., concerns about next pandemic

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

From momentum to leadership: securing Canada’s biotech future

OpinionBY WENDY ZATYLNY

Canada needs to catch up in the biotech sector

OpinionBY NDP MP RICHARD CANNINGS

Unlocking Canada’s greatest economic potential: life sciences

OpinionBY ALISON SYMINGTON, JASON FIELD

See all

DEFENCE & SECURITY

Buying time for Ukraine

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Trade tribunal calls for freeze on multimillion-dollar defence contract after complaints it favours U.S. supplier

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Raising hackles: why can’t the CAF help stepping on their own dicks?

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

BC Ferries story reveals Canada’s confused policy on China

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

See all

FINANCE

Proposed budget cuts echo Trump’s priorities, not our own

OpinionBY DAVID MACDONALD

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

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

‘It’s a massive task’: Carney’s ethics screen won’t prevent conflicts of interest, warn critics

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

‘Nobody is spared’: Treasury Board plans to cut staff by 10 per cent, with most from ‘employer’ oversight roles

NewsBY MARLO GLASS, PETER MAZEREEUW

See all

Fisheries and oceans

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

Rebuilding Canada’s fisheries for climate and economic security

OpinionBY JOSH LAUGHREN

See all

FOREIGN POLICY

Feds’ new ‘reciprocal procurement’ policy to limit foreign access to contracts amid U.S. trade tensions

NewsBY IREM KOCA

While Carney negotiates with a lawless president, opposition armchair critics should give the prime minister more room to manoeuvre

OpinionBY ERROL MENDES

Bob Rae is feeling the UN’s pain

OpinionBY DOUGLAS ROCHE

Canada has an opportunity to shape Hong Kong’s techno-legal narrative

OpinionBY MARCELO THOMPSON

See all

health

Population planning must look beyond snapshot of fertility levels

OpinionBY CéLINE DELACROIX

G7 may have missed the mark on health, but Canada has a second chance to lead

OpinionBY CHARMAINE CROCKETT

Winning the legislation lottery: MPs eye causes that hit close to home for fall bills

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

An invitation to parliamentarians: let’s build an all-party men’s mental health caucus

OpinionBY SENATOR PATRICK BRAZEAU, ROB WHITLEY, JUSTIN TROTTIER

See all

Industry and Manufacturing

We need a fix for bureaucratic delays—but is it a pipe dream?

OpinionBY MATT GURNEY

Canada’s economic future runs on brain power

OpinionBY JENNIE Z. YOUNG, JULIAN KARAGUESIAN

Canada’s government and banks are stuck on oil—and this is a problem

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Why the right to repair needs to be a priority for the new government 

OpinionBY EMILY HOLTBY

See all

infrastructure and transport

Competition Bureau recommends bureaucratic power grab over airline industry

OpinionBY MATTHEW LAU

It’s time we treat campus infrastructure as a nation-building project

OpinionBY GABRIEL MILLER

An Indigenous-led second port on Hudson Bay will help unite Canada

OpinionBY DOROTHY DOBBIE

Remembering the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster

OpinionBY BRUCE CAMPBELL

See all

innovation

Digital sovereignty must drive Canada’s U.S. trade strategy

OpinionBY BARRY APPLETON

It’s Trump’s world. Other world leaders are just living in it.

OpinionBY MICHAEL HARRIS

Digital services tax retreat risks showing ‘Canada will fold’ in Trump trade talks, warn experts

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Homebuilding is ready for its tech makeover

OpinionBY JAYSON MYERS

See all

intergovernmental

Feds have to fight comms with comms to tackle Alberta alienation problem

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

Is Plamondon a wolf in expensive clothing?

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

A new Arctic archipelagic defence concept will project Canada’s power in the North

OpinionBY ANDREW ERSKINE

Tea, tradition, and the throne

OpinionBY NON-AFFILIATED SENATOR IRIS PETTEN

See all

justice

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

‘This is a book about gender-based violence, with a focus on intimate partner abuse,’ says Donner-nominated author of And Sometimes They Kill You

FeatureBY PAMELA CROSS

See all

Labour & employment

Employment and Social Development Canada forecasts thousands of job losses ahead of Carney’s spending review

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

What good is a social safety net that doesn’t catch you?

OpinionBY AMANDA THERRIEN

What to do about youth unemployment?

OpinionBY ABDUL ABBASI, MATTHEW GERRITS, HANNAH HUNTER

If Carney wants to transform the economy, he needs to fix the housing crisis

OpinionBY TIM RICHTER, PEDRO BARATA, JANICE MYERS, RAY SULLIVAN

See all

Lobbying

Hurly-burly nonsense around Carney’s assets is standard politicking—and a shame

OpinionBY TIM POWERS

Energy Minister Hodgson top-lobbied in Carney cabinet since May shuffle

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

The value of strategic praise

OpinionBY GERRY NICHOLLS

Senate ethics office ‘not keeping up with demand,’ calls for more resources in annual report

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

See all

natural resources and energy

Q&A | Ontario First Nations launch court challenge against law fast-tracking major projects

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

Iran’s uranium enrichment: myths, realities, and what Canada should understand

OpinionBY ERIKA SIMPSON, GORDON EDWARDS

Canada’s water is a strategic asset, so let’s treat it like one

OpinionBY SOULA CHRONOPOULOS

Pipelines or pipe dreams?

OpinionBY NELSON WISEMAN

See all

Women, Gender and Diversity

Before the cuts: a bureaucracy baseline from an employment equity lens 

OpinionBY ANDREW GRIFFITH

There’s no better time for Canada to embrace its diversity

OpinionBY JENNIFER ST. GERMAIN

‘They’re never going to silence me’: Red Chamber marks Pride month with historic number of openly queer Senators 

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

‘Survivors are waiting for it’: Sen. Boyer reintroduces bill to criminalize forced, coerced sterilizations

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

See all

Indigenous Relations

Disorganization mars Bill C-5 summit, but progress possible if Liberals commit to consultation, chiefs say

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Canada Post being used to traffic drugs to First Nations in crisis

OpinionBY MICHAEL YELLOWBACK, ANGELA LEVASSEUR

This time, ‘nation building’ must include Indigenous Peoples

OpinionBY DON KELLY

Why government’s aversion to risk impacts Indigenous Peoples the most

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

See all

Upcoming Policy briefings

Exclusive lists

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

Meet Carney’s parliamentary secretaries, half of whom are rookie MPs

Meet Carney’s parliamentary secretaries, half of whom are rookie MPs

The 19 entities asking for the biggest spending boosts in the 2025-26 main estimates

The 19 entities asking for the biggest spending boosts in the 2025-26 main estimates

Meet Mark Carney’s 38-member senior team

Meet Mark Carney’s 38-member senior team

The salaries of Carney’s cabinet and secretaries of state

The salaries of Carney’s cabinet and secretaries of state

Who’s in and who’s out of Carney’s post-election cabinet?

Who’s in and who’s out of Carney’s post-election cabinet?

MPs, Senators get a salary boost, Carney will now earn $419,600, Scheer $308,800, and Blanchet $280,600

MPs, Senators get a salary boost, Carney will now earn $419,600, Scheer $308,800, and Blanchet $280,600