Ottawa must talk to Canadians about nation-to-nation agenda
The next federal election is a year away, and our policy conversations are starting to shift with the campaign in mind. Renewing the nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples was...
A new perspective on immigrants’ economic outcomes in Canada
Economic outcomes may be the most fundamental indicator of whether immigrants to Canada have integrated successfully. How do visible minority groups compare with people who are not members of...
What do Canadians want from their news?
Across the English-speaking developed countries, the broad story told about journalism is much the same: as the consumption of traditional journalism sources continues to decline, those who do consume...
Lack of council diversity puts municipalities at risk
Local politics are often viewed as an entry point into political life. Municipal candidacy requires less money, gatekeeping by traditional political parties is relatively absent, and successful candidates who...
Why aren’t we talking about the Parliament Hill reno?
By the end of 2018, when the Christmas lights are twinkling around Parliament Hill, the doors to Centre Block will close for at least a decade of sorely needed...
The problem with Canada’s gradual climate policy
The latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) erases any doubts about the inadequacy of incremental action on climate. In that context, Canada’s gradual approach...
Canada should increase support for International Criminal Court
Canada last month joined Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru in a referral of the situation in Venezuela to the International Criminal Court. Canada’s involvement in this referral is...
Les vieillissements sous la loupe : entre mythes et réalités
Dans le cadre de la récente campagne électorale au Québec, les partis politiques ont discuté de plusieurs enjeux de politiques concernant le vieillissement de la population et les conditions...
New approaches to development assistance
Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy aims to contribute to global efforts to eradicate poverty by prioritizing investments in gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The government’s...
Québec 2018 : dure soirée pour les sondeurs
(Cet article a été traduit en anglais.) Aux élections du 1er octobre 2018, à la surprise générale, la Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) a remporté la victoire avec une avance...
What can be learned from Quebec’s math prowess?
Ontario’s recently elected Progressive Conservative government has vowed to abandon what is termed “discovery math” and to get “back to basics.” That populist election cry resonated with Ontarians because...
Feminist foreign policy: global challenges and opportunities
What is feminist foreign policy? How can it strengthen peace, security and democracy, and affirm women’s rights globally? In partnership with the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Jennifer Ditchburn, editor-in-chief of Policy...
Canadian trade still being hurt by tariffs, despite the USMCA
While the successful negotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is a relief, a large bilateral trade issue remains for Canada and the US. The tariffs placed on Canadian iron,...
Three policy goals for recovering Canada’s lost tax revenues
As the federal government grapples with reports that the changes it made to the tax code in 2016 failed to produce the expected increase in revenues, the ensuing national...
Et s’il s’agissait de la québécisation de la politique canadienne ?
Dans une récente chronique d’Options politiques, Alain Noël constate que l’élection québécoise du 1er octobre « marque la canadianisation presque complète de la vie politique québécoise ». Il n’est pas le premier...
The role of Statistics Canada in a post-truth world
How often do we hear or read the phrase “Statistics Canada reported today that…”? As the publisher of official statistics for Canada, we rely on Stats Can for valid...
National strategy needed to tackle Canada’s diabetes epidemic
When Frederick Banting discovered insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921, he saved the lives of millions of people with type 1 diabetes, which up until that time...
Raise the GST as part of pragmatic plan for climate action
The rejection of the Trans Mountain pipeline approval by the courts and the angry response by Alberta to withdraw from Canada’s climate plan has set in motion a high-octane...
Making up for Canada’s cannabis wrongs
Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities in Canada have been disproportionately criminalized by cannabis convictions, despite similar rates of consumption across different groups. With recreational cannabis now legal, policy-makers...
A new era for innovation intermediaries in Canada
Policy-makers have developed a range of tools for enhancing Canadian innovation, from research funding programs to talent development to business innovation support. A major item in the policy tool...
Governments’ use of AI in immigration and refugee system needs oversight
In an effort to bring innovations to its immigration and refugee system, Canada has begun using automated decision-making to help make determinations about people’s applications. A report released in...
Many discrepancies in plans for toll-free Champlain Bridge
During the last federal election, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced that, if elected, he would not proceed with the plan to charge tolls on Montreal’s new Champlain Bridge —...
Welcome movement on progressive trade agenda in USMCA
The Trudeau government entered NAFTA negotiations last August with an ambitious progressive trade agenda. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland used her testimony to the House of Commons International Trade...
Ottawa’s plan to change drug price regulations is not good policy
The price of prescription medications remains highly controversial, particularly because Canada has the third-highest per-capita expenditures in the OECD. In an effort to rein in these expenditures, the federal...
Canada’s supply management intact after another trade agreement
Once again Canada’s supply management system has remained intact after another trade agreement. The fact Canada agreed to relinquish some market share for poultry and dairy products in the...
Will provincial hyperpartisanship derail the USMCA?
Whether out of indifference or relief, most citizens appear to have taken the draft United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in stride. Media outlets and public opinion firms have demonstrated little...
Un nouveau parti dans la famille de la droite canadienne
Avant le début de la campagne électorale, plusieurs doutaient des qualités de chef de François Legault. Force est d’admettre qu’il a su mener son parti, la Coalition avenir Québec...
A path forward for innovation policy
Innovation has become an essential element of policy conversations about economic growth. But given trends like globalization, technological change and population aging, how exactly will it help boost the...
Communication électorale sans originalité, résultat surprenant
L’élection historique du 1er octobre dernier au Québec a montré que les campagnes agissent sur la prise de décision de nombreux électeurs, mais qu’elles ne déterminent pas tout. Au terme...
BC’s electoral referendum could change Canada’s political landscape
One of the biggest issues with British Columbia’s current electoral system is that it does a poor job of translating voters’ preferences into parliamentary seats. In the province’s first-past-the-post...
Canada’s climate adaptation deficit
Canada has made substantial commitments to adapt to climate change and extreme weather events, as evidenced by its signing of the Paris Accord, and by the establishment of the...
What do Canadians think about trade and globalization?
With free trade in North America dominating headlines and ongoing concern over the rise of populism across Western democracies, it’s more important than ever for policy-makers to fully understand...
Ouvrir plus de cliniques le soir ne désengorge pas les urgences
Vous rentrez chez vous après une longue journée de travail. Une vilaine toux vous assaille. Vos muscles sont endoloris, vous frissonnez de partout, et votre respiration est légèrement sifflante....
Indigenous law can help confront intergenerational injustice
Colten Boushie was Cree. He was a member of Red Pheasant First Nation and lived in Treaty 6 territory, but we did not see Cree legal principles applied in...
La canadianisation de la politique québécoise
Chronique d’Alain Noël
Plusieurs interprétations ont été proposées pour rendre compte des résultats de l’élection québécoise du 1er octobre 2018. Pour certains, cette élection marque la fin d’un long conflit entre fédéralistes et...
Federal policies undermine Indigenous dental health
Starting in 2016, a Cree child’s struggle to get braces became national news. Thirteen-year-old Josey Willier from the Sucker Creek First Nation suffered from chronic pain from her crooked...
Why the USMCA will enhance online free speech in Canada
Internet free speech is not typically an issue associated with trade agreements, but a somewhat overlooked provision in the newly minted US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) promises to safeguard freedom of...
Will new fisheries minister respect salmon science?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled several cabinet positions in July, including the fisheries portfolio. Jonathan Wilkinson, MP for North Vancouver, BC, is now the first West Coast member of...
Can Canadian lit help us explain the Boushie tragedy?
When the verdict was handed down in the Gerald Stanley trial, it immediately seemed to me to be wrong on the law. I had trouble making sense of how...
Bangladesh’s garment workers need Canada to do its part
It’s been more than five years since the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people. Most were women working in a garment factory that...
L’annulation du projet pilote ontarien sur le revenu de base suscite l’indignation
À la fin août, j’ai participé en Finlande à une réunion de représentants de projets pilotes sur le revenu de base qui sont menés en Finlande, aux Pays-Bas, en...
Safeguarding trials from racial bias
There is much to learn from the trial of Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley on the dangers of not directly confronting the potential impact of racial bias on the trial...
Social participation is critical to seniors’ health
Fostering social participation — defined as involvement in activities that provide interactions with others in the community — is crucial not only for allowing older adults to meet their...
Transparency around jurors, verdicts would help trial fairness
To many observers, the verdict in the Gerald Stanley trial was wholly unsatisfactory. From the outside, an acquittal in the shooting death of the 22-year-old Cree man Colten Boushie...