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Blog: So you want to build a progressive movement in Canada…

Canada 2020 was started because we wanted a space for progressives of all stripes to meet, discuss, and share ideas in an environment that was free of the tribe mentality of old. And for seven years now, we have been hard at working building that space.

Getting beyond the carbon impasse: response to the Financial Post

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.

Opinion: An austerity agenda hidden in an ‘NDP budget’

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.

Think Tank Round Up Vol. 6: May 2, 2013

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.

Event Summary: Recasting the carbon debate in Ottawa

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.

Think Tank Round-Up, Volume 5: April 19, 2013

In this round-up: coverage of our carbon event, the EU ETS under fire, biofuel use in the UK, tracking clean energy progress through the IEA, measuring inequality, taking aim at gender wage gaps and inequality, and Canada’s place on the innovation and productivity spectrum around the world.

Featured Links

  • Higher productivity and greater equality

    What we can learn from Norway and the role that education and childcare play in that country’s success, from the Globe and Mail.

  • Be it resolved: The Munk Debates should include women

    Jessica Prince and Joshua Stark challenge the value of debates excluding women in the Globe and Mail. Read it here..

  • Pragmatic conservatives missing in the climate change debate

    Christopher Ragan speaks to the importance of having an “adult” conversation, that includes large and small C conservatives, on carbon pricing. Read his commentary on our “How to sell pricing to Canadians” event in the Globe and Mail.

  • Why we are failing to address climate chaos

    Martin Wolf writes in the Financial Times about the many reasons we seem unable to respond to the threat of catastrophic climate change.

  • $220,000

    The amount the average Canadian uses of public health care over their lifetime. The Globe and Mail’s Andre Picard reports.

  • The complexity of obesity

    Two articles in today’s Globe demonstrate the difficulty of making policy in the area of obesity and fitness. One talks about the dangers of school healthy eating programs leading to eating disorders and another argues that we are overstating the obesity problem anyway.

  • An open letter to Minister Joe Oliver

    Climate scientists, policy experts and economists have written an open letter to Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver, expressing concern over his stance on climate change. Read the original letter here, and CBC coverage here.

  • Who had it tougher?

    A new interactive web feature on the Globe & Mail looks at who had it tougher – today’s graduates, or the class of 1976? Rob Carrick delivers some grim news for millenials.

  • Unburnable carbon 2013

    A new report from Carbon Tracker and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE has revealed that fossil fuel reserves already far exceed the carbon budget to avoid global warming of 2°C – and yet we still continue to fund exploration for stranded assets. Read it here.

  • Canada’s shift to a nation of temporary workers

    The Globe and Mail’s Tavia Grant looks at the rise of temporary employment in Canada.

  • The great divide: global income inequality and its cost

    Global Post’s feature site on income inequality is both informative and visually engaging.

  • What does ‘halfway’ mean?

    When it comes to meeting Canada’s Copenhagen targets, apparently not that much, according to a new blog by Pembina.

  • Europe is becoming a green-energy basket case

    The Washington Post Editorial Board takes stock of energy policy in the EU and calls for a simple and predictable carbon tax.

  • How to Put America Back Together Again

    A compelling case by Thomas Friedman on how a carbon tax can boost the economy and society.

  • California and Quebec tie their carbon future together

    Canada 2020 panelist, Jean Charest, writes in the Globe and Mail about the need to address carbon emissions and the strengths of Quebec’s new links with California.

  • Oilsands emissions on the rise

    While Canada’s overall emissions start to level off, according to new government report.

  • Fascinating commentary from the UK on evidence-based policy making

    Geoff Mulgan writes about how arguments are best presented to government and why some advice succeeds.

  • US and China sign agreement on climate change

    Citing overwhelming scientific consensus as the basis for a ‘call to action’ on climate change, the world’s two largest emitters agree to cooperate.

  • Why carbon markets are failing

    Steffen Böhm discusses the problems with the European ETS and urges policy makers not to waste time in seeking a more effective alternative, such as carbon taxation.

  • Opinion: Let’s respect the ‘faceless bureaucrats’ who keep Canada running

    Mel Cappe, former Clerk of the Privy Council, writes in today’s Globe & Mail about the urgent need for re-establishing ministerial responsibility and repairing the trust relationship with public servants.

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May 28, 2013

The Canada We Want in 2020 Speaker Series: Confronting the crisis in public health

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