Canada

Hear the expression “precarious employment” or the “gig economy” and you’ll almost certainly think of the Uber driver who took you to the airport last week. However, precarious employment dates back much further. This report examines three entrenched models—construction workers, those in film and theatre, and those in academia—for recommendations governments can use to address the growing challenge of gig work.

What will it take to steward digital development and support workers and the broader public as we transition to a more automated future? Emerging leaders from the Banff Forum say the underlying principles we follow – and insist on – may make all the difference.

On Nov. 13 in Calgary, Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney explored three forms of reconciliation for Alberta's provincial government: with Alberta’s Indigenous people, of energy growth and environmental stewardship, and of the provincial and federal fields within Canadian Confederation.

The economic fortunes of rural Canada depend on attracting human capital, and while international students are highly skilled & qualified candidates for settlement, they don't often stick around. PPF Fellow Sean Speer identifies lessons from two promising programs in Atlantic Canada which seem to be convincing students to settle, against the odds.

The Public Policy Forum is delighted to announce Ilse Treurnicht has been elected the organization’s new Board Chair, and thanks outgoing Chair Anne-Marie Hubert for 10 years of service to PPF and its Canada-wide network of policy leaders.

With Brian comes rigour, quality and depth. Welcome!

Past Event

Over the past year, PPF's Prime Ministers of Canada Fellow, Sean Speer has been exploring urban and rural differences in Canada and how policymakers, business and community leaders, and the public can work to bridge the growing cultural, political and socio-economic characteristics of the urban-rural divide.

The economic gap between urban and rural places in Canada is significant and we cannot afford to let distressed communities come to the view that they don’t matter. PPF’s Prime Ministers of Canada fellow Sean Speer stresses the importance of cultivating a shared understanding of urban and rural cultures, and will travel across the nation in order to formulate a policy agenda that can bridge the urban-rural divide.

Building off of last year’s seminal report on the rise of the intangibles economy, PPF’s newest contribution to Canada’s economic conversation proposes an industrial plan to “rebuild Canada” post COVID-19. New North Star II presents a plan that accounts for the technological push-and-pull of today’s global economy and finds common ground between opposite ends of the political spectrum, in an effort to jump-start Canada's economy.

Past Event

Following tradition, Action Canada is heading to The Maritimes on its third study tour of 2019/20.

Past Event

This special one-day workshop before the PPF Fall Dinner will equip leaders from all sectors to think through the important public policy challenges for their organization presented by the current state of relations between China and the United States, and the implications for Canada. Only a few spots left!

Past Event

Canada already knows what it’s like to be caught between the wills of these two Great Powers. How do we manage their fraught relations? How do we cause the minimum damage to our economy and sovereignty, while standing up for what we believe is right? These are questions we will address with Dr. Graham Allison, one-time Assistant Secretary of Defense and founding dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, at our annual Fall Dinner — Nov. 19 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.

What does it mean to be adaptable and resilient as a worker, in the face of radical changes to work? With a focus on Alberta, emerging leaders from the Banff Forum and the City of Edmonton discussed policy lessons and policy solutions to prepare individuals and employers for workforce change.

What can we do about workers living paycheque to paycheque, with the rise of the gig economy and future changes to work? Emerging leaders from the Banff Forum gathered and came up with a holistic set of policy measures for improving the well-being of workers and to help prevent economic marginalization as work changes.