Policy Options - Home (po

"Recession good for national unity" by Todd Hirsch

[summary not available]

download article (PDF) | return to index

"Canada's innovation deficit" by Heather Munroe-Blum and Peter MacKinnon

The Science, Technology and Innovation Council’s State of the Nation Report confirms Canada’s underperformance in innovation. Data indicates that our nation suffers from low business R&D, and poor business-university collaboration, and that Canadian universities lack international visibility. But all of these problems are symptomatic of a larger, overarching problem — the need for Canada to grow its talent, promote forward-thinking leadership and develop a coherent and robust vision for innovation.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"The new normal: managing through an era of transformational change" by Phil Sorgen

Many businesses are evaluating how they operate and wondering how they can prosper in tumultuous times. Microsoft Canada president Phil Sorgen believes that those with the capacity to cope with, adapt to and shape the changes that are happening around them will thrive and prosper through the downturn and into the recovery. He writes that leaders must learn to manage change rather than simply react to it. Businesses that take advantage of trends, that are focused and agile enough to take steps to define the future, will emerge on top when the economy corrects.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"The future for the Canadian media" by Christopher Waddell

The sharp cyclical downturn in advertising revenues has awakened mainstream media, particularly Canada’s television networks, to the transformational change that has occurred in their industry because of the Internet. The Great Recession is a recent occurrence, sweeping across the globe and decimating ad revenues in conventional broadcasting since the fourth quarter of last year. But declining audience shares for over-the-air television outlets, with viewers migrating to specialty channels that derive their revenue base from cable carriage fees, to say nothing of Internet platforms, are not new developments. But the combination of the recession and new technologies has finally resulted in an awakening, in the middle of a reckoning. Christopher Waddell of Carleton University looks at the future of Canadian media.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"Extra! Extra! Read all about the death of newspapers" by Robin V. Sears

The Internet revolution is hardly a new development, so why in 2009 are North American newspapers in so much trouble? From Los Angeles to Boston, renowned newspaper brands are in deep trouble. Even the New York Times, the most famous franchise in America, is bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars of red ink. In Canada, the Canwest newspapers remain in relatively good health — much better than their parent organization, which is hobbled by billions of dollars of debt. But all newspapers are losing readership to the Internet. Yet even as they provide on-line content for free, newspapers have experienced difficulty commercializing their Web sites. Contributing Writer Robin Sears, who was born into a newspaper family, considers the future of the industry. Read all about it!

download article (PDF) | return to index

"My new media" by Matthew Sears

Young Canadian business executive Matthew Sears grew up on the Internet. Here he argues that he has never paid for digital news and doubts he ever will. He blames the digital stupidity of his father's beloved newspapers for their own failure.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"Télévision : chronique d'une mort annoncée trop tôt " by Catherine Cano

Television is losing its popularity: On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, nearly 40 million Americans watched the ceremony on television. But on the Internet, 13 million watched it live and 50 million saw it later. Changing viewing habits are forcing the big broadcasters to adjust to new expectations and new media. This reality threatens to bring about not so much the end of television as an economic constriction that is levelling the content quality downward. From entertainment to information, the mistake is to believe that the public will be satisfied with less quality and depth. Television as a mass medium will survive, says Catherine Cano, but its real contribution to society is in peril.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"Reason, not romance: a better Internet in the balance" by Iain Grant, Amit Kaminer, Cynthia Lee and Anna Mazur

Advocates of Net neutrality often overly romanticize the Internet, its history and its future, and do so to its ultimate detriment. Treating the Internet as some sort of pastoral Elysium rather than a tool to be used and managed will cause it to lose efficacy and overall value. The authors recommend that government forbear from overt regulation of the Internet and that market forces, coupled with existing legislation and regulation that safeguard consumer and corporate interests, be allowed to continue to shape the Internet.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"From the Gutenberg Galaxy to Kindle: book publishing goes on-line" by Philip J. Cercone

The publishing industry is entering a watershed period as new technology takes hold and as it responds to the current economic crisis. The economic downtown has resulted in sales declining over the past year, especially in the United States, by as much as 10 to 15 percent. The physical book will not disappear, but in our digital world it will be available through other means, such as Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, or the Web. The whole business model of publishing will have to be rethought as new players appear in the supply chain.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"The Cuban Revolution at 50: what next?" by Jeremy Kinsman

Fifty years after the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro remains its enduring symbol. When Castro first walked into Havana in 1959, Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States. Half a century and 10 US presidents later, Barack Obama has declared a thaw in relations with its neighbour only 90 miles south of Florida. It is now three generations since Cuban expatriates first took up residence in the US, and for 50 years travel, trade and investment between the United States and Cuban have been at a standstill. Contributing Writer Jeremy Kinsman sends this Letter from Havana.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"A Durban Review diary: Harper vindicated, UN haters humbled" by Gil Troy

Canada was the first country to boycott the Durban Review Conference. McGill University historian Gil Troy, who attended as an observer, writes that Canada’s objections to the farce reflected Canadians’ longstanding faith in the United Nations’ ideals, upheld today by Conservatives and Liberals, especially Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Irwin Cotler, MP. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s antics justified the boycott while some parallel protests and meetings revealed new alliances that might save the UN’s human rights agenda.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"Taliban governance: can Canada compete?" by Sean M. Maloney

The war in Afghanistan is a test of wills between the insurgents and the government, with the population as the battlefield. One question in that competition is who can govern the population more effectively, or at least cater to its needs. The Taliban approach to governance has evolved during the course of the war and is starting to have some effect — how will Canada counter it? Can Canada counter it?

download article (PDF) | return to index

"Iggy's excellent Vancouver adventure" by Paul Adams

Buoyed by the polls, relieved by a change of leadership, and hopeful that they can overcome their forbidding disadvantage in fundraising and on-the-ground organization, Liberal delegates met in Vancouver last month for the first time since the disastrous 2008 election. Can Michael Ignatieff navigate the party back to power? Liberals want to believe he can. But Paul Adams, who attended the convention, reports that while the party and its new leader may be headed in the right direction, they still have a long way to go.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"La Caisse de dépôt : le poids des origins" by Daniel Béland

The mediocre performance of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in 2008 has generated controversy for months now, even relaunching the traditional debate about the mission of this institution. By going back to its origins, Daniel Béland shows that the current debate reflects tensions that already existed at the time the CDPQ was created in 1965. He says the idea that simply going back to the initial model behind this institution could help restore the integrity and the legitimacy of the CDPQ is not credible. Knowing the history of the CDPQ allows a more realistic perspective on the challenges that lie ahead.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"L'harmonisation des taxes de vente fédérale et provinciale" by Luc Godbout

Since Ottawa announced last March that it would give Ontario $4.3 billion to help the transition to a value-added tax harmonized with the GST, Quebec has asked for similar treatment. Having progressively harmonized its own sales tax since 1992 and received nothing, Quebec would like to receive compensation, just as its neighbours have. But until now, writes Luc Godbout, “the federal government has pussyfooted around.” Who is right, Quebec or Ottawa, he asks. In order to clarify the issue, he revisits the history of the GST, and examines the motivation behind the harmonization of the various sales taxes and the compensation paid to some provinces, but not to Quebec.

download article (PDF) | return to index

"La part des plus riches" by Alain Noël

[summary not available]

download article (PDF) | return to index