Sep 17 2019 — Canadian Global Affairs Institute — The Canada-U.S. Permanent Joint Board on Defence (PJBD) held its 238th meeting in Ottawa this June. Established in 1940, the PJBD1 was created to provide study and recommendations to the governments of both Canada and the United States for the joint defence of “the north half of the Western hemisphere”. Of late, there has been […]
Sep 17 2019 — Policy Options — To construct its new Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, the Trudeau government endeavoured to move beyond consultation and into co-development and consensus with Indigenous, territorial and provincial partners. The result is a framework born of a novel and admirable process that establishes issues and broad objectives but fails to provide a clear road map for […]
Sep 17 2019 — Andrew Jackson — Broadbent Institute — As part of a broader fair tax agenda, Jagmeet Singh and the federal New Democratic Party have proposed a wealth tax, to be applied at a rate of 1% on wealth above $20 million. This is intended to generate new fiscal resources from those who can well afford to pay more, to invest in equality-promoting […]
Sep 12 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — China recently moved to ban Canadian canola, soybeans, and other agriproducts. These efforts at economic coercion are closely tied to the ongoing tensions between the two countries, which began when Canadian authorities arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in December 2018, following a US extradition request. Simply put, China is attempting to pressure Canada economically into […]
Sep 12 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — As recent history has demonstrated, there are no easy solutions to securing Taiwan’s participation at specialized UN agencies in the face of Chinese obstructionism. For a few years, and under a government in Taipei that agreed to echo Beijing’s language on “one China,” Taiwan was “permitted” to send observers under the moniker “Chinese Taipei.” All […]
Sep 6 2019 — Bacchus Barua and Kristina Acri — Fraser Institute — As the Trudeau government seems poised to propose a national pharmacare plan in time for October’s federal election, many proponents of national pharmacare note that Canada is the only industrialized universal health-care country that does not provide universal coverage for prescription drugs. However, those same proponents often ignore the fact that other countries provide universal […]
Aug 16 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — The federal election is a little over two months away, and its outcome remains highly uncertain. Irrespective of whichever political party wins, the new government faces the challenging work of remaking Canada-China relations, which has reached an all-time low following China’s hostage diplomacy and use of economic coercion in response to the arrest by Canadian […]
Aug 16 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — In recent weeks, the daily flow of young protesters getting tear gassed, truncheoned, fired at and assailed by anti-riot police and violent triad members on Hong Kong’s streets, in its MTR stations and at its shopping malls has grabbed headlines worldwide, sparking a crisis for the Chinese leadership unlike any it has faced since the […]
Aug 15 2019 — Karen Tam Wu — Pembina Institute — Seven months of B.C.’s climate action marathon. With fever-pitched debates over the polarizing issues of building pipelines and pricing carbon pollution taking centre stage, the marathon task of realizing British Columbia’s vision for climate action and a clean economy often gets lost in the conversation. Coming out of the blocks in December 2018, the CleanBC […]
Aug 12 2019 — Macdonald-Laurier Institute — With the federal election only a few months away, Canadians are right to be concerned about the possibility of interference from Russia and other hostile foreign actors in our democratic processes. Foreign interference took place in our 2015 elections, and we need to be prepared for possible disruptions in our upcoming election. One only needs […]
Aug 12 2019 — Zach Paikin — Global Brief — First, following the unambiguous return of great power rivalry on the world stage, the post-Cold War project of rendering the Western-led liberal international order synonymous with world order itself has definitively failed. While rooted in universalist, values-based rhetoric, the liberal order ultimately depends on a power base of liberal Western states. It is doubtful that […]
Jul 28 2019 — Erica Thompson — Nature Conservancy of Canada — During the summer, many Canadians long to experience the great outdoors but research shows fewer of us are doing so these days. A recent survey commissioned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) found that 87 per cent of respondents felt happier, healthier and more productive when connected to nature. But 74 per cent said […]
Jul 22 2019 — Jennifer Levin Bonder — Policy Options — In May 1968, Pierre Trudeau announced his decision to conduct a thorough review of Canada’s foreign and defence policies. It would take 25 months to complete and would absorb the attention of senior officials in nearly every government department and of citizens, academics and nongovernmental organizations alike. The ultimate result was published on June 25, […]
Jul 12 2019 — Behind The Numbers — The extraordinary surge in popular support for expanding public health care, a “Green New Deal” and other progressive policies demonstrates a powerful public appetite for meaningful social change. Decades of neoliberal austerity and “the market made me do it” politics, which boosted inequality in most countries, have also created pent-up demand to change the rules […]
Jul 11 2019 — In February 2018, the Liberal government in Canada announced it would be releasing in the future a new legislative framework for recognizing Indigenous rights and title, with a heavy emphasis on Indigenous self-governance.