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

Finance

Nearly 2,000 jobs and $1.5-billion to be cut across five departments by 2030, PBO analysis shows

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• The Correctional Service and Fisheries and Oceans are among the five affected, but the Parliamentary Budget Office is now requesting information about how all departments will achieve the projected $60-billion in spending cuts by the end of the decade.

Nearly 2,000 jobs and $1.5-billion to be cut across five departments by 2030, PBO analysis shows

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• The Correctional Service and Fisheries and Oceans are among the five affected, but the Parliamentary Budget Office is now requesting information about how all departments will achieve the projected $60-billion in spending cuts by the end of the decade.

A 2026 financial sector wish list

OpinionBY JEREMY KRONICK, MARK ZELMER

Canada’s trillion-dollar opportunity depends on data

OpinionBY ANN FITZ-GERALD, DMYTRO CHUMACHENKO

Federal government’s financial reporting is late and misleading

OpinionBY MATTHEW LAU

Buried in the MOU: a licence to lie

OpinionBY LEAH TEMPER, SAMANTHA GREEN

Faster payments and true transparency: delivering payments modernization in Canada

OpinionBY BRIGIT CARROLL

Transforming Canada’s economy for a better future is an enormous challenge

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Record-breaking November lobbying sees U.S. trade war and federal budget among top concerns

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Four key steps can help secure Canadian sovereignty

OpinionBY JON SHELL

MOST RECENT POLICY BRIEFINGS

Banking and Monetary Policy

• DOWNLOAD

Financial Sector, Investment & Banking Policy Briefing

• DOWNLOAD

Great Rebuild: Part III Special Report

• DOWNLOAD

• VIEW ALL POLICY BRIEFINGS

MPs approve House admin spending trim, but overall budgets still on the rise

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

• Despite planned cuts to administration spending, the House’s overall main estimates ask for 2026-27 is still up by 1.9 per cent. The Senate’s budget is also set to jump by 1.5 per cent.

MPs approve House admin spending trim, but overall budgets still on the rise

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

• Despite planned cuts to administration spending, the House’s overall main estimates ask for 2026-27 is still up by 1.9 per cent. The Senate’s budget is also set to jump by 1.5 per cent.

A self-sustaining path to recovery for Ukraine

OpinionBY MICHAEL CHOLOD, KATHERINE MULHERN

Lack of primary care so ‘chronic’ that patients don’t even talk about it, says Liberal MP and doctor Powlowski

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Budget bill waits for House’s January return as ‘slow’ session comes to a close

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Champagne says CRA is taking a ‘step in the right direction’ after 100-day plan shows improvements

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Canada’s plan to boost its economy must include rebuilding wild fisheries

OpinionBY JOSH LAUGHREN

Surge in lost public property sees total federal losses reach $730.4-million for 2024-25

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

Minister called to de-haze budget math on cuts to veterans’ medical cannabis reimbursement

NewsBY STUART BENSON

Effective nation-building starts with the people and places where it happens

OpinionBY SHAIMAA YASSIN, ABIGAIL JACKSON, NOEL BALDWIN

AGRICULTURE

Bloc joins push for mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Dabrusin top-lobbied cabinet minister, Nature Canada pushes for nature strategy after absence of support in budget

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Scaling climate-resilient farming solutions for global impact

OpinionBY CAROL THIESSEN

The easiest policy win in Ottawa might just be hiding in plain sight

OpinionBY ORVILLE BOVENSCHEN

See all

Biotechnology

PMPRB closes all open drug-pricing investigations before implementing new guidelines on Jan. 1

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Canada’s research strength is world-class—now we need to all pull in the same direction

OpinionBY BENOIT-ANTOINE BACON

Canada could have access to more than 10,000 doctors if licensing were less complicated, House Health Committee hears

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Turning innovation into impact: Canada’s biotech advantage

OpinionBY WENDY ZATYLNY

See all

DEFENCE & SECURITY

‘Disgraceful and indefensible’: feds’ failure to release new Defence Industrial Strategy by deadline sparks backlash

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Keep pace with great: NATO’s race for survival began in Ukraine long ago

OpinionBY MICHAEL CHOLOD, JOZEF HRABINA

Peace relies not only on the resolution of national issues, but on the solution of global problems

OpinionBY ROSEANN O’REILLY RUNTE

All eyes on the Arctic

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

See all

Environment

Brazil: a catalyst of plurilateralism

OpinionBY EDWARD JACKSON

A Faustian climate bargain

OpinionBY DOREEN BARRIE

It’s time to double down on ocean protection

OpinionBY SHEENA KENNEDY

2026: Another year on the edge for Carney and Canada

OpinionBY LES WHITTINGTON

See all

Fisheries and oceans

Coastal communities ‘running out of time’ without fisheries fund renewal, say opposition critics as DFO faces $544M in cuts

NewsBY STUART BENSON

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

See all

FOREIGN POLICY

Trump’s case for a Greenland invasion is utter hogwash

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Maduro, Trump, and the politics of timing

OpinionBY BHAGWANT SANDHU

Legislation corner: unpacking the bill bringing Britain into the Pacific trade pact

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Imagining a post-Ayatollah Iran

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

See all

health

Five affordable ways to improve access to health care in 2026 

OpinionBY MARGOT BURNELL | UPDATED January 7, 2026

CUSMA must do more than protect trade—it must secure Canada’s life sciences future

OpinionBY CAMERON GROOME

Alberta’s health-care reforms don’t go far enough  

OpinionBY NADEEM ESMAIL, TEGAN HILL

PHAC lacks timely national data on children’s vaccination rates as report finds agency is not meeting targets 

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

See all

Industry and Manufacturing

Renewable energy sector adds concerns about wind-tower costs to steel industry crisis talks: ‘there’s a ton of urgency’

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Steel tariff missteps threaten Canada’s energy future

OpinionBY VITTORIA BELLISSIMO, FERNANDO MELO

‘Quiet buzz’ on Bay Street about Carney’s ‘nation-building’ major projects, says Tobin

NewsBY CHRISTOPHER GULY

Canada’s ZEV mandate will leave 450,000 drivers stranded

OpinionBY BRIAN LIVINGSTON

See all

infrastructure and transport

Can Build Canada Homes make a dent in the housing crisis?

OpinionBY ALAN BROADBENT

The joys of winter biking aren’t without politics

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

Time to strengthen Canada’s infrastructure planning 

OpinionBY JENNIFER ANGEL, PETER WELTMAN

Chief says feds’ engagement with First Nations ‘needs to improve’ after ‘very limited’ contact on major projects

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

See all

innovation

Bill 13 is Alberta’s law—but all Canadians must pay attention

OpinionBY BUKOLA SALAMI, NNAMDI NDUBUKA, SUME NDUMBE EYOH, MODUPE TUNDE-BYASS

Canada is building AI infrastructure. Now it must build AI companies

OpinionBY DANIEL WIGDOR

Feds ‘on track’ to connect every household to high-speed internet by 2030, as critics point to gaps in rural and Northern Canada

NewsBY DAVIS LEGREE

Canada’s EV experience shows why our strategy needs new tools in an age of uncertainty

OpinionBY DAVID ABONYI, GEORGE ABONYI

See all

intergovernmental

Next year ‘an important one for Quebec’ as possibility of referendum looms, say Bloc MP, politicos

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Nothing is sacred in Doug Ford’s Ontario

OpinionBY JENN JEFFERYS

Charting our course: four shores, one voice

OpinionBY GRO SENATOR IRIS PETTEN

Solution to substance abuse in Ottawa will come from collaboration, say area politicians

NewsBY SOPHIA LAPORTE

See all

justice

We need to go beyond criminal law reform to end gender-based violence

OpinionBY LANA WELLS

Bill C-16 ‘progress,’ but needs tougher language to codify femicide as a standalone crime, advocates say

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Ottawa set to revive online harms legislation in 2026: government source

NewsBY DAVIS LEGREE

Bill to create modern treaty commissioner wins Bloc, NDP, and Green support

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW

See all

Labour & employment

Why all governments must follow Ontario in scrapping the ‘Canadian experience’ requirement

OpinionBY AKOLISA UFODIKE

Canada is falling behind in the global race for skilled workers

OpinionBY KUMARAN NADESAN

Work stoppages are crippling Canada’s economy—it’s time for Parliament to act

OpinionBY JASMIN GUéNETTE, CHRISTINA SANTINI

Government agencies are hardly trying when it comes to transparency

OpinionBY KEN RUBIN

See all

Lobbying

Joly top-lobbied minister in November, universities push to attract research talent driven away from U.S.

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

House Ethics Committee to review Lobbying Act in 2026 after AI study, says chair Brassard

NewsBY HUNTER CRESSWELL

Blanchard defends Carney’s ethics screen as a ‘rigorous process’

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

The unintended consequences of stricter rules on public policy engagement

OpinionBY JACQUES J.M. SHORE, SUZANNE SABOURIN

See all

natural resources and energy

Trump’s hit on Venezuela just gave Canada a bruise

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Canada’s rising disaster costs call for adaptive design

OpinionBY HOSSEIN BONAKDARI

The Alberta energy deal is worse than you think

OpinionBY STEPHEN THOMAS

Jump-starting a Canadian power grid

OpinionBY MADELEINE MCPHERSON, PETER FAIRLEY

See all

Women, Gender and Diversity

Where is the real threat to Canadian security coming from?

OpinionBY CHRISTOPHER INGRAM, ERROL MENDES, JOSEPH INGRAM

The Elsie effect: women are essential to security

OpinionBY NATHALIE CHUARD

Democracy, like a Christmas gift, is best unwrapped

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

How Mark Carney can win back friends and influence critical outcomes

OpinionBY SHARI GRAYDON

See all

Indigenous Relations

A decade of delays on Indigenous rights

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

No, Indigenous people are not coming for your privately owned land

OpinionBY COREY SHEFMAN

There’s no security without Indigenous sovereignty

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Feds removed 643 more companies from its Indigenous business directory this year

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Exclusive lists

Take The Hill Times year-end news quiz

Take The Hill Times year-end news quiz

First-quarter expenses: MPs spent nearly $28-million

First-quarter expenses: MPs spent nearly $28-million

This Parliament’s ethics roundup: blind trusts, recusals, gifts, and more

This Parliament’s ethics roundup: blind trusts, recusals, gifts, and more

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

Carney government bills: tracking their progress into law

Carney government bills: tracking their progress into law

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

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