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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]

The fifty-sixth annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) was held at the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure in Montreal, Quebec on May 17 to 20, 2001. The conference theme was Making Connections. Some eight hundred public opinion researchers accepted the invitation to meet colleagues and friends and to participate in the interdisciplinary program. The special character of the annual conference clearly distinguishes it from other professional meetings. Despite steady growth in attendance over recent years, it is a relatively small conference. Its limited duration, its submission review process and its carefully variegated slate of paper session topics constrain the number of opportunities for being on the program. With the traditional meals and social events, the AAPOR conference presents a higher quality, more intimate and more interdisciplinary experience than can be found at many academic, governmental, or commercial meetings. The structure of the meeting limits, among other things, opportunities to attract new AAPOR members, the willingness of exhibitors and publishers to display their wares, the range of topics covered in the program and the conference revenue that AAPOR could employ for worthwhile purposes.