On May 9, 2013 Canada 2020 staff attended a speech by University of Ottawa President, Allan Rock on “The Skills Mismatch and the Myth of the Irrelevant University”.
Rock stressed the continued relevance of universities, especially in today’s knowledge economy. This is beyond dispute but, upon further reflection, I wonder if perhaps we should be asking another question: is simply being ‘relevant’ enough?
In Canada think tanks have generally been thin on the ground, and typically associated with specific political parties.
We launched Canada 2020 in 2006 because we wanted a space for progressives of all stripes to meet, discuss, and share ideas in an environment that was free of the partisan mentality of old. We’re proud of the work we have done and the voices and ideas that we have featured.
Earlier this month a response to our paper ‘Why would Canadians buy carbon pricing?’ was published in the Financial Post. The over-riding objective of our paper, and packed event which it supported, was to ‘identify a refreshed mode of discussion… [in order to]… develop a constructive and positive course of action’ to address climate change.
How does a minority government mired in a big deficit and in the grips of weak economic growth craft a budget that satisfies the NDP opposition and keeps the financial markets content? Canada 2020′s Eugene Lang looks at the balancing act of Premier Wynne’s first budget.
In the past two weeks the world learned that austerity might not be all it’s cracked up to be. The Reinhart-Rogoff ‘affair’ has occupied a lot of airtime (if you haven’t caught up, here’s a good primer from The New Yorker), with good cause. Governments across the developed world must make hard choices as we continue on a shaky road to recovery: it is essential to ensure that these choices are based on the best available information.
This past Wednesday, over 500 people packed the Chateau Laurier’s ballroom, and hundreds tuned in online to watch ‘How to sell carbon pricing to Canadians’ – our call to re-cast the carbon pricing conversation in Canada. It was, by all measures, our largest event to date.
Canada 2020 is a non-partisan, progressive centre working to create an environment of social and economic prosperity for Canada and all Canadians.
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