Policy Topics | Policy Briefings

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• 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

Labour and employment

Unlocking affordable infrastructure through tax-free municipal bonds 

OpinionBY MICHAEL FENN

• Despite infrastructure’s long life, many municipalities are cautious about debt financing, even when offered attractive matching capital grants by other levels of government. 

Unlocking affordable infrastructure through tax-free municipal bonds 

OpinionBY MICHAEL FENN

• Despite infrastructure’s long life, many municipalities are cautious about debt financing, even when offered attractive matching capital grants by other levels of government. 

To build our better tomorrow, we need the builders

OpinionBY MARY VAN BUREN

Significant policy shifts have been made, but government still leaving surrogacy families behind

OpinionBY JACQUIE LAROCQUE

Affordable shelter, fertilizer emissions, and tourism topped lobbying issues in busiest October since 2018

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

How does Canada solve its sustainable infrastructure crisis?

OpinionBY RHONDA LENTON

Building a more sustainable financial foundation for Canada’s universities and colleges

OpinionBY PETER MCINNIS

Here’s what’s still needed to drive innovation

OpinionBY MERIC GERTLER

Universities with expanded or refined online courses want more broadband access for students

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Canada’s growing applied research sector is full of promise

OpinionBY DENISE AMYOT

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Universities and Colleges

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It’s time for Canada to learn its lesson about university research

OpinionBY PAUL DAVIDSON

It’s time for Canada to learn its lesson about university research

OpinionBY PAUL DAVIDSON

Post-secondary transformation key to navigating the future

OpinionBY BILL FLANAGAN

Canada needs research support to match our ambition

OpinionBY JACQUES FRéMONT

Federal departments eyeing mid-September return to office, but unions pushing back

NewsBY MIKE LAPOINTE

Ten years after the ‘death of evidence,’ scientists again march on Parliament Hill

OpinionBY FARAH QAISER AND RACHAEL MAXWELL

Plant seeds beyond agriculture to shore up the fertilizer sector

OpinionBY KAREN PROUD

Thoughts for food: Ag Committee, Competition Bureau prepare dual studies into ‘greedflation,’ grocery sector

NewsBY STUART BENSON

Four decades later, global hunger still trending

OpinionBY CAROL THIESSEN, NYAMBURA GITHAIGA

We must seize the solution to food inflation and health-care shortages at our fingertips

OpinionBY MICHAEL GRAYDON

AGRICULTURE

Feds should align fertilizer plan with farmers’ needs

OpinionBY ANDRE HARPE

Health Canada’s new guidelines for novel foods take hands-off approach

OpinionBY PETER KUHNERT AND JOAN MASTERTON

Higher federal target needed to curtail fertilizer emissions, says environmental organization

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Agriculture industry advocates for plan to keep grain moving amid ‘perfect storm’ of challenges

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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Biotechnology

Canada’s life sciences sector has come a long way

OpinionBY LIBERAL MP ANDY FILLMORE

Biotechnology, statistics, collaboration, and the pursuit of the future

OpinionBY DONALD ESTEP

Turning crisis into opportunity: a Canadian-made bio-revolution

OpinionBY BETTINA HAMELIN

Rebuilding biotech sector requires diversified training, say researchers

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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DEFENCE & SECURITY

IRPP sets up the next 50 years

The real Rouleau inquiry question: who was responsible for allowing the illegal trucker blockades to drag on?

OpinionBY LES WHITTINGTON

‘Marathon of work’: Public Order Emergency Commission proceedings ‘one of the most transparent inquiries ever,’ says lawyer Paul Champ

NewsBY CHRISTOPHER GULY

Is Canada prepared for the new-age battlefield?

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

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Environment

Strengthen Bill S-5 to make Canada’s environmental protection law more just

OpinionBY JANE MCARTHUR

Plutonium is plutonium, period, and separating it increases nuclear proliferation risks 

OpinionBY M.V. RAMANA AND SUSAN O’DONNELL

It’s time to re-establish Canada’s leadership in ecosystem restoration

OpinionBY LISA MCLAUGHLIN

Our messages were loud and clear at COP27: KAIROS

Opinion

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FINANCE

Conservatives look to ‘slice’ off worker vote from NDP as economy puts Liberals in ‘a very tight spot,’ say strategists

NewsBY IAN CAMPBELL

Three federal agencies ‘demystified’ at 3 Brewers Sparks in Ottawa

FeatureBY STUART BENSON

‘The status quo is not working’: AG calls for different approach to climate emergencies in First Nations

NewsBY KEVIN PHILIPUPILLAI

Extra $25.8-billion request brings federal spending up 4.6 per cent this year to $433-billion

NewsBY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

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Fisheries and oceans

‘There’s no more time’: green light needed for swift movement on blue economy, says Sen. Galvez

NewsBY ALICE CHEN

New Fisheries Minister Murray has list of ‘urgent’ priorities to grapple with

NewsBY ALICE CHEN

Canadian fisheries: access and benefits at risk of slipping away?

OpinionBY JENNIFER SILVER

Provinces to blame for Canada’s broken international conservation promise

OpinionBY SANDRA SCHWARTZ

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FOREIGN POLICY

Chasing ‘meh’ voters 

OpinionBY GERRY NICHOLLS

China’s COVID trap

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Trudeau’s Indo-Pacific plan offers Canadian stamp on an American strategy

OpinionBY BHAGWANT SANDHU

Canada should put its money where its mouth is on strengthening the International Criminal Court

OpinionBY FARIDA DEIF

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health

For a world-class health system, Canada needs to think bigger

OpinionBY PAUL-ÉMILE CLOUTIER

A lot wrong with Poilievre’s recent video on his bonkers drug policy

OpinionBY MICHAEL HARRIS

Committee treating MAID as ‘beneficial solution to all forms of suffering’ despite ‘deeply problematic reports’ of its use, warn disability advocates

NewsBY IAN CAMPBELL

Rouleau Inquiry lifts lid on ‘federal, provincial, municipal dysfunction in crisis management and policing,’ say politicos

NewsBY MIKE LAPOINTE

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Industry and Manufacturing

Canadian response to U.S. Inflation Reduction Act should seek to boost ‘certainty’ for investors, says advocacy group

NewsBY IAN CAMPBELL

Eyes turn to trade-pact clock after latest U.K. government toss-up

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

Innovative post-secondary solutions will help solve Canada’s tech-sector skills shortage

OpinionBY JANE GOODYER

Politics This Morning: Anand visits Poland as Russian cruise missiles hammer Ukrainian cities

NewsBY KEVIN PHILIPUPILLAI

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infrastructure and transport

Leading the way: Canadian aerospace industry poised for success

OpinionBY ANTHONY NOREJKO

A holiday wish list for Canada’s aerospace sector

OpinionBY GRANT STEVENS

Course-correcting Canada’s troubled aerospace sector

OpinionBY LANA PAYNE

Securing our aerospace competitiveness will require vision and investments

OpinionBY MARYSE HARVEY

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innovation

It’s time for Canada to be the global research leader of tomorrow

OpinionBY STEPHEN J. TOOPE, ALAN BERNSTEIN

What should be on Canada’s policy radar?

OpinionBY JENNIFER DITCHBURN

Twitter may be ailing, but Mastodon is no remedy

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

The tech party is over

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

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intergovernmental

Feds should view Alberta Sovereignty Act as ‘a warning’ that needs careful ‘wait-and-see’ response, say strategists

NewsBY IAN CAMPBELL

The Notwithstanding Act: a proposal for reform

OpinionBY AMIR ATTARAN, GIB VAN ERT

NORAD modernization urgently needed for Canada to maintain competitive edge in the Arctic

OpinionBY ISG SENATOR TONY DEAN

Ford-CUPE feud portrays Tories as ‘black-hearted accountants,’ an image which could harm federal Conservatives

NewsBY ABBAS RANA

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justice

Mounties’ union calls on feds to reconsider removal of ‘less-lethal intervention options’ from RCMP toolkit, citing safety concerns

NewsBY MIKE LAPOINTE

On Truth and Reconciliation Day, Liberals should reflect on past mistakes, resist urge to defend themselves: Blackstock

NewsBY STUART BENSON

Will true reconciliation ever happen?

OpinionBY CAROL MCBRIDE

Reconciling our history for the health of our future

OpinionBY TINA CAMPBELL

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Labour & employment

NDP must counter Poilievre’s skill harnessing anger of people who feel left behind, say labour experts

NewsBY KEVIN PHILIPUPILLAI

Union win at Mexican auto plant brings new hope for labour rights

OpinionBY ANGELO DICARO AND LAURA MACDONALD

Five House harassment complaints filed against MPs in 2021-22

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

Losing our competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive world

OpinionBY VIVEK GOEL

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Lobbying

Improving diversity in GR space requires acknowledging change is possible, say Liberal MP, lobbyists

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Quality of journalism should be considered in eligibility for Bill C-18, says NDP MP

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Bill C-11 amendments must define role of ‘international service,’ says RCI action committee spokesperson

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

‘It’s not easy work’: Yasir Naqvi on how to get things done with government

FeatureBY PETER MAZEREEUW

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natural resources and energy

Nuclear power must be part of net-zero solution

OpinionBY GUY HOTTE, NEIL ALEXANDER

Why is Ontario turning its back on low-cost, low-carbon power?

OpinionBY ANGELA BISCHOFF

‘We tried to stop it’: chair of Indigenous coalition bidding for Trans Mountain went to court to block the project

NewsBY KEVIN PHILIPUPILLAI

Canada must push harder to curb greenhouse gas emissions

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

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Women, Gender and Diversity

Diversity and inclusion promises ring hollow if racialized voices are shut out

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Global North’s whitelash brings fascism back in fashion

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Political parties have left women behind

OpinionBY JENNIFER M. PISCOPO

Politics This Morning: Liberals move forward on long-awaited plan for 2SLGBTQ+ people

Podcast

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Indigenous Relations

Can we stop with the Indigenous identity fraud?

OpinionBY INDEPENDENT SENATOR MARY JANE MCCALLUM

What to do with pretendians

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

‘Remarkable showing of co-operation’ from MPs on amendments to create ‘historic’ National Council for Reconciliation

NewsBY IAN CAMPBELL

‘Violent’ residential school denialism no longer ‘legitimate talking point’ after genocide motion, say Gazan, experts

NewsBY STUART BENSON

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Upcoming Policy briefings

Exclusive lists

The 2022 Terrific 25 Staffers ranking

The 2022 Terrific 25 Staffers ranking

Conservative party leadership: who supports who

Conservative party leadership: who supports who

Ukraine has the spotlight, but U.S. still dominates for the top 50 influencing Canada’s foreign policy

Ukraine has the spotlight, but U.S. still dominates for the top 50 influencing Canada’s foreign policy

Cabinet’s communications and chiefs of staff list, 2022

Cabinet’s communications and chiefs of staff list, 2022

The 50 MPs in ridings where 142 former residential schools are located

The 50 MPs in ridings where 142 former residential schools are located

All the federal leaders’ stops during the 2021 campaign