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

Finance

‘Everyone should feel the hit’: ministerial offices and PMO should be cut, too, say some leading public policy experts

NewsBY ABBAS RANA

• Prior to the 1980s, federal cabinet ministers made do with a handful of staff, but that has jumped to between 15 and 25 exempt staffers over the last 40 years, says professor Donald Savoie.

‘Everyone should feel the hit’: ministerial offices and PMO should be cut, too, say some leading public policy experts

NewsBY ABBAS RANA

• Prior to the 1980s, federal cabinet ministers made do with a handful of staff, but that has jumped to between 15 and 25 exempt staffers over the last 40 years, says professor Donald Savoie.

‘All about’ NATO: bulk of feds’ $5.4-billion spending request boosts defence programs

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Building a more innovative Canadian economy won’t be easy, but it will be worth it

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Canada faces ‘an emergency of extraordinary proportions’ with Trump, say foreign affairs and trade experts

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Liberals see path forward for budget bill, but Conservatives still have ‘huge concerns’ with cabinet’s ‘regulatory sandbox’

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Bill C-15 is one of the biggest threats yet to Canada’s rule of law 

OpinionBY GENEVIèVE PAUL, ANAïS BUSSIèRES MCNICOLL

Ministers could exempt businesses from laws within ‘regulatory sandbox’ outlined in budget bill

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Bringing investment banking rigor to Ottawa

OpinionBY RAM MATHILAKATH

Canada’s largest pension manager ‘backsliding’ on climate, risks being unable to pay out pensions: report

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

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Three measures to tackle ‘wicked’ health policy problems

OpinionBY AZIN PEYROW

• With spending projections increasing while patients struggle to access care, it is well past time to tackle our health care problems.

Three measures to tackle ‘wicked’ health policy problems

OpinionBY AZIN PEYROW

• With spending projections increasing while patients struggle to access care, it is well past time to tackle our health care problems.

‘Not a chance’: Green Leader May says she can’t support budget omnibus bill without major changes, but NDP skeptical

NewsBY STUART BENSON

MPs face a choice this Parliament: play partisan games or meet the moment

OpinionBY BHAGWANT SANDHU

IMF report says Canada’s elevated trade uncertainty reinforces long-standing weaknesses in productivity and competitiveness

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

‘Unprecedented’ 2025 for canola industry, with record-breaking economic lobbying

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

House winter session expected to be ‘very consequential’ with affordability issues, global trade, and possible referendums, say politicos

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Liberals ‘taking a sledgehammer’ to the public service, says interim NDP leader Davies

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Canada’s green jobs strategy needs more than good intentions

OpinionBY LIN AL-AKKAD

Senators renew push to see their pensions become funded

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

AGRICULTURE

The grass is greener where you water it

OpinionBY CSG SENATOR TODD LEWIS

Bloc MP Perron condemns ‘ridiculous’ spending cuts that will shutter research farms across Canada

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

MPs celebrate canola tariff relief, but national security, pork, remain opposition concerns with China

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Do Conservatives want the best for the West, or not?

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

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Biotechnology

Canada’s missing life sciences industrial strategy is leaving economic growth on the table

OpinionBY MICHELLE MCLEAN

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

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Bloc joins push for mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

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

OpinionBY BENOIT-ANTOINE BACON

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DEFENCE & SECURITY

The road ahead on foreign interference

OpinionBY HENRY CHAN

New defence strategy unveils big numbers and contradictions

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy needs an Indo-Pacific gear

OpinionBY VINA NADJIBULLA

Having a defence industrial strategy is good, but we’ll also need to know what to do with it

OpinionBY MATT GURNEY

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Environment

The EV revolution: baby steps and tinkering won’t get us to the podium

OpinionBY SUSAN RILEY

Climate change should be the big story of 2026

OpinionBY BILL HENDERSON

The real rupture we face: what Carney’s next speech needs to say

OpinionBY TREVOR HANCOCK

How the pursuit of innovation and sustainability can supercharge the Canadian economy

OpinionBY MARENA WINSTANLEY

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Fisheries and oceans

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

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

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

OpinionBY JOSH LAUGHREN

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

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FOREIGN POLICY

Four years and counting in Ukraine

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Supply chain reliability must be Canada’s competitive advantage in global trade

OpinionBY DERRICK HYNES

It looks like Trump will try cheat in elections this fall and in 2028

OpinionBY JAMIE CARROLL

Pierre Poilievre is in a pickle: he’s a weak leader with a strong mandate

OpinionBY MICHAEL HARRIS

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health

Beyond funding: why flexible, locally grounded care models matter now

OpinionBY BERNARD LORD

Canada is facing a teen vaping crisis

OpinionBY DOUG ROTH

Can Canada be truly sovereign without health independence?

OpinionBY GABY BOURBARA

Health care is a human right

OpinionBY LINDA SILAS

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Industry and Manufacturing

Canadians can’t afford to wait for Right to Repair legislation 

OpinionBY EMILY CHUNG

Industrial benefits policy needs a ‘relook,’ says ex-senior public servant, as Conservative MP pushes for contract records

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Canada’s auto sector ‘hangs in the balance’ as CUSMA review looms in 2026: ‘there’s no sugar-coating it, this is going to be a critical year for the industry’

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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infrastructure and transport

The water emergency in Kashechewan must spur action on federal legislation

OpinionBY ALVIN FIDDLER

Think big: Senate Building should be turned into high-speed rail hub in 2037

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

Trade diversification always failed, this time could be different

OpinionBY DANIELLE GOLDFARB

Diversifying Canada’s trade and ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ share in the opportunity

OpinionBY LIBERAL MP JUDY SGRO

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innovation

‘He comes from our side’: Writers’ Union CEO calls Solomon an AI ‘cheerleader,’ asks him to slow down strategy

NewsBY MARIA COLLINS

To ban or not to ban? Experts wary of restricting social media access for kids, as feds watch Australian approach

NewsBY DAVIS LEGREE

Building Canada’s digital future

OpinionBY DELPHINE ADENOT-OWUSU

From promise to reality: scaling innovative housing in Canada

OpinionBY TASNIM FARIHA

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intergovernmental

Tumbler Ridge tragedy, U.S. attacks on Canada are showing a different side of Pierre Poilievre 

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

Milliard takes on the Quebec Liberal mantle

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

Hearings at National Assembly offer insight into Bill 1

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

Alberta MPs shouldn’t just quietly wait for separatist issue to blow over

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

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justice

Reconciliation is not dead, but Indigenous Peoples are still dying in Canada’s hospitals

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

Republican Party can rein in U.S. President Trump—if it’s brave enough

OpinionBY MICHAEL HARRIS

Tory Senator Housakos proposes invoking notwithstanding clause to uphold certain mandatory minimums

NewsBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT

Despite early ‘spirit of co-operation’ on some bills, Liberal agenda still failing to launch in Parliament, say politicos

NewsBY STUART BENSON

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Labour & employment

When it comes to affordable childcare, both public and private operators need federal support

OpinionBY CHLOE DUSSER

Ottawa has a housing initiative, but not a homeownership plan

OpinionBY KEVIN LEE

Investing in Indigenous housing strengthens Canada, and the solutions are ready

OpinionBY JOHN GORDON

Keeping the North strong and free also means ensuring a better way of life for northerners

OpinionBY EDITORIAL

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Lobbying

Questions loom over NDP’s voter verification process as leadership contest enters final stretch

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Ottawa’s lowered lobbying registration thresholds will reshape government relations

OpinionBY SUZANNE SABOURIN, MICHAEL WALSH

Libya was a warning, Venezuela is the test

OpinionBY AKOLISA UFODIKE

‘It’s like molasses in January’: pharmacare implementation stalled, say health-care groups, but others argue time needed to get deals right

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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natural resources and energy

The world has too much LNG—so why is Canada fast-tracking more?

OpinionBY MARK KALEGHA, OLAF WEBER

Federal environmental impact assessments are in even more jeopardy   

OpinionBY KEN RUBIN

Trump’s hit on Venezuela just gave Canada a bruise

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Buried in the MOU: a licence to lie

OpinionBY LEAH TEMPER, SAMANTHA GREEN

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Women, Gender and Diversity

Liberals hope ‘national unity’ council quells divisions after scrapping Islamophobia and antisemitism envoys

NewsBY STUART BENSON

The politicking of identity has always been a nation-building project

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Celebrating Black Canadian trailblazers who’ve played a critical role in public life

OpinionBY WAHEED KHAN

Here’s how Parliament can tackle the rise in anti-feminist ideology

OpinionBY SHARI GRAYDON

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Indigenous Relations

A partial table cannot deliver justice for Indigenous people

OpinionBY BRENDAN MOORE

Arctic security investments must also improve living conditions in the North, say territories

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Wide-eyed patriotism is an Indigenous value

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

Indigenous innovation: part of the tradition, not the trend

OpinionBY KATHY MANNERS

Exclusive lists

Who’s backing the NDP leadership contenders?

Who’s backing the NDP leadership contenders?

Tracking job cuts in the federal public service

Tracking job cuts in the federal public service

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