Policy Options

Here’s a brain challenge – can you remember when the last federal election took place? Do you remember the weighty issues that were discussed? Setting aside the fact that...

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its 10th month in Canada, public attention is focused on the rollout of a massive vaccination program. Reviewing the volume of information from the...

In June 2019, I officially became a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the October Saskatchewan provincial election. Since the Saskatchewan Party had won power in 2007, I...

The report “Catalyst for Change: A Roadmap to a Stronger Charitable Sector” was released by a Senate committee in 2019 – a time before Zoom fatigue, curve-planking, pivots and...

Personal possession and use of all drugs in Canada should be decriminalized immediately, but we need to go further. To combat the illegal market and save more lives, we...

BERLIN – The sound of laughter erupts from a group buried under scarves and toques, gathered by the Landwehr Canal. Across the street another crew of revelers is gathered...

The Security Council is the most powerful of all United Nations organs. The UN Charter assigns it both immense authority and grave responsibilities. Among other things, the council is...

The impact COVID-19 has had on Canada’s small businesses is nothing short of tragic. While springtime was difficult enough, the second wave and the restrictions that followed visibly transformed...

Pourquoi, parmi tous les autres pays d’Afrique, s’intéresser au Cameroun ? Cette question m’a été posée alors que je terminais une présentation sur les violences extrémistes en Afrique. Originaire de...

Canadian governments have been talking about national public child care for years. And the issue is once again at the top of the political agenda because of the extreme...

Young people who have “aged out” of the child welfare system and are no longer in government care are being asked to repay funds they have received through the...

The federal government’s proposed Atlantic Regional Transmission Loop is being presented as a way to fight climate change by getting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia off coal. However, it...

La Commission des institutions de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec vient tout juste d’adopter la loi 75. Son principal objectif est d’améliorer l’accès à la justice pour répondre notamment à...

Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (MAiD), proposes to expand access to medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to persons whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable....

Two Canadian political giants died this year, their passing relatively unnoted amid the calamity of COVID-19. But the deaths of former deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski and former Newfoundland...

Canada seems poised for a resolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, with vaccines planned for roll-out in the coming months. On Dec. 9, Health Canada authorized the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s...

It’s been four years since the CRTC formally declared broadband internet an essential service. But if we needed a reminder of just how critical connectivity is to our daily...

When we talk about building back better in Canada after COVID-19, we often focus on how to do this by spending money. Civil society groups publish open letters calling...

This week we’ve got a special, bilingual episode of the podcast. To celebrate 40 years of Policy Options, and the end of a truly terrible year, we’re joined by...

Parmi les provinces canadiennes, le Québec se distingue d’au moins deux manières au chapitre des enjeux climatiques. D’une part, il est la province qui a les plus faibles émissions...

The finale for “The Undoing” was deemed by HBO to be its “television event of the year,” featuring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant as wealthy and beautiful Manhattanites embroiled...

La confiance de la population dans les institutions publiques est une condition essentielle pour le bon fonctionnement de toute société démocratique. Un des facteurs qui sape cette confiance est...

Over the coming months, Canadians will watch as several thousand positions in the upper echelons of the American executive branch are filled by presidential appointees. This is a complex...

With all the attention paid to rising COVID-19 cases, expansions to various federal emergency support programs, ongoing political machinations south of the border, and Canada’s $382-billion projected deficit, you’d...

For the past few decades, governments around the world have been investing in digital initiatives. They’ve been applying internet-era operating principles to government promises to reshape our institutions and...

At the end of October, the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee passed a resolution once again condemning human rights violations in Iran. This is the 17th year in a...

Afin de respecter l’échéancier imposé par la Cour supérieure du Québec dans son jugement de la cause Truchon et Gladu, le gouvernement fédéral tentera de forcer le Parlement à...

Central to the argument for expanding Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) has been that it enjoys broad popular support. This is the crux of Bill C-7, which is now...

When our battle with COVID-19 is finally over, a comprehensive review of how we and the world dealt with the pandemic is a must. It is imperative that we...

J’ai commencé à prendre la mesure des changements de culture organisationnelle à la frontière canado-américaine lors de mon entretien avec un agent des services frontaliers, en 2010. Appelons-le William....

COVID-19 has contributed to unprecedented deficits for Canadian governments and heightened concerns about the long-term fiscal sustainability of several provinces. In response, Canada’s premiers are calling for increases to...

With the recent tabling of amendments to the Broadcasting Act, policy-makers and the public should reflect on what Bill C-10 means for Canada’s internet creators. In a recent editorial,...