JSGS Policy Brief Archive
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Citizen Science and COVID: Identifying the Needs of Rural and Remote Education
By: Tarun Katapally, Associate Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS), and Director, Digital Epidemiology and Population Health Laboratory; Prasanna Kannan, PhD Candidate, JSGS; and Eric Kwabia, PhD Candidate, JSGS
The effect of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) on educational institutions has been well documented, with activities of educational institutions across the globe being significantly ...
Addressing Climate Change and Economic Growth: Are they compatible?
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and former federal Assistant Deputy Minister
Late this month, approximately 25,000 people representing more than 200 nations will gather in Glasgow, Scotland to tackle yet again the climate challenge facing the world. The Con...
Innovation in Northern Sweden: Are there Lessons for Canada?
By: Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan; Carin Holroyd, Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan
This policy brief considers efforts made by a series of northern Swedish communities to build sustainable jobs and businesses beyond traditional northern economic activities in the...
Balance: The Key to Good Governance and Policy Making
By: Kevin Lynch, former Clerk of the Privy Council and federal Deputy Minister; and Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and former federal Assistant Deputy Minister
The argument that power has steadily become more centralized is nothing new. However, the potential harm that today’s scope and scale of centralization poses for our Westminster sy...
The Politics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence
By: Dr. Justin Longo (PhD) and Amy Zarzeczny (LLM), Associate Professors, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies offer important opportunities for society, from medical care to driverless cars. But these technologies also raise...
Net Zero 2050: Rhetoric and Realities
By: Henry Geraedts, Adjunct Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
Canada’s interests are ill-served by wishful politics.
Competitiveness in a Protectionist World: Should We Send in the Diplomats?
By: Kevin Lynch, former Clerk of the Privy Council and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister
Often governments get siloed in their thinking. They become so immersed in how they traditionally approach public policy issues that they fail to broaden their perspectives in sear...
Enhancing Social Inclusion for Older Adults Living with Dementia: A Community-Based Collective Impact Approach in Rural Saskatchewan
By: Tom McIntosh, Akram Mahani, Bonnie Jeffery and Nuelle Novik, Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, University of Regina
The social isolation of older adults, especially those living with dementia, is a global challenge and Canada is no exception. Most factors that contribute to social isolation amon...
Canada Grain Act Review and Industry Goods: Lessons from Australia
By: Dr. Monika Çule, Associate Professor and Head, Department of Economics, University of Regina; and Dr. Richard Gray, Professor, Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of Saskatchewan
This Policy Brief examines whether there are lessons to be learned from how Australia ensured industry-related public goods in its domestic grains sector as it transitioned to a mo...
Innovation Policy: Lessons from the Pandemic
By: Dr. Jerome Konecsni, CEO, ABAzyne Bioscience
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
The Post-Pandemic Economy: What do Canadians Want?
By: Michael Atkinson, Professor Emeritus, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; and Haizhen Mou, Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Reproductive Justice and Indigenous Women in Saskatchewan: Overview and Recommendations
By: Alana Cattapan, CRC in the Politics of Reproduction and Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Waterloo; Samantha Moore, PhD Student, University of Manitoba; Karen Lawford, Assistant Professor of Gender Studies, Queen’s University
On January 26th, 2021 the Government of Saskatchewan announced it would be ending the use of birth alerts in the province, following the calls to justice from the National Inquiry ...
The Evolving Economy (Post-COVID-19 and beyond) and Aligning Skills Training: Roles for Canada’s Postsecondary Institutions
By: Asit K. Sarkar, Professor Emeritus, Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
How Joe Biden Can Heal America
By: Peter Nicholson, former Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Office of the Prime Minister of Canada; former inaugural President of the Council of Canadian Academies
Written by Peter Nicholson, this Policy Brief seeks to provide an answer and, on that basis, to suggest the outline of a policy agenda to fulfill Joe Biden's pledge to heal America...
COVID-19: We Have a Vaccine, Now Comes the Hard Part
By: Jim Marshall, Lecturer, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Making Co-Management Work: A Primer
By: Sujata Manandhar, Post-doctoral fellow, University of Saskatchewan and Yukon University; Nadia Joe, Environmental Scientist, Green Raven Environmental Inc.; and Douglas A. Clark, Associate Professor, USask School of Environment and Sustainability
Beyond policy is implementation. Too often what people believe to be good policy fails not because the policy itself is misguided, but because its application is flawed by lack of ...
Are Small Modular Nuclear Reactors in Saskatchewan's Future?
By: Margot Hurlbert, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability Policy, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS); Dale Eisler, JSGS Senior Policy Fellow
Often, the best way to approach a policy challenge, especially one as fraught as climate change, is to start with a question. Or, in this case, three questions. It tends to focus t...
Whether it’s Trump or Biden, there will be no “Return to Normalcy”
By: Marshall Auerback, Research Associate, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Beyond the Economy: Prioritizing Saskatchewan’s Wellbeing
By: Ingrid Cazakoff, CEO, Heritage Saskatchewan; Iryna Khovrenkov, Associate Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; Tracey Mann, Executive Director, Community Initiatives Fund
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
A Tectonic Shift in the Digital Divide: It’s now deeper than a technological gap
By: Cheryl Camillo, Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS); Justin Longo, JSGS Associate Professor
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Student Performance in PISA 2018: Nettlesome Questions for Canada
By: John Richards, Professor, Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy, and Roger Phillips Chair in Social Policy, C.D. Howe Institute
This is a précis of a longer monograph recently published by the C.D. Howe Institute. It is freely available at www.cdhowe.org
Beware of Moral Hazard in COVID-19 Policy Responses
By: Serge Dupont, former Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council; and Kevin Lynch, former Clerk of the Privy Council
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Staying Apart Through Clustering: Review of the research and innovation landscape on food
By: Peter W.B. Phillips, Distinguished Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS) and Researcher, Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy; Crystal Chan, JSGS Master of Public Policy student
In 2017, the federal government announced its commitment to develop a national food policy for Canada that will emphasize “community bonding”. The assertion is that “food connects...
Reimagining a climate change future for Canada
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Beyond Huawei: The Urgency of Digital Security
By: David Sparling, Master of Public Policy student, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Over the past decade, cyber security has emerged as a crucial dimension of Canada’s national security policymaking. Its importance will only increase as Canada completes the transi...
No Easy Answers: Insights into Community Well-being among First Nations
By: John Richards, Professor, Simon Fraser University School of Public Policy, and Roger Phillips Chair in Social Policy, C.D. Howe Institute
This is a précis of a longer monograph recently published by the C.D. Howe Institute. It is freely available at www.cdhowe.org
Long-term care in the era of COVID-19: There is no place like home
By: Dan Florizone, Executive-in-Residence, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Facing the climate crisis: A post-COVID green energy constructive re-emergence
By: Martin Boucher, Faculty Lecturer, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS); Christopher Gunter, JSGS Faculty Lecturer
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Rethinking the Perceived Perils of Sovereign Government Debt
By: Marc-André Pigeon, Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Designing COVID-19 Data Tools
By: Petr Baranovskiy, Master of Public Policy Graduate, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School; Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation and JSGS Professor; Carin Holroyd, Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Countering COVID-19 mental health crises with digital health policy interventions
By: Tarun Katapally, Associate Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; Director, Digital Epidemiology and Population Health Laboratory; and Eric Kwabia, JSGS Master of Public Policy student, and DEPtH Graduate Research Assistant
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
COVID and Canadian Post-Secondary Education
By: Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan; Carin Holroyd, Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
A Crisis Response for Wilderness Tourism
By: Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
Few, if any, areas of the Canadian economy have been hit as hard as tourism, particularly the kind of adventure recreation for which this country is justifiably famous. From wildli...
Is it Time for Shared Sacrifice at Post-Secondary Institutions?
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
This issue of JSGS Policy Brief is part of a series dedicated to exploring and providing evidence-based analysis, policy ideas, recommendations and research conclusions on the vari...
Building the New "Found" Generation: The Indigenous Recovery Corps
By: Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
Over the last century, Indigenous communities have had generation after generation of young leaders stolen from them. It started with waves of epidemic diseases that killed tens of...
Part of the solution to managing pandemics is in our pockets
By: Tarun Katapally, Associate Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; Director, Digital Epidemiology and Population Health Laboratory
When our society has faced existential crises in the past, we have banded together to overcome the challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic is one such threat that requires not only a cohe...
The Provinces Need Help. Time to Put the Bank of Canada to Work
By: Marc-Andre Pigeon, Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS); Murray Fulton, Director, JSGS; and Michael Atkinson, Professor Emeritus, JSGS
The provinces are struggling.
What we need to know about the pace of decarbonization
By: Vaclav Smil, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Environment, University of Manitoba
Energy transitions have been among the key defining processes of human evolution.
A world in distress: The first stage of the battle against the pandemic
By: Ken Coates, Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan; and Carin Holroyd Associate Professor, Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan
Politicians and public servants are immersed in one of the most challenging non-war situations in a century. The novel coronavirus has tied the world in a series of policy knots th...
Targeted Basic Income: An Equitable Policy Response to COVID-19
By: Dionne Pohler, Kourtney Koebel, and Rafael Gomez, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto; Marc-Andre Pigeon, and Murray Fulton, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world how interconnected we all are, and how much we need (and depend) on each other. In Canada, it has been heart-warming to see the responses ...
Big Banks and Competition: The Promise and Peril of Open Banking
By: Marc-André Pigeon, Director, Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives; Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Open Banking promises to empower consumers by giving them easy control over their financial data.
The Insidious and Dangerous Challenge of Crystal Meth
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
It’s been called a crisis, a scourge, an epidemic, a blight that is corroding the social fabric, destructive to families and individuals. Go ahead, pick your description. When it c...
Anxiety and Anger on the Prairies: The Challenge to Federalism
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
In all the post-election hand-wringing, angst and analysis about western alienation these days, the most surprising thing is some people are genuinely surprised it has come to this...
Innovation, Disruption and The Second Economy of Mining
By: Brian Wixted, Adjunct Professor, Johnson Shoyama Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy, University of Saskatchewan
The global mining industry, like so many other economic sectors, is in the midst of a technological revolution. What has long been considered a mature industry is going through a w...
Have we hit “peak globalization”?
By: Kevin Lynch, Vice-Chair BMO Financial, former Clerk of the Privy Council
As we mark the 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference, which under American, British and Canadian leadership established the postwar international architecture of a rules...
5G Raises Tough Policy Choices for Canada
By: Justin Longo, Assistant Professor and Cisco Research Chair in Digital Governance, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Fifth generation wireless telecommunications technology, commonly referred to as 5G, could provide an important foundation for the future of Saskatchewan’s rural areas and the appl...
Climate Change and the Policies of Deception
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
One thing is certain. The climate is going to change in Canada in the coming weeks and months when it comes to the climate change issue. It will get hotter. You can count on the de...
Universities and the New World of Work: A Strong Relationship with Room for Improvement
By: Don Drummond, Stauffer Dunning Fellow, School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University
There is considerable debate over the contribution of universities to the new world of work. It’s a world often characterized as precarious and volatile, with generally increasing ...
Canada’s Public Schools: Are we paying more but getting less?
By: Jim Marshall, Executive-in-Residence, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS); Haizhen Mou, Associate Professor, JSGS; Michael Atkinson, Professor Emeritus, JSGS
The question of value for money is central to any public policy consideration. Given its scale, coupled with its critical social and economic impact, education ranks as one of the ...
Unintended Consequences: Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability
By: Rick August
Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) was intended as an income support program for people with severe and prolonged disabilities. It has already expanded well beyond t...
Saskatchewan Potash Taxes and Royalties: Is it Time for a Review?
By: Jim Marshall, Executive-in-Residence, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Potash production has long been important to the Saskatchewan economy. Consider: In 2017, exports of potash from Saskatchewan amounted to over $5.0 billion as compared to a Gro...
The confusion afflicting Canada’s natural resource economy
By: Jeffrey Simpson, Former National Affairs Columnist, The Globe and Mail
Throughout its history, Canada has depended on its bounty of natural resources. Quite simply, natural resources have been the backbone of the nation’s economy.
Gender-Based Violence and Homelessness: Two Sides of the Same Coin
By: Dr. Vianne Timmons, President, University of Regina (U of R); Melissa Coomber-Bendtsen, CEO, YWCA Regina; Alexis Zederayko, Researcher, U of R
According to the United Nations Population Fund, one out of three women worldwide reports having been a victim of gender-based physical or sexual violence (United Nations Populatio...
Freedom from Government: The Origin of Good Ideas
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
A major preoccupation of people in government is policy innovation. More specifically, it’s how to inject new ideas and ways of doing things that result in policy with innovative a...
Pipeline Policy, Politics and the Public Interest
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
The dispute between the governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Canada over the proposed Trans-Mountain pipeline presents a compelling case study on a fundamental challenge th...
Ensuring prosperity: A new Canadian trade agenda
By: Colin Robertson, former Canadian Diplomat and Federal Trade Official
Trade is a cornerstone of Canada’s economy and society. The very idea of Canada was formed on the need to create a union based on trade and commerce.
Are superclusters sensible policy?
By: Peter W.B. Phillips, Distinguished Profressor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; Director, Johnson Shoyama Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy
After two years of anticipation and competition, the federal government announced Feb 15 the five winning “superclusters” designed to spur economic development and innovation in Ca...
The grim reality of Canada’s biggest policy failure
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, JSGS
When it comes to judging a public policy approach, the starting point is to agree there is a reality that, based on existing social and economic norms, is unacceptable. With that ...
Assessing Social Impact Bonds in Canada
By: Iryna Khovrenkov, Assistant Professor, JSGS, University of Regina; and Cindy Kobayashi, President, 4Change Consulting
In 2015, as part of his mandate letters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau identified the development of a Social Finance and Social Innovation Strategy as a priority. With Canada faci...
An Effective Retail and Distribution Model for Recreational Cannabis
By: Dr. Jason Childs, U of R Associate Professor; George Hartner, U of R Lecturer
The looming legalization of recreational cannabis is a policy decision by the Government of Canada that has far-reaching social and economic implications.
Legalizing Cannabis in Canada: Regulate, Educate, Mitigate and Innovate
By: Kathleen McNutt, JSGS Executive Director; Jason Childs, U of R Associate Professor; George Hartner, U of R Lecturer
The legalization of marijuana, whether as a point of public debate or explicit policy action, has been on the public mind in Canada for decades. It reaches back to the 1969 LeDain ...
Climate Change: The policy options and implications for Saskatchewan
By: Jeremy Rayner, JSGS Professor; Margot Hurlbert, JSGS Professor; Dale Eisler, JSGS Policy Fellow; Jim Marshall, JSGS Executive-in-Residence
The Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy has issued an in- depth policy paper on climate change. It examines the policy instruments being used to reduce carbon emission...
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions in Canada Through Electrification of Energy Services
By: Allan Fogwill, President and CEO, Canadian Energy Research Institute; and Rimgaile Baliunaite, Head of Electricity Division, National Commission for Energy Control and Prices
Mitigating climate change is one of the most sophisticated challenges of our time. Governments across the world – including Canada – began to tackle climate change and work to achi...
Finding an Affordable Housing Option: Social Business as the ‘New’ Policy Tool?
By: Kh Md Nahiduzzaman, Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Saudi Arabia)
Housing affordability is a growing concern in Canada, which is one of the few Western nations that largely depends on market forces to supply its housing stock. It has emerged as a...
Crime in Saskatchewan: The issue too many would rather ignore
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
If there is one subject that does more reputational damage to Saskatchewan than any other, even more than the weather and geography, it’s the province’s crime rate. For decades, Sa...
Science and innovation policy for the 21st century: Shaping the dialogue
By: Peter W.B. Phillips, Distinguished Professor, JSGS; Director, Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy; Peggy Schmeiser, Assistant Professor, JSGS; Associate Director, Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy
Generating, developing and applying science and innovation to benefit humanity at local and global levels has never been more important and challenging for decision-makers in the p...
Energy inefficiency of Canadian goods producing industries: Policy opportunities
By: Jason Childs; Samuel Gamtessa
Canadians face a daunting challenge. The Government of Canada has committed to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to 522.9 million tonnes by 2030, a 32 per cent reduction ...
Legalization of Cannabis: The Policy Challenges and Opportunities
By: Kathleen Thompson, PhD, MSW, RSW, BA (Hons)
As Canada looks at legalizing Cannabis, Dr. Kathleen Thompson examines how we might do that and which part of the country might benefit the most.
Post-Secondary Education in Canada: A Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
By: Vianne Timmons, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Regina and Peter Stoicheff, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Saskatchewan
The efforts being made in response to the TRC recommendations and what still needs to be done.
Democracy and the Decline of Newspapers
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
The reality in Canada and other nations is that traditional, printed and widely circulated newspapers are in serious decline. The business model that sustained them for more than a...
The Challenge of Managing Carbon Emissions in Saskatchewan’s Mining and Mineral Sector
By: Victoria Taras and Peter W.B. Phillips
The global consensus reached in the Paris Agreement is that governments and industry need to reduce the carbon footprint and “to accelerate and intensify the actions and investment...
Energy and the Environment: A Step Towards Reconciliation
By: Dale Eisler
The Government of Canada is in the midst of developing policy it hopes will help build a national consensus on what often appear to be the irreconcilable issues of energy and the e...
The Limits of Globalization: Understanding the Rise of Donald Trump
By: Marshall Auerback
The rise of Donald Trump to the top of the United States Republican Party is not as incredible as establishment pundits profess. In fact, he is the voice for an increasing number o...
The Panama Papers and Public Trust: The Challenge for Governments
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow
Timing is everything. In recent weeks, millions of Canadians were in the final stages of filing their income tax for 2015, which you might say is an annual personal tally we each d...
Income inequality and the rise of U.S. populism: A cautionary tale for Canada
By: Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow
The evidence shows the crux of the problem has been the decoupling of productivity growth from incomes. The reasons are many, inter-related and in many cases irreversible. The adve...
Understanding policy behind the inquiry - where do we go from here?
By: Yvonne Boyer, Canada Research Chair, Aboriginal Health and Wellness, Brandon University
On almost a daily basis in Canada, there are news stories of violent attacks against Indigenous women. The statistics of violence and deaths are haunting. Quite simply, Canada is i...
Innovation in government, a path forward
By: Wayne Wouters, former Clerk of the Privy Council, Government of Canada
Innovation is the essence of good government. It allows governments to adapt, to improve and to develop new policies, products or services. Just as innovation drives economic growt...
Evidence-based policy development: A framework and its application
By: Munir A. Sheikh, Former Chief Statistician of Canada
There has been considerable interest and debate recently on the use of evidence in policy development, sparked perhaps by a view that some governments overly rely on ideology rathe...
The state of provincial social assistance in Canada
By: Daniel Béland, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, and Pierre-Marc Daigneault, Department of Political Science, Université Laval
In Canada, as in other advanced industrial societies, social assistance is a central component of the welfare state. This is true because social assistance, which refers to a set o...
Restoring balance and respect in our system of governance
By: The Honourable Kevin G. Lynch, P.C., O.C., PH. D, LL.D, Vice-Chair, BMO Financial Group; former Clerk of the Privy Council
To hear voices in Canada lamenting the state of our democracy and institutions of governance has become an all-too-familiar and troubling refrain. It raises critical issues. The lo...
Assessing the Privatization of Retail Alcohol Sales
By: Jason Childs, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Regina Alexander Siebert, Master’s student, University of Regina
Control and regulation of alcohol by governments has a long and varied history in Western Canada. In fact, it traces back to even before there were provinces, to the time when the ...
Ex-Pat Canadians and the Right to Vote
By: John Courtney, Professor Emeritus of Political Studies and Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
From time to time, Canadian policy makers have addressed the question of who should have the right to vote. Initially thought of as a “privilege” to be granted a select few, the vo...
Physician-assisted dying in Canada: Where do we stand after the Supreme Court’s Decision in Carter v. Canada?
By: Amy Zarzeczny, Assistant Professor, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its judgment in Carter v. Canada, 2015 SCC 5 [Carter]. This much-anticipated decision changed the law relating to ph...
What child care do parents really want?
By: Rick August, Independent social policy analyst and consultant
For years, public policy debate in Canada about child care has largely been defined by the licensed child care industry. In most jurisdictions child care policy focuses almost excl...
Who should own land in Saskatchewan?
By: Annette A. Desmarais; Darrin Qualman; André Magnan; Nettie Wiebe
In December 2013, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) purchased approximately 115, 000 acres of farmland from an investment company, Assiniboia Capital LP., for $128 ...
Can the Web help restore public faith in democracy?
By: Kathleen McNutt, Director, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Representative democracy faces many challenges. Declining voter turnout reflects citizen discontent expressed in voter apathy and the replacement of traditional partisan politics w...
Bending the healthcare cost curve in Canada
By: Gregory P. Marchildon, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy Livio Di Matteo, Professor of Economics, Lakehead University
Canadian governments received a pleasant surprise this year: expenditure growth on public health care in Canada finally appears to be slowing. What’s unclear is if this slowdown is...