Policy Options

Outre les aspects sanitaires, psychologiques, sociaux et économiques, la pandémie a des effets majeurs sur les finances publiques. À l’annonce de chaque nouvel investissement et encore davantage lors d’une...

In the pandemic, Canadians are actually feeling better about their representative democracy. At the Samara Centre for Democracy, we looked at the Consortium on Electoral Democracy’s national public opinion...

When COVID-19 upended plans in the U.K. for secondary school graduate exams this year, a new system was introduced that created an uproar. Teachers assigned grades based on past...

This article has been translated into French. Despite having markedly lower COVID-19 death rates than most G7 nations, Canada is on track to record 20,000 COVID-19 cases a day across...

There is another pandemic. Depression, drug abuse, and suicide are its symptoms. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer reported the grim story last month: “The situation is most stark in...

Tenue dans le contexte de l’actuelle pandémie, l’élection présidentielle de 2020 n’avait rien d’ordinaire. Le taux de participation a été le plus élevé de tous les temps ― quelque...

COVID-19 has tested Canada’s intergovernmental system. With the stakes as high as they are, it’s crucial that all levels of government continue to meet, communicate, and try to work...

Fostering Canada’s rich diversity continues to be a national priority, as emphasized in the latest speech from the throne. Yet, critics often view diversity as a zero-sum game. One...

Even before the arrival of COVID-19, the history of the Second World War was making a remarkable comeback. Our movie theatres (remember those?), Netflix streams and bookstore shelves were...

La politique étrangère de l’administration Trump a été marquée par des revirements majeurs. Sous la bannière « L’Amérique d’abord », les États-Unis ont fragilisé les alliances traditionnelles, vu la Chine comme...

It is no secret that Canada’s data protection laws are lagging badly behind both the technological challenges to data protection and emerging international standards. Canada, in fact, faces an...

On Oct. 24, UN Day, the Central American state Honduras made history. It did so by being the 50th state to ratify the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of...

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked concern about the mental health of the population and the ability of health care systems to respond to treatment needs. Robust, valid data collected...

This article has been translated into French. This fall’s speech from the throne made very clear that helping Canadians gain access to training will be critical to Canada’s post-pandemic...

Energy efficiency figures prominently in proposals for how to recover from COVID-19’s economic impacts and in plans for achieving net-zero emissions. The International Energy Agency, Green New Deal proposals...

Nul doute que la nouvelle de la défaite de Donald Trump a été accueillie avec soulagement à Ottawa. La Chambre des communes a d’ailleurs adopté à l’unanimité une motion...

Exactly one year ago, in November 2019, Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) were implemented by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) in federal prisons to replace the old solitary confinement...

More than 11,000 Canadians have died from COVID-19. As the number of deaths continues to rise, so, too, does the pressure on researchers and biotechnology companies to produce safe...

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was one of the first world leaders to congratulate U.S. president-elect Joe Biden on his victory, the Mexican government has chosen to hold off....

This year, the federal government has made apparent its enthusiasm for the nuclear industry’s latest dream – small modular reactors (SMRs). Following up on an SMR “Action Plan” released...

L’enthousiasme avec lequel le Canada a accueilli la victoire de Joe Biden ne devrait pas empêcher Ottawa de tirer toutes les leçons en matière de politique étrangère des quatre...

The 2020 U.S. presidential campaign was bitterly fought, and unfolded against the ominous backdrop of a worsening coronavirus pandemic. The aftermath has been just as acrimonious and turbulent, as...

There seems to be a view that Canada can’t compete in a global low-carbon economy. After all, who will want Canada’s fossil fuels or internal combustion engines as the...

Students are now routinely referred to as “learners” in the school system-bound world of K-12 education. Teaching is “facilitating learning,” the classroom is a “learning environment,” and pursuing continuing...

La Barbade, 287 000 habitants, annonçait en septembre qu’elle s’affranchira d’ici un an de la Couronne britannique pour devenir une république. Presque 55 ans après son indépendance, l’île des...

When COVID-19 put the economy on hiatus in March, Employment Insurance (EI) was insufficient to ensure displaced workers had access to enough money to meet their basic needs. That’s...

During these COVID times, many workers are being lauded for their ability to adjust and adapt to the new world order. That is not necessarily the case for those...

Alan Keeso makes some interesting points in his Policy Options op-ed of October 16, 2020. He is correct that Canada must absolutely increase its institutional accountability with regard to...

J’aimerais répondre ici à l’article de mon collègue Eric Montigny, publié récemment dans les pages d’Options politiques, en rappelant le superbe ouvrage d’Yvan Lamonde sur quatre figures de la...

Almost four years ago, Donald Trump’s presidency began with a small, silly lie about the size of his inauguration crowd. On Nov. 7, as Joe Biden’s lead in the...

The United States of America (along with the rest of the world) has exhaled. Americans made it through an election and appear to be making their way through the...

This article has been translated into French. Public trust in science is crucial to the good functioning of contemporary societies. When used by elected officials and policy-makers, science supports...

The opening of the new session of the United Nations General Assembly at the end of September marked 75 years since the creation of the UN. In 1945, the...

The government is investing $10 billion in an infrastructure “growth plan” as a key element of its COVID economic recovery strategy. To support implementation of this plan, the Canada...

Canada’s cities have borne the worst of COVID-19. Looking ahead, it’s clear they’ll need targeted support in any future recovery plans. But they’ll also need new tools to help...

Agnes looks at the person asking her kindly to extend her arm. She does not remember when she arranged to end her life through medical assistance in dying. Nor...

As the dust settles on the 2020 US election, much remains uncertain, but the general outcome is clear: Joe Biden has won and will become president in January. This...

La situation du marché du logement locatif privé est alarmante dans certaines villes et municipalités du Québec : elles font face à une importante pénurie de logements abordables, qui touche...

When global travel emerges from the constraints imposed by the pandemic, travellers may find themselves returning to border crossings that are unfamiliar. Facial recognition is rapidly becoming embedded in...

Peu nombreuses sont les discussions sur l’innovation où l’on n’entend pas fuser le mot « rupture ». Pourtant, les organisations au Canada ont l’habitude de récompenser la prédictibilité et...

Acting on treaty right recognized in the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision 21 years ago in R v Marshall, the Sipekne’katik First Nation launched its moderate livelihood fishery in...

It didn’t take long after polls began to close in the United States on Nov. 3rd for hopes of a Blue Wave to crash against reality. President Trump was...

Selon Jennifer Robson et Saul Schwartz, les citoyens qui n’ont pas produit de déclaration de revenus au fédéral en 2015 ont laissé sur la table des prestations d’une valeur...

The voting has stopped, and many results of the election remain unclear. Yet I can confidently predict that peace and quiet will not return to Washington until inauguration day...

Netflix’s documentary The Social Dilemma has many Canadians rethinking their intimate relationship with big tech. Among the many revelations, Canadians learned how these multinational firms deeply ingrain artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like...

Wise societies learn from others. In one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s daily press conferences on April 2, he said that “we’ve learned a lot from South Korea, Singapore,...

The sorry spectacle of the 2020 U.S. presidential election continued to play out Wednesday, with President Donald Trump falsely claiming that the election was a “fraud” even before all...

Cette semaine se tiendront à la Commission des relations avec les citoyens des consultations particulières et des auditions publiques sur le projet de loi 70, qui a été présenté...

The United Nations Secretary General has decried effects of the pandemic as a “generational catastrophe” in education. It’s clear, in the middle of the panic, politics and near-chaos of...

Let’s start with the body, for so much is won and lost and lost and lost there. –  Billy-Ray Belcourt Canadians in the fall of 2020 sit uncomfortably in...

In 2019, Canada resettled 30,100 refugees, overtaking the United States and Australia in the number of refugees admitted that year. But about three in five refugees who have arrived...

Canada’s history of colonization has laid the foundation for the implementation of racist health policy and the delivery of culturally unsafe health care, resulting in health disparities that are...