This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Sean Speer is a professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
If the recent Council of the Federation meeting of the 13 premiers is any indication, this week’s meeting between Bill Morneau and his provincial and territorial counterparts will place a considerable emphasis on the importance of place. It couldn’t have come soon enough. A renewal of alienation in Alberta and Saskatchewan, growing regional economic disparity, and a sharpening urban/rural divide are now among the biggest questions facing our society. Canadian political leaders will need to lean into the politics and policy of place.It’s striking that this lesson needed to be relearned. The centrality of place is as old as the Bible.