Z- Canada Next

Get the whole Canada Next series in one document. Choose the complete collection of full reports, a collection of summaries only, or a recap of recommendations for provinces, territories and municipalities.

The public sector should expand its interchange program with the private sector in order to diversify its employees’ networks and skill sets and, in so doing, help the public service face employment challenges and disruptive technologies.

Canada’s labour market will not have the skilled workers it needs unless we change the way we train workers today. As automation spurs rapid change, Canada needs to change its approach to education, training and skills development in order to close the skills gap.

While some provinces feast on clean power and export excess to the U.S., others face famine. A Canada Clean Power Fund could knit together a national grid to create a competitive advantage in the low-carbon future.

Innovative policy, new technology, faster adaptation and ways to build public support are all needed to manage climate-change risks, which will be critically important to Canada for decades to come.

In a fast-changing economy characterized by part-time work, gigs, frequent changes of employers and reskilling, Canada should consider creating a nimble benefits and pension system that is tied to the worker rather than the employer and ensures ease of access, portability, coverage and generosity.

As our economy becomes more data driven, Canadians need a national data strategy that encourages innovation, provides security and privacy, that prioritizes transparency and oversight, and that transcends jurisdictional barriers.

As permanent employment declines, workers switch jobs more often, and training programs fail to adapt, the world needs an open platform for employment and training. A global effort, like the one that built the International Space Station in the 1990s, could provide the funding and critical mass of data needed­—and Canada could lead it.

To encourage innovation in artificial intelligence while minimizing risks, Canada should adopt an incremental risk management approach to AI governance, supported by two new advisory institutions.

Canada’s governments are preparing to spend historic amounts on infrastructure. To avoid creating ‘white elephants’, they should follow six key principles that will help the projects improve the country’s productivity, competitiveness and social equity.

Canada must unlock the vast economic and human potential of small towns and rural communities by building the broadband infrastructure needed for citizens to prosper in an innovative, modern digital world.

Canadians are already adopting digital- and data-driven solutions to improve their health, but their healthcare system lags far behind. Canada’s governments must adopt innovation, consumer-driven models and new regulatory frameworks in order to improve health outcomes for all.

Decision makers in all fields face intense challenges to keep up with geopolitical transformation, the sweeping innovations of the digital age, the impacts on work sparked by artificial intelligence, and the catastrophic effects of climate change. Edward Greenspon and Drew Fagan introduce the challenges that Canada Next addresses.

Canada is in flux. Technological, demographic and climate disruption will have a profound effect on the economy, the workforce, democracy, and on public services. In Canada Next: 12 Ways to Get Ahead of Disruption, top policy thinkers suggest how Canadians can not only adapt to change but embrace new possibilities in an age of uncertainty.

Past Event