Jan 22 2020 — Jim Stanford — Policy Options — It’s usually taken for granted that the world of work is being fundamentally transformed by the irresistible, tectonic force of technology. Automation and artificial intelligence will destroy some jobs and create others. Digitized business models and on-demand platforms will convert jobs into gigs. Huge gains in productivity could usher in abundant leisure time — or […]
Jan 21 2020 — Philippe Lagasse — Policy Options — Meghan and Harry’s decision to live in Canada is a mixed blessing for monarchists and republicans alike. Many monarchists will be pleased to have a semipermanent royal-ish couple in the country, though they are aware that the Sussexes are purposefully moving away from the very institution they cherish. Republicans, meanwhile, are doubtless pleased that the […]
Jan 17 2020 — Megan Gaucher and Lindsay Larios — Policy Options — The phrase “birth tourism” has been used by media and political parties to derogatively describe the circumstances in which noncitizen women come to Canada to give birth; the suspicion is that the women do this so that the children can claim citizenship and thus take advantage of their birth country’s education and health care systems, […]
Jan 13 2020 — Chandrima Chakraborty — Policy Options — We now know that the Ukrainian International Airlines plane PS752 that crashed last week was mistakenly shot down by Iran. It will take time for the investigations to provide us with more answers, but one thing is clear: what happened in Tehran is something that happened to Canada.
Jan 13 2020 — Brian Bird — Policy Options — During Andrew Scheer’s leadership of the Conservative Party, and especially during the last election campaign, concerns about his moral convictions on abortion and same-sex marriage – and his attempt to walk a political tightrope in response – hindered his political momentum. Much ink has been spilled on the extent to which his moral convictions impeded […]
Jan 10 2020 — Dax D’Orazio i — Policy Options — Following the election of conservative provincial governments in Ontario (2018) and Alberta (2019), the subject of free speech on campuses has swiftly moved from the pages of opinion editorials to the realm of public policy. Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives and Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party have now compelled post-secondary institutions to develop explicit free-speech policy […]
Jan 8 2020 — Policy Options — It is common to say that Canada’s energy and climate debate is polarized. Carbon taxes, pipelines, Indigenous consent — the debate is crowded with complicated subjects that attract strong views. But just how polarized is public opinion on these issues?
Jan 6 2020 — Lisa Raitt — Policy Options — Are we asking too much of our parliamentary government? Back in 1980, the Hon. Robert Stanfield certainly thought so – he argued in Policy Options that Parliament was operating in conditions and performing roles that had not been anticipated at the time. The former federal Progressive Conservative Leader wrote that cabinet ministers did not have […]
Jan 2 2020 — Jennifer Ditchburn — Policy Options — Flipping through back copies of Policy Options from 1980, the year the magazine was founded, there’s a distinct feeling of déjà vu. There are headlines such as, “How Best to Live with the United States;” “The Liberal Vacuum in the West;” “Canada Needs to be Self-sufficient in Oil.” “The State of the Legislative Process in […]
Dec 30 2019 — Kathryn May — Policy Options — The head of the federal government’s foresight agency says identifying the skills that workers will need in the future, as jobs rapidly change or disappear completely, is one of the toughest challenges policy-makers have in front of them. Kristel Van der Elst, executive head of Policy Horizons, said artificial intelligence and automation’s impact on the […]
Dec 23 2019 — Daniel Safayeni — Policy Options — Ontario has an opportunity to be a global leader in cannabis, an opportunity that comes with thousands of jobs and considerable economic growth. With province recently putting an end to the retail lottery system for stores and the arrival of legal edibles, extracts and topicals, the province is at an exciting crossroads. If the government […]
Dec 19 2019 — Kathryn May — Policy Options — One of Canada’s largest public service unions spent two years developing a proposal for a pioneering guild-style organization to represent professionals in precarious work, only to have the idea defeated by members in a recent vote. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) was pushing for the establishment of Professionals Canada, a […]
Dec 18 2019 — Mitchell Beer — Policy Options — In the aftermath of a disgraceful, disappointing United Nations climate change conference, the questions I’ve been hearing fall into two categories: What’s next? And if COP 25 was supposed to be our pathway to get ahead of the climate crisis, what’s left of that process?
Dec 17 2019 — Policy Options — Canada’s international development spending is not as generous as we might think, especially when compared with spending by other advanced economies. Proponents of increasing our official development assistance (ODA) point to a widely accepted metric — the ratio of ODA to gross national income (GNI) — to highlight what they see as the Canadian government’s […]
Dec 16 2019 — David Rodier — Policy Options — “Thanks for not tweeting about the bus,” I gratefully whispered to one of the journalists travelling with us. “I find campaign bus metaphors so boring, so you are off the hook with me,” she said. Our Liberal party media bus had beached itself earlier in the day like a whale, stuck on a slight incline […]