Canada-U.S. Relations

How Canada Can Make the Oilsands Pretty Again

Albertans are understandably nervous about the potential impact of the new American administration on its market for energy south of the border, writes Roger Gibbins, president of the Canada West Foundation. Gibbins suggests ways in which Albertans’ nervous energy can be re-directed to seizing the Canada-U. S. Clean Energy Dialogue that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last month. http://www.cwf.ca/V2/cnt/commentaries_200903230931.php

 

Comprehensive Action Plan for Afghanistan

The Afghan war is on the verge of being lost but, argues Sarah Chayes, the situation is not entirely hopeless. If the Obama Administration can institute a wide-ranging shift in strategy, she says, the U.S. and its allies will have a much better chance of defeating the Taliban and stabilizing Afghanistan. In a paper featured by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, Chayes examines the various components this strategy must contain in order to be successful.

http://www.cdfai.org/PDF/Comprehensive%20Action%20Plan%20for%20Afghanistan.pdf

 

 

Economy

To the Next Level

Canada can improve upon its existing monetary order based on a 2 percent inflation target, says a study released by the C.D. Howe Institute. William Robson recommends improvements to the current regime when it expires in 2011, including a lower inflation or price-level target, and stronger accountability for the Bank of Canada’s performance in hitting the target. http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/commentary_285.pdf

 

Merger of Suncor Energy and Petro-Canada

A key priority of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) is to ensure that Canada realizes its potential as both an energy and an environmental superpower, states Thomas d’Aquino, the CCCE’s President and CEO. Hence, the proposed Suncor Energy/Petro-Canada merger will move Canada decisively in this direction, he says. http://www.ceocouncil.ca/publications/

 

China—First to Find the Bottom, First to Climb Out

The global financial crisis, writes Yuen Pau Woo, President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation, should force a rethink of the international economic order and how Canada must position itself for a post-crisis world. Woo notes that there is a growing consensus among experts that China will be the first to find the bottom of the economic crisis, and the first to come out of it. Woo explains why Canada should consider building stronger economic ties with China.

http://www.asiapacific.ca/en/ask/china-first-find-bottom-first-climb-out

 

The Gulf States, the IMF, and the International Financial Crisis

The oil-rich Gulf states have been called upon to aid the finance-strapped International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it struggles to help countries caught in the international financial crisis. Yet, Gulf governments came empty handed to the November 2008 G20 meetings in Washington, D.C., claims the Centre for International Governance Innovation’s Bessma Momani. Momani outlines the reasons for their reluctance to contribute to IMF liquidity, noting that the Gulf states are increasingly looking inward to deal with their own economic difficulties and the demands of a rising segment of educated middle-class citizens. http://www.cigionline.org/

 

 

Canadian Politics

What Makes a Government Coalition Work?

In the wake of Parliament’s prorogue earlier this year, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation co-hosted a one-day conference to discuss the concept of forming and sustaining coalition governments. The conference hosted academics and members of parliament from Germany, the Netherlands, and Canada. It was filmed and is featured on the CCPA website.  http://www.policyalternatives.ca/reports/2009/03/reportsstudies2149/?pa=A2286B2A&r_ID=179960/

 

 

Public Policy

Alberta’s Seven Cities Partnership

In 2001, the federal government developed a structure to support its National Homelessness Initiative (NHI) that would allow it to work directly with municipalities without the usual intermediary of provincial governments. Seven Alberta cities were designated to receive federal funds and tasked with delivering NHI. As a part of the Community Stories Series of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, Scott Cameron and Anne Makhoul review the success of this partnership. They write that it has successfully identified causes and solutions to the problem of homelessness and helped to shape the face of housing policy in Alberta and Canada. http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/758ENG%2Epdf

 

Homelessness in Canada: Past, Present, Future

Writing for the Canadian Policy Research Networks, David Hulchanski of the University of Toronto looks at the evolution of the set of social problems we now call homelessness. A key reason for the lack of progress in this area, he writes, is inadequate government support in terms of social housing, income support, and support services. Had the government committed as much time and energy to homelessness as it has to health care, he writes, serious advances in this challenge would have been realized. http://www.cprn.org/documents/51110_EN.pdf

 

Hospital Report Card: Ontario 2009

The Fraser Institute’s Hospital Report Card: Ontario 2009 compares the performance of hospitals on up to 50 separate indicators of quality and patient safety. The study provides a Hospital Mortality Index that shows overall performance across nine indicators of mortality.

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/commerce.web/product_files/HospitalReportCard_Ontario2009.pdf

 

 

Public Opinion

Canadian Public Opinion on Oil Sands

The most recent Nanos poll revealed that, overall, Canadians believed that oil sands development had a net negative impact on Canada's reputation abroad. However there were striking differences from region to region. Quebecers were comparatively much more likely to believe oil sands development was hurting, while the opposite was true for Atlantic Canadians (net impact of +16). Ontarians were more equally divided on the impact on Canada's reputation with a net impact of +1. Of note, Canadians in the West, where oil sands development occurs, were comparatively more likely to believe it hurt Canada's reputation abroad (net impact of -7). http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-W09-T363.pdf

 

Le gouvernement doit réduire le nombre de fonctionnaires

Selon un sondage Angus Reid commandé par l’Institut économique de Montréal, 56% des Québécois veulent que, dans un contexte de crise économique et de diminution de ses revenus, le gouvernement équilibre ses finances en réduisant le nombre de fonctionnaires. Seulement 7% souhaitent une augmentation des tarifs des services publics. Par ailleurs, les syndicats sont considérés par près de la moitié des répondants comme une force qui bloque négativement les changements nécessaires.

http://www.iedm.org/main/show_mediareleases_fr.php?mediareleases_id=189

 

Government Must Reduce the Number of Civil Servants

According to an Angus Reid poll commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute, 56% of Quebecers want the government, in a context of economic crisis and lower revenues, to balance its finances by reducing the number of civil servants. Only 7% favour higher fees for public services. In addition, unions are seen by nearly half of respondents as a force that is blocking necessary change in a negative way. http://www.iedm.org/main/show_mediareleases_en.php?mediareleases_id=189

 

Canadian CEOs Strongly Support Proposed Reforms of Corporate Group Taxation

A recent paper released by the C.D. Howe Institute on corporate group tax reform struck a responsive chord with Canadian CEOs and business leaders. A new survey conducted by COMPAS found strong support for the proposal to allow parent companies to transact federal and provincial taxes for all their subsidiaries. In "Cleaning Up the Books: A Proposal for Revamping Corporate Group Taxation in Canada," Senior Policy Analyst Alexandre Laurin recommends measures which would bring fairness, simplicity, and certainty of tax outcome for Canadian corporations. http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/COMPASsurvey_Mar19.pdf

 

The Federal Budget’s Perceived Effect on Agricultural Producers

An Ipsos Research poll conducted just after the details of the federal budget were released, indicates that only one in twenty Canadian agricultural producers (6%) feel that the budget will help their farm operation, while twice as many (13%) believe that the budget will help their farm operation. The majority of Canadian farmers are of the opinion that the recently released federal budget will neither help nor hurt their operation (48%). http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=4305

 

 

Science and Technology

Scientists Find Cellular Process that Fights Herpes

A group of virus hunters from the Université de Montréal, in collaboration with American colleagues, have identified a cellular process that seeks out and fights herpes. Herpes affects an estimated 80 million people in America alone and there is currently no cure for the condition. While it may not yet be possible to completely eradicate Type 1 herpes simplex in people who are already infected, future therapies may be able to keep the virus in its dormant state. These research results may also help inform the development of therapies against diseases such as HIV or even cancer. 

http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news-digest/herpes-scientists-find-cellular-process-that-fights-virus.html