
Being raised in Canada taught me two enduring lessons: To care for the environment, and to contribute meaningfully to public life.
That’s why in 2023, when an unexpected call from the White House came in, I stepped forward. I was appointed by president Joe Biden, and within months began work on the historic American Climate Corps program.
In his first budget, Prime Minister Mark Carney has proposed a similar climate corps for Canada – a bold, consequential, nation-building program with deep roots and a rich legacy dating back nearly 100 years. This is exactly the kind of generational investment that young people need.
Sounds like a job application.









Our 2025 federal budget is 493 pages long. The word ‘youth’ appears only eight times. The term ‘child’ appears only six. More than seven million Canadians under the age of 18 who access government services across multiple sectors such as justice, policing, education, national training initiatives, and health care, have somehow been forgotten about in Ottawa.


On November 4, François-Philippe Champagne described the 2025 federal budget as “generational.” In doing so, the finance minister offered a rare example of plausible political hype, without the usual hyperbole.