Youth Award Virtual Short Talks

There is considerable uncertainty about the extent to which climate change may impact crop yields in Canada. Projecting future land suitability under climate change is crucial for assessing future food security. We predict that by the year 2050 the expected net losses in canola and spring wheat production will far outweigh the gains from barley and oats. We propose mitigating these losses through data-driven preemptive breeding of climate change resilient cultivars. These findings support the development of sustainable agricultural management practices to maintain future food security and economic stability both within Canada and across the globe.

Plastic waste has become an extreme global crisis with no end in sight. People have very little choice but to consume plastic as corporations have no incentives to divest from plastic polluting practices and switch to sustainable materials. A proposed ‘disposable plastic tax’ will address society’s overconsumption and tendency to devalue plastic as being completely disposable. Plastic only has a 9% recycling rate in Canada, far behind other nations. This tax can help modernize Canada’s waste management infrastructure and incentivize industry changes through taxes at 3 levels: Producers, Purchaser, End Consumer. The bulk of this tax will rest on corporations rather than individuals as just 20 companies compose over 55% of plastic waste, overtaking any individual action. Raising public consciousness through a flat tax has worked in the case of plastic bags which is an important step for policy advocacy, and will increase revenue for the program(s).

With few opportunities to find a home for their ideas in Canada, early-career researchers are struggling and often looking abroad. Pre-tenure competitive funding is needed to reward early-career research excellence and boost Canada’s capacity to attract and retain top talent. Canada recently became an associate member of Horizon Europe, the European Union’s (EU) key funding programme for research and innovation, joining 20 other non-EU associated countries. Although promising, this move does not go far enough as Canada only joined the industrially-focused partnerships of Horizon’s Pillar II, and cannot benefit from the full range of opportunities offered under Horizon Europe. Canada should join countries like Israel, Norway, and the UK who benefit from being associated to the entire programme. Crucially, these countries can act as hosts for Starting Grants. Starting Grants provide early-career researchers with up to € 1.5 million to establish a research group in the EU and associated countries. Canadians can already apply for and hold these grants abroad, but with full Horizon Europe participation they can be held in Canada. This will help boost the retention of emerging Canadian researchers, provide Canadians abroad with a home for their talents in Canada, and draw top international researchers to Canada.

The Great Lakes hold immense socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural value for those who live within and outside the region. They comprise the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth, providing jobs, food, water, and recreation to millions of people and habitat to thousands of species of wildlife. However, the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem continues to be threatened by human-caused problems, including climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, and pollution. Plastic is an emerging form of pollution in the Great Lakes—researchers estimate that 22 million pounds of plastic enter the Great Lakes annually [12], and managing this plastic is proving complicated. Why? First, plastic pollution comes from many sources, both land- and water-based, and enters the natural environment from many pathways, so there is no universal solution for preventing its release. Second, plastic is a transboundary pollutant, meaning it can travel far from where it originates through the movement of air and water, so any effective action must take place at a larger, regional scale. Expanding the use of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement—the voluntary agreement between Canada and the United States—provides a promising mechanism to coordinate comprehensive action on plastic pollution across the entire region.

In Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe, the housing crisis has left over 85,000 individuals on Toronto’s subsidized housing waitlist, highlighting a severe shortage of affordable homes. Currently, only 10% of available land is allocated for affordable housing, while a disproportionate 63.5% is reserved for high-cost detached houses, exacerbating the affordability gap; my policy offers a solution to this crisis.

Firstly, by reforming rigid zoning laws to embrace mixed-use developments and higher-density housing, municipalities can expedite construction timelines. Streamlining the approval process, which currently averages 249 days and inflates costs by approximately $200,000 per project, will catalyze housing supply growth.

Furthermore, with less than 10% of new builds catering to rental housing, there is an acute shortage of affordable rental options. Offering developers incentives such as tax incentives and expedited permit processing can spur the construction of purpose-built rental units. This is crucial as the region faces an anticipated shortage of 200,000 rental units over the next decade.

Finally, urgent measures are needed to assist those experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Enhancing emergency shelter capacity and introducing targeted rent subsidies will provide immediate relief to vulnerable populations, including the estimated 25,000 individuals currently without stable housing in Toronto.

By implementing these innovative reforms, we can meet the urgent housing needs of our communities while ensuring equitable access to safe and sustainable housing for all residents.

Our bodies follow a natural 24-hour cycle called circadian rhythms, which affect how our biological processes work at different times of the day. Many disease markers, like those for cancer and diabetes, change throughout the day. Ignoring these changes can lead to misdiagnoses and ineffective treatments. Currently, most medical tests in Canada do not consider these time-based changes. For example, the number of tumor cells in the blood can vary by the time of day, affecting cancer diagnosis. Similarly, blood sugar levels can show signs of diabetes in the evening but appear normal in the morning. I propose the creation of a database that describes how disease markers change throughout the day. Using samples from existing biobanks, we can track these changes and help doctors make more accurate diagnoses. This would also help schedule medical tests at the best times to detect the disease, improving health outcomes. By considering the time of day in medical practice, we can move towards more precise treatments, benefiting patients across Canada.

Canada’s fisheries are essential sources of food provision and economic benefits, but many are overexploited or threatened with overexploitation. In Canada, fisheries management decisions for resource utilization and allocation rely primarily on biological data and underrepresent the social implications of decisions that may impact coastal and Indigenous communities. These decisions can have an immense impact on community economies, as seen after the implementation of the Atlantic Cod moratorium. Social considerations could mitigate the harmful effects of quota reductions and spur economies in the case of quota expansions. With the reopening of some commercial fisheries after decades of closures (e.g., redfish in Atlantic Canada), the Department of Fisheries Oceans Canada (DFO) must determine how to meaningfully incorporate social impacts and equity-based allocation into their integrated fisheries management plans (IFMP) to create a more holistic approach to sustainable management and allocation. They can do this through two parallel processes: (1) Selecting and incorporating social indicators and equity in IFMPs and (2) Removing barriers that prevent social equity for Indigenous communities’ self-determination. By pursuing these avenues for re-emerging fisheries, DFO can build a model for sustainable fisheries management, incorporating the environmental, economic, and social pillars and ensuring the long-term success of fish harvesting.