Experts believe that attracting global talent is becoming more challenging for all countries. Canada, which has been enjoying an incoming pool of talent and expertise in recent years, is now looking to maintain its advantages post-Covid and post-Trump.

Eveline Adomait

Eveline Adomait, an economics professor at the University of Guelph, re-tweeted on how the post-pandemic, post-Trump world, will have huge implications for Canada’s economic recovery. A recent speech by Tiff Macklem, the Bank of Canada Governor, for instance, stressed on the need for Canada to follow a comprehensive strategy to maintain and enhance its talent-luring advantage. He further added that Canadian schools and organisations will have to fight harder to retain the well-educated and diverse workforce.

Some experts believe that Canada has been enjoying this for too long, with universities having attracted a pool of international talent and expertise in the past few years. However, the incoming Biden administration and post-Brexit UK could shift the playing field, thereby forcing Canada to adapt to these changes more carefully in the post-pandemic era, according to Meric Gertler, a professor and the president of University of Toronto.

The pandemic has also emphasised the importance of the public sector in managing and responding to the recovery, Gertler added. This implies that government effectiveness and entrepreneurial mindsets will take centre stage in shaping successful societies globally. Canada will then have to focus on roping in scientists, thinkers, scholars, and engineers to develop in-house solutions along with the existing talent to meet the global challenges.

Konstantina Beleli

Konstantina Beleli, an economist, re-tweeted on Ivanka Trump’s announcement of the Round 5 funding of another $1.5bn to the Farmers to Families Food Box programme (F2F) amid the pandemic. The programme aims to feed hungry Americans during the Covid-19 crisis and has to date fed more than 3.3 billion families with nutritious, as well locally sourced fresh farm food.

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany further added approximately 70 million boxes of fresh farm produce have been delivered to farmers and families through the programme. Ivanka Trump, the first daughter of Donald Trump conducted several food distribution events throughout 2020.

The F2F programme was overseen with the support of the United States Department of Agriculture (USAD) and the Trump administration across the country in places such as North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington D.C.

Jim Stanford

Jim Stanford, an economist and founder of the Progressive Economics Forum, re-tweeted on a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative (CCPA) report that revealed that 37.5% of the single mothers with children aged under 12 years had lost their jobs or had their hours reduced when the economy shut down in March. Additionally, by the end of summer, 1 in 3 single mothers were still unemployed or underemployed.

Poverty rates among single parent families have been significantly high compared to couple families during the coronavirus pandemic. It has, however, magnified during current times. Recent reports further suggest that single parents have seen less progress since the start of the pandemic in spring despite a broad-based return to work. Around 30,000 mothers out of approximately 41,000 single parents were unemployed during that time.

https://twitter.com/JimboStanford/status/1351410105745457152