The
Americas
Health in the
Americas
Social policy
practitioners have always sought to improve health and education because they
would lead to better opportunities for the population, argues Editor Ronald
Rojas from the Canadian Foundation for
the Americas (FOCAL). FOCAL’s latest newsletter contains articles on health
in the Americas and the impact that
health issues have on regional policies. Read
Foreign
Affairs
Canada’s Hidden
Province
Canada has a hidden province, more
populous than Manitoba or
Saskatchewan, with more citizens than all of
Atlantic Canada. Where is this 'secret' province? It's in the
U.S. and in Hong Kong, the
UK,
China and in dozens of other countries
around the world. It is made up of the estimated 2.8 million Canadian citizens
who live outside our national borders - around 8% of all Canadians. This new
estimate of the size of the Canadian Diaspora is the result of an in-depth study
by the Canadians Abroad Project of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Read I Lire
A New Manley Commission for
Afghanistan?
Should
a new commission be formed to assess what, if any, role
Canada
should play in Afghanistan
after 2011? A recent op-ed from the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs
Institute’s J.L. Granatstein attempts to address this question. Read
American Strategy in
Afghanistan
The 2009-10 Ottawa Roundtable on
Security and Intelligence featured Bruce Riedel, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Riedel assessed President Obama's strategy in
Afghanistan and
Pakistan and prognostications for the
future. The event was co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Public and International
Affairs at the University of Ottawa, the Canadian Association for Security and
Intelligence Studies and the Centre for International Policy
Studies. Listen
Canadian Security and Sub-Saharan
Africa: New Challenges Require New
Policy
A new paper by the Canadian International Council provides
an overview of the changing security environment in sub-Saharan
Africa, with an analysis of the
implications that these changes may have for
Canada’s national security interests. Read
The U.S.
Nuclear Industry: Current Status and Prospects under the Obama
Administration
If the United
States would like to see a nuclear energy renaissance, aggressive government
support would be needed, including subsidies, a carbon pricing mechanism, and an
acceptable waste management solution argues a new paper by the Center for International Governance
Innovation. The paper discusses the history, current status and prospects
for nuclear power under the Obama administration.
Read
Economy
Economic Freedom and the "Resource
Curse"
The Fraser Institute explores the question
of whether mineral resource wealth is an economic blessing or curse,
particularly for developing nations where growth and reduction of poverty are
vital. The study concludes that developing nations can benefit from natural
resource development if they possess sound economic institutions like rule of
law, property rights, open markets, and an independent judiciary. Read
A Detailed Analysis of the
Productivity Performance of the Canadian Forestry
Sector
A new research report by the Centre for the Study of Living
Standards examines recent productivity trends in the forest products sector. Since 2000,
the productivity performance of the sector has been poor relative to the
economy-wide average, which this report argues is due to a productivity collapse
in the paper manufacturing subsector after 2000. Read
Public
Policy
Better Neighbours: The Ongoing Case
for Interprovincial Cooperation in Western
Canada
There
are myriad
benefits derived from the cooperation between provinces, contends the
Canada West Foundation’s Robert Roach. This can be
achieved through joint initiatives and formal commitments, such as the recently
announced Western Economic Partnership. Roach lays out his recommendations for
subsequent steps the western provinces can explore. Read
Energy /
Environment
The Emergence of Climate Change as a
Threat to International Peace and Security
The International Institute for Sustainable
Development reviews the developing linkages between environment and security
in a new article. Authors Oli Brown and Robert McLeman pay particular attention
to the ways in which West Africa is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Read
News from Canadian
Universities
Beacon from
the Cosmic Dark Ages: Researchers Discover Most Distant Stellar
Object
McGill
University researchers
have participated in the discovery of the most distant stellar object ever found
- Gamma-ray Burst 090423. The burst, emitted by a massive star exploding into a
supernova, sheds light
on the very origins of the universe, researchers said. Read
Going North to Help Gauge Global
Water Supply
In the
Sheep Creek Basin in
Ivvavik National
Park, in
Canada’s far northwest corner, Stacey
Dumanski from the University of Saskatchewan took full advantage of the amazing
24-hour sunlight this summer to do fieldwork that could help improve global
water prediction. Read
