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Human capital policy has come to be seen as something of a panacea: acting both as a necessary input for modern growth and an effective tool for redistribution. Canada has moved strongly in the direction of linking redistribution and human capital investment. In this paper, I investigate the empirical evidence and theoretical arguments behind the claim that increasing skills investment opportunities and tying transfers to human capital investments while decreasing traditional income support will ultimately lead to a more equal, more just society. Whether this is true, of course, will depend on the notion of justice one adopts. One of my goals in this paper is to examine the implications of the kind of policy path Canada is following under different notions of fairness. I conclude that both empirical evidence and fairness considerations indicate that human capital policy does not make good redistributive policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines two key core concepts in the field of public policy: co-production and co-construction. It first examines the role of the third sector in the co-construction of two public policy initiatives, the Voluntary Sector Initiative and the Social Economy Initiative, developed under the responsibility of the federal state. Then it turns to the participation of the third sector in co-constructing public policy under the responsibility of the Quebec provincial state in six policy areas: policy to recognize autonomous community organizations, policy to recognize the social economy, daycare policy, home care policy, social housing policy and Quebec legislation to combat poverty. The policy initiatives of both the federal state and Quebec state are compared and analysed from a co-construction perspective [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the changing nature of regulation making with a special emphasis on the role that economists should play. It focuses specifically on the processes used to develop regulations. It argues that the traditional process for regulation making is breaking down and that the quality of regulation will decline if processes do not adapt to the changing environment. In addition to their traditional work of comparing regulatory instruments and calculating their benefits and costs, economists can play an important role by serving as strategists to help the public interest win in the strategic game of regulation making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments are increasingly concerned that current levels of water use are unsustainable, particularly in the face of threats posed by climate change. This paper examines recent research on water-using innovation in three key water-using sectors (residential, manufacturing, and agriculture) for evidence to support the call for greater reliance on economic instruments as part of the suite of policy measures to promote water innovation, conservation, and efficiency. The findings illustrate the need to understand water’s role in production (industrial, agricultural, and household) and the way changes in unit costs of other inputs (particularly energy and capital) influence innovation. In addition, the available research indicates that policies based on economic instruments should be tailored to the specific features and contexts of the different water-using sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the employment and recruitment of immigrant care workers in the older adult care sector in Canada, based on data from interviews with 77 workers and 24 employers in care settings, as well as from 149 online employer surveys conducted in 2007-08. We find that workers enter this sector largely through social networks. Although recruitment agencies do not play a critical role in the employment and recruitment of immigrant workers, regulation could prevent instances of abuse we found. Our findings also suggest that immigration admission policies could be better aligned with Canada's needs for older adult care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the contribution of the main sources of income as well as that of taxes and transfers on the level of poverty in Quebec and in Canada. This contribution is decomposed into a product of the effects of total size and performance per dollar of each of the income sources. An important problem in this type of exercise is that the order in which the components of income are ranked can influence considerably the share of total poverty alleviation allocated to each component. A sharing rule is thus used to allocate to each income component a part of total poverty alleviation that is independent of the ordering chosen. Sensitivity tests are also applied to assess the role of the choice of poverty lines and indices. The results indicate that the more generous social programs do not always reduce relative poverty the most, and that other aspects of the tax/benefit system that are less prominent are more effective in that regard. Relative to the rest of Canada, Quebec’s social programs are both more generous and more poverty-performant; however, this is associated with taxes in Quebec that are also heavier and more costly in terms of poverty impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a general evaluative review of the report of the Expert Panel on Older Workers of July 2008. It is a balanced, clearly written report that emphasizes the importance of individual choice, flexible work arrangements, reduced barriers to employment of older workers, and regional mobility. But the report does not highlight the important gender dimension operating in retirement decisions and in older worker job displacements. The perspective of the report is that of labour economics, but it could have benefited from a more public economics perspective for guiding principles on job displacement issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the child sample of Statistics Canada's 2001 Participation and Activity Limitations Survey to study the economic costs of caring for children with disabilities in Canada. Both explicit out-of-pocket expenditures and implicit costs in the form of foregone labour market opportunities are considered. Results indicate that, despite universal health insurance in Canada, a majority of families of children with disabilities incur significant economic costs. Additional financial support might be offered, particularly when the child's condition is severe, and costly therapy and specialized aids could be covered. Our results also support the need for respite as well as help in balancing work and caregiving for Canadian parents of children with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive land claims agreements are important tools for empowering Aboriginal peoples. A crucial part of these treaties is the certainty provision, which deals with the nature of Aboriginal rights and title once a treaty is signed. Up until 1986, the Crown insisted on one certainty formula for all treaties. After 1986, however, Aboriginal groups were able to negotiate alternatives to the original certainty provision. This paper seeks to explain why alternatives to the original certainty provision emerged after 1986. It suggests that government perceptions of policy failure, generated by Aboriginal opposition to the extinguishment clause, resulted in the Crown engaging in instrumental learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the integration of occupational pension policies across the Canadian provinces feasible? In this paper, we assess the proposal for harmonization made by the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities (CAPSA) by comparing it to the European Union's successful integration of member states' pension policies. We argue that CAPSA's initiative failed both because regulatory diversity was defined as a fundamental problem and because the regulations that serve social policy goals were not protected from integration. We suggest that occupational pension integration in Canada would be feasible if provincial governments largely excluded rules on benefits and relied primarily on the mutual recognition of diverse rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of researchers and policy-makers concern themselves with the possible effects of living in areas with high concentrations of poverty. This paper provides an overview of such literature from a Canadian policy perspective. I draw three conclusions. First, household exposure to concentrated poverty is substantially less than in the United States. Second, much of the existing Canadian research on neighbourhood effects relies on regression analysis, which is prone to bias and misinterpretation. Third, the most persuasive research to date suggests that residential environment matters most to an individual's mental health and exposure to crime, but has little influence on self-sufficiency or child development. Smaller spheres of interaction, such as at the classroom or roommate level, appear to matter more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite attention to the impact of mental health issues on employment, little attention has been directed to Canadian policy regarding psychiatric disabilities, and how these policies influence workplace practices. This paper reviews federal Canadian disability policy related to work, using the lens of mental illness, to answer the following questions: • With regard to psychiatric disability, what are expected outcomes in the employment domain? • How is psychiatric disability defined and described? • How is the relationship between work and psychiatric disability developed? Notions about work and psychiatric disability found in federal policy documents, implications of these notions, and recommendations for future policy development are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors here argue that government policies helped to bring about a boom in the Canadian beef industry, but these policies also contributed to the industry's vulnerable structure, which then led to financial chaos with the discovery of BSE in Alberta in 2003. The paper describes the genesis of the problem, the impact of the discovery of BSE, the responses of the federal and provincial governments, and the exacerbating effects of protectionism in foreign markets. The authors highlight key changes that must occur if Canadian beef is to compete successfully in the international marketplace over the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]