Policy Options

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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 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...

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...

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...

(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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 —...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...