Brief Remarks

On October 31, 2023, Canada 2020 brought together a group of government and business leaders, technology experts, policymakers, and innovators from across the country at our Fall Net-Zero Leadership Summit: A Pre-COP28 Stocktake for Canada. In this featured session of the summit, Seamus O’Regan (Canada’s Minister of Labour and Minister of Seniors) joins Anne McLellan (former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources for Canada) in conversation to explore what industry and workers need from governments to spur clean growth now.This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

On October 31, 2023, Canada 2020 brought together a group of government and business leaders, technology experts, policymakers, and innovators from across the country at our Fall Net-Zero Leadership Summit: A Pre-COP28 Stocktake for Canada. In this featured session of the summit, Jonathan Wilkinson (Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources) delivers a keynote, followed by a conversation with Lisa Raitt (former Minister of Natural Resources and Minister of Transportation for Canada) about Canada’s competitiveness in moving towards a cleaner, greener, and more prosperous future.This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

On October 31, 2023, Canada 2020 brought together a group of government and business leaders, technology experts, policymakers, and innovators from across the country at our Fall Net-Zero Leadership Summit: A Pre-COP28 Stocktake for Canada. In this featured session of the summit, we join a special conversation about making our politics a positive force for climate progress rather than an obstacle, with Anne McLellan (former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources for Canada), Lisa Raitt (former Minister of Natural Resources and Minister of Transportation for Canada), Sonya Savage (former Alberta Minister of Energy), Mark Cameron (Vice President, External Relations - Pathways Alliance; former Director of Policy Research in the Prime Minister’s Office), and Megan Leslie (CEO, WWF Canada; former MP and Deputy Leader of the New Democratic Party). This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

On October 31, 2023, Canada 2020 brought together a pre-eminent group of government and business leaders, technology experts, policymakers, and innovators from across the country at our Fall Net-Zero Leadership Summit: A Pre-COP28 Stocktake for Canada. In this featured session of the summit, Mark Carney (UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance; Former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England; Canada 2020 Advisory Board Chair) delivers an opening address before talking with Sarah Goodman (Partner and Associate Director, Climate and Sustainability, BCG Consulting Group; Canada 2020 Advisory Board) about Canada’s net-zero leadership opportunity, and why now is the time to build.This conversation has been lightly edited for audio clarity.

Artificial intelligence is already shaping the way we work, consume, and communicate with one another. It’s also shaping the way we govern ourselves – or, perhaps more accurately, the way we are governed.While we might imagine ways AI could shape better democratic processes, right now experts are worried about how such technologies can be used to manipulate, divide, suppress, and disinform people. With these concerns in mind, we ask: Is AI a threat to democracy?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Sam Jeffers, executive director of Who Targets Me, and Karim Bardeesy, executive director of The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University.

“Democracy is something that we have to win every day. Every week. Every month. Every human. Every new generation. All the time,” says Magdalena Andersson (Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Member of Parliament and Leader of Swedish Social Democrats). In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Patrick Gaspard (President and CEO at CAP Action) hosts a conversation with Andersson and David Miliband (President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee and Former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom) on leadership in the age of Trump, right-wing extremism, and proving the value of democracy.This conversation took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

How can democracies deliver security and economic growth for people in an uncertain world? In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway and UK Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer talk about decreasing inequity and increasing the democracy dividend with political columnist Josie Pagani.This conversation took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

“We need a new pact: people and planet.” As we got through the most complex and comprehensive transformation in the economy that we've seen since the Industrial Revolution, how do we build economies with both of those in mind? In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Frances Colón (Senior Director of International Climate Policy - CAP Action) speaks with Gerald Butts (Vice Chairman of Eurasia Group) and Stefan Löfven (Co-Chair of the UN High-level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, President of PES, and Former Prime Minister of Sweden) about investing in green jobs, and climate policy that serves voters.This conversation took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Around the world, democracies are on the back foot. For years, experts, commentators, politicians, and other practitioners and observers have discussed a global democratic recession. Several countries are of interest as case studies in decline, but the United States stands out. As an established democracy and global hegemon, the retreat of American democracy – always flawed, but increasingly so of late – threatens the world, and particularly its continental neighbours, including Canada.While Canada cannot be fully independent in a globalized world, particularly as we share a border with the United States, we must consider ways of preserving, indeed expanding, our democracy. But that might be difficult if our largest trading and security partner falls apart. With that concern in mind, we ask: Can Canada protect itself from American democratic decline?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Rob Goodman, assistant professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan Univers

Europe is at war. Global competition with China for economic and political influence is stronger than ever. In too many places, we are facing mass democratic backsliding. We have no choice but to face these challenges head on. In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Magdalena Andersson (Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Leader of Swedish Social Democrats), and Mélanie Joly (Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs), speak with Ben Rhodes (Former United States Deputy National Security Adviser for President Obama and Co-Chair of National Security Action) about a progressive foreign policy for our time.This conversation took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Tony Blair (Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change) shares the stage with Anna Gainey ( Member of Parliament, Canada) to talk about embracing innovation as a touchstone of new progressive politics, the challenge of confronting populism, and the importance of having clarity of direction as a government.This conversation took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland delivers a thoughtful keynote on how Canada’s government sees the most pressing economic challenges facing Canadians, their plan to meet that challenge, and how we can renew the promise of the middle class.These remarks took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

“Progressives build things that last.” In the next of our series of highlight sessions from the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Mark Carney (United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, Former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and Advisory Board Chair for Canada 2020) speaks about the closing the gap between what people value and what markets value, and how we can build real results  that matter to everyone — like jobs, investment, growth, better incomes, affordable homes, and real climate action.These remarks took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Foreign policy might not win elections, but it shapes domestic politics – and the world. Recent months have seen external affairs intersect with internal affairs, hitting the headlines and shaping the country’s agenda. Foreign electoral interference has been top of mind for quite some time. India’s alleged assassination of a Canadian on Canadian soil grabbed even more attention. Then, during an address from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the House of Commons welcomed and celebrated a Second World War veteran who fought for a Nazi SS division in Ukraine.Unmoored, unmade, underspecified, underfunded. There’s lots of ways to describe this country’s approach to managing relations with the rest of the world. In this episode, we drill down even deeper to ask a discouraging, yet essential, question: Does Canada have a foreign policy?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Graeme Thompson, Senior Analyst, Global Macro‑Geopolitics, Eurasia Group.

In a decade that has already faced unprecedented economic, health, and environmental crises, there’s never been a more important time for progressives leaders to be coming together to share bold new ideas for building a better future. In this featured session of the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Jonas Gahr Støre (Prime Minister of Norway), Jacinda Ardern (former Prime Minister of New Zealand ), and Sanna Marin (former Finnish Prime Minister) speak about the challenges and opportunities of progressive leadership with Supriya Dwivedi (Director of Policy and Engagement at McGill’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy).This conversation took place on September 16, 2023, at the 2023 Global Progress Action Summit in Montréal hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

In June, Olivia Chow was elected mayor of Toronto. She faces an all-too-often complacent city with a hefty budget shortfall and a series of longstanding policy challenges, and failures. Affordable housing, transit, public safety, taxes, and parks spring to mind, but there’s plenty more. Chow’s performance may be evaluated on its own merits or demerits and against her predecessor’s; but her time as mayor will also stand as a test of left-wing governance. Fairly or unfairly, her mayoralty is a part that will be taken by some as typifying the whole. Can Olivia Chow remake Toronto?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Saman Tabasinejad, Acting Executive Director at Progress Toronto.

Canada’s housing crisis is persistent and brutal. In August, the average rent was nearly $2,100 a month – and much higher in cities including Vancouver and Toronto. The average cost to buy a home was about $670,000 – and, again, much higher in Vancouver, at $1.2 million, and Toronto at $1.1 million. The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation says the country must build 5.8 million units by 2030 to hit affordable rates; we are on track for about half of that.Tackling this problem is going to take a multitude of policy efforts across orders of government – efforts that may benefit some people at the expense of others. And yet, what choice do we have? We must ensure everyone has a safe, affordable place to live. So, how do we solve the housing crisis?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Carolyn Whitzman, housing policy expert, adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, and author of Clara at the Door with a Revolver.

In June, this year became the worst wildfire season in Canadian history. Fires burned throughout the country. And there’s almost surely more to come. So far, over 10 million hectares have burned, sending toxic smoke from province to province and into the United States, where tens of millions of people were put under air quality advisories. The smoke caused some of the worst – on some days the worst – air quality in the world in major North American cities including New York and Toronto.The 2023 wildfire season, driven by what’s known as “fire weather,” may be a window into our future. As climate change runs amok and hotter, drier temperatures make wildfires more common and harder to control, we risk having to endure a brutal, deadly, and ecologically destructive new normal. So, what does fire weather mean for our future?On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with John Vaillant, journalist and author of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast.

On April 19 in Ottawa, Canada 2020 hosted our first Net-zero Leadership Summit, a gathering of leading experts and innovators from across Canada and beyond to explore the challenges and opportunities of achieving a net-zero economy. In the final of our series of highlight conversations from this summit, we hear from Heather Chalmers (CEO of GE Canada), as well as Heather, Ben Greenhouse (CEO of Potentia) and Gilbert Bennett (CEO of Waterpower Canada) in conversation John Gorman (President & CEO, Canadian Nuclear Association) about electricity, regulatory and implementation challenges, leading the rise of clean energy, and a Team Canada approach to our nation’s energy future.

On April 19 in Ottawa, Canada 2020 hosted our first Net-zero Leadership Summit, a gathering of leading experts and innovators from across Canada and beyond to explore the challenges and opportunities of achieving a net-zero economy. As we undergo shared global health and environmental challenges, along with major geopolitical and economic shifts, we must look to how markets, governments, and people can forge a new and better path forward. In the next of our series of highlight conversations from this summit, we hear a closing keynote from Steven Guilbeault (Minister of Environment and Climate Change) , and conversation with Diana Fox Carney (Senior Advisor, Eurasia Group and Strategic Advisory Board Member, Terramera) on the policies and partnerships necessary to achieve a more prosperous and sustainable Canada.This conversation has been edited for length and clarity ahead of publication.