Balsillie Papers

Stephanie DeWitte-Orr & Alan Whiteside This paper offers a brief history of viral pandemics and the science of the COVID-19 virus. After reviewing COVID-19’s economic, social, psychological and political impacts, we touch on the implications for health care. Finally, we look at the need for a global, integrated approach that requires new multi-disciplinary thinking, and what this means for policy makers.

Hind A. Al-Abadleh and Stephen F. Haller As pandemic restrictions ease, will we try to maintain our current lifestyles and familiar economic policies? Or, will we rise to the challenge of our time and meet the responsibility of doing things differently, to address socio-economic inequities and environmental calamities?

Tim Elcombe
Success in high profile international sporting competitions often generates unmatched sources of collective pride and national spirit that can unify a nation. With increased pride and national spirit, however, can also come controversy and division.

Alan Whiteside
In this article, I set out the processes, as they were enforced in May 2021, for the journey from the UK to Canada. It is a reflection on the past year, the lessons learnt, and the bizarre experience of travelling in a time of plague.

Jatin Nathwani and Ann Fitz-Gerald
Canada’s dependence on fossil fuels is both a blessing and a curse: the oil and gas sector currently delivers massive economic benefits, but with an environmental sting that precludes its expansion as global targets for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) tighten.

Timothy Donais and Sarah Murray
Even as the protection of civilians (PoC) and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agendas have become part of the UN, the organization still struggles to shed a reputation for being unable to protect women in conflict zones; not only from armed factions but from its own personnel.

Hind Al-Abadleh
Scientific evidence is now mounting on the short-term improvements this ‘natural experiment’ of pandemic lockdowns has had on levels of carbon dioxide and pollutants typically used as air quality indicators.

Michael D. Sampson
The EU should refrain from proceeding fully with the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) until more questions are answered and ambiguities are resolved.

Andreas Østhagen
The notion of geopolitical conflict in the Arctic continues to make media headlines. Today, this focus has shifted to concerns about the strategic positioning of, and increased tension between, NATO countries and Russia, with a dash of Chinese interests on top.

Benjamin Martill
Even though a harder Brexit is being undertaken in the name of improved relations with the Commonwealth and Anglosphere, the risks of Brexit for Ottawa far outweigh the potential advantages.