Canada-U.S.

The Effect of the President-elect

The Institute for Research on Public Policy’s new issue of Policy Options contains articles on the implications of Barack Obama's victory, including 10 lessons for Canadian politicians and the effects on North American climate change and energy. The document also contains an article from John Parisella, who worked as a volunteer for the Obama campaign. http://www.irpp.org/po/po_home.htm#Index

 

North American Perspectives on Borders and Security: Developing a Policy Narrative

Issues facing the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders are not the same, but border policy in all three countries will increasingly be shaped by the same forces. To address the future of North American border policy, the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States in partnership with the Arizona State University’s North American Center for Transborder Studies and the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University will host a conference on January 12, 2009 at San Diego State University in San Diego, CA focusing on precisely these issues.
http://www.acsus.org/display.cfm?id=275&Sub=433

 

 

Economy

Unstable Foundations: Asset Markets, Inflation Targets, and Canada’s 2011 Policy Choices

While the current financial crisis raises questions about the Bank of Canada’s role in the economy, stabilizing inflation remains the Bank’s essential job, according to a study released by the C.D. Howe Institute. As the 2011 deadline approaches for reform or renewal of the Bank’s 2 percent inflation-targeting program, authors David Laidler and Robin Banerjee address the perceived tension between the Bank’s inflation-control role and its efforts to prevent or lessen financial instability. http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/commentary_278 .pdf

 

Manitoba Economic Profile and Forecast

In the Canada West Foundation's last economic forecast for Manitoba, the organization issued a warning about the strength of the Canadian dollar against the American dollar and how it presented difficulties for Manitoba manufacturers and exporters. This danger has now been removed-at a cost. A new report asserts that as a result of the financial crisis in the U.S. (and by extension, the world), the Canadian dollar is now back around 80 cents U.S. after hovering at parity earlier this year. How properly equipped is the province in this new context? asks authors Jacques Marcil. In two words: pretty well.

http://www.cwf.ca/V2/files/MB%20EC%20Profile%20and%20Forecast%20Dec- 2008.pdf

 

The Less Taxing Approach

An all-party committee of the New Brunswick legislature has provided its tax review report, which echoes recommendations made by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) to cut income tax and increase consumption tax. AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley said these changes would set New Brunswick apart in the eyes of people and businesses looking for a place to live or do business, and would also help to stimulate the economy. To read more about AIMS research on tax policy: http://www.aims.ca/library/TaxReform.pdf

 

Canada’s International Transactions in Securities

Canadian investors repatriated substantial funds as they sold a record amount of foreign securities in October in the face of rapidly deteriorating global financial conditions, according to a recent Statistics Canada report. In contrast, foreign investors' interest in Canadian securities returned, following three consecutive months of divestment, the survey continues.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/081218/dq081218a- eng.htm

 

 

Energy / Environment

Environmental Justice

In the paper Environmental Justice in Canada – It Matters Where You Live, Michael Buzzelli, the Canadian Policy Research Networks’ Director of Housing and Environment Research and a professor at University of Western Ontario, surveys significant environmental issues and community environmental justice initiatives. Buzzelli examines their structure and the challenge of launching effective community responses. http://www.cprn.org/documents/50875_EN.pdf

 

 

Public Policy

Access to Information at 25 Years: New Perspectives, Creative Solutions?

This year the Public Policy Forum (PPF) held a full-day workshop on Modernizing the Federal Access to Information Regime. The workshop brought together 40 leading thinkers, practitioners, and decision-makers from academia, the private sector, civil society, and government. The purpose was to generate new ideas and catalyze creative thinking around options for modernizing the culture, administration and legislation of the federal Access to Information (ATI) regime. In a new report, the PPF’s Michael Lister and Katherine Baird review current thinking on ATI and impart fresh perspectives and potential reforms that were discussed.

http ://www.ppforum.ca/common/assets/publications/en/oic_report_final_for_web.pdf< /SPAN>

 

Manitoba Rated Canada’s Most Generous Province

Manitoba continues to be Canada’s most generous province, according to the Fraser Institute’s annual generosity index. The report shows that Manitoba has the highest percentage of tax-filers among all provinces donating to registered charities (28.1 per cent). The total amount donated is also the highest in Canada at 1.14 per cent of total income earned in the province.

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Health Care

Financing the Health Care System: Is Long-term Sustainability Possible?

The Canadian public health care system is being attacked in two, contradictory ways. Critics of the system simultaneously claim that public health care is too costly and that there is not enough investment in health care. While others argue that costs are increasing faster than the rate of economic growth and government revenues. This in turn creates cost restraints which affect the public health system’s ability to provide quality care. A new paper from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives focuses on the current and projected cost of health care and analyzes health care spending to determine whether a public system is sustainable. http://www.policyalternatives.ca/~ASSETS/DOCUMENT/Saskatchewan_Pubs/200 8/Financing_Health_Care_Dec_11.pdf

 

 

Public Opinion

The Mood of Canada: Nearly One-Third of Canadians Say Country is on the Wrong Track

From confidence to anxiety: there’s been a sea change in Canada’s mood over the last year. The second annual Mood of Canada poll by Nanos Research shows that, compared with last year’s poll, twice as many Canadians say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, while only half as many say they’re better off. And more than half of Canadians think the economy will get worse in the next six months.

http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-F08- T347.pdf