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

Environment

The federal 2 Billion Trees program has been cut, what’s next?

OpinionBY RACHEL PLOTKIN

• As is, the government’s 'investment budget' leaves a nature deficit, which chips away at the foundation of a strong Canada. We must repair the harms caused by our collective actions. Happily, nature’s regenerative arc compounds investments. 

The federal 2 Billion Trees program has been cut, what’s next?

OpinionBY RACHEL PLOTKIN

• As is, the government’s 'investment budget' leaves a nature deficit, which chips away at the foundation of a strong Canada. We must repair the harms caused by our collective actions. Happily, nature’s regenerative arc compounds investments. 

NDP environment critic pans Carney’s commitment to Paris targets, but May says she has ‘confidence’ feds will soon release climate policy

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Iran: drought, incompetence, and maybe revolution

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

Canada’s ZEV mandate will leave 450,000 drivers stranded

OpinionBY BRIAN LIVINGSTON

Carney walks a timid line on climate instead of full speed ahead

OpinionBY SUSAN RILEY

‘Empty hands’ at COP30 and LNG ‘nation-building’ project pick signifies climate backsliding, say advocates

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Carney is unwilling to expend any political capital to make the case for Canadian climate leadership

OpinionBY SHAWN MCCARTHY

Canada at a crossroads as history repeats itself

OpinionBY JOSEPHINE GREY, SHEILA REGEHR

Swapping the tragedy of the horizon for the expediency of today

OpinionBY ALISON WINES, WREN MONTGOMERY

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COP 30 unlikely to shift political will

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

• Money is tight, wars are a huge distraction, and the climate has become unfashionable, so we’ll just have to wait and hope for better times.

COP 30 unlikely to shift political will

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

• Money is tight, wars are a huge distraction, and the climate has become unfashionable, so we’ll just have to wait and hope for better times.

Methane regulation is a climate-competitive home run

OpinionBY AMANDA BRYANT

Budget’s lack of clarity over sunsetting climate programs a concern: Green Budget Coalition

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA

No ‘serious negotiation’ with Liberals on budget, says Bloc MP Garon: ‘If the result is an election, what can we do?’

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

At COP, disinformation is the next crisis to tackle

OpinionBY JUSTIN ÁNGEL KNIGHTEN

How Bill Gates has shifted the politics of climate change

OpinionBY GERRY NICHOLLS

Emissions cap may ‘no longer be required’ as Ottawa favours carbon capture, critical minerals: budget

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Here is a nation-building project that would really make a difference

OpinionBY TREVOR HANCOCK, MELISSA GORRIE

Questions loom over Liberals’ environment plans with Canada ‘off path’ to meet emissions targets

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

AGRICULTURE

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

Thinking clearly about the EV-canola tradeoff

OpinionBY BO CHEN, ISG SENATOR YUEN PAU WOO

Investing in the future of Canadian agriculture: a strategic imperative

OpinionBY TREVOR HECK

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Biotechnology

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

‘Cutting red tape,’ mental health and primary care on the health docket this fall

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

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DEFENCE & SECURITY

Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’: should Canada become a junior partner?

OpinionBY ALISTAIR EDGAR

The threat of hypersonics is not hyperbole

OpinionBY JEAN-PIERRE HICKEY

‘Period of fluidity’: feds signal procurement transition as Defence Investment Agency ramps up

NewsBY IREM KOCA

Outpacing AI-speed threats: why Canada must rethink defence innovation

OpinionBY DEEPAK DUTT

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FINANCE

Interim PBO says he is focusing on parliamentarians, not media

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Canada’s AI imperative: go big and bold

OpinionBY SARA CLODMAN

Bridging Canada’s divide on consent

OpinionBY MEGAN BUTTLE

The laws of economics finally catch up with Trump

OpinionBY LES WHITTINGTON

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Fisheries and oceans

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

The markets are hungry for Canadian cod. Will we deliver?

OpinionBY SYLVIE LAPOINTE

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FOREIGN POLICY

CUSMA renewal a time to push for stable and predictable trade

OpinionBY GARY SHAPIRO

Why Canada should oppose Trump’s Golden Dome proposal

OpinionBY ERIKA SIMPSON

Anand urged to reverse ‘wrong’ course of letting U.S. decide if it breached international law with boat strikes

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

Did Canada’s G7 presidency ever emerge from the Trump shadow? 

NewsBY NEIL MOSS

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health

It’s time to help stop the spread of STBBIs throughout the country

OpinionBY ISG SENATOR RENé CORMIER

Why we still don’t have a National Lung Health Strategy

OpinionBY JESSICA MOFFATT, JOSé LUIS CASTRO

‘We will be facing a financial cliff’: advocates concerned about mental health and substance use programs as bilaterals begin to lapse in 2027

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Budget signals strong economic focus, but falls short in details like regulatory burden or clarity on defence spending, say experts, economists

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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Industry and Manufacturing

Budget 2025 is more of the same

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Losing Canada’s last big critical minerals champion: the stakes in the Anglo–Teck deal

OpinionBY ED FAST

Carney’s big promises all hinge on Canadians’ trust

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

The case for renewing the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy

OpinionBY ADAM SPENCE

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infrastructure and transport

Budget 2025 could have enhanced Canada’s military mobility by investing in roads and rails

OpinionBY ANDREW ERSKINE

Canada’s local infrastructure fund must be fair to workers

OpinionBY RENZE NAUTA

‘Canada needs this road’: N.W.T. pitches highway to the Arctic

FeatureBY PETER MAZEREEUW

Major projects? Not without telecom

OpinionBY ROBERT GHIZ

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innovation

Canada must build on federal budget investments in dual-use innovation

OpinionBY ELYSA DARLING, JAKE HIRSCH-ALLEN, AYAZ SYED

The Canadian government is hallucinating over its AI strategy

OpinionBY RENEE SIEBER, FENWICK MCKELVEY, JONATHAN ROBERGE, JOANNA REDDEN

Skeptics say billions of dollars in AI-driven government efficiencies ‘fiscally dubious’

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

Restrictive U.S. worker visa could fuel Canada’s rise as a global tech leader

OpinionBY S. YASH KALASH

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intergovernmental

Arctic security cannot exist without Inuit sovereignty

OpinionBY NDP MP LORI IDLOUT

PQ Blue Book attacks Canada’s international role

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

A letter to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith: reclaim Alberta’s promise

Opinion

Doug Ford needs to be reined in

OpinionBY ANDREW CADDELL

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justice

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

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

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

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Labour & employment

Unspinning the Trumpian disinformation on DEI: why it matters for all Canadians

OpinionBY KAIT LAFORCE, WILL SHELLING

‘Prices have to go down’: housing experts say new agency’s success must be measured in cost, not construction outcomes

NewsBY STUART BENSON

Federal childcare program falls far short as costs balloon 

OpinionBY PETER JON MITCHELL

Fast, employer-aligned training is key to Canada’s economic recovery

OpinionBY MICHAEL SANGSTER

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Lobbying

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

‘Cut through the table talk’: tech firms launch new group to help feds fix procurement woes 

NewsBY IREM KOCA

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natural resources and energy

‘It’s a big concern’: MPs scrutinize head of Major Projects Office for past role in Trans Mountain contract

NewsBY IREM KOCA

The critical-minerals battle is being fought on land—and over the sea

OpinionBY KEN RUBIN

Building a national Canadian economy starts with our fuel sector

OpinionBY JAKE ENWRIGHT

Studies show no evidence of negative health effect of uranium processing in Port Hope: Whitlock

Opinion

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Women, Gender and Diversity

The CAF’s emotional apology for racism

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

Women’s groups hail ongoing funding for gender-equality programs, but warn the ‘devil is in the details’

NewsBY RIDDHI KACHHELA, SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

Conservative attacks on DEI are nothing new, but fighting past battles risks future growth, say politicos

NewsBY STUART BENSON

Women entrepreneurs are a vital resource for growing Canada’s economy – it is time to break down the barriers standing in their way

OpinionBY ROSALIND LOCKYER

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Indigenous Relations

Opening the pathway for greater Indigenous inclusion in the Armed Forces

OpinionBY GRAZIA SCOPPIO, FEDERICA CASO

Pivot to ‘economic reconciliation’ risks ‘squandering’ political goodwill as Indigenous social programs face funding gaps: observers

NewsBY STUART BENSON

The one where the minister called the Senate racist

OpinionBY ROSE LEMAY | UPDATED November 19, 2025

First Nations built the first North American economy—it’s time Canada recognized that

OpinionBY KYRA WILSON

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Upcoming Policy briefings

Exclusive lists

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

Take The Hill Times politics quiz

Take The Hill Times politics quiz