Getting back to sunny ways: The role of education in Canada’s new agenda

This week brought a buzz to Ottawa that was absent for most of the summer. On Wednesday afternoon, the Governor General delivered the Speech from the Throne, outlining the government’s agenda for the foreseeable future and formally opening the second session of the 43rd Parliament. A few hours later, the Prime Minister delivered a prime-time address to reiterate this plan and speak to the collective public health efforts required in the weeks and months to come. In the best of times, this would be a moment of excitement and new beginnings. But, of course, these are not those times.

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Back to school in a pandemic: A student perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic has created complex challenges across nearly every facet of society, students included. As the pandemic emerged through the spring and kept its grip into the summer, there has been no shortage of emotional and financial turbulence. In March, post-secondary students experienced the panic of packing up and storing their possessions at a moment’s notice when residences and campuses shut down. The summer has proven difficult for many financially; students who thought they had summer jobs had placements postponed or eliminated. As we look toward fall, the turbulence has yet to abate. 

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Elder care reform must start with skills training

When it comes to tragedy, the human instinct is to assign blame. In the case of pandemic-induced deaths in Canada’s long-term care facilities, there are no end of culprits: governments for regulatory and oversight failures, owners and managers for poor employment practices, workers for abandoning their posts. Regardless of the direction the finger is pointing, the reality is that the senior population is growing, the cost of high-quality elder care is sky-rocketing and demographics dictate that the need for long-term care is here to stay.

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Virtual work-integrated learning: A student’s perspective

I have always understood the importance of hands-on learning. Growing up in southwestern Ontario’s Perth County – home to farmers, millwrights, nurses, plumbers and mechanics – my hockey team was organized by an electrician, an operating room nurse and a nursing home dietary manager. My parents were both healthcare professionals. What the people who worked in my neighbourhood had in common was an applied, hands-on education. A polytechnic education.

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2019 Annual Showcase: Disruption in Action

Across sectors and across Canada, workplaces are undergoing transformative change. The competitive environment requires employers to innovate continuously, embracing new technology and processes, while hiring and developing the right people to grow alongside the business. Polytechnic institutions are ideal partners for this transformation. They offer industry-relevant programs, equipment and facilities that ready learners for the workplace, support mid-career workers updating their skills and help solve real-world innovation and productivity challenges.

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Polytechnic education critical to the frontline workforce

The important role of front-line workers has never been more apparent than over the last several weeks.

They include nurses and personal support workers, paramedics and other first responders, technology professionals and skilled tradespeople, and those working in advanced manufacturing or supplying us with food.

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Polytechnics key to climate agenda

Less than a year ago, thousands of protesters marched through the downtown Ottawa streets demanding climate action, while hundreds more watched through their office windows. Today, with offices empty and large gatherings restricted, the global pandemic has grabbed the headlines and our collective attention is focused elsewhere. It remains to be seen whether climate change will take a backseat to economic recovery and other urgencies of the day, as it has so many times before.

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Partnership beyond trade: A North American workforce development agenda

Amid a flurry of activity focused on COVID-19, Canada passed legislation to implement the new North American Free Trade Agreement in mid-March. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement has now been ratified in all three countries. NAFTA was initially implemented in 1994 and has led to economic integration across the continent, with trilateral trade now worth approximately $1 trillion annually.

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