While one Greenpeace campaigner says the legislation grants cabinet ‘unchecked discretion’ to circumvent environmental laws, for CSG Senator Clément Gignac, it’s ‘a very large positive step in the right direction’ for the economy.
The federal government set a target of 155,000 new international student arrivals for 2026. However, according to Universities Canada, only 28,200 had arrived as of July 31, or about 18 per cent of the annual target.
We have no shortage of talent or ideas, but we need greater entrepreneurial momentum and smoother pathways to convert more of them into products, processes, and jobs.
In addition to importing star talent, a successful talent strategy must also develop, retain, and support researchers already here and those just starting their careers.
Large firms remain important, but they must sit alongside a dense ecosystem of agile domestic companies that solve niche technical problems, and scale into trusted suppliers at home and abroad.
Advanced expertise takes years to develop, and these capabilities cannot simply be created when a crisis emerges or a new priority appears.
Now, funding agencies need to create new structures, pathways, and policies that better reflect the interconnected nature of Indigenous Knowledges.
We need to get better at turning ideas into impact without weakening the fundamental research that makes those discoveries possible in the first place.
The keys to building our next anchor companies lie in our university labs and incubators. It’s time to unlock Canada’s potential.
Closer ties with the EU can help us diversify our markets, strengthen our climate policies, and direct capital toward the technologies and infrastructure that will define the next economy.
Worsened access to the U.S. market limits Canadian firms’ ability to scale up and strengthen productivity, making it more difficult to compete in markets around the world.
Economic transformation means layoffs and job losses. AI is another source of anxiety. What does that mean for us all in terms of a November budget?
Parliament has a critical role to play, and the Senate is well-placed to represent Canada’s regions, diverse communities and stakeholders in the important discussions to come.
While parliamentarians may not always agree, we should avoid allowing partisan or procedural squabbles to overshadow the work at hand.
There is always pressure on the Senate to pass government legislation quickly, though that pressure has ratcheted up lately.
Companies and investors need confidence that discoveries made in Canada can continue to be developed and commercialized here.
We should create and fund early-stage startups while allowing acquisitions—foreign or otherwise—to recycle capital, experienced executives, and technical expertise back into the ecosystem.
A promised $1-billion in the 2025 budget for the Venture and Growth Capital Catalyst Initiative—a program that includes a life sciences stream—has yet to begin flowing, according to Wendy Zatylny, president of BIOTECanada.
Our health-care system should not be a patchwork where some Canadians can access the medicine they need while others are left behind.
Government has an urgent opportunity to act so Canadian innovations can reach Canadian patients.
The challenge now is to turn our strengths into globally competitive companies that retain more intellectual property, jobs, and economic value in Canada.
The country excels at generating research and patents, but too often falls short in commercialization, scale-up, and retaining ownership of intellectual property.
This data should be treated as a strategic public resource, securely governed in Canada, and used first and foremost for the benefit of Canadians.
Recruiting talent is only the first step, and the pathway is broken at the grant level as funding fails to keep up with recruitment.
Maximizing the opportunity will depend on ensuring employers can access the skilled workforce needed to commercialize, scale, and strengthen Canadian capacity.
