Report on “AGENDA 2022” Conference

• Date: December 6, 2021, 12:00 am to 12:00 am
• Location: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbceGf4FA5NxXuYv0qNwsow/videos
• For more information:

Report on AGENDA 2022
Priorities for the new Parliament and Government
Priorités pour le nouveau Parlement et le nouveau gouvernement

December 6-8, 2021 / 6-8 décembre 2021

Watch webinars here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbceGf4FA5NxXuYv0qNwsow/videos

Canada has a new Parliament and Government. There are many critical issues that need urgent attention. Join us to talk about an Agenda for 2022, and the issues that urgently need to be addressed in the year ahead and beyond!

We will focus on innovative solutions. So much to do, so little time, what’s needed most?

The main themes are:
– Innovative Economic Recovery
– The Caring Agenda
– Reconciliation and Advancement
– Climate Change and Energy policy

We will also address the broader political and societal environment including:
– constructive policy development by citizens and parliamentarians,
– overcoming the growing disaffection and divisions in our society.

SPEAKERS will include leading thinkers, academics, business and labour representatives, civil society reps, Parliamentarians and media. Papers will also focus on some key solutions. This fall conference will be largely held via webinar and be free to attend.

– Senator Bernadette Clement, Independent Senators Group; Former Mayor of Cornwall, ON
– Peggy Nash, Chair, Centre for Labour Management Relations, RyersonU; Former NDP MP
– James Scongack, Chief Development Officer & EVP, Bruce Power
– Tom Jackson,  Award-winning Actor and Musician, Activist
– Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain, Former Lt. Governor of New Brunswick
– Dave Bulmer, President and CEO of AMAPCEO – Ontario’s Professional Employees
– Frank Baylis, Executive Chairman, Balyis Medical, Montreal (Former MP)
– Hon Jim Carr, MP (Former Minister of Natural Resources)
– Senator Peter Harder, Progressive Senators Group
– Brian Kingston, President & CEO, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association
– Senator Kim Pate, Independent Senators Group
– Sandra Pupatello, Advisory Board Member, Pearson Centre
– Lisa Raitt, Vice-Chair, Global Investment Banking, CIBC (Former Conservative Minister)
– Sean Strickland, Executive Director, Canada’s Building Trades Unions
Co-Chairs:
– Brian Gallant, CEO, Centre for Purpose of the Corporation; Former Premier of New Brunswick
– Indira Naidoo-Harris, Assistant VP, Human Rights, University of Guelph; former Ontario MPP and Minister 
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CONFERENCE REPORT

Innovative Economic Development
Dec 6, 2021

Key Takeaways:
 Canada is facing very significant headwinds; the single greatest challenge in public policy is dealing with incremental decline.

 We recommend the creation of Prosperity Council to advise all stakeholders on a broader shared agenda amongst provinces, territories, and other leaders on these important issues on what are the performance indicators to achieve this complex goal in a federation.

 Cooperative federalism in Canada by its very nature must have a degree of cooperation; we achieve good things when we do, we can look to the gold star era of the Pearson government that worked cooperatively to do transformative public policy.

 We are still struggling, certainly what the pandemic, graphically revealed are the failings of our current public policy regime. And showed where inequality is baked into our institutions and baked into our economy.
Guests:
Hon. Lisa Raitt, Vice-Chair, Global Investment Banking, CIBC; and a former Minister
Senator Peter Harder, Senate Prosperity Action Group
Katherine Scott, Senior Researcher, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
Moderator: Brian Gallant, Conference Co-chair, and CEO at Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation former Premier of New Brunswick

Starting proposition: A fulsome recovery needs three things, economic recovery, climate change adaptation and an inclusive approach to better wages and working conditions for all employees

Highlights of report/discussion from each panelist’s organization
• CCPA just released its alternative federal budget: Mission Critical: A Just and Equitable Recovery. An initiative that upwards of 100 people fed into across a range of organizations to bring new policy ideas forward. The CCPA has been responding in real time to these huge policy shifts due to the pandemic. Recommended initiatives are costed out and revenue strategy suggestions made for where the revenue could come from.

• The Coalition for a Better Future (CBF) is made up of 115 associations and organizations that came together with the common thread that economic growth needs to be at the heart of the things that were of concern for the coalition: jobs and job creation, climate change, and inclusion. Economic growth is seen as what makes sustainability possible. The Coalition has come up with an annual Scorecard of 21 key metrics of what’s working and what’s not that any government would be interested in.

• Prosperity Action Group (PAC) in the Senate asked 3 big policy questions: Where is the economic growth going to come from to sustain our economic and social well-being? What is a realistic fiscal anchor for Canada in the face of a post-covid reality? What have we learned from the Covid experience that can inform our growth agenda? Have had 43 meetings with 73 experts, including some interesting international economic thinkers like Kristalina Georgieva IMF director, Larry Summers, and Joseph Stiglitz. In September 2021, put out our report Rising to the Challenge of New Global Realities.

• So many performance indicators show decline: the sluggish grow rate, the current account deficit, debt service cost, weak productivity numbers, aging population, labour market gaps, interprovincial trade barriers, the tax effectiveness of our compliance regimes and our broad regulatory framework policies are not designed for the digital revolution we are undergoing.

• We need a broader framework for a transition to a low carbon economy, the human capital transformation, geopolitical climate is changing, and we need a more inclusive strategy to underpin an economic growth agenda.

Let’s talk post-pandemic let’s not lose sight that there is work still to be done on Covid
• CCPA focused on several areas: failure of our public health infrastructure critical investments in mental health; the care economy, long term care, childcare, which speaks to the disconnect between our stated public goals and the tools in place.

• PAC recognizing inclusive growth actions items for a robust economy: our recommendations include tax reform for example raising the GST; fiscal anchors, having a fiscal framework and a program ceiling for expenditures.

• CBF we need bold policies and plans. There are some valuable reports that we point too that have great ideas for the government e.g., the Barton Report, Minister of Innovation’s industry strategy council’s report: Restart, Recover and Reimagine Prosperity, the PAC Senate report and the CCPA’s Alternative budget all have credible information that can inform the governments progress. Need to have eye on economic growth all the time.

• CCPA’s Alternative Budget has put forward some very specific measures that would advance more inclusiveness in the Canadian economy. The imperative to create decent jobs; need to revisit the infrastructure programs that are in place as they are slow on delivering.

• PAC proposes targets to inclusion, unless there is improvement to labour participation levels of marginalized groups and equity participation of indigenous businesses, we will not have the growth that we need.

• I am very concerned about women and the impacts on women from Covid. We are seeing employment coming back, but women have caregiving responsibilities, and it is important to track if women are coming back into the workforce.

Climate Change
 There are 6 categories in the CBF’s Scorecard, and one is climate change, what are the elements of this? Important metric to measure – emission reduction and look at how clean tech is doing as an industry do, we have the right policy framework in place? As well as measure our electricity and our power across the country to see what percentage is coming from zero emissions. All this is going to take multi billons dollars so let’s promote economic growth.
• PAC is asking how do you want to achieve these goals in a federation?

Finance sustainability going forward
• Yes, deficits are higher but given the pandemic we need to determine what kind of investment we need going forward. We include many revenue strategies to offset the suggested investments. We are rethinking and need to make some tough decisions for expenditure reductions.

• Anchors for financial health clear consensus on the following our debt service cost -the dodge rule. Ceiling on direct program expenditures fiscal framework that markets help on the confidence side, which is growth generator. We have suggested revenue sources such as the HST as well as stronger enforcement of revenue gaps in compliance issues.

Theme of the political realm of Collaboration
• Need to have a more cooperative federalism. In terms of the caring economy the federal government has an important role in ensuring equitable and fair and just service across the country if we look at childcare or long-term care, how do we create more robust structures.

 Need to have our act together and have a broad shared agenda, we need to do more and have at least 5 federal/provincial/territorial meetings on the economy to have some degree of shared objectives.

Climate Change and Energy Policy
Dec 6, 2021

Key Takeaways:
 Nuclear is an important part of Canada’s transition to net zero going forward; over 60% of the power in Ontario comes from nuclear energy.

 Cities need to plan for the infrastructure of the future, manage growth and vote for people that will take these issues seriously.

 The challenge is that these are 10-15 years away – we need significant infrastructure investment now to transition jobs to the new energy markets of the future.

 Infrastructure should be depoliticized, and we should allocate a % of GDP to infrastructure every year so that the industry can plan for that in a more systemic and thoughtful way.
_______________________________________________________________________
Guests:
Sean Strickland, Executive Director, Canada’s Building Trades Unions.
James Scongack, Chief Development Officer & Executive Vice-President, Operational Services, at Bruce Power
Senator Bernadette Clement, of the Independent Senators Group, and former Mayor of Cornwall.
Moderator: James Maloney, M.P. former Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, House of Commons

Starting Proposition: Canada needs to transition its energy use and workforce to a greener future as soon as feasibly possible

Role of cities
• Traditional industries are changing, so the investments around climate change and resiliency are real. Cornwall was having a lot of flooding issues and we needed to address this, Municipalities are close to the ground and are good at planning, partnerships, and collaborations.

• In Waterloo, there is a great role that municipalities can play in mitigating climate change and preparing for a net-zero economy through policy. Two things to consider: one is to ensure you have the right kind of infrastructure to deal with the increasing number of severe weather events and the same time to invest in preventative measures to reduce the frequency of these sever events going into the future.

• Waterloo invested a billion dollars in a light rail system, as a regional municipality we wanted to protect our rural/urban balance of life and in order to do that we wanted to grow up rather than out. By growing up you can protect farmland and reduce increased transportation network sand cars on the road.

• Water and wastewater infrastructure operations are very inefficient and are about100 years old in most municipalities. The largest energy bills that we have are from these 2 areas due to leakage. There is a whole raft of investment that could be made to help reduce our carbon footprint in these areas.

• One of the concerns around new initiatives is: what are the buzzwords of the day that respond to limited funds. We need to be careful – governments are challenged in deciphering initiatives of highest impact for allocating precious resources.

Role of renewables including nuclear energy; Keeping it safe
• We shouldn’t look at the nuclear debate in isolation; we need an all the above strategy: nuclear, wind, storage, and hydro to get to emission targets quickly. We need to communicate the facts on nuclear industry. Education is a key component to moving forward.

• Nuclear is part of the just transition and a balanced energy mix; we announced the first ever green bond for nuclear power, 500-million-dollar green bond.

• What is one of the top 10 climate change reduction initiatives around the world in the past decade: it was the phase out of coal-fired power in Ontario it was one of the most successful emission reduction programs. 70% of the energy to replace that coal comes from nuclear energy.

• The building trades do a lot of work in the oil and gas sector, if we talk about a just transition to net zero a recent TD Bank report suggests that we could lose 400,000 jobs. We need to think about nuclear energy, small modular reactors, carbon sequestration, and hydrogen.

• Very important that there is transparency and for non-partisan collaboration on climate change, which needs to be central to our municipal plans. Cities do planning well but need partners across the board to help fund expensive innovative transition projects.

The big green infrastructure projects for the years ahead
• Governments should find a way to fund options development, and support early engineering, early regulatory approvals, and early engagement with communities. This is how the private sector works by developing 10 options where only 4 have the potential to go forward.

Keeping the climate change debate constructive and non-partisan
• All roads lead back to community, and they will keep demanding that we work together; municipalities are taking their place.

• Effective models of just transitions exist where labour; government and industry are at the table managing the transition with appropriate training in place, right kind of tax incentives, recognition of the need to fast-track regulatory process, provide tax incentives, and incentives for skill trades worker mobility to make sure that workers are not left behind.

• Small municipalities need to attract people to their communities to have a workforce and keep people in their communities and working in these new sectors. Infrastructure is the critical piece in all of this for cities.

• Look at what are the jobs in theory displaced and where is there a home for them. The multiplication effect of jobs, if big industries shut down the attendant businesses suffers –it’s an ecosystem-and there are economic impacts.

The Caring Agenda
December 7, 2021
Key Takeaways:
 We are taking a bold step forward on early childhood education and childcare and this crucial investment will pay for itself now and in the long term. So, let’s start with the child and the rights of the child to have universal access to high quality developmental education. It is an investment that pays back as shown by evidence and multiple studies.

 To politically advance the issues of the caring agenda look to your MP and provide tangible evidence to go forward in a private members bill, motions, studies that get the awareness to the point that we realize we must act.

 There is already a cost to not doing anything, look at the failing systems that are costing us billions of dollars. We need to rethink how we do this the Parliamentary budget officer has costing on this and ultimately it pays for itself.

 Economic redistribution is long overdue in addition to principled national standards and a guaranteed basic income.

Guests:
Jane Bertrand replacing the Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain, is the program director at the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation, which focuses on Early Child Education (ECE), she is also adjunct professor at OISE.
Sheila J Regehr, is the Chair, of the Basic Income Canada Network and former ED for the National Council of Welfare.
Senator Kim Pate, national advocate for some of the most marginalized communities, especially in prisons and the legal system, a leading proponent of a national basic income.
Scott Simms, Former MP of Newfoundland, and Labrador.
Moderator Andrew Cardozo, President of the Pearson Centre

Starting Proposition: That Canada should get the national Early Childhood Education and Childcare system in place in short order and set out a medium-term plan for better senior’s care, pharma care, mental health care, dental care, and basic income.

ECE & Childcare
• Working on this for 50 years and now we have made a huge leap forward in the past year, so we are just at the very beginning of execution after decades of hard work. We have taken a huge leap forward and now have significant investments, evolving agreements tailored to each region, so a lot of work to be done to implement.

• We had this same conversation in 2004 when Paul Martin launched a national childcare exercise. ECE is a prime example of how we need to be careful in the execution, especially in rural and remote canters. It is not a one-sized fits all.

• We are at the point where there is recognition of how important childcare is to the Canadian economy. Legislation is promised down the road so that this is a long-term commitment.

Senior’s care – Federal government has pledged national standards
• One of the biggest issues is poverty, primarily senior’s poverty in this instance. Most important in seniors care is the Guaranteed Income Supplements, but we need national care standards, that allow seniors to not fall through the cracks and have clarity on what they can and cannot do if they get GIS.

• Opportune time as COVID has revealed that for profit care has yielded some horrific results for
Seniors. We can fund it if we do it in a way that generates economic growth; it is shown that for every dollar invested it yields several dollars in savings revenue. Going forward we also need to address tax reform.

• The Pandemic has shown that unless we are all ok none of us are going to be ok. We are now at the point where we recognize that we have an opportunity to turn things around.

Basic Income – arguments for and against; Political support?
• What is a basic income, it is essentially what we provide for seniors, but it is designed for the 18-64 age group as well, so employment is rewarded as much as possible? It is a continuum of care that is needed in society and across families, to ensure that there is financial security for everybody.

• PEI is ready to go to demonstrate the roll out of a basic income strategy they just need the Feds to
come to the table.

• There is a lot of intersectionality between basic income and ECE for example there are connections across the objectives. Looking at the care agenda holistically is very important, need to look at who does what best; the interaction between income and services need to be sorted out.

• I want to really stress the results that came out of the Ontario’s basic income pilot the showed a dramatic decrease in depression, anxiety, and mental health problems. People getting off medications or reducing medications, there was less use of violence, less alcohol abuse.

• Advancing care for person with disabilities, must provide the opportunity and supports for people. We need to provide both for people who want to care for their disabled family members as well as people with disabilities. Australia has set the gold standard with the creation of its national disability insurance program.

Cost to the Treasury/national debt
• The right people should start paying a bit more, corporate tax, and those companies that making runaway profits need to do their part and recognize the essential benefit of monetizing a ‘caring agenda’.

Economic Recovery and Growth
December 7, 2021

Key Takeaways:
 Pandemic has put a spotlight on the fissures in our society, what it shows are where the inequities and the precariousness of many front-line jobs are. We have a problem with tax havens and the notion that the system is rigged. People don’t feel that the system is working for them we need to address the inequities, rebuild trust.

 The core issue is that we must increase our electricity generation capacity and delivery.

 Part of the puzzle is building the grid to support electrification. This is a trillion-dollar investment, and it will take decades.

 Another real challenge in finding high skilled trades people in the auto sector; we need to attract and stream more Canadians into these job areas. Job vacancies across sectors are looming.
Guests:
Peggy Nash, Former NDP MP and Finance Critic, Chair of the Centre for Labour Management Relations at Ryerson University.
Brian Kingston, President & CEO, of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association
Ian Lee, Economist, associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business
Moderator Don Arseneault, Pearson Board Member and Government Relations Manager for the Canadian Building Trades Union.

Proposition: Key to Canada’s economic recovery and growth is the green economy and new sectors.

Where do things stand today, current short-term key challenges?
• In a post-pandemic period where huge job vacancies are harming the recovery, the auto industry alone has a potential shortage of 45,000 workers, which is a major labour challenge.

• Growing inflation which is hurting poor people the most

• We also have an affordability crisis: homes, food, goods

• A care crisis: healthcare, mental health, eldercare, long-term care

• A lot of pent-up consumer demand but there are supply chain headwinds where there is no inventory to meet the demand.

Sectors most affected by the pandemic – those that still need government assistance?
• Small business, travel and tourism, long-term care badly affected and industry supply chain issues, a transition to the decarbonized economy will require significant government investment.

• Not able to save corporations that are no longer viable; need to develop a program that supports businesses that can survive and thrive.
• Need assistance on the transformation of the auto industry; need a plan to transition to electrification in a zero-emission product.

• Need incentives to attract manufacturing and consumer incentives to buy electric vehicles.

Better wages and working conditions for all workers, especially those low-paid essential workers.
• Pandemic has put a spotlight on the fissures in our society, what it shows are where the inequities and the precariousness of many front-line jobs are. We have a problem with tax havens and the notion that the system is rigged. People don’t feel that the system is working for them we need to address the inequities, rebuild trust.

• What is essential is that assistance programs need to be within the 3 core principles of the Unemployment Insurance Act. However, people in precarious jobs are not helped by EI so we need to build on EI and blend in the people that are excluded like gig workers etc.

• The minimum wage increases are very important across the country and different provinces have approached this and federal liberals have promised to do a national minimum wage.
The growth sectors and new sectors
• A rebuilding needs to take place from the ground up to build our green infrastructure.

• Mining and minerals underpin our ability to move forward as critical minerals are required in this huge transition
The green economy
• There is an opportunity for Canada to be a leader to achieve net-zero; we need to move quickly to develop our mineral resources.

• Electrification is extremely challenging, and we need a plan in place, Canada needs to double its energy capacity by 2050.

• From an auto perspective if by 2050 we have 40 million electrical vehicles we would need between 2 and 4 million charging points to support this. In Ontario we can’t even agree to put charging points in the building code, so we have a long way to go.

• Greening the economy has a deep intersection with indigenous reconciliation, there is a real opportunity to work collaboratively with indigenous communities for mutual benefit.

Issues for the Prairies and Western Canada

Key Takeaways:
 The urgency of climate change is the number one issue that the younger generation are concerned about. The intensity and anxiety of the young is real, and they want to know what to do and how to get involved in change and policy development.

 Court decisions have brought about the understanding that nothing is going to happen in Canada without co-development with indigenous people.

 Diversification of our exports markets is critical and there are significant investments in the development of new and emerging markets, and to smooth the transitions.

 60% of Ontario’s energy is from nuclear power.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Guests:
Honourable Jim Carr, M.P. former Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of International Trade, and special representative for the Prairies in conversation with Sandra Pupatello, past chair of the Pearson Centre and Former Minister of Economic Development in Ontario, she is the President of Canadian International Avenues Ltd.

Pandemic/post pandemic challenges for economy and workers
• It has been really challenging for the western provinces recently from flooding to fires, to drought. Stereotypes are obstacles to progress, societies in the west are changing and changing rapidly for example they are leading the world in life sciences.

• I have spent the past year and half talking to producers, academics, union organizers, prairie folk and western Canadians what is impressive is the capacity to absorb new realities to take those realities and develop new policies from them.

• The west has been forced by dint of serious climate events, there has been good collaboration to deal with our common interests. But it is also a time of great opportunity as well; we produce on the prairie what the world wants and what the world needs: protein, energy, organization.

• You must come to terms with the pace of change against the acceleration of urgency, as we must make these very tough decisions on what to prioritize and how to move on several fronts at the same time.

Priorities for Reconciliation
• Among the great lessons I have learned from indigenous people is that the fruits of the earth are for everyone; we are not going to exploit the land without partnership with indigenous people.

• Need to invest in infrastructure but building infrastructure involves land.

New sectors: Innovation/technology/green economy
• Need to invest in infrastructure to assist in the drought or dykes and dams to respond to flooding/fires, and the issues with supply chains. Need for investing in the capacity of western ports and ensuring fewer labour or other disruptions. Opportunities in the future with the opening of Hudson Bay.

• You respond to the immediate and the necessary and come up with the resources and develop a political consensus to combat what is urgent. Need to come up with a short-term and long-term plan.

• We face several simultaneous challenges that require ingenuity and innovation. People understand that things are not static and that requires adaptation. The young farmers that I have met with were very impressive in how many were engaged in new farming practices that are responding to climate change and the changing demands of new markets.

• Speed bumps in the world of trade but we should focus on Southeast Asia; the diversification of our export markets is critical to the future of western economies, and we need to understand those markets better. The province with the most diversified export market is Saskatchewan.

Oil and Gas
• Understand what you are trying to accomplish which is to reduce fossil fuels and not jeopardize employment for young people

• Alberta is in a conundrum, as we start moving out of fossil fuel; what you are trying to accomplish is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring jobs for young people.

• The pace of change is better understood, and people do understand that there is an increasing reliance on renewable sources of energy, including nuclear power, and sustainable ways of extracting energy.

• The world must change to meet new energy challenges, Ontario got off coal, it’s difficult so how is the rest of the world moving in that direction and changing? Need more multilateral cooperation, for the complex issues that the international community is facing across a wide range of intense and immediate public policy issues.

• We need to give up some national control to meet international objectives; the Pandemic is a classic example of where this is obvious.

The Future of Work in Large Workplaces
December 8, 2021
Key Takeaways:
 Although Canada and advance economies are stalled there are opportunities and challenges; to achieve a higher growth rate a big piece of the puzzle is human capital.

 People’s life priorities after the pandemic are now health and family and for young people mental health. As well as work life balance, diversity, and inclusion the values of the organizations.

 Closing the earnings gaps of visible minorities could add a lift of 30 billion a year to GDP.

 Housing affordability is a huge challenge, 60% of immigrants end up in the 3 major cities, but how do we keep talent if housing is not within reach.

Guests:
Dave Bulmer, President, and CEO of AMAPCEO – Ontario’s Professional Employees, his Union represents 15,000 professionals across Ontario.
Cynthia Leach, Economist and Senior Director, Economic Thought Leadership, at the Royal Bank.
Moderator: Brian Gallant, Conference Co-Chair and CEO at Canadian Centre for Purpose of the Corporation, he is a former Premier of New Brunswick.

Starting proposition: large workplaces should explore hybrid working for the long term, where most workers take turns being in the workplace; and they receive support for home workspaces.

How have workplaces fared during the Covid lockdown?
• AMAPCEO represents 15,000 professionals who are part of 65,000 who work for the province of Ontario. We are the second largest employer in the province, during Covid 98% of professionals worked from home and we have just started a hybrid return.

• The biggest challenge is there can be no disruption of services. We had to move things offline and back online as quickly as possible. About 50% had to continue to work from the workplace while others were remote.

• Positives have been the new technologies we have had to come up with like ways to meet with the greater membership by having town halls in TV studios. Time is better managed than before because we must schedule it to proceed.

Level of satisfaction with remote work by management and unions
• Overall, those who remain on the frontlines have had to take on a greater level of risk. For those who are working remotely there is some who want to work full time form home, however there are those who want to be in the workplace full time.

• We need to develop the skill sets that allow managers to work with their team remotely. And we need a modernization workplace to attract new people.

• For the employer there are fewer expenses from the real estate and utilities side, able to get rid of a lot of infrastructure required for the traditional workplace. Longer term benefits less traffic on the road, less impact on infrastructure, good for the climate and employee’s ability to live in smaller less expensive cities.

• We need to shift to a recruitment model for the public service to find the brightest minds to compete in the public sector for talented people.

What next?
• Highlights of the RBC report: The Great Canadian Restart, slow and muted pace of labour force growth and productivity with this report the question we are asking is: does it have to be that way?

• A more digital, knowledge-based, services based, greener economy could be avenues to increase our business investments and talent to achieve a higher growth rate.

• We know that in the next 15 years we will see 1.5 million people leave the labour force we need to recruit talent and equip the labour force with the skills of the future. It is not just about attracting but developing talent, especially soft skills.

• Trends during the pandemic show we are on the path to population aging, immigration are not yet back
on track. Look for untapped human capital that the Canadian economy could leverage to stimulate growth potential. For example, women, and wage gaps – in the long term we need to bring new growth pathways into the labour market.

• What needs to happen with immigration for example, the competition for global talent is going to get greater. There needs to be a more forward-looking approach in the special visa categories for skills trades, health care and credential recognition supports targeting smaller employers to help with recognizing credentials.

• Provincial public service 65,000 employees, we have a very lean public service we have done this by early retirement packages, so we are not going to see a lot of attrition. One of our challenges is the mid-career employees that seem to move on. Also need to fast track credential recognition is an absolute.

• Future of work will be in the health sector, tremendous need for people we should make that back into good full-time jobs. From a policy perspective we need to change our thoughts from precarious work to permanent attractive positions.

• There is a real opportunity for services growth; Canada is a service economy, ton of opportunity for growth. Childcare is an important lever; it is a step in the right direction, but it will depend on the structure. And the talent we need in childcare to provide the services.

• There are economic benefits to addressing the inequalities in the labour force. 1.2 million would be added to the labour force if we close the labour gap between men and women. The private sector should be looking at people with disabilities as a rich source of talent.
• To attract youth into the labour force, we must take stock of what youth want. The ability to have flexible and quality of life jobs, sick leave with pay, broader compensation packages. Life-long learning, bring in the best talent and be willing to spend money to train them.

• Curriculums need to be updated to digital skills and more exposure to skill trades. Need new collaborative models to support small business to transition to the new economy for Canada.

Canada Africa and Canada South Africa and Omicron Issues
December 8, 2021

Guest:
H.C. Sibongiseni Dlamini-Mntambo, High Commissioner of South Africa to Canada in conversation
with Moderator: Indira Naidoo-Harris, Conference Co-Chair; Pearson Advisory Board Member.
AVP, Diversity & Human Rights · University of Guelph

What is the state of Canada – Africa Relations?
• The relations and collaboration between Canada and Africa are very important; this year I did a roundtable organized by the Canada Growth Coalition that looked at ways to improve these relations. Before COVID hit Africa was seen as a continent that was the next frontier of global prosperity.

• First, it has enormous and abundant natural resources of platinum, manganese, cobalt, oil and gas, gold just to name a few. Secondly it has a youthful, dynamic, and educated population, which is an attractive market for foreign goods. Thirdly decisive policies have led to remarkable improvements in African institutions of political governance and economic management.

• There also have been significant investments in the building of modern infrastructure, of the ports and airports. South Africa has one of the best airports in the world. Canada is still lagging in this growing momentum to build strong and strategic partnerships with Africa.

• Canada’s presence on the continent is largely limited to the Naroniche mining sector. This approach does not allow for the full bloom of Canada –Africa relations. There is need for clarity for instance on a more coherent Canada/Africa Trade investment policy and for the establishment of a bilateral platform for Canada/Africa cooperation.

• Canadian Professor David Hornsby in 2013 wrote about Canada/Africa relations that Canada needs a more consistent and coherent strategy for engaging with Africa this call is valid today as it was then.

What is the state of Canada – South Africa Relations?
• Our relationship with Canada has been good, we have a long history with Canada, from the days when Canada led the international community when we were fighting for justice to end Apartheid; so, we have walked a very long way with Canada.

• COVID has hit Africa and everyone very hard, but more so the developing countries. Africa right now as we speak is only 7% and in South Africa it is about 28%. It is because there is no vaccine equity in the world. We have not even had our first dose yet countries like Canada are talking about administering their 3rd dose, so this is a clear example of vaccine inequity.

• Travel bans recently put in against South Africa we have heard from the WHO that there is no scientific basis for travel bans. Canada has decided to close its borders and is punishing honest and promoting other countries to hide the truth. And this is really taking us backwards.

What are your comments on how the world is responding to South Africa about the new variant Omicron, how should Canada be dealing with Omicron with special reference to S. Africa?
• The ban has affected our relations in that this is a very unfortunate decision by Canada, our scientists have asked that borders not be closed. And, not trusting the test provided by South Africa, putting the burden on returning Canadians to also get a test in Canada. They certainly did not think this through, and I can only say that Canada must follow science, and, in this instance, it is not obvious that they have.

• If Canada really wanted to protect its citizens, then it should have closed its borders to all countries that had the Omicron variant, but it did not do this. It only closed the border to South Africa and the neighbouring countries. So, it makes me wonder if we are not painting this variant a certain colour.

• With regards to vaccine availability there is a clear power and access disparity that the world can no longer ignore.

• But I also must say that Canada in terms of vaccine equity has contributed to ending the global Pandemic when in May the PM announced support in ACT about 541 million toward doing this.

• Another area that is very important is that Canada must support the TRIPS COVID-19 waiver, we have requested recently that Canada support the waiver. This temporary suspension will allow African countries to produce the vaccines and easily distribute it to their populations without being dependent on the West, we need that.

Setting this issue aside what are your reflections about your time as High Commissioner
• All my time here in Canada I have worked well with different stakeholders in Canada. For instance, we have had very good relations where 10 South African ministers visited here in Canada. In 2018 President Ramaphosa attended the G7 summit in Quebec.

• I have met with former prime ministers and had them speak at our events and done engagements with premiers from different provinces. During my time here for 3 years I was also chair of the Women’s Heads of Diplomatic Missions here in Canada and during that initiative we were very successful in engaging with other women’s groups. We collaborate on several areas, did a lot with schools, the Famous Five with Elevate, and partnered to investigate gender-based violence with the UN. We brought in Dr. Tedros’s to talk about the TRIPS waiver.

• So, I have engaged with the diaspora, had very successful engagement with universities to develop partnerships and I have written opinion pieces for the media. And I was very impressed with how the media reported on Omicron, it was very objective. And I have also done a lot of webinars as well. I have also volunteered at the Ottawa mission, so I have learnt a lot and I have grown as a person.

Doing Politics Differently
December 8, 2021

Key Takeaways:
• We should be worried about the overall dismissiveness of the role of parliament. We don’t see the importance of its role, therefore downplay the need for a strong speaker; downplay the need for strong committees, we are not protecting all of that.

• Truth is under attack in politics and in our democracy here and in the US. We are in a very dangerous space if the democratic rules of the game are not being accepted and turned inside out for partisan gain in our democracy.

• We have lost our away over time. I introduced Bill 231 a motion to go back and behave as we used to and give some power back to the speaker. The speaker is no longer doing the role that was designed for him/her. Those powers existed and they have been usurped by the center.

• Now more than ever we need to build the capacity for intellectual self-defense and civic education. There is so much false information available for young people that can promote voting apathy. We also need to lower the voting age.

Guests:
Frank Baylis, Executive Chairman of Baylis Medical in Montreal. He is a former Liberal MP for the riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard in Montreal.
Professor Lori Turnbull, the Director of the School of Public Administration and Associate Professor Political Science at Dalhousie University.
Eleni Bakopanos, a Canadian politician who served in the House of Commons from 1993 to 2006. She is a long-standing member of Equal Voice Canada.
Moderator: Indira Naidoo-Harris, Conference Co-Chair, and Vice-President of Human Rights at the University of Guelph. She is a former politician.

Starting proposition: Politics has been becoming more divisive and we need to seriously explore reforms of any kinds of the system and find informal ways for politicians of different parties to get to know each other.

Is politics in Canada more divisive in recent years?
• We have encouraged divisiveness, encouraged showboating and aggressive behavior that is counterproductive, we need to address new opportunities and there is the will from the majority of parliamentarians to do better.

• Something in the water in parliament there is so much overlap between the NDP and the Liberals and even the Conservatives under Erin O’Toole is also trying to move to the center. There is a lot of overlap in all the parties there is a strange focus on winning that creates more division than is actually there.
• Social Media is ramping up the discourse; people can make comments that they don’t really have to own. It is very combative and nasty in some cases. More voices coming at you without identifying themselves.

• There was always divisiveness during my 13 years in parliament, what is different now is social media. Where, anonymous personal attacks proliferate, the trolls that political parties have put to go after certain people that are abusive. Makes it very difficult to recruit new women to enter politics when they could be attacked at both the personal and political level.

• Women are on the receiving end of these types of harassment both locally and internationally. The evidence on harassment shows that over 50% of women in politics reported this type of abuse.

• The political environment is hyper macho, the aggressive behavior is unacceptable and would not be tolerated in any other venue or sector or business or organization. The way parliamentarians are behaving now must stop.

Are their serious issues with trust and credibility?
• Credibility was also an issue that was always there. Youth how do we motivate the next generation that is not interested in the bickering, they are interested in climate change and how we are going to make things better. So, the bickering only creates apathy. The leadership has failed on this.

• One of the ideas I put forward was to take power form the centre and share it with voters, MP’s, the speaker, and the leader. This would enable people to hear issues that they care about debated. This would support voter engagement and is an idea from another jurisdiction (Britain) that has been very successful.

• Governments are trying to manage disinformation and misinformation which social media has amplified. Evidence shows that when people are exposed to information that ends up being false, they end up not trusting anything. And they then narrow their sources of information to ones that they trust and end up in silos only listening to echo chambers.

Constructive policy development by citizens and parliamentarians
• We do not teach young people what are their responsibilities as citizens in a democracy. The more people understand the system and how they have the power to affect change. It takes education as
it comes out of ignorance not knowing our political system, about where are the limits of their power.

• There is a big role for voters; they must demand more from our parliamentarians, if you want to see the change be the change. It is going to take a new generation of politicians to get in there and regenerate the political sphere.

Better ways to manage the business of the House of Commons – more regularized votes, hours of work
• We need systemic change in how we run our legislatures and it needs a serious review? As it is not healthy, and we need to change the environment and to manage the business of the House of Commons. Ours is the weakest Westminster system in the world.

• The pandemic has brought an extra element into how parliament is functioning. When we saw hybrid parliament there seemed to be no traction on the issues for opposition parties. We saw how powerful the executive could be without going to the members and this allowed for good and fast response to an emergency and the public’s trust went up. But this can also erode accountability.

• I put forward consensually with other parties Motion 231 based on other suggestions. But the leadership of all parties benefit from things not changing and did not want to see change. There is a concentration of power in the centre, and they have no interest in changing the system, sharing the power, they have perverted the system so that the speaker has no power.

Ways to improve cross-party co-operation and consensus
• If we are honest if we look at the present environment there is no way, we can work together to deal with the serious issues like climate change.

• We don’t have a consensus-based system we have an adversarial system. As politicians we agree on almost 90% of the issues, where we disagree is on priorities. And if the centre hoards all the power how does that 90% affect change?

• You are good MP if you do as your told, act disruptive and do what the leaders want. We need to give MP’s back the power that is due them as representatives of the people and do their job. We need MPs to work together. That’s why minority government is great for that. We must stop demonizing the other side.

• The committee system was supposed to be the system where parliamentarians could affect change to legislation that was being proposed by a minister and could fight the fight and take changes to caucus.

• Social media is poisoning the way politics is done, to improve this we need proactive action on the part of platforms as well as legislation to regulate them.

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Webinars:

Monday, December 6
11:00 am to 12 noon

Innovative Economic Development

12 noon to 1:00 pm

Climate change and Energy Policy

 *Please note this is a back to back session with 2 webinars

Tuesday, December 7
11:00 am to 12 noon ET

The Caring Agenda

1:00 to 1:15 pm ET

Indigenous Advancement

3:30 to 4:30 pm ET

Economic Recovery and Growth

4:30 to 5:00 pm ET

Issues for the Prairies and Western Canada

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*Please note the Economic Recovery & Issues for the Prairies sessions will be held back to back in one session, registration will be from one link

Wednesday, December 8
11:00 to 12 noon ET

The Future of Work in Large Workplaces

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3:30 to 4:30 pm ET

Doing politics differently

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