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Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is an evolving practice in Canada, with requests and outcomes increasing each year, and yet controversy is present—with a vast spectrum of ethical positions on its permissibility. International research indicates that family members who experience disagreement over their loved one's decision to have MAiD are less likely to be actively involved in supporting patients through the practical aspects of the dying process. Family members with passive involvement in the assisted dying process may also experience more significant moral dilemmas and challenging grief experiences than those who supported the decision. Given these previous findings, we designed this study to explore the factors complicating family members' experiences with MAiD in Canada and to understand how these complicating factors impact family members' bereavement in the months and years following MAiD. We conducted narrative interviews with 12 MAiD-bereaved family members who experienced disagreements, family conflicts, or differences in understanding about MAiD. Documenting and analyzing participants' experiences through storytelling allowed us to appreciate the complexity of family members' experiences and understand their values. The analysis generated five factors that can complicate the MAiD process and bereavement for family members: family discordance, internal conflict, legislative and eligibility concerns, logistical challenges, and managing disclosure and negative reactions. To our knowledge, this is the first Canadian study that explores how family discordance can impact bereavement following MAiD. Future bereavement services and resources should consider how these complicating factors may impact bereavement and ensure that Canadians with diverse MAiD experiences can access appropriate support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 10 years, sociologists have attended to the impacts of the Internet on youth subcultural coalescence, display, identity, and resistance. In this article, the authors develop a critique of this body of work, describing how existing research places undue emphasis on young people's experiences either online or offline and how a lack of consideration has been given to the ways that subcultural expressions are continuous across the apparent "virtual-real" divide. With the aim of addressing some of these concerns, the authors draw on ethnographic case studies of "Rave" and "Straightedge" to explore the impact of the two realities (i.e., online and offline realities) on understandings of subcultural experience in these youth formations and articulate how the theoretical split between the virtual and real in cyber-subcultural research does not accurately capture the lived experiences or identity negotiations of these youth.

We examine the performance of four parliamentary democracies – Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK – as they confront the need for a substantial fiscal policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research covers the period 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020. We score the four countries on nine components of democratic accountability using Mark Philp's distinction between formal and political accountability. We conclude, first, that to appreciate the nuanced character of accountability, it is important to have a set of operational measures that identify specific aspects of performance. Second, preparation is important for resilience: countries that demonstrated strong accountability before the pandemic maintained relatively high accountability standards during the crisis; weaker accountability mechanisms showed less resistance to the expanding power of the executive. Finally, it is easier to be accountable when outcomes are favourable, but favourable outcomes include adherence to the norms of democratic accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers input and advice to students, parents, and professionals--faculty and counselors--in connection with the so-called millennials, young students entering university since year 2000. Students must recognize the change in the academy. They must be prepared for large first-year classes in which everyone enters as an A student. However, there will be a distribution after the first exam, and most likely, only 15% of students will achieve a grade of A. The primary instructional style is the lecture and group work may not be part of the course. Students also need to recognize that strategies such as cramming and memorizing are unlikely to produce good results. Students will be expected to do a fair amount of work on their own such as reading texts or preparing study notes. On average, students should be prepared to spend nine to twelve hours per week on each course, in addition to class time. The faculty should recognize that students are entering first year with a high degree of anxiety. They want to do well but may not have the requisite study skills. Hold organized review sessions and direct students to learning skills workshops. If possible, incorporate some group work into the course. (Contains 1 note and 1 table.)

Canadian men flock to gyms to enlarge, reshape, and sculpt their bodies. Fitness centers, health-food stores, muscle magazines, and Internet sites profit by aggressively selling "sports supplements" to a wide range of exercising men. Once associated with only the hardcore factions of male bodybuilders (Klein, 1995), designer protein powders, creatine products, energy bars, ephedrine, amino acids, diuretics, and growth hormones such as androstenedione are generically marketed to men as health and lifestyle-improving aids. This paper explores how a select group of Canadian men connect the consumption of sports supplements to the pursuit of "established" masculinity. I collected ethnographic data from 57 recreational athletes in Canada and interpreted the data through the lens of figurational sociology. Analytic attention is thus given to how contemporary discourses and practices of supplementation are underscored by middle-class understandings of masculine bodies in a time of perceived "gender crisis" in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid‐1990s, most Canadian provinces have enacted balanced budget laws (BBLs). Critics argue that these laws are empty political gestures that are ignored during economic slowdowns. We consider BBLs in the Canadian provinces from 1981 to 2013 and find that provinces with stronger rules had better deficit and debt records overall. Recessions make it more difficult to achieve positive outcomes, but we find no obvious difference between the effects of BBLs during normal economic conditions and “bad times.” We conclude with suggestions for how the design of BBLs could take better account of jurisdiction‐specific business cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his classic 1976 article on the state of policy studies in Canada, Richard Simeon explicitly warned against following the path toward a policy science. Simeon was suspicious of the normative agenda embedded in the policy sciences project and worried that it would submerge politics in a broader set of interdisciplinary concerns. Was Simeon right? The policy sciences have not developed the way their principal proponent, Harold Lasswell, had anticipated or hoped, but neither has the study of public policy developed exactly as Simeon advocated. Both Lasswell and Simeon believed strongly in an empirical orientation and Lasswell, more than Simeon, focused on creating a tool kit of techniques. Schools of public policy have moved beyond both critique and technique to estimate risk, ameliorate error and mobilize knowledge. This new agenda requires students of public policy to acquire and employ practical knowledge steeped in the particular and instructed by policy narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Most Canadian provinces have introduced legislation to require politicians of all ideological stripes to meet annual balanced budget (BB) targets. Critics of this type of legislation argue that it is unnecessary, confining, and subject to manipulation. We examine provincial balanced budget legislation before and after the Great Recession and argue that the response of provinces needs to be evaluated taking into account the multiple objectives of fiscal policy and the behavioural changes that the rules introduce, including creative non-compliance. Rules should be evaluated on their ability to contribute to good fiscal governance rather than on their stringency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While each election provides the Canadian House of Commons with a fresh batch of politicians, no consideration has been given to the question of whether the quality of politicians is improving. Yet improving quality has been the focus of several commissions urging increases in MP compensation. This article addresses the competence and compensation questions by asking whether changes in levels of compensation might make a difference to the educational qualifications of political leaders. We assemble a unique dataset of 1,291 federal politicians elected to the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2011 and show that prime ministers do have a preference for more highly educated MPs when filling ministerial and other executive positions. Our findings suggest that certain subgroups of MPs, particularly educated women, may be attracted by upward shifts in compensation. We discuss the reasons for these effects and the relative importance of compensation in career decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an influential 2002 study, John Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse make the provocative argument that high numbers of Americans seek "stealth democracy," that is, processes that discover the will of the people without requiring substantial citizen effort. This article applies the concept in a Canadian province and argues that the stealth democracy measure represents an ambiguous amalgam of attitudes that are only loosely related to one another, and which do not appear to represent a single, underlying concept. We draw on 2011 Saskatchewan Election Study data and find that Saskatchewan responses to the stealth democracy items generally parallel the responses gathered in previous studies conducted in the United States, Finland, Britain, and Australia. We move beyond these studies by examining the components of the stealth democracy index. We conclude by suggesting that the concept of stealth democracy be rebuilt to better distinguish among attitudes toward democracy, politics, and governing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of understanding declining levels of participation from scholastic Health and Physical Education (HPE), ethnographic research has been increasingly utilised as a tool to explore the intersubjective and intrasubjective meaning-making processes that concurrently invite or dissuade participation. Despite the ostensible epistemological benefits of deploying ethnographic research as a vehicle for better understanding contextual HPE (dis)engagement processes and meanings, a critical methodological discussion of the actual implementation and positionality of these methods is largely absent in the extant literature. Reflecting on an ethnographic study conducted with adolescent boys at a Canadian elementary school, this paper provides HPE ethnographers with a series of methodological deliberations, and reflexive points of departure for consideration in the design and implementation of ethnographic research. Specifically, this paper elucidates the process of rapport building with teachers/students, the omnipresent tensions, ethical dilemmas and triumphs that can emerge during ethnography, and the various socio-contextual interview factors that can influence data generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industrial Relations / Relations Industrielles is the property of Universite Laval, Department of Industrial Relations and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Debates about the size of government, which are often debates about what government should or should not do, need to be joined by a concern for the relative cost of government. Since 1981, the price in the public sector has grown faster than the price for GDP. We decompose the ratio between the price index for the public sector and that for GDP in the Canadian provinces and capture the governments' price advantage/disadvantage in different spending categories. Our analysis shows that governments with lower debt ratios and weaker fiscal rules are more vulnerable to rising costs, particularly during periods of higher commodity prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses perceptions of corruption in Canadian government among Canadian citizens. The author argues that the difference between perceived and actual corruption is a result of discrepancies between how Canadians are informed about government and varying definitions of corruption. The author discusses global perceptions of corruption and compares those perceptions with those of Canadian citizens, particularly the differences in perception between the so-called elite and the public. The author utilizes information from the "Worldwide Governance Indicators" established by the World Bank including categories such as political stability, government effectiveness (GE), and regulatory quality to measure corruption, as well as an index from Transparency International (TI).

In this article, I examine how triathletes learn to physically manage, socially perform and individually reflect upon the endurance sport of triathlon as a microcosm of the 'civilising process'. Elias's particular conceptualisation of habitus is centrally utilised to explain why, at this particular point in civilising processes, more men and women in factions of the Canadian middle class quest for 'exciting significance' through gruelling endurance sports like triathlon (swim-bike-run competitions). Pain and suffering narratives gathered from 62 participants in Canadian triathlon are analysed alongside ethnographic data collected over a three-year period in Ontario, Canada. Specifically addressed is how triathletes come together as a mutually recognised 'pain community' of like-minded actors, and how they learn to relish physical and mental suffering in the sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the impact of cosmetic surgery in the body modification practices of Canadian men. It reports that an inspection of the most common cosmetic procedures highlights how men aesthetically modify their bodies as masks of masculinity. It discusses how the shifts in post-industrial work patterns, power relations between the genders, and ideologies of technological-scientific consumption impact some men's understandings of acceptable corporeal performance. It mentions that men's preferences for and sensibilities about cosmetic surgery are contextualized within a perceived crisis of masculinity in Canada and linked to Elias's description of civilizing processes.

Increased regulation of political ethics has not produced a growing satisfaction with the conduct of politics or the behaviour of politicians. We examine the proposition that regulation produces a convergence of attitudes and expectations between politicians and the public in the realm of political ethics. A distinction is drawn between political ethics conceived as a policy issue and as a process issue. Two models based on that distinction are derived and examined in the context of data drawn from Canada. We observe differences between politicians and the public on critical dimensions, differences that overpower partisan positions. Our conclusions support, with some reservations, the "worlds apart" model and caution against an overinvestment in ethics regulation as a means of restoring public faith in the political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 10 years, sociologists have attended to the impacts of the Internet on youth subcultural coalescence, display, identity, and resistance. In this article, the authors develop a critique of this body of work, describing how existing research places undue emphasis on young people `s experiences either online or offline and how a lack of consideration has been given to the ways that subcultural expressions are continuous across the apparent "virtual-real" divide. With the aim of addressing some of these concerns, the authors draw on ethnographic case studies of "Rave" and "Straightedge" to explore the impact of the two realities (i.e., online and offline realities) on understandings of subcultural experience in these youth formations and articulate how the theoretical split between the virtual and real in cyber-subcultural research does not accurately capture the lived experiences or identity negotiations of these youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the ongoing revolution in the use of tattoos in North America, academic understandings of tattooing remain grounded in conceptions of "tattoo enthusiasts" as social misfits. In this paper, data from three years of participant observation with tattoo enthusiasts in Canada help critique preferred social-psychological interpretations of tattooing as irrational, "risk-taking behaviour" (see Carroll et al., 2002; Roberts and Ryan, 2002). Through the lens of figurational sociology (Elias, 1983; 1994; 1996), tattooing is interpreted in this paper as a pro-social and affectively regulated act of communication, rather than a pathological instance of self-injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which explored the good cop, bad cop approach of tolerable differences in Canada. Concept of the good cop, bad cop approach; Case illustrations of tolerable differences; Sociological version of the good cop, bad cop allusion.

The social lifestyle "Straightedge" is a response to the hedonistic bodily indulgences (e.g., substance abuse, promiscuity) of many North Americans. Practitioners emphasize self-restraint and bodily purity as a "deviant" alternative to these practices. Like other socially labelled outsiders, Straightedgers include tattooing in their lexicon of body modification activities. Resultantly, Straightedge tattoos have become signifiers of the group's underlying philosophies of social resistance toward uninhibited bodily decadence. Data collected from interviews with 31 Straightedgers in Canada indicate that tattooing is not constructed as a flamboyant form of social protest by them, but rather a highly controlled method of cultural dissent. To this end, Straightedgers exploit and reframe long-standing cultural stereotypes about the tattooed body in order to "civilize" the face of contemporary social resistance in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on Stebbins' (1996) concept of tolerable differences, an underused tool for analysis of deviant activities and lifestyles that tend not to elicit the kind of collective condemnation traditionally reserved for serious moral and legal transgressions. Our analysis centers on two case studies of criminal tolerable deviance in Canada, the widespread use of marijuana for recreational purposes and the illegal ticket scalping trade. Whereas the former has inspired a vast body of literature, the latter has been thus far overlooked by sociologists. Consideration of the two together, in terms of Stebbins' framework, betters our understanding of the social construction of these practices, further developing theory and research on deviance more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines whether provinces in Canada are becoming increasingly similar in their total spending and in the level of spending devoted to particular functional areas. How the patterns of provincial spending between 1971 and 1994 were measured; Method used in this study; Information on the Dispersion Indexes used in this study; Result of this study.

Examines the constitutional turmoil in Canada by arguing that disenchantment with political institutions can be traced to confusion and indecision about the kind of democratic regime desired by Canadians. Canadians' inheritance of a regime based on one set of ideals and processes; Democracy and the constitution; Democracy within constitutions; Establishment of integrative institutions.

This article examines the characteristics of the "political administration" in Canada and compares these characteristics with those found in other liberal democratic systems. The findings are based on interviews conducted with 82 federal public officials interviewed in 1982 and 1983. The contact patterns of these public officials and their attitudes toward the personnel and institutions of liberal democracy are studied within the structural context of the bureaucracy. Three communications networks are identified: a departmental policy, a policy integration, and a private sector network. The former two networks are shown to intervene in a developmental model between structural location in the bureaucracy and attitudes consistent with a "tolerance for politics." Conclusions are drawn with respect to relations between bureaucrats and politicians in Canada and the implications of these relations for the autonomy of the democratic state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue Canadienne de Science Politique is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In recent years the study of the Canadian Parliament has lost some of its original momentum. Major gaps in research have begun to appear, and critics have argued that students of Parliament take a much too docile, uncritical view of parliamentary government as it is practiced in Canada. This article reviews recent research on the Canadian Parliament in light of these criticisms and compares it to more established work on the subject. The prospects are not as bleak as the critics maintain, but the authors express concern that Parliament may no longer pose the kind of intellectual challenge that attracted researchers in previous generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]