Dec 7 2022 — IRPP — As Canada heads toward what is likely to be another recession, the country’s Employment Insurance (EI) program seems no more ready to deal with the expected increase in demand for benefits than it was when the pandemic hit in early 2020. The proportion of unemployed Canadians able to collect EI has fallen from 80 percent […]
Dec 7 2022 — IRPP — There is no one set of solutions to address the challenges of EI modernization and financing reform that will satisfy everyone. Those who want to avoid increasing premiums will need to accept compromise solutions that limit increases and provide greater premium stability. Those who want to return to the generous EI system that was in […]
Oct 27 2022 — IRPP — Canada is on the cusp of a major leap forward in child care with the roll out of a Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system that promises to lower child care fees by the end of 2022 and achieve $10-a-day child care by 2026. As federal, provincial and territorial governments develop implementation plans, it […]
Oct 27 2022 — IRPP — Canadians in every province are resentful about their province’s place in the federation, but resentment runs higher in some provinces than others. These are the findings of a new Resentment Index that we created using questions from the Confederation of Tomorrow 2022 survey. The results can help us better understand the politics of resentment that […]
Sep 8 2022 — IRPP — Adult education provides skills development opportunities to help Canadians find better jobs and improve well-being. Yet it remains a “poor cousin” of compulsory and higher education, disconnected from social policy and the education system at large, with its learners and teachers stigmatized. This paper looks at Canada’s past efforts to address these issues by creating […]
May 18 2021 — IRPP — The postpandemic economic recovery critically depends on whether the thousands of Canadians who have been laid off are able to regain employment. The 2021 federal budget announced additional funding for skills training and employment supports for those most affected by the economic shutdown. However, there is still a great deal of skepticism about the effectiveness […]
Apr 13 2021 — IRPP — Canada’s long-term care (LTC) system needs an overhaul. Most older Canadians have only limited access to care that is often of poor quality and fragmented. There are long wait times for admission to LTC institutions, and many who receive care at home report having unmet needs. As a result, family and friends often have to […]
Mar 24 2021 — IRPP — In the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 80 percent of Canadian deaths occurred in long-term care facilities. There have been calls for the federal government to play a stronger role, but this is complicated by the fact that provinces have adopted a wide range of long-term care policies. Nevertheless, governments could […]
Mar 24 2021 — IRPP — Yukon has been at the forefront of Indigenous treaty-making for over forty years. Today, 11 of its 14 First Nations have land claims and self-government agreements, accounting for almost half of the total in Canada. By redefining the relationship between First Nations and non-First Nations people, these agreements have fundamentally altered Yukon society. But the […]
Nov 11 2020 — IRPP — Between 2017 and mid-2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) intercepted 59,658 people as they crossed into Canada outside official ports of entry. This spike in crossings was a clear break with past trends and with Canada’s managed migration programs. It was driven in part by a global decrease in refugee protection, coupled with changes […]
Sep 24 2020 — IRPP — Today, the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) officially launches its Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, a permanent research body that will build a deeper understanding of Canada as a federal community. With the provincial and federal governments focused on their responses to COVID-19, and all eyes turning to Ottawa as Parliament […]
Sep 22 2020 — IRPP — Despite federal, provincial, and territorial governments devoting a lot of effort on plans to reduce poverty in recent years, too many Canadians continue to struggle to meet their basic daily needs on incomes that fall far below the poverty line. And, among all household groups, single persons without dependants are most likely to find themselves […]
Jun 29 2020 — IRPP — The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a new vulnerability among firms that rely on human labour. In order to comply with public health directives on physical distancing, many businesses have had to completely shut down their operations for months. Others remained functional thanks to teleworking, which many intend to prolong and even adopt permanently. As experts […]
Jun 17 2020 — IRPP — Policy-makers and officials in Canada have an important international instrument to aid them in the pursuit of Indigenous reconciliation: the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which recognizes the basic human rights of Indigenous people as well as their rights to self-determination. As the standoff over the Coastal GasLink pipeline earlier […]
Nov 6 2019 — IRPP — Canada’s aging population faces a harsh reality: growing numbers of older Canadians with chronic illnesses, disabilities and cognitive impairment are regularly discouraged by the efforts required to access and coordinate fragmented health and social care services. These challenges are often most profound for those who cannot rely on help from family members or friends, but […]