|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Policy Options is Canada's premier public policy magazine. Its goal is to encourage an informed debate on the important public policy issues of today, and of tomorrow. In each edition, short articles on the immediate issues that dominate the headlines are combined with in-depth analyses of longer-term issues that are certain to emerge on the policy horizon. Policy Options is published ten times per year.
AFTER COPENHAGEN PLUS |
"The media through a looking glass: Building the brand by getting it right" by Hugh Segal Former IRPP president Hugh Segal is an active critic, as well as an engaged participant, in the news media. In this excerpt from a speech to the Canadian Journalism Foundation, he makes a case for a getting a story right as opposed to getting it first. He adds: “Authenticity matters…Being in and from a place matters.” "Financial regulatory reform: A Maginot line?" by Todd Hirsch [summary not available] "Shock and awe: Government's role in recession and recovery" by Kevin Lynch As the economic recovery takes hold, governments will need “to develop exit strategies” from the monetary and fiscal stimulus programs they devised to fight the recession, writes the former clerk of the Privy Council. Canada’s current deficit of $55 billion is still only 3.75 percent of GDP, compared with $1.6 trillion or 11 percent of GDP in the US, but our tax revenue base has been shrunk by the downturn and will need time to recover. Meantime, Kevin Lynch sees productivity growth and innovation as the keys for Canada’s future growth. "Coming out of the great recession: Running the economic hurdle race" by Eric Gales Canada is coming out of the global recession having “weathered the storm better than most,” writes Eric Gales, president of Microsoft Canada. First, as he notes, “our financial sector is in pretty good shape,” which brings all kinds of benefits, including the accessibility of capital. And from the perspective of creating a world-competitive economy, Canada has many of the “softer qualities” and the “creative class” needed to compete. Transformational change has already revolutionized the media. Similar change is coming to industrial sectors such as manufacturing, and service sectors such as health care. "Deconstructing Copenhagen" by Velma McColl In Copenhagen, the effectiveness of large multilateral meetings was tested and found wanting. After 10 days of stalemate among negotiators for 193 countries, it took smaller and smaller circles of countries to finally unlock agreement and only five leaders to broker the Copenhagen Accord. Though many were disappointed, the accord brings developed and developing countries to the same table and marks important shifts away from the philosophy of the Kyoto Protocol. The next legally binding global climate agreement remains elusive, but if the negotiations are to be resolved among countries (in whatever configuration), then Copenhagen offers important lessons. "Copenhagen: Flawed process meets new geopolitical reality" by Daniel Gagnier Copenhagen was unlike any other COP (Conference of the Parties). It suffered from too many accredited parties, exaggerated expectations, multiple demonstrations and, most important, a shifting geopolitical reality, writes Daniel Gagnier, who was there as an adviser to the Canadian government. Canadian negotiators held their positions, while trying to bridge the differences — an impossible task, as even President Barack Obama was snubbed by the leaders of the G77, with consequences yet to be determined, despite a last-minute and only partially supported accord. Canada's task now, he concludes, “is to build a better consensus in this country before returning to the heady vapours of significantly different multilateral negotiations.” "Toward a North American climate accord : by Robin V. Sears After four years in office, Stephen Harper is developing a comfort level, growing into the role as well as the job of prime minister. As Contributing Writer Robin Sears notes, he has both a strategic vision and a strong sense of tactics that comes in handy in a minority House. Whether proroguing the House (again), or lying low at Copenhagen, he seems indifferent to storms of criticism raging around him. Harper’s pragmatic approach on climate change, aligning Canada’s position with that of the Obama administration, could well lead to a North American agreement modelled on the acid rain accord of 1991. After the chaos of Copenhagen, this may prove to be a more realistic and achievable approach. Federal and provincial climate change policy after Copenhagen Had a binding international agreement on climate change emerged from last month’s conference in Copenhagen, the federal government would now be under increased pressure to adopt an effective Canada-wide policy to reduce emissions. However, says Tracy Snoddon, without a plan to convince the provinces to give up their existing climate initiatives, we would probably fail to achieve our reduction target or would achieve it at a very high cost. The summit’s failure to produce a binding agreement means that Canada now has time to consider how best to implement a cost-effective policy that both addresses provincial concerns about regional burden sharing and compensates the provinces for withdrawing their own initiatives. The author examines some options and argues that a Canada-wide carbon tax coupled with a federalprovincial revenue-sharing arrangement is a cost-effective and workable option. "A strong dose of climate skepticism: Seeing Copenhagen as an opportunity" by Michael Hart and Bill Dymond In this decidedly skeptical article challenging received scientific wisdom on climate change, the authors assert that the failure to reach an agreement at Copenhagen signals an opportunity to begin a more reasoned conversation on global warming, free of the alarmism spread by the UN, activists, scientists and the media. While they’re at it, the authors also denounce “the stifling impact of Official Science” and other forms of conventional wisdom. In calling for a new debate, Michael Hart and Bill Dymond may be starting one. "Obama's year one and the making of presidential character" by Gil Troy Barack Obama marked his first year in the White House on January 20. Though he told his friend Oprah Winfrey that he gave himself a “a B+” for his first year in office, this review is better left to presidential historians such as McGill University’s Gil Troy, who notes that “the presidential learning curve, especially in foreign affairs, can be steep.” Obama’s first year has been marked by challenges as diverse as economic recovery and homeland security in domestic affairs, to Afghanistan, Iran and climate change in global policy. What is emerging is a style of leadership and “the making of presidential character.” "The border after 9/11 - security trumps all" by Kathryn Bryk Friedman At the end of the 1990s, Canada and the United States signed an agreement to streamline and harmonize border management, expand cooperation in customs and immigration, and collaborate on common threats from outside North America. But after the events of September 11, 2001, the preoccupation with security became the prism through which all policy dictates and outcomes were measured. It remains the case to this day, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing aboard an airliner approaching Detroit has only heightened those concerns. But as Kathryn Friedman writes, there is a governance framework for making the Canada-US border a priority in Washington, and facilitating the world’s largest trading relationship could help spark a recovery from the recession. "Canadians need better access to medicines" by George Wyatt Around the world, innovative new treatments are being developed and deployed to treat diseases from Alzheimer’s and cancer to diabetes and osteoporosis. Yet Canadian patients who rely on public drug plans are not getting the same level of access to these new medicines as patients in other developed countries. These are the conclusions of a report commissioned by Rx&D, and written by George Wyatt of Wyatt Health Management, which studied public drug plan reimbursement of medicines in 25 OECD countries. In this article he outlines the report. "Toronto: Trouble in the megacity, facing a financial crisis in 2010" by Harvey Schwartz This article examines how the new City of Toronto evolved from the regional Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. It also looks at the problems related to the amalgamation of the former municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto into the new City of Toronto. More importantly, it is concerned with the financial problems facing the new City of Toronto. The City has a large number of responsibilities that arose from amalgamation and provincial downloading and has limited financial resources to pay for these responsibilities. "Human Rights and a Canada-China free trade agreement" by Jason Lacharite and Caroline Clarke Since 1994 Ottawa has attempted to negotiate a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA) with China. But as Jason Lacharite and Caroline Clarke write, Canada would be better served by “focusing on a trade agreement that would protect and promote investment in both countries as well as protect and promote the existing exchange configurations that are currently on the rise.” Furthermore, the authors suggest that the Harper government can actually improve China’s human rights situation and facilitate a degree of political reform by collaborating on a comprehensive free trade accord with Beijing. They conclude that pursuing a course of constructive engagement (couched in a commitment to free trade) is likely to have a positive impact on Canada’s competitiveness and China’s political development. "Employment insurance: How Canada can remain competitive and be fair to migrant workers" by Barbara MacLaren and Luc Lapointe An aging workforce and perceived labour shortages in Canada have resulted in a boom in the number of temporary foreign workers to over 250,000 in 2008, up from 112,000 only two years prior. Despite the fact that these workers provide valuable contributions to the Canadian economy and to host communities, say Barbara MacLaren and Luc Lapointe, they have likely borne the brunt of the economic slump over the past 18 months — through lay-offs and lack of social security access in Canada. They propose a re-thinking of social benefits for migrant workers from both an ethical and economic perspective. "Menaçante" by Alain Noël [summary not available] |