Amidst an unfinished COVID-19 pandemic recovery, Canada must strengthen its strategic alliances to deter militaristic threats while finding common purpose with its adversaries to build a more sustainable and resilient future.

The shortcomings of Canada’s managed migration system pose a strategic risk to the country’s future economic and social security, but they can be overcome with a more innovative policy framework that looks beyond the global pandemic.

The ability to travel freely, both domestically and internationally, is crucial to Canada’s long-term recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. But transitioning to a more resilient future will require much more than technical quick fixes.

Canada is struggling with the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and a slow economy recovery. What is the adaptive capacity of today’s mission-critical infrastructure, governance institutions, business models, leadership practices, labour laws, and training regimes?

Japan’s leadership on geopolitical and geoeconomic issues is instructive for liberal democracies like Canada which remain vulnerable to the disruption created by the strategic competition between China and the United States.

Contemporary urban governance requires a strategic rethink. While formidable, this multi-generational challenge can be overcome with right mix of intelligent design principles and integrated learning solutions.

Vancouver’s municipal governance “model” enjoys widespread appeal despite its international status as a “beta” city. Global economic competition could force a major policy rethink, but the choice about whether to become an “alpha” city-region is not an either-or proposition.

Canada’s global reputation for welcoming and integrating newcomers is unparalleled. But the world is changing and Canada’s immigration system will have to adapt accordingly. Meeting these challenges will require agility, risk-taking, and a new relationship with cities.

The uneven geographic and social impacts of near-catastrophic floods along British Columbia’s Fraser River in May 2018, is further evidence that disaster-like conditions develop from the complex interaction of extreme environmental occurrences and human vulnerability. This necessitates a holistic understanding of both ecological and social dynamics along this “working” river.

Rapid technological growth is forcing a profound rethink of our economic, social, political, and physical infrastructures. These structural changes will soon require the adoption of new cognitive and behavioral capabilities, many of which are still unknown.