COVID and after: A mandate for recovery

Domestic Policy

With the third wave of COVID-19 having come and gone, vaccinations well under way, and the economy poised to recover, which policies will best serve Canada going forward? Many challenges are coming to a head simultaneously including persistently high unemployment, soaring inflation, skyrocketing housing prices, an unequal economic recovery, health care backlogs, fraying Parliamentary institutions, and unprecedented public debt – not to mention a looming fourth wave of the pandemic.

Foreign Policy

When Canada emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, it will find a more dangerous and fractured world. Revisionist actors like China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan have used the cover of the pandemic to redouble their efforts to undermine the interests and objectives of the rules-based international order. All the while, a humanitarian crisis is engulfing Afghanistan. Canada needs the right diplomatic, security, and soft-power tools to protect its interests. This task of working with our allies to clearly assert our collective interests has never been more important.

Indigenous Policy

2021 has been a year of reckoning for Canada in terms of its treatment of Indigenous peoples. Though further revelations about the true nature of suffering endured by Indigenous children at Residential Schools are certainly traumatizing, this national spotlight is important. It has meant that, perhaps for the first time, many are coming to terms with just how troubling and patronizing Canada’s approach to Indigenous policy has been, as well as the need for a new approach that respects the rights and pays heed to the interests of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

For more information please contact Brett Byers at brett.byers@macdonaldlaurier.ca