Policy Options

McGill University recently launched a new school of public policy, with $10 million donated by the Max Bell Foundation. The school aims to serve as a forum for mobilizing...

At the beginning of January, the Globe and Mail columnist and author Doug Saunders urged Canada to renew its efforts in global “democracy export.” He was alarmed not simply...

What were the highlights of the 2018 federal budget? Policy Options Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Ditchburn, IRPP Research Director Colin Busby and Jennifer Robson, assistant professor of political management at Carleton...

On February 14, 2018, Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), announced that the processing time for spousal sponsorship applications had been reduced from 26 months...

While the world focuses on “whither Amazon HQ2,” the federal government has made a far more important and long-lasting decision about the future of clusters in Canada. Clusters are...

Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) — and particularly machine learning (ML) — are impressive, and there is increasing awareness of the potential impacts of these new technologies on...

So Saskatchewan has a new premier, and with him a new minister of education, Gord Wyant. Only last fall, Wyant was the new premier’s competitor in a campaign to...

In a recent interview, Steve Bannon — Donald Trump’s onetime campaign strategist — outlined his political thinking in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. After Mitt Romney lost...

When Amazon announced last year that it was seeking proposals from North American cities interested in being the base for the company’s second headquarters, politicians across the continent were...

In January, as part of the federal government’s emissions reduction program, Environment and Climate Change Canada announced that it would be imposing a carbon pricing system on any province...

Selon sa lettre de mandat, la ministre des Institutions démocratiques Karina Gould doit mener à terme un processus de consultation en vue de la création d’un poste de commissaire...

When it comes to housing strategies, the Liberal Party giveth, taketh away and giveth again. In 1973, then Liberal minister of urban affairs Ron Basford launched major reforms to...

From local nomination battles through to party leadership races, the process of political parties choosing candidates or leaders is often contentious. Patrick Brown might easily have wound up facing...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be human rights’ best advocate and its worst enemy. Either it can help us reach the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or,...

Many Canadians are pinning their hopes on the success of Justin Trudeau’s innovation agenda. There’s a good reason why. Canada is a laggard in productivity growth, making this the...

As a young Indigenous child growing up in East Vancouver, I would not have thought that one day I would attend a celebration of the swearing-in of a new...

A complex narrative has emerged in defence of Gerald Stanley, who was recently acquitted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Colten Boushie, a 22 year-old Cree man,...

Imagine sitting in your backyard and seeing a drone fly overhead. It hovers. The camera mounted underneath adjusts and seems to be looking at you. As quickly as it...

Peter MacKay has written a provocative and useful Policy Options article about the dark side of peacekeeping. While he is mostly wrong on many levels, we should be indebted...

Il y a quelques mois, l’Arabie saoudite accordait la citoyenneté à Sofia, un robot humanoïde doté d’une intelligence artificielle (IA) lui permettant de converser — plus ou moins bien...

The term experimentation in the public policy context can sometimes have a negative connotation – bringing to mind everything from uncertainty and risk to failed social experiments. But experimentation...

Critics have not been kind to Canada’s efforts to link trade relations to action on gender equality, workers’ rights and environmental sustainability, which have been dismissed as naïve, arrogant...

The words we use to describe reality are not without consequence. They express how we define our realities and, as a result, how we express our values. When we...

These are turbulent times for international trade, with an America-first president threatening to rip up NAFTA, a UK that is leaving the European Union, and a general sense of...

Colten Boushie died without justice, but it is also true that he lived without justice. The bulk of public attention has focused on the last moments of the young...

It’s been a long time coming, but the federal government is expected to unveil national accessibility laws this spring. Similar legislation in other jurisdictions, such as the Americans with...

Canada’s report to Parliament for 2016-17 on what’s known as official development assistance, or ODA, is a 146-page tome about the government’s commitment to the world’s poor. According to...

Windows of opportunity for transformative change are rare and can close suddenly. The saga of Bill C-69 is a case in point. The Trudeau government swept into power with...

L’éducation risque d’être au cœur de la prochaine campagne électorale québécoise, alors que les principaux partis proposent tous des réformes majeures pour répondre à une insatisfaction croissante de la...

Among its publicly announced objectives for a renewed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canadian government says it hopes to “ensure no NAFTA country weakens environmental protection to...

A day after the US Thanksgiving holiday in November 2016, the US Lumber Coalition filed petitions for countervailing and antidumping duties against Canadian lumber imports. Five months later, the...

Food plays an important role in the health of all Canadians. Our food systems are closely intertwined with our economy, environment and physical, social and cultural wellbeing. Yet in...

Les progrès récents de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) reposent sur deux facteurs clés : l’augmentation de la capacité de calcul des ordinateurs, qui autorise le développement d’algorithmes d’apprentissage de plus...

British Prime Minister Theresa May recently appointed a minister of loneliness. Her announcement last month represented a watershed moment in raising public awareness on an emotional pain that most...

Artificial intelligence is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is seen as a boon that will propel us, Jetsons-like, into a century of self-driving cars, drones and perpetual...

What does precarious work look like in Canada today, and what is driving it? How should decision-makers address the loss of employment stability? With the help of a panel...

Sidewalk Toronto’s high-tech and futuristic waterfront proposals for the city of Toronto are mired in controversy, even though Canadian cities have relied upon state-of-the-art technology and artificial intelligence for...

The Trump administration’s contempt toward immigrants and refugees is no longer a surprise, but it seems Canadian decision-makers haven’t got the memo. In what has now become classic fashion,...

Dans leur excellent article en date du 1er février 2018, les professeurs Linda Cardinal et François Larocque plaident pour l’adoption officielle, dans les meilleurs délais, de la version française...

In August 2016, the federal government established a panel of four specialists to review how government conducts environmental assessments on proposed projects with significant impact on the environment, such...

As Canada’s 7th Parliamentary Poet Laureate (2016-17), I never accepted Plato’s notion that poets should not be entrusted with any say over statecraft. Nor have I ever been satisfied...

In an era of continuous social and technological change, how can an institution like the federal government stay relevant? How can we as public servants stay up to date...

The nature of work in Canada is changing. With the onset of the so-called “fourth industrial revolution” careers are becoming a patchwork of impermanent contracts and “gigs,” which often...

The 2016 census revealed explosive growth in the self-identified Métis population in Canada. The 51.2 percent growth of self-identified Métis from 2006 to 2016 easily surpassed the growth of...

Getting access to provincial and municipal government procurement contracts was one of the primary objectives for the European Union in negotiating the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with...

An old friend of mine used to make a habit of interjecting the phrase “moderation in action and attitude,” always in an ironic tone of voice, at appropriate moments...

Computer science and nursing science may not be a common pairing now, but as digital health evolves, nursing will be an essential partner in the effective integration of artificial...

People who work with abuse victims are much, much better humans than I am. They don’t judge. They educate, they help, they focus on healing and they try to...

It’s a new year, and it is time for the federal government to turn over a new leaf on the environment. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, and the Conservatives before them,...

In an important step toward updating financial regulation to maintain relevance in the era of climate change, Ontario’s Ministry of Finance is reviewing the need for new policy on...

Readers of 20 regional newspapers in the UK have been unwittingly involved in what was called a first for journalism. At the end of 2017, a bunch of stories...

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde was recently quoted as saying, “If you want to become an MP, you better listen to us. You better focus on...

Depuis 150 ans, la fédération canadienne tire sa légitimité d’une constitution dont la majorité des textes, notamment la Loi constitutionnelle de 1867, ne sont pas officiels en français. En...