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Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression: Harms Reduction

The health of our democracy ultimately depends on citizens having the capacity, willingness and opportunity to participate in our public life. Following nine months of study and deliberations, the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression has settled on a six-part, made-in-Canada plan to address hate speech and other online harms, while balancing freedom of speech.

Learn moreabout Harms Reduction: A Six-Step Program to Protect Democratic Expression Online
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Rebuilding the Local Economy: Inside the Mi’kmaq-Clearwater Deal

Watch the full conversation on PPF's YouTube channel. One of the first public conversations about the purchase of Clearwater Seafoods Inc. by a coalition of Mi’kmaq First Nations. Joined by the architects of this deal, Chief Terry Paul and John Risley outline and unpack this historic landmark of Indigenous ownership in the Atlantic region, what it means for Reconciliation, innovation and the economic opportunity it spurs.

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Policy Speaking

Ep.40: Realities for Black Canadians in COVID-times

Nadine Spencer, President of the Black Business and Professional Association and Mohamed Elmi, Director of Research at the Diversity Institute discuss walking the talk when it comes to addressing systemic racism. Nadine and Mohamed share the challenges black business people have long faced, and society has only recently begun to acknowledge. From financing in the COVID-19 pandemic, to the fact that only 13 black individuals were identified from over 900 corporate boards positions in major cities in Canada, this wide reaching conversation really puts the challenges and hopes for a better Canada in perspective.

Learn about systemic racism
Publication

Report 2: Support for a Canadian “Vaccine Passport”

"Support for a Canadian 'Vaccine Passport'" is the second piece in a six-part series focused on attitudes about COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, public trust and support for government, and how this is all changing over time. The project is authored by Dr. Peter Loewen and is based on data collected by the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO).

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Article

The Time is Now.

This paper reflects a strong consensus within the Energy Future Forum that any achievable pathway to national climate and economic objectives must include a significant contribution from carbon capture technologies and from utilization and storage. In any post-COVID, “green stimulus” planning, support for CCUS expansion is even more pivotal than before.

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Policy Speaking

Ep.39: Are Rural Areas Being Left Behind?

U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent inauguration speech spoke of the “uncivil war” that polarizes American society across different fault lines including the urban-rural divide. But Canadians shouldn’t assume that these are merely American problems. Sean Speer and Peter Loewen share their recent research, and sketch a blueprint for how we can go about building empathy and ultimately precluding the kind of polarization that we've witnessed elsewhere, with renewed economic activity in some of these places on the periphery.

Learn about the urban-rural divide
Publication

Perceptions and Polarization: Measuring the Perception Gap between Urban and Rural Canadians

Political polarization is growing across the globe. In this first report on the urban-rural divide in Canada, Sean Speer teams up with Peter Loewen and the University of Toronto’s Policy, Elections and Representation Lab (PEARL) to explore the theory that a “perception gap” exists between those who live in cities, the suburbs and rural communities. How do Canadians' distorted beliefs of one another’s circumstances fuel polarization?

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Policy Speaking

Ep.38: A Growth Plan for Canadian Industry

From clean energy, to digital tech Canada is a world leader in entrepreneurship. Yet as Monique Leroux, Chair of the Industry Strategy Council of Canada, and Karimah Es Sabar and Karen Hamberg, members of the Council point out – many of those companies start out but find no home here. These industry leaders share what they've heard from business leaders across Canada, in reports like New North Star I & II, and share findings from the Council's December report on how Canada can make strategic changes to stay on the path of prosperity.

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Publication

Fault Lines and Common Ground: Understanding the State of the Canada's Urban-Rural Divide

What divides urban and rural voters? What unites them? In this second report on the Urban-Rural divide in Canada, Sean Speer and his team take a closer look at the Canadian Election Study and find that urban and rural Canadians have divergent opinions on many key issues, but they also agree to a large extent on many others. As populism grows across the western world, policymakers in Canada need to understand the implications.

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Policy Speaking

Ep.37: Putting Indigenous in ESG

Billions of dollars will flow into Indigenous nations to make major impacts on Canadian infrastructure and industry, but will those impacts benefit those Indigenous communities? Globally, 40 trillion investor dollars go through an environment, social and governance (ESG) risk assessment process. Yet Mark Podlasly, economic director at The First Nation's Major Project Coalition says no ESG standards include Indigenous people as anything more than a checkbox, instead of invested partners. He says that needs to change.

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Publication

Report 1: The Waiting is the Hardest Part

“The Waiting is the Hardest Part” is the first piece in a six-part series focused on attitudes about COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, public trust and support for government, and how this is all changing over time. The project is authored by Dr. Peter Loewen and is based on data collected by the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO).

Learn about COVID-19 vaccine skepticism in Canada
Policy Speaking

Podcast: To Help the Internet Fulfill its Democratizing Potential

In the season three opener, Policy Speaking sits down with two Commissioners from the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression Amira Elghawaby & The Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin. Public opinion and these experts agree: the time to regulate social media has arrived. They discuss findings of a new report "Harms Reduction: A Six-Step Program to Protect Democratic Expression Online", released by the Commission in parallel with findings from the Citizens’ Assembly on Democratic Expression. They tackle harmful behaviour and online hate speech, and what we can do to address these on online platforms while still defending Canadians' rights to free speech.

Learn about the Internet and free speech
Publication

A Ministry Steeped in Tradition Goes Virtual

Since March 2020, Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) has transitioned its largely paper-based and in-person justice system to predominately online and virtual services—opening new opportunities for public access to court proceedings.

Read Kate Adach's chronicle of modernization
Policy Speaking

Podcast: Isolated and Anxious, but Not Alone

If there's a silver lining to COVID, it may be the acceleration of the availability of virtual mental health services. Provinces and institutions had moved very quickly to digitize services, speeding up a transition that needed to happen anyway. Two-thirds of Canadians are reporting their mental health is good, and are feeling confident in their ability to cope with COVID. Research is showing that employers – in particular – can play a big part in buoying the mental health of workers. But for some, things have gotten much worse. Policy Speaking is joined by Paula Allen, VP at Morneau Shepell and co-chair of the Civic Action's Champions Council on workplace mental health and Ed Mantler, VP at the Mental Health Commission of Canada for an analysis of Canadians' mental health status, where things have gone right, wrong, and what to expect for the holidays.

Learn about mental health in the pandemic
Publication

Op-ed: A Keystone of Carbon Could be Our 21st-century Auto Pact

Canada desperately needs to matter more in the United States. After a run-up in the decade after NAFTA, our share of U.S. imports has fallen from roughly 16 per cent to 12 per cent since the Great Recession, leaving us behind both China and Mexico. Auto production, which for decades held fast well above the level guaranteed in the 1965 Auto Pact, was part of the descent.

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Publication

A New North Star II Revisited

Six months after the release of New North Star II, the case for a mission-driven economic strategy is even more relevant. The pandemic has highlighted the need for a new industrial strategy to cultivate domestic innovations and technologies in Canada's national interests and authors Robert Asselin and Sean Speer revisit their analysis and recommendations and find a compelling model in the US’s DARPA model.

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