Politics and
Policy
Those Who Say Nothing
Changed in this Election Have it Wrong
Many Canadians have
expressed frustration with this month's election, arguing that so little change
came from so much money spent. However, Roger Gibbins of the Canada West Foundation argues that the
election transformed the political landscape in ways that could have very
long-lasting effects. Indeed, this transformation goes to the very heart of the
complex relationship between western Canada and
Quebec, claims Gibbins. http://www.cwf.ca/V2/cnt/commentaries_200810200945.php
Canada’s Arctic Interests and
Responsibilities
The Arctic is changing at a rate that
continues to astound. To understand what’s happening and how best to respond,
Canada needs integrated intelligence on a
host of issues ranging from the geopolitical to the situation of small
indigenous communities, assert a collection of scholars from the Canadian International
Council. Franklyn Griffiths, the Honourable Paul Okalik,
Suzanne Lalonde, Rub Huebert, and Whitney Lackenbauer share their insights
regarding the emergent Arctic in a recent report. http://www.igloo.org/canadianinternational/publicatio%7E2/behindtheh/volume65
Economy
Insurers and Banks: Levelling the
Regulatory Playing Field
In a new C.D. Howe Institute report, Mark
Daniels purports that it is time to move beyond a prohibitionist stance toward
banks’ selling insurance and work toward balancing consumer protection and
competition. There are outstanding issues, however, such as who would regulate
banks’ insurance sales. It is critical to resolve questions surrounding federal
and provincial roles before going further on the road to expanded insurance
powers for banks. http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/backgrounder_97.pdf
Western
Canada’ Monthly Economic
Bulletin
The October 2008 issue of the
Canada West Foundation’s Currents, the monthly economic
snapshot written by Brett Gartner and sponsored by Canadian Western Bank. This
issue features an economic profile of Chilliwack, British
Columbia. http://www.cwf.ca/V2/files/Currents_Oct08.pdf
Canada-Europe Deal More Important
Than Ever In Tough Economic Times, Business Leaders
Say
On the eve of the transatlantic
summit in Quebec City, Canada’s business leaders reaffirmed their
strong support for an ambitious and comprehensive economic partnership agreement
between Canada and the 27 member states of the
European Union (EU). Thomas d’Aquino, President of the Canadian Council
of Chief Executives, noted that “by encouraging deeper bilateral
economic integration, a Canada-EU partnership would bolster confidence and
create important new opportunities for workers, businesses and investors on both
sides of the Atlantic.” http://www.ceocouncil.ca/en/view/?area_id=1&document_id=1199
Making
Canada More Competitive: Improving Major
Project Regulation in Canada
The Conference Board of Canada looks at
regulatory requirements for major resource projects and recent initiatives to
reduce the time required to review projects. The goal is to contribute to
regulatory efficiency without sacrificing effectiveness. The key focus of this
study is the evolving regulatory treatment of major resource projects—primarily
at the federal level—while also considering issues of shared jurisdiction with
provincial or aboriginal governments. http://www.conferenceboard.ca/documents.asp?rnext=2755&utm_source=e-ibrary&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=rss
A Fair Price: Taxation, Services, and Programs in the
Northwest Territories
The Government of the Northwest
Territories has commenced a public consultation
on the subject of raising its revenues in order to address a projected budget
shortfall. In a new report, David
Thompson of the University of
Alberta’s Parkland
Institute discusses
various tax proposals and recommends
increases and other decreases in tax rates as a part of an integrated tax reform
package.
http://www.ualberta.ca/%7Eparkland/research/studies/NWT%20Revenue%20Options%20Report%20(web).pdf
The Economic Well-Being of Children
in Canada, the
U.S. and
Mexico
A new collaborative report from
organizations in Canada, the
U.S., and
Mexico finds tremendous disparities in the
economic well-being of children across North
America.
The report discusses the 2005 Security and Prosperity Partnership
(SPP), which was meant to begin a
dialogue for collaborative action to provide prosperity and a higher quality of
life to all North Americans. But as the Canadian Council on Social
Environments, the Annie E. Casey
Foundation, the Population Reference Bureau, and the Red por los Derechos de la infancia en
Mexico find, after more than three years,
it is questionable whether this agenda has been met. http://www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2008/cina/TriEcono_English.pdf
Energy and
Environment
Canadian Views
of Nuclear Energy
A new report by the Canadian Nuclear Association offers the
latest polls revealing how Canadians view Nuclear Energy from both a provincial
and national perspective. The findings suggest that while one third of Canadians cite an environmental
benefit associated with nuclear power, nationally, support for nuclear continues
to reach historic highs. The numbers show that currently half of Canadians (50%)
support nuclear energy as a means of generating electricity; yet, nearly the
same percentage (48%) oppose such initiatives. http://cna.ca/english/pdf/Studies/IPSOS/CNA_Sept08.pdf
Adaptation to
Climate Change and Sustainable Development at the
Edges
A new
creative capacity, enabled by information and communication technologies, is one
of the keys to adapting to the impacts of climate change, particularly in the
most vulnerable regions of the world, says Don MacLean of the International Institute for Sustainable
Development. In a new article he explains why this is the case and exactly
how it can be achieved. http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2008/com_ict_climate.pdf
The Greening of Atlantic
Canada
Although public awareness of climate
change has been growing steadily for many years, it is only recently that the
corresponding shift in public opinion has been reflected in government policy.
As a result, provincial governments in Atlantic Canada are now embracing many
aspects of a climate change agenda. Yet, the big challenges for Atlantic Canada
lie in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electrical generation and in
containing emissions from new sources of industrial activity, particularly those
related to energy and mining developments which are underpinning the region’s
growth prospects. A new report by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
examines the key climate change issues in Atlantic Canada and the progress that
the four Atlantic
provinces are making on these
issues. http://www.apec-econ.ca/whatsnew.asp?ID=55
Health
Care
Sustainable Healthcare for Seniors:
Keeping it Public
The government of
Alberta has consistently used the issue of
the aging baby boomers to undermine confidence in the sustainability of public
healthcare. In a newly released report by the
University of Alberta’s Parkland Institute, Greg Flanagan presents a demographic
analysis of the growing number of seniors in Alberta, and a calculus of their added
costs to the healthcare system. He then provides recommendations for both an
improved healthcare model for seniors and reductions in health expenditures in
the long-term. http://www.ualberta.ca/%7Eparkland/research/studies/Seniors%20Report%20(web).pdf
Cost Burden of Prescription Drug
Spending in Canada and the
U.S.
There is a common conception that
American prices for prescription medications are excessive because they are
often higher than prices in Canada. However, Brett Skinner and Mark
Rovere of the Fraser Institute argue
that the relative burden of prescription drug spending is roughly equivalent in
both countries, since many drugs, generics in particular, are significantly more
expensive in Canada than they are in the
U.S. They note that on balance, between
the higher prices paid for brand-name drugs and the much lower prices paid for
generic drugs in the U.S., Americans spend about the same percentage of their
incomes on prescription drugs as Canadians. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/commerce.web/product_files/PrescriptionDrugSpending2008Rev.pdf
United
States
U.S. Elections and a
Conversation with the American Ambassador
In a special October
issue of Policy Options, ten authors
from the Institute for Research on
Public Policy examine the U.S. Presidential
elections from a variety of perspectives, including its importance to
Canada. The heart of the issue contains
exclusive interview with
America’s Ambassador to
Canada David Wilkins. Editor Ian MacDonald sat down with Ambassador Wilkins in
his Ottawa office for a
wide-ranging discussion of bilateral issues including trade,
Afghanistan, and Arctic
sovereignty, in the context of the current
U.S. and Canadian
elections.
Wilkins interview: http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/oct08/wilkins.pdf
Full document: http://www.irpp.org/po/
Foreign
Affairs
Nuclear Fallout -- Implication of
the World's Nuclear Deal With India
The Nuclear Suppliers Group has
recently agreed to exempt India from its rules barring nuclear
dealings with countries that lack comprehensive international safeguards on
their nuclear facilities. This will reshape the global non-proliferation
regime fundamentally, writes Wade Huntley of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada;
however, the deepest impacts are yet years away, he says. Huntley notes that for
Canada, emerging as a full supporter of
opening the nuclear door to India requires a dramatic shift from its
long-standing objections to India’s nuclear weapons development. http://www.asiapacific.ca/files/Analysis/2008/cac53.pdf
Education
Universities as Major Contributors to Canada’s Economy and
Quality of Life
The Association of
Universities and Colleges of Canada has launched a report on the state of
Canadian research and development entitled Momentum: The 2008 Report on
University Research and Knowledge Mobilization. The report shows universities are major
players in R&D in Canada, performing more than one-third of
the country’s research and contributing at least $60 billion to the economy in
2007. http://www.aucc.ca/publications/media/2008/momentum2008_10_21_e.html
Corporate Initiatives on
Campus
A new survey by the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives, the Canadian Union of
Public Employees and the Polaris
Institute focuses on the commercial and corporate presence on university
campuses, including exclusive beverage marketing on campus, and the perceived
effects of some of these deals. http://www.polarisinstitute.org/files/Corporate%20Initiatives%20Snapshot.pdf
Bulletin
des écoles secondaires du Québec : Édition 2008
Le
Bulletin des écoles secondaires du
Québec (2008) ,
par Kasha Kheiriddin et Peter Cowley de
l'Institut Fraser, ecueille un
grand nombre d’indicateurs pertinents et objectifs sur la performance des
écoles. Il est facilement accessible au public pour qu’on puisse analyser et
faire une comparaison entre les performances des écoles. Par conséquent, le
bulletin des écoles aident les parents à choisir une école pour leurs enfants et
ceux qui veulent améliorer le rendement de leur école. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/commerce.web/product_files/70QCFSC08COMP.pdf
