Latest news with #pan-Canadian
Cision Canada
12-05-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Canadian Corridors Project Aims to Strengthen Canada's Economic Backbone
School of Public Policy Advances Vision for Pan-Canadian Corridors Amid Rising Trade Tensions CALGARY, AB, May 12, 2025 /CNW/ - The concern over security of supply of critical goods as well as the supply chains that deliver them to domestic and global markets is mounting for Canadians and the School of Public Policy has done extensive work on the potential for new infrastructure corridors in Canada. This Issue Backgrounder about the Canadian Corridors Project builds on more than a decade of research by academics and subject matter experts on the opportunities and challenges of developing infrastructure corridors in Canada's North and near north. Building the long-overdue infrastructure right of ways — East, West and potentially North— linked to our existing transportation and infrastructure networks has taken on added significance with the Trump Administration's tariff wars and threats over our sovereignty. One critical task to creating a pan-Canadian economic corridors initiative will be to manage the often-conflicting objectives of local, provincial, territorial and federal governments, as well as First Nations. "Crises are also opportunities. Our radically changed circumstances call Canadians to rediscover the will to build critical nation-defining infrastructure that will deliver us a prosperous, shared future," said Dr, Anthony Sayers. Director, Canadian Governance at the School. The Canadian Corridors Project will be housed of the School's Canadian Governance areas focus. "Our extensive research into infrastructure corridor options for Canada, conducted for more than a decade, forms a critical base for dialogue, analysis and decision-making about possible infrastructure corridors in Canada—East, West and potentially even North—to address Canada's goals of economic prosperity, social prosperity and national security," said Dr. Kent Fellows, Program Director, The Canadian Northern Corridor Research Program. The School has conducted extensive research and analysis on the potential for national infrastructure corridors. The world has changed in 2025, and we see opportunities for Canada to build on the extensive work to date and do something transformative for Canada. For more information about the School of Public Policy and its initiatives, please visit ABOUT US The School of Public Policy is a key part of one of Canada's foremost research universities and a leader in advancing policies for more effective government while educating a new generation of change-makers to solve complex societal challenges. Founded in 2008 by renowned economist Jack Mintz, the school's mission is to provide a practical approach to public policy research and train students to solve real-world problems through a rigorous, hands-on program. The purpose-driven research aims to advance policy capacity in government; enhance the policy discourse nationally and bring a global perspective to Canadian policy theory and practice. The School provides an elite education through an intense Master of Public Policy (MPP) program or Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development (SEDV) with core curriculums and experiential learning that give students the tools to make an impact at the local, provincial, national and global levels.
Japan Times
30-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Carney's plan to manage Trump: Keep calm, find new friends
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney won the election Monday by promising to manage a mercurial U.S. president bent on waging a global trade war. Leaders around the world — desperate to defend their own beleaguered economies — will be watching to see if he knows how. A banker turned politician, Carney's calm demeanor appealed to Canadians unnerved by seeing the U.S. switch from trusted neighbor to adversary overnight. President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats to turn Canada into the 51st U.S. state turned the fortunes of Carney's Liberal Party, which for months appeared poised to lose the election to Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives. He assured anxious voters that the country could not just survive the trade war — but win it. Carney is likely to take that same sober approach — honed by steering two central banks through the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis — into his negotiations with Trump. He has already ditched the acrimonious tone of his predecessor, fellow-Liberal Justin Trudeau, who promised to punch back at every tariff. "Carney is unflappable when it comes to his negotiating style,' said Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University. Up to this point, he's shown he "can come out of a conversation with Trump and manage not to say anything that gets under Trump's skin in a way that Trump then feels he has to come tweeting.' Carney's plans rely on creating a more resilient Canadian economy — one better able to withstand U.S. pressure. His proposals include dismantling internal trade barriers among provinces, boosting housing construction and accelerating the development of energy infrastructure. He's also trying to build stronger alliances in Asia and Europe, to lessen Canada's dependence on the U.S. His even mien, however, accompanies a determination to fight. In nearly every campaign speech, Carney returned to a familiar line, delivered in the pan-Canadian language of hockey metaphor. "We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops their gloves,' he said Saturday night, addressing a crowd in Windsor, Ontario, an automotive town whose economy is tightly integrated with neighboring Detroit. And Carney, the former chair of Bloomberg, has cast the risk of losing the trade war in stark terms. "If we lose the negotiations because we give them what they want, we will lose as a country,' he said at a news conference two days before the election. "We'll be damaged.' For Canada, geography and history make decoupling from the U.S. almost impossible. About three-quarters of its exports flow south, from millions of barrels of crude oil via pipelines to more than 1 million vehicles shipped from its assembly lines each year. Agriculture, tourism, mining and other industries rely heavily on two-way trade with the U.S. The country simply has far more to lose from a protracted trade war than the U.S. does. "Canada Is Not For Sale" hats in a souvenir store in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday. | Bloomberg Thousands of Canadian factory workers have been watching with worry and anger as Trump ratcheted up tariffs and said he'd like to "permanently shut' Canada's auto industry — among other threats. The U.S. has targeted key Canadian exports including steel and aluminum and is coming for more, including lumber. In places like Windsor, the stakes of the trade war are deeply personal. Near the back of Saturday night's rally, retiree Sue Gaul held a red "Carney for Canada' sign and spoke about the unease sweeping through her community, home to plants owned by Stellantis NV and Ford Motor. Gaul said she doesn't expect Carney to immediately solve everything, but she feels more comfortable with him in charge. "Mark is a very calming person,' she said. "I just trust him, period.' Companies like Algoma Steel Group have a lot riding on a trade detente between Canada and the U.S. Three days before the election, Carney made a campaign stop at Algoma's plant in the border city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, pledging to "stand with every single Canadian targeted by President Trump's attacks on our country.' Laura Devoni, an executive with the company, said it has already laid off 30 workers and is losing millions of dollars a month under the U.S. tariffs. Carney, 60, will have to manage the unpredictable Trump while juggling an unstable political situation at home. Voters kept him on as prime minister, but it appears they've denied the Liberals the 172 seats needed for a House of Commons majority. The Liberals were leading or elected in 169 seats as of Tuesday afternoon Ottawa time, compared with 144 for the Conservatives and 30 for other parties. That means the prime minister will need to work with lawmakers from opposition parties in order to pass budgets, legislation — to accomplish anything major. "If I were him, I would draft some Conservatives onto a 'Team Canada' to negotiate with the U.S. and to coordinate on restructuring our economy and trade relationships,' said Jim Leech, former chief executive officer of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Some worry Carney's own competing priorities could hamper his response to Trump. He has, for example, called for building pipelines and trade corridors for Canadian oil to reach new markets other than the U.S. But he's also committed to the fight against climate change, which could require leaving some of the country's vast oil reserves untapped. "Carney saying that he wants to leave that stuff in the ground means we're going to starve to death,' said Philip Reichmann, founding partner of ReichmannHauer Capital Partners in Toronto. Carney and Trump spoke Tuesday, the prime minister's office reported, with Trump congratulating him on his election. They agreed to meet in person soon, although Carney's office did not give a specific date. "The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together — as independent, sovereign nations — for their mutual betterment,' the office said in a brief statement. Asked at a news conference Saturday if he's worried Trump would escalate beyond tariffs — even resorting to military force to back up his rhetoric about absorbing Canada — Carney shrugged off the idea. "The short answer is no,' he said. But then he outlined the scenario he is worried about: the use of tariffs to crush Canada's economy — and the nation's will. "The U.S. is trying to put economic pressure on us to gain major concessions,' Carney said, adding that Trump's threats of annexation should not be taken as a joke. "Right from the start, I took it seriously,' he said. "That drives the strength of our response to their tariffs.'
CBC
15-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Don't forget rural health care this federal election, Manitoba doctors and residents say
Doctors and residents in northern and rural Manitoba say health care in their communities must be a federal election priority this year, as emergency rooms continue to close and patients travel further and longer for care. The emergency room at Morris General Hospital, 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg, closed indefinitely in September 2023. It's one of several rural Manitoba ERs to shutter in recent years due to health-care worker shortages. "You can go there with somebody half dying, and all it's got is a thing on the door: The emergency's closed," said Eileen Klassen, 78, who lives down the road from the hospital. "It's not the doctors or the nurses. They work hard." Klassen counts herself lucky because after the ER closed, she experienced a stroke and survived. Instead of being rushed to the local hospital down the street, she was transported to Boundary Trails Health Centre near Winkler, Man. — about 45 kilometres away. The ER's closure also concerns Megan Adams, who lives with multiple sclerosis, and whose son had an allergic reaction to kiwi last summer. "When your son's life is being threatened and you have no choice but to call an ambulance and take your son on a 45-minute drive to receive treatment ... it can be pretty problematic," Adams said. Accessibility to health care is among Adams' top priorities this federal election. National strategy needed, physicians say Doctors Manitoba says this province falls second last in doctors per capita, at 219 physicians per 100,000 people, according to 2023 data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. For family doctors, Manitoba ranks last among the provinces at 107 doctors per 100,000 people. In northern and rural Manitoba, it's 94 physicians per 100,000 residents. The increasing doctor and health-care worker shortage is why the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada is calling on all federal parties to create a national rural health workforce strategy, fund a skills training program and implement a national licensing system that would make it easier for physicians to practice across the country. The NDP said in an emailed statement the party would bring more doctors to northern and rural areas by supporting pan-Canadian licensing. They'd also create regional and remote medical schools, fully implement Jordan's Principle and provide grants to rural family doctors to help them stay in communities, a spokesperson said. CBC did not hear back from the Conservative or Liberal parties before publication. Long-term skills training program needed Neepawa, Man., family doctor Nichelle Desilets knows patients are travelling further and longer for health care. "I think it, unfortunately, has been accepted as the new norm both in my community and surrounding areas," said Desilets, who is also the president-elect of Doctors Manitoba. While she acknowledges provincial and municipal governments also have large roles to play in attracting rural doctors, she says health care is also a federal election issue. "I know that there's a lot of people that are stressed over economic concerns, over tariffs from the United States … but we can't let health care fall too low on the priority list. That has to stay at the top," she said. Last week, Desilets gave a presentation at the University of Manitoba's Health Sciences Centre medical school campus, hoping to convince about a dozen medical students to work in northern and rural areas. Desilets explained how rural physicians are not only trained in family medicine but may also need expertise in emergency medicine, geriatrics, obstetrics, palliative care and surgery. The Society of Rural Physicians' president Dr. Gavin Parker says that's one of the main reasons doctors in rural areas decide to leave: They're "feeling uncomfortable with the clinical scenarios they might come across." He credits a recent national one-year pilot program with helping 342 doctors working in Indigenous and rural communities to upgrade their skills according to their needs. The federal government contributed $7.4 million to the advanced skills training program, which Parker says covered training and travel costs and paid for locums — doctors who fill in for physicians while they're away. "It was a hugely successful project," said Parker, who practices in Pincher Creek, Alta. That nationally co-ordinated program was based on others offered in some provinces, including Alberta, Parker said. Over his career, he says it's helped him retrain in anesthesia and cardiac stress testing. Doctors say rural health care 'in crisis' Parker is advocating for a national skills training program to become permanent, along with the creation of a national rural health workforce strategy to make sure, in part, that medical schools support and train students for the jobs that are available and in the locations where they're needed. He's also calling for pan-Canadian licensing, so doctors face fewer administrative and cost burdens to practice across different jurisdictions. Dr. Sarah Newbery, a rural generalist family doctor in Marathon, Ont., agrees. She describes northern and rural health care as being "in crisis." Part of the day-to-day challenges she experiences relate to the difficulties in finding locums when doctors get sick, go on vacation or retire. Newbery urges the next federal government to make sure there's an end-to-end pathway for doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, laboratory technicians and more — from how they're educated to how they're recruited and retained — to work in northern and rural areas. Without a strategy, Newbery and Parker say burnout and fatigue among rural doctors will accelerate, and patients will increasingly flood urban health-care facilities and lengthen emergency department wait times there. "We have an opportunity to focus on how we support and stabilize rural health services, and that will make it more appealing for people to work here," said Newbery, who co-chairs the society's health human resources committee. Klassen believes people in Morris, Man., and the surrounding areas deserve a better hospital with more services. "It makes me very worried since I had that stroke," Klassen said. Southern Health continues to face challenges recruiting rural family doctors, but efforts are ongoing, including to recruit internationally-trained physicians, a health authority spokesperson said in an email. They say the health authority is working to reopen the Morris hospital ER, although it's unclear when that will be. At 78, Klassen says she isn't going to move now, and she hopes the conversation on health care doesn't forget rural towns like hers. Doctors and residents in rural and northern Manitoba say health care in their communities must be a priority in this federal election, as emergency rooms continue to close and patients travel farther away for care.
