PP+G REVIEW

Polluted Promises: Confronting Environmental Inequities in Canada

By Mejgan Shefa Edited by Claire Posno and Ifrah Ikram The term environmental racism gained notoriety in 1994 in a statement made by former United States President Bill Clinton. In addressing the nation, he stated, “All people, regardless of race, national origin or income, are protected from disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards.” Nearly thirty years…

The Post-Secondary Student Mental Health Crisis: Why We Need Safe and Inclusive Spaces

By Casey Bas Edited by Zachary Betteridge Unpacking Equity is a collaboration between the Public Policy and Governance Review and the Equity, Diversity and Public Policy Initiative at the School of Public Policy and Governance. This series aims to explain equity-related policy issues and break down complicated topics involving equity, diversity and inclusion. Policy professionals can gain a…

Unravelling Gender Inequality: A Fireside Chat with Dr. Alice Evans

By Vanessa Padilla Edited by Anuva Sharma and James Yeretsian Unpacking Equity is a collaboration between the Public Policy and Governance Review and the Equity, Diversity and Public Policy Initiative at the School of Public Policy and Governance. This series aims to explain equity-related policy issues and break down complicated topics involving equity, diversity and inclusion. Policy professionals…

Addressing the Roots of Women’s Underrepresentation in STEM and Planting the Seeds for Growth

By Jeff Liu Edited by Zachary Betteridge and Nimesha Elanko March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day that recognizes the rights and accomplishments of women across the world. Canada’s theme for International Women’s Day this year is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress. Despite Canada’s commitment to promoting gender equality, women are still significantly underrepresented…

The Potential and Challenges of Building High Frequency Rail in Canada

By Matthew Chasmar Edited by Anuva Sharma and Madeleine Whitestone Photo Accreditation: Reece Martin, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. In December 2022, a winter storm threw pre-Christmas travel across Canada into disarray. Amidst the chaos, some passengers on VIA Rail trains were stranded for over 20 hours overnight as railways were caught unprepared…

Demand-Side Policies in Response to Canada’s Healthcare Crisis

By Andre Fajardo Edited by Zachary Betteridge and Madeleine Whitestone Even as the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to fade away, the exposed holes in the Canadian healthcare system continue to loom over the country despite its effortful recovery. Surveys and polls have not only consistently identified the Canadian healthcare system as a major…

Canada’s Failing Battle for Net-zero Emissions

By Ruolan Ma Edited by Claire Posno and James Yeretsian Image Attribution: Smart Home Perfected sourced under CC BY 2.0. Canada’s ambitious emission reduction targets, aiming for a 40 to 50 percent decrease from 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050, are facing significant challenges, according to recent audits. The current strategy is…

Harmony Unleashed: Catalyzing Global Health Collaboration in the Face of Climate Change

By Nicole Chung Edited by Cassidy MacNeil and Andre Fajardo 2023 is officially the hottest year ever recorded. This serves as a stark wake-up call to the massive environmental ramifications and, more importantly, the knock-on effects generated by the climate crisis. Climate change will cause 250,000 more annual deaths between 2030 and 2050, evolving into…

We Need to Measure Housing Affordability Differently

By William Pratt Edited by Sydney Grad and Alexi Guindon-Riopel The National Bank of Canada reports that housing affordability has reached its lowest point in 41 years. Discussions and evidence about the high cost of housing in Canada are abundant, with consensus on the need to build more homes. Opinions differ as to how and…

Considering the Future of Canadian Space Policy

By Matthew Chasmar Edited by Claire Posno and Ifrah Ikram On Sept 29, 1962, Canada made its first foray into space with the launch of the Alouette-I satellite. This scientific satellite, launched against the backdrop of an escalating space race between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union, gained Canada the distinction of being…

Mined Your Own Business: Promoting Responsible Governance of Canadian Mining Companies Operating Abroad

By Peter Jiang Edited by Tashyana Davidson and Madeleine Whitestone The mining industry is a critical component of Canada’s GDP, contributing about 5 per cent to its overall 2 trillion-dollar economy. Though Canada itself is intensely resource rich in critical minerals, half of the 1,423 Canadian mining and exploration companies own mining assets abroad with…

Two Years into the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Why Canada Should Continue Supporting Ukraine

By Jeff Liu Edited by Anuva Sharma and James Yeretsian It has been nearly two years since Russia launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Despite initial expectations that Russia would completely take over Ukraine when the invasion first started, Ukrainian forces have successfully defended themselves and even reclaimed some of their territory….

Canada’s New Tax Against the Controversial Practice of Stock Buybacks

By James Yeretsian Edited by Tashyana Davidson and Ifrah Ikram In the 2022 Fall Economic Statement, the Liberal government announced a 2% tax on stock buybacks (or share repurchases) over $1 million conducted by publicly traded Canadian-resident corporations. The tax came into effect on January 1st, 2024, and follows the U.S. tax of 1% on…

Taking the Right Turn — Looking Away from Electric Vehicles and Towards Sustainable Urban Policy

By Andre Fajardo Edited by Sydney Grad and Ifrah Ikram An earlier article I wrote for the Public Policy and Governance Review focused on ‘zero-emission vehicles’ (ZEVs) – more generally known as electric vehicles or EVs – and their role in meeting Canada’s emissions reduction goals. In brief, it urged great caution regarding how Canada…

UN High Seas Treaty: A Turning Point for Global Ocean Protection

By Sydney Grad Edited by Anuva Sharma & Madeleine Whitestone The UN High Seas Treaty marks a critical juncture in global ocean conservation. Oceans, encompassing nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, play a vital role in sustaining and regulating life on our planet. Annually, oceans produce around half the oxygen we need, absorb approximately a…

Your Pension, Your Choice

By Nicole Chung Edited by Cassidy MacNeil and James Yeretsian In a recent press conference, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith touted the possibility of establishing an Alberta-only pension plan upon the withdrawal from the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP). She spearheaded the proposed Alberta Pension Program (APP), which aims to reduce premiums that cut contributions from workers…

A carol for disagreement (and politics)

By Dylan Marando Crooners, turkey, another pair of new slippers, and a lot of tinsel. These have come to define my winter holiday. Year-end rituals that are near the laws of physics and which provide a unique blend of excitement, comfort, nostalgia, and hope. Yet, for my family (and I suspect a few others), the…

Making Housing More Affordable Without Destroying the Greenbelt: How Ontario should have Handled its Housing Crisis

By Jeff Liu Edited by Claire Posno and Andre Fajardo Are the governments of Canada doing enough to make housing affordable? In 2019, the Canadian Government passed the National Housing Strategy Act, which recognizes adequate housing as a fundamental human right and aims to improve housing outcomes for Canadians. Despite the Canadian government recognizing housing…

Blazing a Path Towards Reconciliation: Barriers to Indigenous Self-Governance and Economic Participation in Legal Cannabis

By Peter Jiang Edited by Tashyana Davidson and Melanie Rose Canada broke ground in October 2018 when it became the second country in the world to legalize non-medicinal cannabis use and sales. The Cannabis Act introduced cannabis as a legitimate recreational substance alongside alcohol and tobacco and the past five years have given credence to…

Considerations for Canada’s EV/ZEV Policies – Green, but not ‘Evergreen’

By Andre Fajardo On December 21st, 2022, the Trudeau cabinet issued a news release outlining the Canadian federal government’s commitment to new regulations for commercial auto manufacturers and importers. These regulations mandate manufacturers and importers across the Canadian market to begin producing or sourcing ‘zero-emission vehicles,’ or ZEVs, as a percentage of their fleet sales. ZEVs are defined…

The misidentified problem statement of Canada’s 2030 Emission Reduction Plan

By: Anna Hardie In March 2022, the Government of Canada released its 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, a report outlining Canada’s next steps for meeting annual emission reduction targets towards 2030. In order to reach 2030 reduction targets, emissions are broken down annually across eight economic sectors including oil and gas, transportation, heavy industry, and buildings….

Response to Fukuyama’s Talk: How liberal is the liberal world order?

By: Melanie Rose In my second year of undergraduate degree in political science, I took an introductory international relations class. As is common in this field, my professor assigned our class an excerpt from The End of History and the Last Man (1992), by Francis Fukuyama. A political scientist by training, Fukuyama is also the…

The Dairy Lobby is Souring Canada’s Reputation in International Trade and Canadians’ Bank Accounts

By: Ruolan Ma The controversy of Canada’s dairy market protectionism never ceases to spark debate in both domestic and international societies. Achieved through the supply management system, the protectionist barrier of Canada’s dairy industry is blamed for the high price of dairy products and diplomatic spats with trade partners, such as the United States. The…

Why does it cost so much to build transportation in Canada?: An Analysis of the Eglinton Crosstown

By: Anna Hardie Today, if you go to the intersection of Toronto’s Eglinton Ave and Avenue Road, you will notice two things: terrible traffic and a nearly completed train station. The station is part of the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (ECLRT) project which began construction in 2011. The project was procured by Infrastructure Ontario…

The shortcomings of the First-Time Home Buyer’s Incentive

By: Alexi Guindon-Riopel Residential housing prices in Canada have been increasing sharply over the last 10 years. To solve this problem, the Trudeau government created the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI) which aims to do two things; ease the burden of the high initial cost to break into the housing market and reduce monthly mortgage…

Addressing Toronto’s loss of dwelling rooms in rooming houses

By: Ruolan Ma As the epicentre of Ontario’s housing crisis, Toronto has a rental market with an extremely limited housing stock and one of the lowest vacancy rates in Canada at 0.5%. As a result, rental prices remain high with the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto reaching 2,250 in 2022, a 22%…

Tackling Inequities in Efforts to Achieve a Low-Carbon Economy

By: Madeleine Whitestone The enormity of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP27, reflected the increasing political appetite for carbon neutrality. As of today, 196 countries have signed on to the 2016 Paris Agreement, committing to some form of reduction in carbon emissions. Under the agreement, participating countries committed to successive nationally determined…

It’s not Easy Being Green: Germany’s energy woes are rooted in its net-zero decision to abandon nuclear

By: Nicholas Johnstone The lights have been turned off at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. In normal times, this iconic monument and tourist attraction is spectacularly lit up at night; however, it is now a dark symbol of the energy crisis that Germany and other European nations are currently facing. As of September, a number…

The Rising Cost of Food in Canada: More Needs to be Done

By: Jeff Liu As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, a new crisis emerges as countries around the world are facing food security issues due to global inflation. Even in a relatively wealthy country such as Canada, many are suffering from food insecurity. In a recent Canadian national survey conducted by the University of…

‘Strong Mayor’ Powers Won’t Fix Housing

By: Mary Spear In response to the housing crisis in Ontario, the provincial government has passed a bill aimed at reducing barriers at the city-level to increase the supply of housing. Bill 3, Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act affords mayor’s of Ontario’s largest cities, Ottawa and Toronto respectively, a bevy of new powers. Such powers…

The Danger of Robust Inclusionary Zoning Policies without Providing Incentives

By: Zachary Betteridge In October 2021, the Toronto municipal government proposed an affordable housing plan that instituted inclusionary zoning policies for new development projects. Inclusionary zoning (IZ) refers to policies that require new housing units to include a certain percentage of available housing to be affordable, where the monthly rental cost is at or below…

Stopping the war without starting a new one – The West’s Dilemma in Ukraine

By: Pierre Sarlieve The discovery of many civilian corpses in Bucha, near Kiyv, in April 2022 has given rise to the feeling that the war in Ukraine is going to reach a new level of intensity. Unfortunately, we can fear that the massacre of Ukrainian citizens by the Russian forces was not an isolated phenomenon,…

Addressing the Water Crisis for Indigenous Peoples

By: Ertiana Rrokaj Water is our most precious natural resource. Vital to our existence, it is shared by all and, therefore, must be protected and managed responsibly to be preserved for our own use and for the use of future generations. Canada is fortunate to have an abundance of water, being endowed with one-fifth of…

Plastic Waste: Driving a Circular Economy

By: Lisa Alers-Hankey In today’s global economy an estimated 95 percent of the material value of plastics is lost after single-use, amounting to a value between $100-150 billion dollars annually. The Canadian economy only recycles nine percent of plastics, leading to vast amounts of economic value being lost to landfills. Furthermore, the production and end-of-life care of…

Indigenous Child Welfare in Ontario: Reconceptualizing Neglect Investigations

By: Eliana Sinicropi The overrepresentation of Indigenous children in Canadian child welfare systems is driven by substantiated neglect investigations. Indigenous Peoples are more likely to face structural inequalities which can impede their ability to meet the needs of their children. The understanding of neglect as a parental failure, which is consistent across provincial jurisdictions, does…

A Closer Look at Canada’s Net-Zero by 2050 Commitment

By: Sean Cameron Canada joined other nations in committing to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 when it passed the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act in 2021. These commitments signal that governments around the world recognize the urgent need for stronger action to mitigate the effects of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has definitively stated that…

Vaccine Mandates: The Pre-COVID Landscape

By: Ally Buchanan Since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine to Canada in December 2020, the discourse surrounding the novel immunization and potential mandates has become widespread. As different jurisdictions have begun implementing workplace and business vaccination requirements, the conversation has become increasingly divisive and antagonistic. What is the scope of vaccine mandates across Canada?…

The Russo-Ukrainian Conflict: How Clean Energy Emerged as a Foreign Policy Tool

By: Sophia Stavropoulos On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with the situation continuing to escalate. The Russo-Ukrainian conflict has seemingly brought the democratic world together as countries join in support for Ukraine and condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions. In response, Western countries, including the famously ‘neutral’ Switzerland, have imposed…

The Effectiveness of Fossil Fuel Divestment: A Historical Analysis

By: Anna Hardie On October 27 2022, University of Toronto announced its commitment to divest from all direct and indirect fossil fuel investments by 2030. Since 2017, ten Canadian universities have committed to divesting from fossil fuels with 40% of these divestment announcements made in just this past year. The increased momentum in calling for academic institutions to divest…

The CANDU Attitude: Expanding Nuclear Energy Capacity in Canada

By: Nicholas Johnstone In the summer of 2020, the province of Alberta joined with Saskatchewan, Ontario, and New Brunswick in a commitment to research and eventually develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). These provinces did this amidst heightening social pressure to combat climate change and in light of the growing need to find energy solutions that…

Is Canada Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies?

By: Anna Hardie According to BloombergNEF, between 2015-2019 Canada increased fossil fuel support by 40%. These funds havegone on to support pipelines such as the Trans Mountain pipeline, Keystone Pipeline, and Coastal GasLink. Yet, Canada is also obligated under the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act to have a Net-Zero economy by 2050. Further, Canada has made a promise to phase out all inefficient…

The Case for a National Community Relocation Program

By: Sean Cameron The impact that climate change is having on the resilience of Canadian communities is becoming clearer with every passing season as rising global temperatures trigger more frequent, deadly natural disasters across the country. A growing share of areas where Canadians are displaced may soon be considered no longer livable, yet the support provided by…

Plastic Waste: How Insufficient Policies are Failing Us

By: Lisa Alers-Hankey Government recycling markets and policies cannot keep up with the waste Canadians generate. The pandemic has increased reliance on single-use plastics through personal protective equipment and deliveries, further exacerbating the waste problem. The federal government has two policy proposals: a ban on select single-use plastics and a commitment to “Zero Plastic Waste…

Should Environmental Rights be Included in the Canadian Constitution?

By: Sophia Stavropoulos This past year at the annual United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP26) – where over 100 countries come together to discuss how to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss – Canada agreed to the Glasgow Climate Pactwhich aimed to push global efforts to address climate change to new levels. Despite this ‘achievement’ many critique…

Science & Policy: Time for an Old Idea to Enter the Modern Conversation

By: David Côté Questions of science have penetrated the daily political discourse: What is the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in children? Is social media dangerous to mental health? What proportion of greenhouse gas emissions are produced through factory farming? The list goes on. People increasingly rely on their perception of science as objective and categorical…

COVID-19 Policy and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

By: David Côté Whether it be non-essential business closures, vaccine passports, social gathering limits, or otherwise, COVID-19 policy and civil liberties have become intertwined. Now two years into the pandemic, people are increasingly wondering when and why certain government actions are justified. A basic understanding of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”) is…

A Look at Recent Changes to the Ontario Autism Program

By: Emerson Iudiciani In February 2019, the Ontario government announced its revised approach to the Ontario Autism Program (OAP) and launched it in March 2021. Part of this amended commitment was the result of significant backlash from parents and community organizations against the program previously announced the year prior, by former Minister of Children, Community and…