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The article focuses on how the European Union (EU) has responded to climate change adaptation and mitigation and how a similar approach can be taken by the government in British Columbia. The authors explain that most mitigation efforts around the world have failed to reverse global warming, causing a great need for adaptation policies. They discuss the importance of trans-municipal efforts to address climate change, explore how local and federal governments in the EU are working together on this issue, and analyze policy programs implemented by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment.

Government communication is now a large growth industry in many countries. Exactly what is meant by the term, however, varies from author to author. In this paper government communication is conceived as a policy tool or instrument, that is, as a means to give effect to policy goals. Key policy-relevant aspects of the term are examined including differences between the role of government communications in the 'front-end' of the public policy and production processes related to agenda-setting, policy formulation and producer activities as opposed to the 'back-end' of policy implementation, policy evaluation, consumption and distribution. TWo case studies of political and policy-related information campaigns in Canada, one dealing with Elections Canada at the federal level and the second with provincial health policy-making in British Columbia, are examined in order to discern patterns in the use of government communication tools useful as a basis for comparative inquiry into Democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the existence of a large body of literature on policy analysis, empirical studies of the work of policy analysts are rare, and in the case of analysts working at the sub-national level in multi-level governance systems, virtually non-existent. This is especially true in many countries, for example, the U.S., Germany, and Canada, all federal systems with extensive sub-national governments but where what little empirical work exists focuses on government at the national level. This research note reports the findings of a 2008-2009 survey aimed specifically at examining the background and training of provincial policy analysts in Canada, the types of techniques they employ in their jobs, and what they do in their work on a day-by-day basis. The profile of sub-national policy analysts working in British Columbia presented here reveals several substantial differences between analysts working for national governments and their sub-national counterparts, with important implications for policy training and practice, and for the ability of nations to improve their policy advice systems in order to better accomplish their long-term policy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]