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

Justice

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

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• Canada is a leader among peer nations including the United States, Australian, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in being the first to introduce femicide into criminal legislation, but advocates for women say the law won’t act as a deterrent.

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

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

• Canada is a leader among peer nations including the United States, Australian, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in being the first to introduce femicide into criminal legislation, but advocates for women say the law won’t act as a deterrent.

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

A deeper dive into Fraser’s crime bill

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Alberta’s intent to suspend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for trans health care for youth sets a dangerous precedent

OpinionBY JENNIFER EVANS, ALISON LI, JACQUELINE MURRAY

How best to stop coverups: end government misuse of non-disclosure agreements

OpinionBY INDEPENDENT SENATOR MARILOU MCPHEDRAN, JULIE MACFARLANE

A debt of gratitude for Ivan Zinger, correctional investigator

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY

OGGO hearing confirms: our government continues to persecute whistleblowers rather than protect them

OpinionBY DAVID HUTTON

Prison watchdog leaves post early with ‘frustrations’ as final report keys in on ‘grossly inadequate’ mental health care behind bars

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

MOST RECENT POLICY BRIEFINGS

Cannabis with Edibles

• DOWNLOAD

Cannabis

• DOWNLOAD

Cannabis

• DOWNLOAD

• VIEW ALL POLICY BRIEFINGS

Meeting feds’ ‘ambitious’ RCMP hiring pledge will require ‘imaginative’ ideas, says advisory board chair

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

• The Liberals have pledged $1.7-billion to hire 1,000 RCMP personnel over the next four years as the force faces a vacancy rate of 7.7 per cent, representing more than 1,400 jobs outside of that hiring push.

Meeting feds’ ‘ambitious’ RCMP hiring pledge will require ‘imaginative’ ideas, says advisory board chair

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

• The Liberals have pledged $1.7-billion to hire 1,000 RCMP personnel over the next four years as the force faces a vacancy rate of 7.7 per cent, representing more than 1,400 jobs outside of that hiring push.

Poilievre’s Trumpian language to appease some supporters risks his losing the rest of the country

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

Justice Minister Fraser unveils bill to tighten Canada’s bail and sentencing regimes

NewsBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Budget cuts won’t impact RCMP hiring push, says public safety minister 

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Civil liberties groups urge Liberals to withdraw ‘vague’ anti-hate bill that opposition MPs say is ‘trying to lower the bar’ for prosecution

NewsBY STUART BENSON

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

The coming CUSMA squeeze and how security policy will rewrite the trade terms

OpinionBY KEITH JANSA

In Canada’s defence: re-establishing a true militia

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

Canada’s rising disaster costs call for adaptive design

OpinionBY HOSSEIN BONAKDARI

Ukraine-Russia: next steps

OpinionBY DAVID CARMENT, DANI BELO

See all

Environment

Brazil: a catalyst of plurilateralism

OpinionBY EDWARD JACKSON

Buried in the MOU: a licence to lie

OpinionBY LEAH TEMPER, SAMANTHA GREEN

A Faustian climate bargain

OpinionBY DOREEN BARRIE

It’s time to double down on ocean protection

OpinionBY SHEENA KENNEDY

See all

FINANCE

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

See all

Fisheries and oceans

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

Federal fish science analyses continue to muddy the waters in salmon farm fight

NewsBY STUART BENSON

See all

FOREIGN POLICY

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

OpinionBY CAMERON GROOME

Senate’s Africa report exposes Canada’s strategic blind spot

OpinionBY SELAH GETAHUN

A new morning for Canada-Japan economic relations

OpinionBY KANJI YAMANOUCHI

Facing reality: Canada and the challenge of refugee protection

OpinionBY NINETTE KELLEY

See all

health

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

Redesigning Canada’s health policy to spur innovation

OpinionBY E. RICHARD GOLD

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

NewsBY SOPHIA LAPORTE

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

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

OpinionBY DAVID ABONYI, GEORGE ABONYI

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

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

The missing piece in Canada’s innovation strategy

OpinionBY VINCENT CUSTODE

Ottawa’s AI strategy could help Canada capitalize on homegrown innovation, say task force members

NewsBY DAVIS LEGREE

See all

intergovernmental

Nothing is sacred in Doug Ford’s Ontario

OpinionBY JENN JEFFERYS

Charting our course: four shores, one voice

OpinionBY GRO SENATOR IRIS PETTEN

Time to look back, and ahead

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

Quebec MPs noncommittal on support for province’s controversial constitution bill

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

See all

justice

Bill C-3 corrects inequalities, brings Citizenship Act into compliance with the Charter

OpinionBY DON CHAPMAN

Here’s the best Canadian strategy on the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of Trump’s potentially illegal global tariffs

OpinionBY ERROL MENDES

Convoy protest organizers Lich, Barber sentenced to house arrest

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Carney’s so-called Combatting Hate Act is an attack on pro-Palestine expression

OpinionBY ARASH GHIASSI, RIAZ SAYANI

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

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

Budget a step in the right direction, but fails to deliver on the ‘hype,’ say lobbyists

NewsBY SERGIY SLIPCHENKO

See all

natural resources and energy

2026: Another year on the edge for Carney and Canada

OpinionBY LES WHITTINGTON

Alberta’s new energy MOU could kick-start a race to the bottom on climate

OpinionBY RICK SMITH, DALE BEUGIN, DAVE SAWYER

Canada must find its climate path beyond fossil fuels

OpinionBY DAMON MATTHEWS

The Alberta energy deal is worse than you think

OpinionBY STEPHEN THOMAS

See all

Women, Gender and Diversity

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

Liberal women are taking notice, Carney would be wise to remember the estrogen wave that handed him the election

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

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

See all

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