In the 1950s and ’60s when medicare was developed, life expectancy was a bit over 70 years, and seniors were only 7.5 per cent of the population. Today, life expectancy is 82 years, and seniors constitute 17 per cent of Canadians. Numbers will peak at 25 per cent in 2041 with 10.8 million seniors, by which time the majority will be 80 and older, entering a period in their lives when they will need better and more varied support services to age well, and not just in health care.

Canada’s population is rapidly aging, but is it aging well? In our November 2020 report “Ageing Well,” we found both good and bad news.

The good is that Canadians are living longer. Back when medicare became the backbone of our health-care system about 60 years ago, seniors made up 7.6 per cent of the population. They now constitute 17.5 per cent and will be almost 25 per cent in 2041 — 10.8 million people whose average age will be in the low 80s just over 20 years from now. They should all age happily and well.

The conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and a group from within its northern state of Tigray has ended according to the Ethiopian government. The view of some analysts is that in this post-conflict phase, there remain risks of insurgency from peripheral regions of Tigray. Rather than any organized armed conflict, or armed regrouping by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the more likely outcome is ongoing sporadic violence leading up to delayed federal elections in Ethiopia, now scheduled for June 2021.

Christian Leuprecht, a professor at Canada’s Royal Military College and Queen’s University, and an expert on national security and related issues, says the Biden administration likely won’t make a difference on cyber diplomacy. Beyond the U.N. Group of Experts’ efforts to find a consensus on internet governance, he says, there’s no movement on an international pact due to intransigence by China and Russia.

In one of his first acts of office, U.S. President Joe Biden has issued an executive order that effectively kills the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The order states that the pipeline “disserves the U.S. national interest” and that approving it would be inconsistent with his campaign climate pledges.

Kenney calls the Keystone XL decision a ‘gut punch’ — but it’s one that’s been telegraphed for months. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol

The project, first announced in 2005, would have carried 830,000 barrels of crude a day from the oilsands in Alberta to Nebraska and connected with the original Keystone pipeline that runs to Gulf Coast refineries.

"I really don't think that this works out to be a major, significant change to American oil supply right now," said Warren Mabee, director of Queen's University's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy. 

In its treatment of old people Canada is an “international outlier”, says a recent report by Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies. Canada spends less than most rich countries on long-term care: 1.3% of GDP (including the cost of compulsory insurance) compared with 1.7% on average by members of the oecd. That money is skewed towards institutions such as Tendercare Living rather than towards helping people remain in their own houses. In Canada 42% of people over 80 who need constant care are in institutions, compared with an oecd average of 30%.

It’s an issue that cannot wait: how do we deal with the pressing challenges of an aging of society and avoid the looming fiscal costs and social failure that we face unless we get serious.  

In the pantheon of bad government appointments, Julie Payette – who last week resigned as governor general, owing to findings that she engaged in what amounts to workplace harassment at Rideau Hall – ranks near the top.

Choosing a governor general – or more precisely, recommending to the Queen a suitable representative for the Crown in Canada – is not among the most difficult tasks of a prime minister. The main challenge arises in selecting among a wide range of worthy candidates.

Which leads to the question, what are the core qualifications for governor general?