Reports: Archive

Cancer care is typically provided across different health care settings (e.g., primary care, community-based care, hospital care) and by health care professionals from multiple disciplines. This requires a high level of coordination and integration.

Impact paper  |  19-min read
June 1, 2021
Focus Area—Health

In 2020, Canada’s real exports plunged, as the global pandemic led to a collapse in demand from all of its major trading partners. The recovery in the global economy, attributable to the widespread distribution of vaccines and a reopening of economies, will help Canada’s exports rebound growth this year and in 2022.

Impact paper  |  24-min read
May 27, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Canada was set to break immigration records in 2020. But only days after releasing its 2020–22 immigration levels plan, the federal government announced travel restrictions to help contain the spread of COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has continued to process immigration applications, and processing capacity has improved over time.

Issue briefing  |  15-min read
May 20, 2021
Focus Area—Immigration

Economic opportunities in the region can benefit from Inuit skillsets, strengths, and knowledge. And Inuit have told us they are interested in finding a balance between market participation and traditional land-based activities. Our research will provide insights to help Northern economies grow and support sustainable livelihoods.

Summary for executives  | 4-min read
May 13, 2021
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities
Partner—Future Skills Centre

How has COVID-19 impacted Canada’s immigration admissions? What makes immigrants who arrived or settled in Canada during the pandemic distinct? We analyzed admissions data to find the answers. We also modelled economic impacts to understand how immigration could fuel Canada’s recovery and long-term growth.

Summary for executives  | 4-min read
May 12, 2021
Focus Area—Immigration

Toronto’s finance and insurance sector was the fourth-largest sector in the city by employment in 2019. In 2019, the finance and insurance sector was the largest contributor to total GDP in Toronto and the second-largest in Ontario. Employment growth has also outpaced that of all sectors in Toronto in 2010 to 2019 and in Ontario and Canada from 2011 to 2020.

Data briefing  |  15-min read
May 4, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Tourism and hospitality is one of Ontario’s key economic drivers. In 2019, the sector employed over 620,000 Ontarians and generated nearly $21 billion in labour income. Before the pandemic-related disruptions, employment in the sector had been stable and sustainable. However, Ontario’s labour market is steadily evolving and, for some tourism and hospitality workers, this evolution has led to job losses, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased and accelerated these pressures.

Impact Paper  |  15-min read
April 23, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics
Partner—Future Skills Centre

There are over 100 remote communities in Canada with more than 50 permanent residents each. None are connected to our national power grid. Imagine a microgrid system that offsets diesel use for each one. Microgrids are small-scale, self-sufficient energy systems. They can be the key to emissions reductions, resilience, and localized control of services—especially in Northern, Indigenous, and remote communities.

Online experience  |  8-min read
April 26, 2021
Focus Area—Sustainability

While there are compelling reasons for pursuing entrepreneurship, Indigenous entrepreneurs in Northern or remote areas also face a host of barriers and challenges. Services are available, but do they provide the support that is needed?

Impact paper  |  20-min read
April 15, 2021
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities

Canadian governments, corporate stakeholders, and advocacy organizations sought to use disclosure to accelerate women’s representation. Disclosure is a regulatory approach that requires companies to: (1) disclose the number of women on their boards and (2) disclose the efforts they have made (or not) to increase that representation.

Impact paper  |  30-min read
April 14, 2021
Focus Areas—Inclusion, Canadian Economics

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada lost over 3 million jobs and the unemployment rate rose to a record high. As of early September, only 1.9 million of those jobs had been recovered. Some industries, however, could see permanent changes to their workforce and how they do business. Also, some industries may take longer to recover than others.

Summary for executives  |  3-min read
April 9, 2021
Focus Area—Innovation & Technology

Canada suffered its worst recession in post-war history last year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the country lost over 3 million jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 13.7 per cent, the highest on record. As of early September, only 1.9 million jobs had been recovered. There could be significant permanent structural changes in affected industries, such as retail, tourism, transportation, and hospitality. In addition, some industries will be slower to recover than others..

Impact paper  |  15-min read
April 9, 2021
Focus Area—Innovation & Technology

Our leaders need to be ready. Automation-enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics will cause swift changes in the skills many industries need. In Canada, nearly one in five employees are already in an occupation at high risk of automation, where transitioning into a lower-risk occupation would require significant retraining.

Online experience  |  8-min read
April 1, 2021
Focus Area—Innovation & Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on health systems globally. While world leaders focus on containing the spread of the virus, health experts are warning that another health crisis is looming: an impending tsunami of health problems resulting from deferred surgeries, cancer treatments, and screening and diagnostic procedures. The time for systemic change is now, but the window of opportunity is narrowing.

Issue briefing  |  15-min read
March 31, 2021
Focus Area—Health

Zero-emissions, non-intermittent, cost-competitive electricity. As Canada electrifies, the potential of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to deliver these attributes is gaining steam. Seeking dividends Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Alberta have committed to a memorandum of understanding to develop and deploy SMRs in Canada. While their motivations differ, transitioning their electricity markets toward carbon neutrality is a common theme.

Summary for executives  |  4-min read
March 17, 2021
Focus Area—Sustainability

Employment in Canada is going to look different in the future. The types of education, abilities, skills, and experiences that employers seek are evolving amid a confluence of forces reshaping the nature of work around the world. Disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics, unmanned vehicles, and the Internet of Things, the growing share of knowledge-based services, and the rise of technology-enabled platforms will reshape careers.

Primer  |  20-min read
March 16, 2021
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Workers considering a career change need to better understand how to capitalize on their current skills, education, abilities, experience, and knowledge. Similarly, human resource professionals, educational institutions, and labour market policy-makers need a better sense of what skills, education, abilities, experience, and knowledge characteristics make someone more employable, today and in the future.

Impact paper  |  4-min read
March 16, 2021
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Employment declines in occupations that involve routine tasks have been under way for decades. However, it is unclear how advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will impact local economies. As some occupations and industries are more vulnerable to automation than others, and regional economies have different occupational and industry mixes, regions may experience the impact of automation differently.

Issue briefing  |  15-min read
March 15, 2021
Focus Area—Innovation & Technology
Partner—Future Skills Centre

The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) is a long-term plan to renew Canada’s federal fleet of combat and non-combat vessels. The initiative focuses on building vessels in Canada over a period of 20 to 30 years. It aims to reinvigorate the domestic shipbuilding industry, create skilled and sustainable jobs, and ensure that the country’s sovereignty is being protected.

Primer  |  15-min read
February 24, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The National Shipbuilding Strategy is a long-term initiative to renew Canada’s existing fleet of combat and non-combat vessels. Halifax Shipyard is building the combat vessels. This work falls under four areas: Modernizing the Halifax Shipyard, renewing the navy’s fleet by replacing the existing Halifax Class frigates with 15 newly built Canadian Surface Combatants (CSCs), and repairing, refitting, and maintaining the existing Halifax Class vessels until they are retired.

Data briefing  |  15-min read
February 24, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The agri-food sector is central to Manitoba’s economy and, by far, its largest export sector. It includes agriculture and food manufacturing. Manitoba’s agriculture goods, such as cereals and oil seeds, account for the largest share of the province’s overall agri-food exports. They are also its most globally competitive agri-food products.

Impact paper  |  45-min read
February 23, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on the global and Canadian economies. The government response has been unprecedented, with a quick rollout of fiscal and monetary policy measures that have bolstered household incomes, supported wages, and provided cheap credit to households and businesses.

Issue briefing  |  15-min read
February 18, 2021
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Canadian industries have experienced rapid technological change with the advent of several transformative innovations over the past decade. Different technologies pose different re-skilling and occupational transition challenges across industries. Business leaders need to be mindful of which technology they adopt.

Impact paper  |  20-min read
January 28, 2021
Focus Area—Innovation & Technology
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Indigenous communities are increasingly developing medium to large infrastructure projects with varying interests in the Canadian clean energy economy. This case study explores one example of Indigenous participation in a clean energy project—the Taku River Tlingit First Nation’s development and ownership of the Atlin hydro project in Northwestern British Columbia. The focus is to investigate how community participation in this project impacts community health and well-being.

Impact paper  |  37-min read
January 27, 2021
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities

When we asked people across Canada to identify the most important skills for career success, they overwhelmingly identified social and emotional skills (SES), like communication, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills, along with leadership and adaptability.

Summary for executives  |  4-min read
January 25, 2021
Focus area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Beyond what institutions are saying, we also wanted to understand what they are doing to develop student SES. Post-secondary activities that promote SES development fall into two categories: extra-curricular or embedded within programs and curricula. We scanned PSI program and departmental websites to find examples from across Canada.

Issue briefing  |  15-min read
January 21, 2021
Focus area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Lung cancer is the most common cancer in Canada, accounting for 13 per cent of all newly diagnosed cancers. It is also the leading cause of cancer mortality. Lung cancer survival rates are among the lowest, compared to breast cancer and prostate cancer. In 2020 alone, an estimated 28,900 Canadians will have been diagnosed with lung cancer, and 21,200 Canadians will have died from it.

Impact paper  |  25-min read
January 14, 2021
Focus Area—Health

To stay competitive in the wake of COVID-19, Canadian businesses will need talent with practical experience and future-relevant skills. One of the most promising ways to do this is by expanding access to work-integrated learning (WIL).

Online experience  |  8-min read
January 13, 2021
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with almost 18 million reported deaths in 2016. This series of issue briefings models the financial and health burdens of cardiovascular disease in several countries.

Online experience  |  8-min read
January 12, 2021
Focus Area—Health

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. In 2018, cancer was responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths. In terms of health, societal, and economic outcomes, the burden of cancer is continuing to grow. Cancer accounts for nearly one-third of deaths in Canada.

Primer  |  15-min read
December 15, 2020
Focus Area—Health

Industries are shifting to become more automated, connected, and diverse—with a heavy reliance on digital tools and platforms. These barriers need to be removed so Canadian tradespeople can easily upgrade their skills to be reflective of industry needs.

Online experience  |  3-min read
December 14, 2020
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

The Canadian beverages industry has made progress in reducing the consumption of calories by Canadians across non-alcoholic beverages. Since 2014, there has been a reduction in the daily per person LRB calories consumed. With five years remaining to meet the reduction target, the BCI is on track to achieve its goal. The decline was the steepest in the first three years of the tracking period.

Issue briefing  |  10-min read
December 11, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

In fall 2019 and spring 2020, The Conference Board of Canada on behalf of the Future Skills Centre spoke with 857 skills, training, and education stakeholders across Canada. The goal was to understand the challenges and opportunities facing different regions.

Report-back  |  4-min read
December 9, 2020
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

The transition from high school to post-secondary education (PSE) is a time of uncertainty for many students. Educational, cultural, and economic challenges make this transition even more complex for Indigenous learners transferring into PSE in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Issue briefing  |  14-min read
December 9, 2020
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities
Partner—Future Skills Centre

In response to a national conversation about reconciliation, governments, the formal education system, and non-profit organizations are wanting to address educational gaps and improve the representation of Indigenous peoples in STEM with extra attention and resources. This awareness, combined with an increasing focus on equity issues in STEM, has increased efforts to bring STEM outreach to Indigenous students.

Impact paper  |  25-min read
December 9, 2020
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Sustainability of healthcare systems is a growing global concern. Canada’s spending on healthcare is one of the highest compared with international peers. Yet its healthcare performance is rated as modest to poor. Creating more value in Canada’s health system has reached a tipping point.

Primer  |  18-min read
December 8, 2020
Focus Area—Health

In partnership with Workplace Safety and Prevention Services (WSPS), The Conference Board of Canada developed a Mental Harm Prevention Roadmap. The Roadmap was created using an evidence-based approach to assist employers in supporting employees to achieve their psychological health and safety goals and is expected to evolve over time.

Primer  |  45-min read
December 8, 2020
Focus Area—Health

Canada needs to diversify its trading partners. The unpredictable trade policies of our southern neighbour over the past few years and the challenges caused by COVID-19 have made this clear. Over 70 per cent of Canadian goods and services exports are destined for the United States. And while this reliance will not wane any time soon, Canada should continue to gradually broaden its reach and diversify into other markets. Japan offers many opportunities.

Impact paper  |  45-min read
December 7, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic degenerative disease that causes inflammation and damage to the central nervous system. This disrupts communication between the central nervous system and the rest of the body.

Primer  |  35-min read
December 3, 2020
Focus Area—Health

Physicians provide the invaluable and essential service of delivering health care to Canadians. While health care is often considered in terms of costs to governments and taxpayers, it also generates many economic benefits at the national, provincial/territorial, and community levels.

Issue briefing  |  45-min read
November 10, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics, Health

Industrial development drives economic potential for Indigenous people. Realizing that potential requires a long-term commitment by Indigenous leaders, industry, and governments to build prosperity aligned with Indigenous values and community development.

Issue Briefing  |  15-min read
November 9, 2020
Focus Area—Sustainability

Maintaining good vision is a vital part of overall health and quality of life. Primary eye care is delivered by a variety of professionals, including ophthalmologists, optometrists, and family physicians. Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease. The majority of ophthalmology services are provided in a private office or clinic settings.

Impact paper  |  40-min read
November 6, 2020
Focus Area—Health

Although the precise economic and financial toll of COVID-19 on the economy remains uncertain and depends on how long the crisis lasts, Canada’s health care system is already experiencing significant change and will likely continue to do so over the longer term.

Impact paper  |  55-min read
October 30, 2020
Focus Area—Health, Canadian Economics

Cost-competitive and zero-emissions mining is an opportunity for Canada. Very small modular nuclear reactors (vSMRs) offer this potential paradigm shift. Why does this matter? Northern, remote, and off-grid mines are an important part of Canada’s mining future.

Summary for executives  |  4-min read
October 28, 2020
Focus Area—Sustainability

Canada’s population is aging, and this has profound economic and social implications for the country. It means a rising number of workers are exiting the labour force and fewer younger workers are entering the job market, constraining the economy’s ability to grow. In fact, even the adoption of labour-saving technology and delayed retirements will not be enough to fully offset these effects.

Impact paper  |  50-min read
October 28, 2020
Focus Area—Immigration

As COVID-19 containment measures began to ease after the first wave, business leaders and policy-makers here in Canada and around the world started to think about how to deal with the aftermath of the pandemic. This means finding the right strategies to rebuild their economies and improve supply chain resiliency to future shocks.

Issue briefing  |  11-min read
October 20, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The Indigenous population in Canada is younger and growing more rapidly than any other socio-demographic segment in the country. Expanding resource development opportunities and increasing recognition of Indigenous rights are creating unique economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples.

Impact paper  |  32-min read
October 13, 2020
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities
Partner—Future Skills Centre

There have been changes in the Canadian workforce, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations across the country have shared changes they are seeing specifically around absences, turnovers, attraction, and retention. Here’s what we found.

Online experience  |  8-min read
Focus Area—Human Resources
October 8, 2020

As technology becomes increasingly synonymous with business, the CIO role continues to evolve. With this comes changing expectations about how CIOs can best fulfill that role. CIOs are at the heart of organizational change. They must identify and understand the most pressing information technology issues and adapt their organizations accordingly.

Issue briefing  |  10-min read
September 29, 2020
Focus Area—Innovation & Technology

Progress on women’s representation in leadership roles has been slow. Part of the challenge is that we don’t have strong evidence on what strategies work best. When it comes to corporate boards, we don’t know the extent to which existing legislation for corporate boards has contributed to changes in women’s representation.

Impact paper  |  16-min read
September 23, 2020
Focus Area—Inclusion

Trails generate benefits for local communities, businesses, and the wider economy, contribute to healthier lifestyles, and aid in environmental management. Canada has a wide network of trails that span the entire country and provide opportunities for various kinds of physical activities.

Issue briefing  |  16-min read
September 21, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Tradespeople will need a range of new digital skills to keep pace with the future of work and to thrive in digitally connected workplaces. They will need them to operate computerized equipment, access blueprints on digital devices, and use digital diagnostic tools, among other tasks.

Impact paper  |  30-min read
September 15, 2020
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

Tradespeople identified seven core 21st-century digital skills that are needed to adapt to the future of the trades. These skills require knowledge of digital tools and interact with both trade-specific technical knowledge and social/emotional skills, which evolve over a person’s lifespan.

Summary for executives  |  4-min read
September 15, 2020
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Partner—Future Skills Centre

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the worst economic downturn to hit Canada in decades. Our latest national forecast calls for the Canadian economy to contract by a staggering 25 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.

Online experience
June 18, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

In an era of lightning-fast technological change, it’s more important than ever that Canadian leaders understand how the adoption of new technologies will impact Canada’s labour force.

Online experience | 8-min read
May 28, 2020
Focus Area—Education Skills
Client—Future Skills Centre

Technological change has always affected how humans organize and work. Rapid technological change makes it more critical than ever that Canadian leaders understand how the adoption of new technologies impacts Canada’s labour markets.

Issue briefing  | 10-min read
May 28, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics
Client—Future Skills Centre

With the unprecedented shutdown in international travel, we saw a massive uptick in the share of respondents who plan to vacation within Canada this year.

Issue Briefing  | 6-min read
May 26, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The travel and tourism sector has been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. This important sector of the Canadian economy generates billions for our economy and employs millions of Canadians

Online experience | 3-min read
May 5, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

More and more, employers require new hires who possess not only specialized knowledge and technical skills, but also social and emotional or “human” skills.

Summary for executives | 4-min read
April 29, 2020
Focus Area—Education & Skills
Client—Future Skills Centre

This briefing was written to shed light on the impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains. It explores the challenges businesses are facing and the emerging opportunities to be in a more solid position to face the new economic, business, and technological realities once the crisis is over.

Issue Briefing  | 15-min read
April 27, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The threat of COVID-19 looms large for many rural and remote Indigenous communities in Canada. These communities are especially concerned about the vulnerability of their Elders and the irreplaceable knowledge they hold.

Online experience | 8-min read
April 20, 2020
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities

The U.S. economy expanded last year, and solid gains in the fourth quarter suggested that another year of modest growth close to the economy’s long-term potential was in store for 2020 as well. These projections changed dramatically once the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. and world economies with a vengeance.

Issue briefing | 15-min read
April 9, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Although it might seem like science fiction, remote surgery is a rapidly emerging technology. Space agencies and militaries are especially interested in developing safe, reliable remote surgery tools. From a technology standpoint, the moment a surgeon is no longer personally handling the surgical tools, distance becomes irrelevant. If surgeons can be five metres away from a patient, they could be 50 metres, 50 kilometres, or even 500 kilometres away.

Online experience | 8-min read
April 6, 2020
Focus Area—Indigenous & Northern Communities

The spread of COVID-19 is a humanitarian emergency that is causing a change in global behaviour unlike anything that most of us have ever seen in our lifetime. Countries around the world are closing their borders and imposing quarantine measures on their citizens.

Online experience | 8-min read
March 23, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

A clean energy growth economy sustains our environment, creates wealth, and enhances our standard of living. Canada’s energy system is transitioning to a model that balances environmental protection, economic growth, and a prosperous society. A primary purpose of our Centre for a Clean Energy Growth Economy is to measure and track our country’s progress toward this goal in an evidence-based, systems-driven, and pragmatic manner.

Online experience | 2-min read
March 13, 2020
Focus Area—Sustainability

Toronto is North America's second largest financial centre, ranking among the most important in the world. The city’s financial services sector continues to grow and has a significant influence on the local economy, Canada’s international footprint, and the success of Canadian businesses.

Online experience | 8-min read
March 9, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

The funds industry in Canada is critical to many Canadians who rely on financial advisors to provide them with investment and savings advice. Canadians are using these services at much higher rates than in the past as an aging population prompts greater need for retirement planning.

Impact paper | 20-min read
February 10, 2020
Focus Area—Canadian Economics

Arthritis is a grouping of more than 100 forms of degenerative and autoimmune inflammatory conditions. Together, these conditions affect nearly one in five Canadian adults—some 6 million people. While arthritis becomes more common at older ages, over half of Canadians with arthritis are younger than 65.

Report | 50-min read
February 5, 2020
Focus Area—Health