Canada-U.S. Relations

Policy Options April 2009

This month, the Institute for Research on Public Policy spotlights Canada-US relations. It highlights an exclusive Nanos poll conducted a month after President Barack Obama's visit, as well as articles touching on the economic relationship and an examination of the environment and energy security nexus. It also contains a number of articles on the Arctic. Read

 

 

Western Hemisphere Relations

How Best to Strengthen Inter-American Relations

In advance of the Fifth Summit of the Americas on April 17, 2009, The Center for Latin American Issues at George Washington University invited the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, along with other experts from think tanks, universities, and corporate America, to participate in a colloquium on how best to strengthen inter-American relations. The final report examines the top policy recommendations: to restore the U.S. economy without raising trade barriers; forge a deeper and broader relationship with Brazil, and transform the Summit of the Americas into an active, problem-solving forum. Read

 

Obama et Cuba: un changement significatif?

Jacques Beauchamps discute avec Christine Fréchette du Centre d’études et du recherche internationales à l’Université de Montréal de la portée des changements annoncés par Obama à l’égard de Cuba. Pour écouter (à la minute 18)

 

 

Foreign Policy

Competing for Business

Recent decades have seen a proliferation of investment incentives around the world as governments seek to attract increasingly mobile foreign direct investment in the hope of spurring economic growth, and Southeast Asia is no exception. Writing for the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Heike Baumueller examines the effects of these types of incentives on sustainable development. Read

 

 

Economy

Canada's Quiet Bargain

The majority of Canadian households enjoy a higher quality of life because the public services their taxes fund come at a solid bargain, according to a new study released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Authors Hugh Mackenzie and Richard Shillington respond to calls for tax cuts and conclude that public services make a significant contribution to the majority of Canadians' standard of living – worth at least 50% of their income. Read

 

La déflation : une peur injustifiée

Selon plusieurs analystes, il serait catastrophique que les prix baissent de manière soutenue et généralisée, car (1) comme tout coûtera moins cher demain, la déflation encouragerait les individus à réduire aujourd’hui leurs dépenses de consommation dans l’espoir de bénéficier des aubaines futures, ce qui compromettrait la viabilité des entreprises; et (2) la baisse des prix réduirait la profitabilité des entreprises et les acculerait à la faillite. En apparence acceptables, ces deux arguments sont néanmoins bancals. Tout d’abord, déclarer que la déflation réduit la consommation, c’est affirmer que plus les prix des produits baissent, moins les gens en achètent. Mais est-ce vraiment logique? demande Nathalie Elgrably-Lévy de l’Institut économique de Montréal. Lisez

 

Calls for Bank of Canada to Lower its Benchmark Interest Rate

The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC) has recommended that the Bank of Canada lower the overnight interest rate at its next announcement on April 21, 2009. The MPC is a panel sponsored by the Institute to provide an independent assessment of the monetary stance most appropriate for the Bank of Canada as it seeks to achieve its 2 percent inflation target. William Robson, the Institute’s President and CEO, chairs the Council. The overnight rate is a very short-term money-market rate that the central bank targets for monetary policy purposes. Read

 

Canadian Women Entrepreneurs

Canada is home to more than 850,000 women entrepreneurs. Their numbers have increased more than 200 percent over the past 20 years. Today, they annually contribute more than $18 billion to our economy and continue to represent one of the fastest growing sectors. On February 17, the University of Western Ontario hosted the first Ivey Women Entrepreneurs Connect event. Dean Carol Stephenson reflects on the event, and some of the ideas, perspectives, and insights shared. Read

 

 

Energy / Environment 

Business Leaders Support Call for a Unified National Policy on Carbon Pricing
The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) has lent its support to calls by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) for a unified national approach to putting a price on emissions of the greenhouse gases linked to climate change. The NRTEE report, Achieving 2050: A Carbon Pricing Policy for Canada, calls for a nationwide cap-and-trade system that would cover almost all sources of greenhouse gases, from large factories and power generation to the fuels used in cars and homes. Read the CCCE Brief – Read the NRTEE Report Achieving 2050

 

Implications of Canada's Arctic Policy

What effects will Canada's new Arctic policy have on its energy relationship with the United States? The Canada West Foundation's president Roger Gibbins offers his insights with Connect2Canada in a recent podcast. Listen

 

Can Oil Sands Be Cleaned Up?

New technologies offer hope that oil sands could one day be transformed into one of the cleanest fossil fuels, say Bob Holmes of New Scientist. To back this claim, Holmes reports on the latest research by two University of Calgary professors, Pedro Pereira and Stephen Larter. Pereira is leading a team trying to transform bitumen into lighter oil underground, causing many of the toxic sulphur and nitrogen compounds to remain underground, which removes the surface pollution, while Larter believes it might be possible to induce bacteria to digest the bitumen into methane. Read

 

Study Reveals Potential to Amass More Carbon in Eastern North American Forests

With climate change looming, the hunt for places that can soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is on. Obvious "sinks" for the greenhouse gas include the oceans and the enormous trees of tropical rainforests. But temperate forests could play a key role, new research suggest.  In a study that drew on both historical and present-day datasets, Jeanine Rhemtulla, post doctoral fellow, Department of Geography, McGill University and David Mladenoff and Murray Clayton of the University of Wisconsin-Madison quantified and compared the above-ground carbon held in the forest trees of Wisconsin just prior to European settlement and widespread logging, and the total carbon they contain today. Read

 

 

Public Policy

Reality Check

No matter what we do to reform the system, short of reducing the amount or quality of care available, the cost of health care will continue to rise, opines Robert Roach of the Canada West Foundation. Health care will get more expensive and we will, one way or another, have to come up with the cash to pay for it, even in the midst of recession.  Until we as individuals, and as a society through our governments, fully embrace prevention and wellness as the first principle of health care, our individual levels of health will be lower than they could be, warns Roach. Read

 

Paved with Good Intentions

To achieve real economic integration of adult citizens with disabilities, one-size-fits-all benefits, passive income strategies and over-simplified disability concepts have failed in Canada and across the developed world, writes Rick August of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy. August suggests alternative strategies that can improve economic inclusion while avoiding what he believes are the perverse incentives and dependency traps associated with most current disability programs. Read

 

Municipal Performance Report for New Brunswick

A new report from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) observes how efficient and effective New Brunswick municipalities are at providing services at a reasonable cost to residents. The AIMS Performance Report series grades municipalities based on the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery using a three year average (2005, 2006 and 2007). The study examines how the municipality spends tax dollars and the extent to which a service or policy achieves its intended result. Read

 

Making Newfoundland and Labrador a Province of Choice for Young People

Late last year, 140 young people attended a provincial Youth Summit in St. John's, NL, to identify common values and actions to make Newfoundland and Labrador their province of choice to live in and work. The Canadian Policy Research Networks reports on the conclusions of the Summit in its Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy. Read