Canada

PPF's Edward Greenspon and the Vice-Chair of the BMO Financial Group Kevin Lynch share their opinion on Canada-China trade in this Maclean's op-ed. They discuss how the Canadian government must diversify its economy, and China is the obvious target. But that there are risks with such a partnership.

Past Event

This conference brought together key leaders from across Inuit Nunangat to develop a united call to action on steps to achieve Inuit economic reconciliation

Canada can truly diversify its trade and break its dependence on a single partner by pursuing a strategy built on sectoral trade agreements with China. 

Andy Blatchford writes that the authors of the PPF report "Diversification Not Dependence: A Made-in-Canada Strategy" argue that Canada can do more business with China 'in such a way that should not offend' the U.S. through a a surgical, sector-by-sector approach.

Past Event

Special guest announcement - The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. On Oct. 30, join us, the Minister and our panel for a discussion on Indigenous women in the law facilitated by the Public Policy Forum's Prime Ministers of Canada Fellow Karen Restoule. The panel discussion will be followed by a reception.

After six tornadoes ripped through the Ottawa region, there will likely be a review of how authorities responded to this event. The aim of such exercises is to identify the “lessons learned” from the incident in order to improve response and resilience in the future. Unfortunately, “lessons learned” is one of the most misused terms in emergency management.

In 2017, the Public Policy Forum dedicated its annual Prime Ministers of Canada Fellowship to the idea of governance in the digital age. The goal was to explore and explain how the world is changing and how governments are responding. Kent Aitken won that Fellowship and wrote a report that practitioners can use as a resource as they contemplate the pressures of change on governance systems. Governance in the Digital Age is the result of a year of research, surveys and interviews with about 300 government practitioners and stakeholders in Canada and around the world.

Radio Canada spoke with PPF's Carl Neustaedter about the report "Mind the Gaps: Quantifying the Decline of News Coverage in Canada". The report found that news coverage has dropped in local communities, and specifically there's less civic coverage of courts and city hall - civic institutions which are the pillars of democracy.

Past Event

Action Canada’s 16 Fellows will gather again in cosmopolitan Montreal where they’ll attend Resetting the Table, Food Secure Canada's 10th Assembly. It’s the third study tour of the 10-month program and will provide opportunities to meet many of the experts that will inform the three research projects that are taking shape.

"The Canadian journalism industry may be able to learn a thing or two from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, according to a new report," reads the CBC News article about the PPF report What the Saskatchewan Roughriders Can Teach Canadian Journalism. "The report is one of two released on Tuesday by the Public Policy Forum. The other adds to concerns about the decline of the industry and says the number of articles published in newspapers across 20 small and mid-sized Canadian communities declined by 50 per cent between 2008 and 2017." Accompanying the article was a radio interview with PPF's CEO Edward Greenspon.

Local news across Canada has been cut in half in the last decade, writes Terry Pedwell of The Canadian Press. In this Globe & Mail article, he highlights a new PPF report “Mind The Gaps — Quantifying The Decline of News Coverage in Canada” which looks specifically at the decline in civic reporting of civic institutions like city hall, police stations and courts.

Many different approaches to support journalism, locally and beyond, have emerged in recent years in the wake of the sharp decline of traditional industry players. Public policy will play a crucial role in shaping the rules for ownership innovation and protected space for Canadian journalism.

In our study of 20 small and mid-sized Canadian communities, the number and depth of newspaper articles about civic affairs declined sharply between 2008 and 2017, leaving citizens less informed about their democratic institutions.

As part of her PPF PM Fellowship, Karen Restoule's project will bring together 15-20 highly engaged, Indigenous thought leaders to co-create a vision for what Indigenous nation-building, Indigenous leadership and a renewed nation-to-nation relationship look like—and what is needed to achieve concrete change.

In this Business in Vancouver article, we explore the history of the Peter Lougheed Award winners. Winners will be celebrated at this year's Western Dinner in Vancouver Sept. 19. Sue Paish and Andrew Petter are highlighted in the article. To learn more about this year's winners -