Welcome to Canada in 2020
This is the online space to debate the issues, events and trends that could transform Canada by the year 2020.
Check out what twenty great Canadian thinkers believe the country could look like in 2020.
Share your vision for Canada by entering our citizens essay contest and compete for a $2020 cash prize.
Explore the alternative futures our Canada in 2020 Wiki is cooking up.
Most important of all, add your voice to this unique online discussion.
What's Being Discussed Now:
in Public Discussions - Discours Public:
Security - La sécurité
in Public Discussions - Discours Public:
Security - La sécurité
in Public Discussions - Discours Public:
Security - La sécurité
Featured Essay
A Fortunate Country
by: David Foot
In 2020 annual economic growth in Canada is forecast to drop to an anemic 1%. There is no recession. National economic growth has been declining for more than a decade. There is much hand wringing among the nation's economic elite about this lackluster economic performance, especially since economic growth in the U.S. is expected to be higher. But there should be no surprise. This difference in economic performance reflects, in large part, the higher fertility of Americans twenty years earlier that has resulted in more consumers and workers.
Moreover, despite the continued claims from both business and government of widespread labour shortages, the unemployment rate in Canada remains mired above 5% as older workers and immigrants continue to languish in the changing labour market. It appears that little has been learned from the previous twenty years. Read More...
Past Featured Essays
Ignoring the canaries, by David Suzuki January 26, 2007
Hewer of wood, pumper of oil, by Jim Stanford January 02, 2007
The Republic of Northern America, by Stéphane Kelly December 26, 2006
Canada sans Quebec, the 51st state, by Chantal Hébert Oct. 12, 2006
Boomers in an Ideologic, Political and Environmental Cauldron, by David Walker October 10, 2006
The Future of Democracy, by Mark Kingwell October 3, 2006
Two 2020 Scenarios, by George Elliott Clarke September 13, 2006
Nalunaktuq: The Arctic as Force, Instead of Resource, by Rachel A. Qitsualik August 31, 2006
The curse of Alberta's engery-based "Camelot", by Roger Gibbins August 21, 2006
United Nations in decline, by Jennifer Welsh August 1, 2006
Canada in 2020: Whither the Canadian Economy?, by Don Drummond July 25, 2006
The Baby Boomer's Tab by Pierre Fortin, July 15, 2006
Sao Paulo of the North: The Effects of Mass Immigration on Our Cities by Daniel Stoffman, July 7, 2006
Canada Under Attack: Story of a Foreseen Terror by Richard Hétu, July 4, 2006
Imagining Canada's 153rd Birthday by Andrew Cohen, July 1st, 2006
Featured Citizen Essay
Pollution Meters
by Mike Sullivan
January 18, 2007
January 1, Twenty-Twenty. It’s finally here. The huge public outcry didn’t happen. Yet the issue most on the lips of ordinary Canadians is how well each of them is coping with the ‘consumption meters’ (more commonly referred to as ‘pollution meters’) now standard on every good or service sold in Canada. Every time a Canadian buys groceries, gets a car wash, or pays their household bills, a meter ticks off the amount of the planet their transaction has consumed, in the form of points collected for consuming less.
The brainchild of a little-known Union activist, enacted by the May-Dion-Layton coalition in 2008, and ramped up from idea to standard over the last 12 years, the idea that Canadians wanted to know, and wanted to control, their consumption of the planet at every turn, was hailed by environmentalists and dismissed by big oil interests from its first appearance on a website in 2006. Canadians have been collecting ‘points’ for travel or goods for years, and once this became a ‘points’ system, they readily signed on, and eagerly participated. read more...
Other Citizen Essays
Canada’s Cloudy Crystal Ball by Rudyard Griffiths, January 3, 2007
The renewal of Canada - a deeper Democratic process by Brenda and Adrian, September 21, 2006
A Canadian Unity Manifesto by Dave Hayward, August 28, 2006
Redefining Federalism by Jérôme Melançon, August 3, 2006
Peace, Order and Good Government - An Optimist's Opus by EMang, July 26, 2006
Canada in 2020: A Well-Mannered Society by writergal, July 12, 2006
Canada's Golden Age by Steve, July 7, 2006
Canada 2020: Breathing Easy by Sarah Mian, July 7, 2006
Canada: Defined by Water in 2020 by cdlu, July 3, 2006
Canada 2020 by John Matheson, July 1, 2006
Canada in 2020 by Orsino, June 30, 2006
The Challenges Facing Canada, by Rudyard Griffiths, June 30, 2006
Wiki
When you think about it, a country such as Canada work pretty much like a Wiki. Each and every day in our newspapers, online and around the water cooler we state, debate and revise what it means to be Canadians and what we want to accomplish together. To help Canadians imagine together what our country could look like in the year 2020 the Dominion Institute has created this Wiki. Cut, paste and edit away and let’s see what vision of country we come up with! Click here!
Language
Canada in 2020 is fully bilingual website. Each of the twenty contributing authors' essays have been professionally translated. To translate any of the other text on the site (citizen essays, postings, Wikki, etc.) simply click on the "French" or "English" link in the top right hand corner of the section you are reading. We apologize in advance for any errors in the translation created by the software.
Online Use
All content on this site is public domain. We encourage users to use the site and content as they see fit for online use only. Please contact Canada in 2020 organizers for any off-line use.
