Person: Dominic Barton

The Short Report, October 30, 2019: Bad loans, rocket propulsion, population growth

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) is contending with defaulted loans worth $43.2 million dollars, comprising more than 10% of the federal agency’s $422.9-million portfolio. By comparison, only 3.3 per cent of the loans given out by the Business Development Bank of Canada were impaired as of March 31. – Financial Post University of Toronto’s seed-stage accelerator…

CAPI report fleshes out targets and actions required to make Canada a globally competitive agriculture and agri-food superpower

Last year’s Barton panel report on the agri-food sector continues to resonate with additional consultation and analysis of its recommended policies and actions aimed at sustainably boosting exports to $75 billion by 2025.

The Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute (CAPI) launched a series of workshops to determine what specific actions are required to achieve the sector’s export objectives with a subsequent report – Barton Forward: Optimizing Growth in the Canadian Agri-Food Sector – posing and answering four key questions:

Dominic Barton

The Univ of Waterloo has appointed international business adviser Dominic Barton as its 11th chancellor.

Genome Canada considers awarding grants directly to companies

Genome Canada may expand its successful Genomic Applications Partnership Program (GAPP) and award funds directly to companies with the in-house capacity to develop potentially disruptive technologies. The current GAPP program — which announced the results of its latest competition May 26 — only funds university researchers with industry partners, usually small firms that lack the in-house expertise to undertake research projects.

Editorial – 31-2

The federal government has been afforded a timely opportunity to move the markers on innovation with the latest recommendations from the Advisory Council on Economic Growth

Budget should reflect that humanities, social sciences are key to resilient economy

Canada needs all of the arts, social sciences and humanities to build an inclusive, innovative, democratic and prosperous society and economy … We urge the Government to ensure that any investments in talent — both international and Canadian — include the humanities and social sciences that are so vital to Canada’s future success.

Government and business need to identify key growth sectors: Barton council

The Advisory Council on Economic Growth says Canada must choose a small number of promising sectors for growth as the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia have done with varying degrees of success. And while the council does not provide a specific list, it does single out agriculture and food, energy and renewables, mining and metals, healthcare and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, financial services, tourism and education as the best bets.