Policy Options

As the order of government closest to the people, municipalities are vital to the health of our democracy. In Canada, however, municipalities don’t always get the respect they deserve....

Federal lawmakers ignored the call to delay cannabis legalization until First Nations could be adequately consulted on the regulation of recreational sales. Now it is provinces that must engage...

La promesse faite par les libéraux en octobre 2019, quelques jours avant le déclenchement des élections, d’intégrer la perspective des personnes handicapées à toutes les décisions du fédéral a...

Canadian Cannabis 2.0 is here! It’s been over a year since recreational cannabis was legalized for adult use in Canada, and with the edibles, extracts and topicals category recently...

In the wake of the federal election, it is clear that Canadians want more action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Stronger policies will be essential to achieve our 2030...

The next phase of legal cannabis – the arrival of edibles – is unlikely to do any good for one area of the legal market: medical cannabis. Once they...

In the early 20th century, Barcelona came to be known as the “rosa de foc,” the rose of fire. Public disturbances arose around the city’s harbour, where troops embarked...

Ten months before cannabis was legalized last October, I asked a question: Where are Black Canadians in the cannabis debate? I sought to stimulate active involvement of Canada’s Black...

We’re used to hearing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney attack Ottawa in his public remarks. This is simply politics, blaming the federal government during the spring’s provincial election for the...

Le 17 octobre 2018, le Canada est devenu le deuxième pays ― après l’Uruguay ― à légaliser et à réglementer l’ensemble de la chaîne logistique du cannabis. Contrer le marché noir...

Of the many issues that divided Canadians in the 2019 federal election, one unifying fact is this: Canadians care about nature. Our vast forests, oceans, lakes and prairies are a key part of our...

Recreational cannabis markets are opening up across North America. Yet restrictions on university cannabis research remain. They prevent consumers, patients, medical professionals, the cannabis industry and policy-makers from making...

Below is a slightly expanded version of a list of practical advice for new political staffers that I first posted on Twitter in advance of the announcement of Prime...

Quebec has adopted a relatively strict approach to the regulation of cannabis in the areas that fall within its jurisdiction. For example, whereas the federal law allows Canadians to...

The coastal marine environment constitutes a biological, geochemical and physical milieu without which life would not exist. Phytoplankton and other microbes, the base of food webs, transfer mass and...

Canada’s international development assistance for developing regions like sub-Saharan Africa received scant attention in the recent (2019) election. Under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals Canada’s commitment to international development has been...

Cannabis edibles are here. A year after the legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis, Canada has now introduced edibles, extracts and topicals to its legal cannabis market. Anticipation of the...

Climate and energy policy news is filled with talk of regional tensions over pipelines and carbon taxes. These policy debates become regional ones because certain provinces are rich in...

C.O.E.U.R.S. Dans les années 1980, les publicitaires québécois connaissaient bien cet acronyme, qui résumait de manière simple les différences entre Québécois et Canadiens : conservateurs, mais ouverts, émotifs et unis, plutôt...

The Council of the Federation meeting on December 2 will be an opportunity for provincial and territorial premiers to set aside their differences and coalesce around a set of...

A year after legalization, Canada’s cannabis market is in shambles. The number of retail outlets is ludicrously insufficient; inventories are piling up in retail, wholesale and producer warehouses; the...

Talk about growing pains. The first full year of cannabis legalization in Canada has stumbled badly: the rollout of retail stores has been painfully slow in all provinces except...

Poker star Jimmy Chou, who has won more than $1 million playing the game, has a new teacher. Pluribus, a new artificial intelligence program, recently defeated Chou, along with...

A national accommodation on climate change and carbon pricing is staring us in the face. Irony of ironies, it is three western, conservative premiers who are pointing the way...

Canada has an aging population. When we talk about this, our discussions usually circle back to health, and in particular, to the question of how we’re going to care...

Proponents of evidence-based decision-making have a reason to rejoice. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences awarded recently to three development economists emphasizes the role research plays in crafting,...

The election is over. What happens next? Yolande James (CBC/Radio-Canada), Brian Topp (KTG Public Affairs), Elizabeth Roscoe (Hill+Knowlton Strategies Canada) and Jennifer Ditchburn (Policy Options) discussed what awaits Canada’s...

Minority governments in Canada are often hailed as seminal moments in Canadian public policy history. Conventional wisdom is that the compromises necessary during those periods result in more lasting...

The results of the federal election have produced much scrutiny over the number of women in Canadian Parliament. The Senate is nearing gender parity, with 60 percent of Prime...

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer deserves a second chance. He did not fail to score on a “breakaway on an open net” in the recent campaign. Majority wins by a...

Last month, the latest numbers on the overdose crisis in Canada confirmed that overdose fatalities are continuing unabated. Nearly 13,000 Canadians died between January 2016 and March 2019, and,...

(This article has been translated into French.) Can a little-known practice called “outcomes purchasing” generate solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges? We believe the answer is yes. Through...

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has a rough few months ahead of him. Despite an increase in votes and seats, his election performance is being panned by many. He gained...

Canada’s population reached 37.6 million people in 2019. That is more than 500,000 people over last year, the largest population increase in one year since Confederation. It represents an...

Political pollsters who had predicted the outcome of the 2018 Quebec election could have been somewhat nervous as this year’s federal election approached. Their forecasts in October 2018 had...

How well does Canada integrate immigrants and visible minorities into political life? While the barriers to entering political life are significant, as the Samara Centre for Democracy study on...

The idea that municipal politics are much more accessible to women is a persistent idea in Canada, despite research by scholars such as Erin Tolley and others that has...

Like father, like son. Nearly 40 years ago, in February 1980, Pierre Trudeau won a majority government with two seats in western Canada and none west of Manitoba. A...