We started with a basic question here at the Institute for Research on Public Policy at the beginning of 2022 as we contemplated the impending 50th anniversary of our founding.

“What should be on Canada’s policy radar?” we asked. What should we as a think tank – and publisher of Policy Options – be identifying as the defining challenges modern-day decision-makers will face?

For our first attempt to answer these questions, the IRPP partnered with major policy schools across the country to survey the landscape and explore issues requiring more thorough analysis.

The result is a series of nine events bringing together leading experts in their fields that started in the spring and fall of 2022. Articles stemming from those events are below.

For a follow-up, we held a commentary-writing contest among graduate students, the young bright lights who will explore new frontiers in public policy in the years ahead. The entries of the finalists along with winner Brittany McDonald can be found below.

Finally, we punctuated the year with a gala to celebrate the IRPP’s contribution to public policy, featuring keynote speaker Douglas Sanderson.

Here, we’ve collected some of the exceptional ideas and writing that these events produced.

This is not an exhaustive list of the challenges facing Canada, and it’s only a small sample of the problems the IRPP will try to help solve as we continue to research the country’s vexing public policy issues in coming decades.

Articles in this series

Explore more series

Related Center of Excellence Research and Events

Elections During a Health Crisis: Voter Involvement and Satisfaction across Pandemic Elections in Canada

By Allison Harell and Laura B. Stephenson May 17, 2022

Resilient Institutions: Learning from Canada’s COVID-19 Pandemic

Event Date: April  3, 2024