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

Labour and employment

The value of lifelong learning

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

• People are realizing they must study to keep up with rapid developments in science, business, medicine, and technology.

The value of lifelong learning

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

• People are realizing they must study to keep up with rapid developments in science, business, medicine, and technology.

Carney government has two duties to younger Canadians, and one is to offer real hope

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

A strong economy depends on a strong social sector 

OpinionBY DAN CLEMENT

Rural Canada: a national barometer and strategic economic imperative

OpinionBY JACQUES LEFEBVRE

Trade, housing, prosperity: none of it happens without construction

OpinionBY RODRIGUE GILBERT

Official languages education sector disappearing thanks to our broken immigration system

OpinionBY GONZALO PERALTA

To build a better housing market, stop taxing housing like cigarettes

OpinionBY MARK KENNEY

Shooting ourselves in the foot: we can’t afford to misunderstand the temporary foreign worker program

OpinionBY CHRISTINA SANTINI

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

OpinionBY GABRIEL MILLER

MOST RECENT POLICY BRIEFINGS

Canada Part I: Interprovincial Trade & Labour

• DOWNLOAD

Homebuilding & Affordable Housing

• DOWNLOAD

University and College Research

• DOWNLOAD

• VIEW ALL POLICY BRIEFINGS

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

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• ESDC is projecting 6,700 job cuts over the next three years. Those numbers were published before Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tasked departments with finding 15 per cent in program savings.

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

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• ESDC is projecting 6,700 job cuts over the next three years. Those numbers were published before Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tasked departments with finding 15 per cent in program savings.

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

OpinionBY AMANDA THERRIEN

Homebuilding is ready for its tech makeover

OpinionBY JAYSON MYERS

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

Carney: don’t gamble with Canada’s food security

OpinionBY MILTON DYCK

Why we must defend supply management

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

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

AGRICULTURE

‘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

Canada can be an agriculture powerhouse if we meet the moment

OpinionBY SENATOR MARY ROBINSON

Supply management consensus emerges but Grits, Tories accuse each other of past capitulation

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

• see more

Biotechnology

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

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

• see more

DEFENCE & SECURITY

A defence industrial policy is a good offence

OpinionBY KEVIN LYNCH, PAUL DEEGAN

‘We don’t have a choice here’: SecState for defence procurement Fuhr pledges to move ‘quicker,’ take more risks

NewsBY IREM KOCA

When will Canada embrace Indigenous-led wildfire solutions that we know work?

OpinionBY AMY CARDINAL CHRISTIANSON, CONROY SEWEPAGAHAM, FRANK BROWN

Defence spending targets are only half the challenge facing Canada

OpinionBY WILLIAM RICHARDSON

• see more

Environment

Reality check: Canada’s nation-building must ditch fossil fantasies

OpinionBY ALY HYDER ALI

The $25,000 fine for violating Nova Scotia woods ban ‘not high enough,’ says Grit MP Fancy-Landry: ‘people really need to wake the hell up’

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Carbon removal technology is more than just a climate solution

OpinionBY CATIE O’NEAL

Let’s get serious about tackling global scourge of plastic pollution

OpinionBY PAULINE GERRARD

• see more

FINANCE

Billions spent, little delivered: we need results-based budgeting

OpinionBY RAM MATHILAKATH

Time is ripe to revamp federal budgeting processes

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

Carney’s budget expected to be ‘consequential,’ as Canada faces unprecedented challenges from a volatile Trump, say politicos

NewsBY CHRISTOPHER GULY

Carney will need to prove he can actually stand up to Trump, he campaigned on it

OpinionBY MATT GURNEY

• see more

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

• see more

FOREIGN POLICY

Canada-U.S. parliamentary group has been without a Commons co-chair since election: ‘very concerning’ 

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

An impact blueprint for Canada’s global agenda

OpinionBY ADAM SPENCE

What happens to the people of the occupied territories of Ukraine? It could be up to Canada

OpinionBY JON UNRUH, MICHAEL CHOLOD

Delay is not an option when it comes to foreign interference

OpinionBY HENRY CHAN

• see more

health

How rapid diagnostics can help curb antimicrobial resistance

OpinionBY FRéDéRIC DUBé

Innovation and collaboration are the future of Canada’s public health care

OpinionBY MICHAEL GREEN

Canada must step up to meet the challenge of dementia

OpinionBY SASKIA SIVANANTHAN

Less focus on COVID-19 expected to lead to $650-million spending cuts for PHAC by 2027-2028

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

• see more

Industry and Manufacturing

Feds need to ‘rethink’ industrial benefits policy and refocus on defence capabilities, say former senior officials: it ‘needs to evolve’

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Bill C-5 is a turning point in Canadian history

OpinionBY GARY MERASTY

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

OpinionBY SUSAN RILEY

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

OpinionBY MATT GURNEY

• see more

infrastructure and transport

Why Canada’s ‘wait-and-see’ approach is the biggest threat to our infrastructure

OpinionBY KAMYAB ZANDI

Steel industry players say retaliatory tariffs for Canadian steel need ‘real teeth’ as lobbying efforts heat up

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Why industrial policy is critical to nation building

OpinionBY AARON COSBEY

One simple trick to solve the government’s procurement woes?

OpinionBY SIMON ENOCH

• see more

innovation

The AI crash

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Canada must lead on circular solutions to end plastic pollution

OpinionBY CHRISTA SEAMAN

Canada never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity, but we better not miss it this time

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Space: the critical link to Canada’s defence, sovereignty, and economic growth

OpinionBY BRIAN GALLANT

• see more

intergovernmental

Ottawa needs to do more to recognize Newfoundland and Labrador’s ‘positive impact’ on national agenda, says former premier Ball

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Political commentary on convoy protest organizers Lich and Barber’s sentencing ‘corrosive’ and ‘dangerous,’ say observers

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

New Leaf Liberals want to root out Ontario Liberal shortcomings, not back a particular leader, says co-founder

NewsBY STUART BENSON

The One Canadian Economy Act: a new governance framework

OpinionBY LORI TURNBULL

• see more

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 more

Labour & employment

Investing in Indigenous education is an investment in Canada’s future

OpinionBY MIKE DEGAGNé

Bill removing internal trade barriers risks undermining policy innovation 

OpinionBY MARK WINFIELD

What we choose to build

OpinionBY VALERIE WALKER, MATT MCKEAN

Treasury Board reports gains on diversity and equity in public service, but will cuts hamper progress?

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• see more

Lobbying

Canada ‘should not relent’ in trade talks, say industry reps who say auto sector needs zero tariffs

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

U.S. trade approach ‘changes the rules of the game,’ with canola sector leading economic lobbying in first six months of 2025

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Lobbyists address Canada-U.S. dynamic in face of shifting tariffs from unpredictable Trump: ‘it’s changed’

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

High engagement with oil and gas industry a ‘bad look’ for feds, say environmental advocates: ‘pick a lane’

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

• see more

natural resources and energy

Why bold infrastructure investments are key to our economic resilience

OpinionBY KIP EIDEBERG

Finding open ice: Canada’s future depends on batteries and critical minerals

OpinionBY DAN BLONDAL, TRENT MELL, TREVOR WALKER

Questioning the safe disposal of spent enriched uranium fuel: letter writer

Opinion

Bill C-5 revealing itself as a Trojan horse designed to appease Alberta’s fossil fuel interests

OpinionBY JOHANNE WHITMORE, FRANçOIS DELORME

• see more

Women, Gender and Diversity

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

‘It’s being levelled’: advocates worried about potential 81 per cent cut to Women and Gender Equality Canada’s budget by 2028

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

• see more

Indigenous Relations

Natan Obed weighs in on the Major Projects law, Carney’s election, and what the North needs

FeatureBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Crown-Indigenous Relations departmental plan raises questions about role in Liberals’ major projects push

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Creating a two-tiered Canada with budget cuts that divide by race

OpinionBY ANNE LEVESQUE

Time for a public national first ministers’ meeting with First Nations

OpinionBY KYRA WILSON

• see more

Upcoming Policy briefings

Exclusive lists

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

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