Economy

Budgets for Bad Times

Michael Mendelson was Ontario’s Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance from 1989 to 1990 and Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet from 1990 to 1995.  He is now Senior Scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy. In this commentary, he compares the experience of Bob Rae’s government in the recession of the early 1990s to that facing the McGuinty government in the recession of 2009. Read

 

Will It Be Déjà Vu All over Again?

The boom and bust in energy prices experienced recently has its parallels in the boom and bust of energy prices in the 1970s and 1980s, asserts a new report from the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. As it prepares its 2009 budget the government has an opportunity to learn from the past and to quickly and decisively put its budget on a path toward a much smaller reliance on energy-related revenues, the authors say. Read

 

Gas Price Regulation in Eastern Canada: Gouged at the Pump

$155 million and counting. That is how much gas price regulation has cost inhabitants of Atlantic Canada as of February 1, 2009, says the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies. A new graphic on their website depicts the damage. Read

 

Recommendations for the G-20 Summit

In a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives Thomas d’Aquino offers several recommendations that the CCCE believes will accelerate a return to financial stability and economic growth. Read

 

Canadian Interests Are No Longer Served by the G8

Canada hosts the G8 in 2010; however, the organization may be practically irrelevant in 2010, say Gordon Smith and Barry Carin, Fellows at the Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute. Both men, who were on the Prime Minister’s G8 Summit team in the 1990s and are also the Executive Director and Associate Director at the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria, make their case in a new op-ed. Read

 

 

Foreign Affairs

Why Canada Needs a Robust Arctic Air Rescue Capability

The Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute’s Ron Wallace states that Canada has been subject to two accidents involving nuclear materials resulting from airborne military activities near and in its Arctic territory. Canada will undoubtedly face this challenge again but will the country be ready? Canada must, he argues, be able to act above the ice in order to protect Canadians living in the Arctic and to maintain its claims to Arctic sovereignty. Read

 

 

Energy / Environment

The G20 and Green Protectionism: Will We Pay the Price at Copenhagen?

In a new policy brief, Center for International Governance Innovation John Whalley and Simon Evenett argue that "green" protectionist actions by industrialized countries reduce the likelihood of a successful deal at the UN-sponsored global climate change talks at Copenhagen in December 2009. The authors contend that trading partners in other regions fear that existing national environmental regulations will be abused when industrialized countries implement border tax adjustments, carbon taxes or permit allocation schemes to mitigate climate change. Read

 

Public Policy

Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction

The Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction was initiated in 2006 in response to poverty that had arisen after the shut-down of several steel mills. Anne Makhoul and Liz Weaver of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy write that the Roundtable has made a serious dent in poverty. The authors demonstrate how this organization is influencing policy makers, bringing out the best in its citizens, and inspiring communities across Ontario to consider similar action. Read

 

Boosting Educational Attainment in Western Canada

A new report from the Canada West Foundation confirms that the western provinces need to do more to keep students in school. The report, written by Chisholm Consulting, examines the reasons behind the West’s larger high school drop out rate and lower post-secondary enrolment. This study provides case studies from other provinces and countries that have helped reduce the high school drop out rate. Read

 

Barriers in Québec’s Job Market

In spite of a sound knowledge of French and superior levels of education, Moroccan and Algerian newcomers to the province of Québec have extraordinarily high unemployment rates. The Institute for Research on Public Policy explores the principal reasons for this discrepancy in a new study. Français – English summary.

 

What’s in a Scan?

Authors of a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives warn that private clinics selling high-tech services to screen healthy people for disease could be harming Canadians and placing an undue burden on the public health care system. Lead investigator Alan Cassels reports that Canadians largely view these “preventative” scans as safe and highly accurate, when in fact screening healthy people for disease exposes them to risks from excessive radiation. Read

 

Fostering Employer Investment in Workplace Learning

Investment in developing the skills and knowledge of Canadian workers is important to Canadian workers and the country’s economy.  A new report from the Canadian Policy Research Networks and the Canadian Council on Learning synthesizes four roundtables held between December 2007 and November 2008 on employer investment in workplace training. Read

 

 

Public Opinion

Canadians Agree We Are America’s Best Friend

Nearly 90% of Canadians agree with Barack Obama's statement that "the United States could not have a better friend and ally than Canada," according to a new Nanos Research / Policy Options poll conducted exactly four weeks after President Obama's state visit. However, only 54% agreed with Stephen Harper's statement that "there is no such thing as a threat to the national security of the United States that does not represent a direct threat to Canada." The survey reveals Canadians are more comfortable co-operating with the U.S. on issues like the environment and reducing border restrictions. English – Français