Inside Policy Talks

Last month, a major constitutional showdown took place before the Supreme Court of Canada. Over four days of hearings, the court heard from a record number of interveners in quite possibly the biggest and most consequential case since the Charter was adopted in 1982. In the wake of these hearings, the justices will now deliberate on Hak v Quebec . It's a case that addresses the scope of rights and...

As Canada continues its decade-long slide in the UN’s global happiness rankings, there’s growing questions about whether policymakers are even using the right metrics to measure the indicators of living a good life. Across the developed world, there’s a similar, troubling pattern. The 2026 UN World Happiness Report , released earlier this month, suggests pronounced declines, particularly in Anglos...

Across the country, law and medical schools have adopted identity-based admissions criteria in the name of equity. But very little data has been available on how those policies work. New research from MLI is changing that. In a new paper on DEI and admissions in Canadian law and medical schools, researcher David Wand requested admissions data from 18 law schools and 14 medical schools. Only six la...

As the second week of war in Iran continues, there’s growing questions about whether regime change is possible, and what the end game looks like. The United States and Israel have taken out the long-time leader of Iran’s Islamic regime, Ali Khamenei. But with his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, now installed as the new supreme leader, the regime appears to have dug in for a long fight to retain power. Are...

In the wake of the United States and Israel’s military actions against the Islamic regime in Iran, nations around the world rushed to stake out their positions on the strikes. While some voices condemned the attacks as a violation of international law, Canada issued a statement that drew some measure of surprise across the political spectrum — overhead of it being more supportive of the military a...

As the United States tightens its blockade to cut off oil from Cuba’s communist regime, some are calling for Canada to step in with aid. These events come at a moment of rapidly shifting geopolitics around the world. Yet Canada’s approach to Cuba remains strikingly unchanged. For decades, Ottawa has treated Cuba with kid gloves, applying a softer touch than it does with other authoritarian regimes...

There’s a growing debate in Canada about balancing the relationship between courts and legislatures. For nearly four decades, one Supreme Court ruling has loomed large in shaping an aspect of this debate: how conflicts between rights – and their limitations – are determined in Canada. That case – R v Oakes , decided in 1986 – gave Canadian jurisprudence the famous “ Oakes test,” which courts still...

A series of global shocks is testing the character and resilience of the West. In recent weeks, debate has intensified over whether the rules-based international order is fraying. Tariff threats, talk of annexing sovereign territory, and reports of a new “strategic partnership” between Canada and China have all fuelled concern. At the same time, Western elites and the media class seem to be losing...

Canada is at a turning point in how it governs the digital economy and artificial intelligence. It must do so in the face of rapidly changing technology – a challenge that’s compounded by geopolitical tensions and economic stress. Over the past few years, Ottawa has attempted to moved quickly on competition law, online harms, and AI. This comes after previous measures on online harms and AI faced...

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent high-profile international trip included a visit to China where he announced a new “strategic partnership” with Beijing. In the aftermath, attention has focused on the canola and electric vehicle deals that emerged, while far less has been said about the “guardrails” Carney previously stated are necessary for dealing with Beijing. But those promised guardrails d...

Every year, thousands of women and children in Canada and the United States are drawn into human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and online abuses. These victims are often hidden in plain sight, but the harms they endure ripple out across families and communities. It's a gut-wrenching issue, but there's some signs of hope. Our culture is becoming more aware of how vulnerable people ar...

Reversing declining birthrates will require “a pro-natal culture stronger than you've ever had,” says researcher Daniel Hess. Across the world, births are falling – with many countries are now below replacement levels. It’s a shift could have far reaching impacts – reshaping economic growth and pensions, family life, housing markets, and the future of communities. To talk about this problem – and...

Immigration has long been described as simply a net positive, and debated solely in economic terms – like jobs, wages, and GDP. But after decades of immigration from different parts of the world – with newcomers now making up increasingly large shares of the population in Canada, the United States, and other Western countries – people are starting to ask different questions. How does migration sha...

Canada’s economic future increasingly hinges on a deceptively simple question: how free is trade within Canada itself? For decades, economists and policymakers have warned that Canada’s internal market—fragmented by duplicative rules, sector-specific carve-outs, and a thicket of provincial exceptions—acts as a drag on growth and competitiveness. Even the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, heralded as...

Across Canada, some of the most heated disputes – from housing restrictions to Indigenous land claims – turn on this question: how secure are Canadians’ property rights? The answer may surprise you. Canada is one of the only developed democracies where property rights have no constitutional protection . That gap has real consequences. It can lead to family farms shuttered by regulation, homeowners...

Canada faces a growing array of national security threats—from foreign interference networks to money laundering operations and organized crime groups exploiting modern digital tools. Yet many of our laws designed to protect Canadians were written for a different era. As hostile actors adapt faster than our institutions, gaps in Canada’s legal framework have become opportunities for adversaries to...

The UN Human Rights Council contains members like China, Cuba, and Qatar. Yet it remains a highly trusted institution across Western democracies. What should the public understand about the reality of activities going on at the UN? And how should Western democratic governments address the organization’s shortcomings? To discuss some of the major concerns about the UN, Hillel Neuer joins Inside Pol...

Across the Western world, migration, identity, and belonging have moved from policy questions to existential ones. The political and moral assumptions that held our societies together for decades are starting to unravel. Now, there is deep tension between those who want to defend the open, liberal order, and those who believe its openness has gone too far – eroding belonging, stability, and moral...

It’s been more than 10 months since Canadians got a close look at the federal finances in last fall’s economic statement. At that time, they learned the deficit for the 2023–24 fiscal year had ballooned by over 50 per cent. Now, as the Carney government prepares to table its first fiscal blueprint, there’s talk once again of rising spending and soaring deficits. A recent Desjardins forecast estima...

Rare diseases affect only a small number of Canadians, but a lack of adequate testing and treatment reveals some of the key weaknesses in our health care system. These illnesses – which affect about one in 12 Canadians – raise hard questions about health care costs, access, and fairness, and test how well Canada’s fragmented health governance systems can adapt to new challenges. For a closer look...

There's rapid change happening in Middle East In a ceremonial show of unity, world leaders headed to Egypt for an Oct. 13 peace summit in support of United States President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza. All living hostages have been returned to Israel, though Jerusalem is still working to secure the release of some deceased hostages. It's been a historic week, but questions remain ab...

With the Canada-United States relationship at an all-time low, China has moved quickly to position itself as a beneficiary of the fallout. Canadians should be wary. Beijing is seeking to court Canadians with trade deals. But it is simultaneously punishing Canada for adopting anti-Chinese trade laws, which – as the Chinese are quick to point out – were implemented by Canada in response to American...

Constitutional law is often seen as the domain of courts and legal scholars, but one provision—the notwithstanding clause—has become a flashpoint in Canada’s ongoing debate over the balance of power between legislatures and the judiciary. Once a political safety valve that sealed the deal for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, section 33 is now at the center of a national conversation abo...

We live in a time of mounting cultural confusion. Social roles are in flux. Technology fragments our attention. And the idea of human nature itself is up for debate. Beneath our daily political debates lies a deeper crisis: a broken picture of the basic elements of the world and our place in it. Are we just collections of small parts, infinitely malleable and divisible – ‘meat lego’, as our guest...