Policy Options

There’s nothing like hearing a story about a company and thinking “I wish I’d thought of doing that” for keeping the brand and the entrepreneur behind it stuck in...

Let me tell you a story. Now there’s something you never hear when policy wonks set out to sketch their thoughts on whatever policy they want to use to...

In the 22nd Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service, my first as Clerk, I spoke proudly about the accomplishments of Canada’s public service over the...

As China’s economy continues to grow, access to and ability to compete in the country’s domestic market have become increasingly important for international firms looking to grow and scale...

If you open a newspaper or listen to the radio, it is easy to get discouraged about the relationship between indigenous communities and the government of Canada. Aboriginal Canadians...

Science and evidence are at the core of sound public policy and democratic accountability. While scientific research is not the only input relevant to the policy-making process, political leaders...

A funny thing happened during a May 2015 workshop at Carleton University: a room full of public health experts and practitioners all but stood up and cheered for the...

“CANADA LAGS far behind the United States, the European Union, and Australia in enacting, implementing, and enforcing key laws and policies to prevent environmental impacts on health. Laws and...

Throughout much of the twentieth century, the framing of inequality in Canada was constructed around an evolving “antipoverty” rhetoric. With the rise of an affluent working class in the...

Le trappeur […] Jim est tout en spectacle comme la ville ; un concentré du siècle, aux mains du marché, 24 heures sur 24, 7 jours sur 7, une...

Canada’s military is active. At the time of writing, the Canadian Armed Forces (“CAF”) had more than 1200 personnel deployed abroad on operations, including in Haiti, South Sudan, the...

The social safety net has not been adequately adapted to address today’s greatest health and social challenges, including chronic illness, dementia, autism, chronic poverty, and homelessness, among others. The...

I don’t think Einstein had chemical anxiety or the number of chemicals in our urine in mind when he famously stated, “Not everything that counts can be counted and...

Clearly, Canada is no longer poised to become an energy superpower. As we’ve seen, the rapid expansion of the country’s high-cost oil sands is simply unsustainable in today’s marketplace....

In the same way that truthiness has become central to our political discourse, there has also been a significant rise in the amount of bullshit. Lying for political advantage,...

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was intended as satire but there is nothing satirical about the need for Canada to be brave in meeting the challenges of a dramatically...

Au début de cet ouvrage, nous avons reconnu que la performance économique du Québec et les chemins à emprunter pour assurer un avenir prospère sont source de discorde. Nous...

I have spent much of my professional career researching, writing, and teaching about the policy reform process in a wide range of policy contexts. I have also, in many...

The OIRA administrator is often described as the nation’s “regulatory Czar.” That is a wild overstatement. The president leads the executive branch, and the United States has no Czars...

A man is on a first date. “If you could have any job in the world,” his date asks, “what would it be?” Most men would quickly think up...

Greg Price was an athlete, an engineer and a pilot, much loved by family and friends. He died unexpectedly at the age of 31, shortly after receiving a diagnosis...

Canada’s prosperity depends on productivity and job creation, and they demand innovation. But Canada’s record on innovation is mixed. While this country repeatedly scores well on the quality of...

Securities markets are seeing a growing number of class action lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege that a company misrepresented its financial information, thus inflating the price of the stocks...

What is the place of religious faith in the public square? Can people of faith participate in public discourse and activity on equal terms with others? Or, to adopt...

On April 13, 2015, the government of Ontario announced its commitment to joining Quebec and California in a cap-and-trade system under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). Ontario is not...

Au Pakistan, au Kenya, au Nigéria, les islamistes s’attaquent aux écoles. En Irak et en Syrie, ils mettent à sac les bibliothèques et les musées. Ces groupes armés comprennent...

I am obsessed with sleep. Mostly because I’m so darn bad at it. I’ve got world-class skills in a variety of closely related activities such as silently reading in...

In the IRPP office in Montreal, behind the editor’s desk, is a shelf that holds every edition of Policy Options. The collection is wider than a big man’s arm...