Economy
Innovation
Gap a Major Threat to Economic Prosperity
If
the Canadian government is serious about reducing the innovation gap, they
will have to implement politically difficult tax reform and market-opening
ideas, according to a new study from the Institute for Research on Public Policy. The report, Innovation
and the Productivity Problem: Any Remedies?, found that Canada’s
poor performance on the commercial innovation front is largely due to an
absence of opportunities and rewards for entrepreneurship. Author Donald
McFetridge argues that while it is generally acknowledged that commercial
innovation must be market driven, public policy in Canada has until now
mainly focused on encouraging the supply of scientific knowledge. http://www.irpp.org/choices/archive/vol14no3.pdf
Latest Edition of Currents Available Online
The April 2008 issue
of Currents, the monthly publication
from the Canada West Foundation is
now available online. The month features an economic profile of Portage
La Prairie, Manitoba, an economic profile
and forecast for Saskatchewan, as well as an op-ed
on the challenges Saskatchewan will face in the future. http://www.cwf.ca/V2/files/Currents%202008_4.pdf
Connecting
Supply and Demand in Canada’s Youth Labour Market
Canada's youth are not well-prepared to
navigate educational and career choices, or to be able to fully use the
skills and knowledge they gain through education in the jobs that they
find, a new Canadian Policy Research Networks study
concludes. The study, Connecting Supply
and Demand in Canada's Youth Labour Market, examines key issues
such as how employer demand is conveyed to students and those in the schools
and community who support them and how well the skills that young people
gain are used on the job. http://www.cprn.org/documents/49679_EN.pdf
Monthly Survey of Marketing
Statistic Canada has released a survey
denoting that the sales of manufactured goods rose 1.6% to $50.1 billion
in February, due in part to a gradual rebound of Canada's motor vehicle industry.
This marked the second successive increase in manufacturing sales, as manufacturers
continued to make up ground lost after a tough December (-3.7%). The volume
of goods manufactured also improved in February – up 2.7% to $49.0
billion, following a 2.2% increase in January. http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080416/d080416a.htm
Foreign Affairs
Hillier and the New
Generation of Generals
General Rick Hillier,
Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of the Canadian Forces, was to some a
larger-than-life personality who dominated every aspect of Canada’s commitment
to the Afghan people. As General Hillier
stepped down this week, Douglas Bland of the Institute for Research on Public Policy considers
the question: was Hillier merely an eccentric aberration or is he the first
of the “new breed” of post-Cold-War senior military officers
who will occupy the CDS’s office? Bland
notes that no previous CDS has commanded such close attention from the
prime minister or played as central a role in the direction of Canada’s defence and
foreign policies. http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/mar08/bland.pdf
Popular Attitudes towards the United
Nations in Canada and the U.S.
The latest Occasional Papers on Public
Policy Series, published by the Association for Canadian Studies in the
United States, is a report by Adam Chapnick of the Royal Military College
of Canada and the Canadian Forces College on “Popular Attitudes towards
the United Nations in Canada and the United States: A Study in National
Images.” http://www.acsus.org/public/pdfs/OP_v2n1_2.pdf
Environment
A New Annex to the Canada – U.S. Air Quality Agreement
The March issue of the Border
Policy Brief, published by Western Washington University’s Border Policy Research Institute, focuses
on the imminent creation of a new annex to the Canada – U.S. Air Quality Agreement. The
annex will pertain to a type of air pollution known as particulate
matter (PM). The article discusses the the form of
the Canada – U.S. Air Quality Agreement, the general nature of PM pollution,
the transboundary aspects of PM pollution, and the regulatory context
pertaining to PM within each nation. The article concludes with
a discussion of the outcomes likely to be embodied within the upcoming
annex. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~bpri/files/2008_Mar_Border_Brief.pdf
Health Care
Single-Payer Health Care for Maryland: Two Analyses
The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS)
of Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Maryland Public Policy Institute of Rockville, Maryland partnered in a joint evaluation
of the proposal for a universal health care system in Maryland, providing both a Canadian and American
prospective. Single-Payer Health Care for Maryland: Two Analyses responds
to a bill proposed by State Delegate Karen S. Montgomery (D-Montgomery)
in the recently ended session of the Maryland General Assembly. The
paper evaluates Montgomery's proposal and addresses the flaws
in a state-wide universal health care system including the high cost
to the state budget that would inevitably lead to rationing of services
by government officials.
http://www.aims.ca/library/SinglePayer.pdf
Canada's Health Care System
Canada's publicly funded health care system
is dynamic -- reforms have been made over the past four decades and will
continue in response to changes within medicine and throughout society. The
basics, however, remain the same -- universal coverage for medically necessary
health care services provided on the basis of need, rather than the ability
to pay. A new report from Health
Canada outlines the Canadian health care system and depicts
its framework and evolution, as well as its delivery mechanisms
and the role of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments.
It also explains health expenditures and assesses the current health
status of Canadians, and provides a wealth of online health resources.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/alt_formats/hpb-dgps/pdf/pubs/2005-hcs-sss/2005-hcs-sss_e.pdf
Health Care in Crisis: The Drive
for Health Reform in Canada and the United States
The latest issue of One Issue,
Two Voices, published by
the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Canada Institute looks
at the Canadian and American health care systems. Authors Antonia Maioni
of McGill University’s Institute for Health and Social
Policy and Theodore Marmor of the Yale University School of
Management are leading international health policy experts. Together
they provide a comparative perspective
on the medical care systems in both countries and outline the disputes over reform. http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/HealthCareinCrises_1i2v9.pdf
