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 […]
Jun 21 2019 — Jakob Edler — IRPP — Canada faces a triple innovation challenge: decreasing productivity growth, a growing gap in R&D investments and a need to harness innovation more directly for the good of society. Those challenges cannot be tackled if the country remains in its supply-side policy silo. Decades of government-led attempts to promote productivity and innovation through measures like R&D […]
Apr 9 2019 — IRPP — The introduction of Tax-Tree Savings Accounts (TFSAs) in 2009 transformed how Canadians save. One of the main reasons for creating TFSAs was to provide a tax-assisted savings instrument for low-income Canadians to enable them to improve their retirement income. Now, 10 years later, many low-income savers are still not using TFSAs in ways that would […]
Dec 7 2016 — Bruce Campbell — IRPP — The National Energy Board estimated recently that if no new pipelines were built, oil by rail would increase tenfold in coming decades. Prime Minister Trudeau justified, in part, his recent decision to approve Kinder Morgan and Enbridge Line 3, on the grounds that pipelines were safer than rail. With or without these new pipelines, most […]
Nov 23 2016 — IRPP — The national carbon pricing plan announced in October 2016 reflects federal leadership to reduce emissions and respect international commitments. ■ The plan allows flexibility for provinces that already have a cap-and-trade program or carbon tax as well as those without a mitigation policy. ■ As experience in other policy settings reveals, intergovernmental processes are important […]