Canada

Global events are creating unprecedented opportunities for Canada to attract capital, talent and companies. In an age of disruptive technological advances, Canada must focus on research, talent and innovation to strengthen its innovative capacity, global competitiveness, and economic and social fabric.  

Past Event

Discover how social media algorithms can prevent you from hearing the whole story. In this free lecture, Philippe Beaudoin, Co-Founder and Senior Vice-President of Research Group and Marc-Etienne Ouimette, Head of Public Policy & Government Relations at Element AI explain how algorithms can choose the content you see online and create ‘filter bubbles’. Join us March 14, at 5:30 p.m. at Concordia University.

Past Event

Discover how you cannot always believe what you see on digital platforms - thanks to new technology that can create fake photos and videos that look very, very real - in this free lecture by Carl Miller, Research Director at Demos. He'll explain how synthetic media can harm democracy March 6 at 10:00 a.m. at Dalhousie University, MacDonald Building, University Hall.

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.

Past Event

Discover the unseen forces on digital platforms that can affect what information you see – and what you don’t - in this free lecture by Carl Miller, Research Director at Demos. He'll explain how the ‘attention economy’ can harm democracy March 4, 6 p.m. at the SFU Vancouver Harbour Centre.

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.

Past Event

Celebrating leaders making Canada and the Atlantic region richer through their ingenuity and initiative, join us for PPF's Atlantic Dinner and Frank McKenna Awards. This year we honour Fred Hyndman, Zita Cobb, Louis R. Comeau, Karen Oldfield and Karina LeBlanc in Halifax.

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.

Many Canadians use digital platforms without fully understanding the technology behind them and how they are changing political culture, democratic participation and trust. Digital Democracy 101 aims to grow Canadians' understanding of new digital technologies and their relationship with the democratic process.

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.