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

Labour and employment

‘This is our home, so we need to be part of the solution’: Inuit-led university to strengthen Canada’s Arctic, say Senators

NewsBY JUSTIN S. CAMPBELL

• Education in the North not only keeps people in their communities and takes advantage of local and traditional knowledge, but also drives investment in infrastructure.

‘This is our home, so we need to be part of the solution’: Inuit-led university to strengthen Canada’s Arctic, say Senators

NewsBY JUSTIN S. CAMPBELL

• Education in the North not only keeps people in their communities and takes advantage of local and traditional knowledge, but also drives investment in infrastructure.

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

Solving Canada’s housing crisis starts with a reality check

OpinionBY JANICE MYERS

Tackling Canada’s decades-long housing crisis will require more time, money, and strategic planning

OpinionBY ALEXANDRA DORAN, YUSHU ZHU

Canada’s stale housing policies need renewal

OpinionBY CSG SENATOR CLÉMENT GIGNAC

Build more homes—but don’t lock Canada into higher emissions

OpinionBY KATE KOPLOVICH

MOST RECENT POLICY BRIEFINGS

Housing: Modular and Affordable

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Canada Part I: Interprovincial Trade & Labour

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Homebuilding & Affordable Housing

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Ottawa’s $13-billion housing gamble is missing a critical safeguard

OpinionBY IRVING GOLD

• An occupational therapy review of standardized modular templates could ensure that every unit built from those plans meets basic functional accessibility standards.

Ottawa’s $13-billion housing gamble is missing a critical safeguard

OpinionBY IRVING GOLD

• An occupational therapy review of standardized modular templates could ensure that every unit built from those plans meets basic functional accessibility standards.

Building codes are undermining the promise of modular housing

OpinionBY OLHA SOTSKA

Are programs in search of a policy or a Canadian housing system?

OpinionBY JIM DUNN, DUNCAN MACLENNAN, STEVE POMEROY

Housing Minister Robertson ‘well regarded’ for municipal background, but needs a vision for housing, say sector experts

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Nuancing our understanding of Canada’s housing affordability crisis

OpinionBY STEVE POMEROY

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

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

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

AGRICULTURE

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

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

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

OpinionBY ERICA IFILL

Scrap the Indo-Pacific Strategy: a pragmatic path for Canadian sovereignty

OpinionBY WENRAN JIANG

Bloc joins push for mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

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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

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

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DEFENCE & SECURITY

Can Carney reconcile his Davos goals with complicity in the Iran war?

OpinionBY DOUGLAS ROCHE, ERNIE REGEHR

Mining a collective defence against Trump’s threats

OpinionBY SCOTT TAYLOR

Feds’ defence industrial strategy promises much potential for Canada, but it will need public and private-sector champions

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

Drug cartels put Mexican government on notice

OpinionBY SHEILA COPPS

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Environment

‘Once you get a carveout from one province, it’s game over’: Ottawa-Alberta MOU draws advocates with economic and environment concerns

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Pipelines or a national power grid: what should Canada build now?

OpinionBY ISG SENATOR ROSA GALVEZ, GEOFF STRONG, RICHARD VAN DER JAGT

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

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FINANCE

With global hegemony attacking the world order, what are middle powers like Canada to do?

OpinionBY KEVIN LYNCH, PAUL DEEGAN

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

NewsBY ABBAS RANA

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

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

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

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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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

Netanyahu makes a sucker out of Trump with Iran attack

OpinionBY GWYNNE DYER

It’s time to prioritize Canada’s media sovereignty and democratic resilience

OpinionBY KEVIN DESJARDINS

What’s up with Trump’s unprecedented demand for state voter lists?

OpinionBY MICHAEL HARRIS

Polls show Carney’s riding a wave of support buoyed by global pressures, but Canadians also nervous about life at home

NewsBY JUSTIN S. CAMPBELL

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health

Outspoken health advocate Joss Reimer talks about finding ‘common ground’ with government as she becomes Canada’s top doctor

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

‘It’s not my bill, it’s our bill’: Senator Henkel and 50 advocacy groups push for law calling for women’s health framework

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

New policy adding nurse practitioners to public health-care plans will go ahead April 1

NewsBY TESSIE SANCI

Ongoing grievance over public service health-plan switch an ‘interesting’ case, says labour lawyer

NewsBY MARLO GLASS

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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

Ottawa unsure how to regulate AI chatbots after Tumbler Ridge report, as Solomon says ‘all options are on the table’

NewsBY DAVIS LEGREE

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

NewsBY MARIA COLLINS

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

OpinionBY DAVID CRANE

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

NewsBY DAVIS LEGREE

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intergovernmental

Sole Quebec NDP MP Boulerice says potential provincial run has ‘absolutely nothing to do with’ party’s status

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

Four crucial outcomes Canadians need from the Alberta-Ottawa MOU talks

OpinionBY CHRIS SEVERSON-BAKER

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

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justice

‘We’re getting closer’: religious groups lobbying feds say they’re hopeful of progress on stalled Liberal anti-hate bill

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

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

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Labour & employment

This one policy could allow Canada to dramatically reduce land costs for affordable housing

OpinionBY COLIN O’LEARY, ACACIA PANGILINAN

Affordable housing is slipping away. Here’s how we get it back

OpinionBY REBECCA BLIGH

Build Canada Homes is poised to make a generational investment in non-market and public housing—but will it?

OpinionBY MARC LEE

A home is a human right: why inclusion must be built in

OpinionBY JANET FORBES, BEN ROWLEY

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Lobbying

‘A fundamental shift’: new strategy an opportunity to grow domestic industrial base, say lobbyists

NewsBY SERGIY SLIPCHENKO

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

NewsBY ELEANOR WAND

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

NewsBY JESSE CNOCKAERT

Ottawa’s lowered lobbying registration thresholds will reshape government relations

OpinionBY SUZANNE SABOURIN, MICHAEL WALSH

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natural resources and energy

Sometimes the resource roller-coaster is a great ride

OpinionBY HEATHER EXNER-PIROT

Why Canada should peacefully enrich its uranium

OpinionBY ALEXANDER MACDONALD, JEREMY WHITLOCK

Leveraging the nuclear renaissance to advance small and micro modular reactors

OpinionBY VINNY GUNDA, SAGAR SANGHERA, JOSEF FREUNDORFER, ELEODOR NICHITA

Critical minerals: an opportunity for Canada and the Red River Métis

OpinionBY PETER FLEMING

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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

Canada’s critical minerals opportunity runs through First Nation lands

OpinionBY MARK PODLASLY

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

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Upcoming Policy briefings

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