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Event

We're going virtual | PPF's Rebuild Canada Growth Summit 2020

PPF’s Growth Summit has a new look for 2020. The entirely virtual Summit will feature a collection of sessions over a four-week period this fall. Generally, each session will feature a live, 40-minute fireside chat with a prominent speaker (or two) from within government, politics, or business plus a live audience Q&A. This year's theme will build off PPF’s Rebuild Canada.

See the list of speakers
Project

Rebuild Canada: Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for a productive, resilient, and fair economy and society

Before the COVID-19 crisis hit, there was already a need for public policy in Canada to adjust. Now, with the economy wounded and international cooperation frayed, we must consider the merits of a more fundamental rebuilding job. Through a series of reports and conferences, this project will tap into the best established and ascending policy brains in an effort to help policymakers weigh priorities and trade-offs and forge a far-reaching rebuild plan.

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Publication

Focus on Fundamentals: A road map to recovery

The pandemic is a financial crisis like none in recent years and governments now face the challenge of promoting economic growth and investment and getting people back to work, while also protecting the vulnerable and addressing ballooning debt and deficits. It’s time to use a scalpel, rather than a sledgehammer, to reduce spending by reconsidering the size and compensation levels in the public sector, reviewing the defined benefit pension programs and restructuring where possible.

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Policy Speaking

Podcast: What is Reconciliation About?

Senator Murray Sinclair shares wisdom on the Nova Scotia lobster fishing dispute and how current events fit into the trending societal discussion about racism and systemic racism. Sen. Sinclair demonstrates why he's an honouree of this year's Testimonial Awards as we trace his history from a young man of the Peguis First Nation (north of Winnipeg) who would go on to become a lawyer, Manitoba's first Aboriginal judge, Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, Indigenous leader, and Senator. Plus what are the impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous communities and where does mistrust of the medical profession come from?

Learn what Reconciliation is about
Publication

The Unclaimed Middle Ground Between Unrestrained Fiscal Spending and Unreasonable Restraint

No one strikes out to claim the middle ground and yet that may very well be the most prudent strategy for a balanced economic recovery. There is a path for Canada between unnecessary fiscal restraint that stymies growth and excessive large-scale spending.

Explore the middle road
Policy Speaking

Podcast: The Second Surge of COVID-19

An effective and truly national vaccine roll out plan is what Dr. David Naylor, Co-chair of Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, hopes for. He joins host Edward Greenspon to chat about what it takes to break a surge of the virus – right as a second wave begins to form. From testing, to international cooperation, to re-infection, this wide-reaching conversation puts Canada's response to the pandemic in perspective with other responses around the world.

Learn the latest on COVID-19
Publication

Flipping the Script

Little did Alberta Health Services' Digital Experience team know this moment would shift the province’s whole pandemic strategy, and become the core of Alberta’s COVID response. Their assessment tool with online booking and results would get attention from across North America, and spark a form of collaboration that would cast lasting doubt on the way things have always been done.

Read how Ammneh Azeim's tech tool quickly came to life
Publication

Film and Television in the Age of COVID-19, and After

COVID-19 has taken a high toll on film and television in Canada. To support a once-thriving industry, governments need to improve financial security for production companies and ensure a steady flow of business across the Canada-US border. Governments must also modernize regulations for industry success in the digital age.

Explore film and television’s digital revolution
Policy Speaking

Podcast: ABCs of Economic Recovery

Perhaps a middle ground can open up between unrestrained spending and unreasonable restraint for Canada's COVID-19 recovery, says Frances Donald, Global Chief Economist & Head of Macroeconomic Strategy at Manulife. She and host Edward Greenspon bring nuance to the popular discourse in economics around how a recovery could & should look for your favourite local businesses, in Canada's industries and in global markets. Plus historian J.D.M. Stewart joins us for a special chat.

Listen in
Publication

Connect to Compete: Enabling Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age

COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for Canada’s entrepreneurial economy. This paper shows why some entrepreneurs have thrived while others are facing more barriers than ever.

Read about entrepreneurship before and after COVID-19
Publication

Navigating Canada-China Relations in a Turbulent Era

Canada’s relationship has deteriorated since Canada arrested Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou and China retaliated by arresting Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. The Trudeau government has weighed the costs of human rights advocacy from an increasingly repressive China against commercial interest with the world’s second-biggest economy. It’s led to a stalemate of sorts, but there are some actions Canada could take.

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Publication

Canada’s Complicated Tango with the U.S.

As a presidential election looms in the United States, Canada is facing three possible scenarios for its outcome. Trade with the U.S. remains largely as healthy as it was 30 years ago, but that could change as the country’s neighbour to the south looks inward. To combat this, Canada must continue to diversify while also trading south.

Delve into this report now
Policy Speaking

Podcast: Hydrogen – A competitive element of Canada's renewable future

Hydrogen promises a green bearing to Canada's energy economy, yet consumer applications are still out of reach. Grant Strem, CEO of hydrogen-tech company Proton Technologies, and Marty Reed, Vancouver venture capital investor, join Policy Speaking for a conversation about hydrogen energy in Canada and its potential as a catalyst for innovation – to give Canada a strategic competitive edge in the global, fast-growing technology economy.

Learn about hydrogen tech in Canada
Publication

Two Mountains To Climb: Canada’s Twin Deficits and How to Scale Them

Canada must come to grips not just with a massive fiscal shortfall but also consecutive deficits in our current account, a broad measure of our trading and investment relationship with the rest of the world. A government plan must be growth oriented if we are to get the twin deficits under control without resorting to the drastic measures of 25 years ago.

A must read now
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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