Policy Options

Financial intervention in the past three months to buffer the global economic shocks from COVID-19 is making records. As of mid-May, an estimated US$9 trillion  has been pumped into...

COVID-19 is causing governments everywhere to spend. Everyone agrees this needs to happen while temporarily avoiding the question of “How do we pay for today?” With provinces and territories...

COVID-19 has been a death sentence for many Canadians living or working in long-term care. The scale of this loss is overwhelming, with over 80 percent of COVID deaths...

In the wake of a global pandemic, domestic violence against women is getting the public and media attention that it deserves and that women’s rights advocates had always hoped...

The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing much about human nature. One of those revelations is that when it comes to matters of life and death, Canadians turn to trusted traditional...

If only it were that simple. A core element of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). It provides a uniform...

There is a small piece of silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud. Substantial parts of the world community – governments, businesses, non-profits and individuals – are “dropping...

Partout dans le monde, des citoyens réclament des changements, puisque la COVID‑19 a mis au jour les dangers des inégalités, dont les femmes sont les principales victimes. Le temps...

If any refrain captures this moment in history, it is this: stay at home. So there is a certain paradox with the order issued by BC’s Minister of Citizens’...

In order to safeguard global public health, the world must take action against the Government of China for its role in this global pandemic crisis. The Chinese Communist Party...

Underfunding might seem like the most logical reason behind the tragically high rate of COVID-19-related deaths in Canada’s long-term care facilities – and yet Canada does not rank poorly...

A few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the first signs of impact on Canada’s defence procurement plans are showing. The government has been following an ambitious multi-decade blueprint, starting...

The Government of Ontario is developing its next five-year Poverty Reduction Strategy. According to 2019 estimates, 1.57 million people in Ontario live in poverty, including 382,000 children. Child poverty...

Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” is a disputed deposit of minerals within Treaty 9 territory of Northern Ontario. Prior to the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Feb. 11, 2020,...

L’avocate d’origine syrienne Reem Al-Ksiri vit aujourd’hui à Vienne, en Autriche. Comme des millions de ses compatriotes, elle s’est vue forcée de quitter son pays en raison de la...

A common thread that connects all Canadians these days is worry. We worry about our senior relatives, children home from school struggling with online lessons, sky-rocketing unemployment, the safety...

In virtually all western countries, COVID-19 has spread rapidly in long-term care (LTC), and where it has taken hold, mortality has been approximately 25 to 30 percent of all...

(This article has been translated from French.) In Quebec, as in other parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the layoff of thousands of workers for...

Most Canadian taxpayers do not realize that charitable foundations have accumulated over $80 billion in assets, using taxpayers’ money via charitable tax credits. Once people are informed, they overwhelmingly...

The low-paid and precarious positions in industries that are considered essential during the COVID-19 pandemic (sanitation, health care, and those in the food supply chain) are filled with women,...

À une certaine époque, avoir un accès Internet était un luxe, un « plus », mais ce temps est révolu depuis longtemps. En ce temps de COVID‑19, l’Internet nous procure un...

(This article has been translated into French.) Out of the many tragedies of COVID-19, we must seize the opportunity to re-envision the nursing home system and make it work...

For most Canadians, 2019 was a good year. Unemployment was low and wages were high. Even so, about 54,000 Canadians filed for consumer bankruptcy. When Canadians declare bankruptcy, they...

When government assesses threats to security and our capacity to address them, we look to intelligence. There are many dimensions of such intelligence, such as cyber, border, transportation, international...

It is time we talked about the grief. First, the sheer volume of it. There have been more than 5400 deaths from COVID-19 in Canada right now. But we...

The global response to the Rohingya crisis has now moved to the judicial arena. Back in June 2019, many politicians and NGOs were calling for Canada to spearhead the...

The protests and blockades that erupted across Canada in the months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, as well as the systemic inequities Indigenous People face during this global health...

It is one of the pandemic’s greatest ironies. At a time when more people than ever are relying on local newspapers, the economic fallout from COVID-19 is destroying the...

As we grapple with the many difficulties and tragedies of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s difficult to think of much else. But, collectively, we must realize that once we get...

Le Canada a fait du multilatéralisme une des pierres angulaires de sa politique étrangère. Dans cet esprit, il a régulièrement cherché à figurer parmi les 15 membres du Conseil...

During the dark days of the 2008-09 financial crisis, one of Canada’s top CEOs was a guest on the business television program I hosted at what’s now BNN Bloomberg....

More than half of the COVID-19 deaths in Canada are estimated to be among residents living in Canadian long-term care (LTC) homes, the highest percentage in the world. As...

The COVID-19 pandemic has come with virulent anti-Asian racism. Fear has led to the use of the term “Chinese virus,” the revival of the slur “Chink,” the perpetuation of...

Let’s compare what care for homeless people normally looks like with what is happening now, in the COVID-19 crisis. Here is a typical scenario in my work as a...

(This article has been translated from French.) The COVID-19 pandemic and its fatal consequences for vulnerable seniors are forcing us to re-examine our model of support services for those with...

Back in the 1970s, a feisty New Zealand legislator named Marilyn Waring made headlines around the world. Her election campaigns were magnets for energetic local volunteers in a mostly...

Au Québec, plusieurs enjeux médicosociaux touchant les aînés reçoivent habituellement une couverture médiatique limitée. Mais depuis plusieurs semaines déjà, la pandémie de COVID-19 met les Centres d’hébergement et de...

Recently, while listening to CBC’s The Current, I was struck by a heart wrenching question posed by a gentleman to one of the pandemic experts on the show. The...

Like colleagues across the higher education sector, I spent a hectic 72 hours in mid-March, transitioning a well-honed teaching plan based on in-person interactions into the largely uncharted territory...

Sadly, it has taken hundreds of COVID-19 deaths for Canada’s long-term residential care to earn another day or two in the spotlight. For the moment we are in high...

Long-term care is something every Canadian eventually needs to reckon with – whether it is as we put plans in place for our elder years or when we look...

Pendant que les dirigeants politiques, les gestionnaires du système de soins de santé et les cliniciens s’affairent à gérer la pandémie de COVID-19 au quotidien, nous devons réfléchir dès...

Soon after Minister for International Development Karina Gould announced the first phase of Canada’s global support to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, she also said that she expects further Canadian aid to...

The pandemic is political. While COVID-19 is essentially a public health crisis with massive economic effects, political decisions facilitated the spread of the virus, and politics guides how governments...

As we do our part to flatten the curve on COVID-19, we’re spending much more time in our homes, juggling work with caring for and home-schooling kids, worrying about...

Donald Trump’s erratic management of the COVID-19 crisis has been overwhelmingly rejected by Canadians, who feel good about themselves and their leaders. The crisis has reinforced a belief in...

(This article has been translated into French.) We are witnessing a massive effort to fight a global pandemic with untold loss of life and livelihoods. Public authorities are taking unprecedented...

On May 1, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the prohibition of many models of semi-automatic weapons. The Liberals had promised this during the 2019 election and decided to follow...

(This article has been translated into French.) On March 22, 2020, former Obama White House chief of staff and former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel argued during an interview on...

La déclaration d’un état d’urgence ou d’une urgence sanitaire liée à une menace pour la vie ou la sécurité d’une nation est un pouvoir extraordinaire qui bouleverse plusieurs des...

Family physicians are trained to ask patients how their social circumstances affect their health. For our more socially vulnerable patients, one of the questions we now find ourselves asking...

Over the past few weeks, emails from leaders of businesses and organizations have flooded our inboxes, with CEOs assuring clients and customers that despite the “unprecedented times,” they are...

(This article has been translated into French.) The global economy is likely moving into recession in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, the immediate focus should be on...

It’s no secret that debates over Canada’s energy and climate future are divisive and contentious — if not outright polarized. There is no common vision for the country’s energy...