Build A Wall: Border and Migration

by Steven Giallelis Regardless of political opinion, a rising notion has persisted in the minds of many. Among our American neighbours to the South, assertions of “building a wall” continue to spark heated debates around dinner tables and international political debates alike.  History of Border Walls and their Revival in the Modern Day: The use […]

Canadian Sex Work Policy, the Failure of the “Nordic Model,” and Future Approaches

by Sabrina White (Spectrum) Spectrum is a student initiative aimed at professional and career development for LGBTQ+ students. We aim to foster an inclusive environment to ensure LGBTQ+ students and their allies have resources, information, and connections to maximize personal and professional success. Twenty-two days into the new year, a woman was killed in a hotel room […]

Discrimination in Healthcare: How Indigenous Communities are Affected

by Carly Wigdor (Indigenous Affairs Student Initiative) IASI is a newly-established graduate student-led initiative that aims to provide a platform to discuss Indigenous issues from a policy-focused lens. In conjunction with our Advisory Board, consisting of Bob Rae, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas and Professor Douglas Sanderson, we seek to promote awareness of Indigenous issues and […]

Let Them Lead: Tackling Indigenous Homelessness with Culturally Relevant Services

by Melissa Slauenwhite (Indigenous Affairs Student Initiative) IASI is a newly-established graduate student-led initiative that aims to provide a platform to discuss Indigenous issues from a policy-focused lens. In conjunction with our Advisory Board, consisting of Bob Rae, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas and Professor Douglas Sanderson, we seek to promote awareness of Indigenous issues and […]

The Senate of Canada, Explained

For the past six years, every new cohort of MPP students of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy makes a three-day trip down to Ottawa in early fall. This year, a group of students inspired by their visit and troubled by the Canadian sentiment around the usefulness of the Canadian Senate, set out to capture its current role in the Canadian governance system. In collaboration with Senator Donna Dasko the students developed an infographic that presents the role of the Canadian Senate post changes implemented by the 42nd parliament.

Framing Risk: The Homophobic Legacy of Blood Donation Discrimination in Canada

By Lucas Youmans (Spectrum) Spectrum is a student initiative aimed at professional and career development for LGBTQ+ students. We aim to foster an inclusive environment to ensure LGBTQ+ students and their allies have resources, information, and connections to maximize personal and professional success. On a recent CBC podcast, former federal cabinet minister Stockwell Day suggested […]

By the Numbers: Question Period

BY Nick Thompson For those familiar with Canadian politics, Question Period is arguably the most important part of a given day in the House of Commons. One of the only times where all Members of Parliament (MPs) are present at once, it regularly produces the nightly news’ most played clips. What is often mentioned less, […]

Ontario’s tax system hurts marginal earnings of low-income individuals

by Jessica Rapson Code and Dataset https://github.com/UnrequitedReason/Ontario-Taxes Highlights In Ontario, the increase in taxes and decrease in benefits that follow from an income increase substantially depress marginal earnings for low earners, reducing additional income gains by 70% to over 100% These low marginal earnings may disincentivize individual efforts to increase income at lower earning levels […]

New Zealand’s Response to the Age-Old Question: Does Money Buy Happiness?

by Matt Condie and Steven Giallelis In association with the David Suzuki Foundation, this article was written to inform the public of the shortcomings of GDP-oriented policy making and potential solutions to ensure the health and sustainability of our economy and citizens for years to come. Through public awareness, the policy community can develop action […]

Nova Scotia’s E-Cigarette Ban: Implications for Other Provinces

by Melissa Slauenwhite The introduction of e-cigarettes and vapes, as a tool for adult smokers to deal with nicotine addiction, is affecting the health of young Canadians and has created an unanticipated and serious policy issue. There have been more than 2200 reports of severe lung disease linked to vaping in the United States, with similar rates […]

SRO Programs in Ontario’s Public Schools

Unpacking Equity is a collaboration between the Public Policy and Governance Review and the Equity, Diversity and Public Policy Initiative (EDPP) at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. This series aims to explain equity-related policy issues and break down complicated topics involving equity, diversity and inclusion. Policy professionals can gain a better […]

Taking Stock of Canada’s International Commitments to Reduce GHG Emissions

By Clare MacDonald Introduction This explainer will delve into the international organizations involved in measuring and reporting worldwide commitments to slowing climate change. It will also examine the Government of Canada’s biggest climate-related commitments over the years and explain how Canada tracks and articulates its climate emissions and commitments on the global scale. Environment and […]

Canada’s Single Use Plastic Ban

Unpacking Equity is a collaboration between the Public Policy and Governance Review and the Equity, Diversity and Public Policy Initiative (EDPP) at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. This series aims to explain equity-related policy issues and break down complicated topics involving equity, diversity and inclusion. Policy professionals can gain a better […]

Governing the Southern Border: The Politics and Policy of Irregular Border Crossing

By Declan Ingham and Ryan Phillips The images of asylum-seekers being apprehended along our snowy southern border brought the issue of irregular immigration to the forefront of the Canadian political consciousness and has spurred a broader anti-immigrant backlash. Yet the headlines obscure the deeper story of both policy-makers and asylum-seekers managing and navigating complex Canadian […]

Live-In Caregiver Program Revised: Implications for Equity

By Hiba Siddiqui The Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) has been offered by the Government of Canada since 1992 and has been popular among Canadian families. The program provided relatively affordable and flexible child care for working parents as well as elder care for an aging population. Under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), a component […]

Building Empathy, Addressing Inequity: A Lecture by Tanya Talaga

By Kelly Husack “We were talking two different languages.”  These were the words that Tanya Talaga, the award-winning author and journalist, used to describe her interview with the former grand chief, Stan Beardy of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation as she spoke at the second event hosted by the Indigenous Affairs Student Initiative at the Munk School of […]

The Future of Health Care: In Conversation with Shannon Lundquist

By Jolene Funk As technology advances, the opportunity for innovation across different sectors grows. For the health care industry, the present moment offers a unique opportunity to push the boundaries of the possible, but also presents challenges as the sector struggles to adapt while maintaining patient safety, allocating scarce resources, and adhering to standards of […]

Unpacking Equity: The Use of AI in Canada’s Immigration and Refugee System

By Mackenzie Rice The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to improve public sector efficiency is both exciting and controversial. While these technologies have the power to present new solutions to some of the toughest global challenges, their use has also called attention to serious concerns relating to data privacy, human rights, […]

Who Benefits From Ford’s Changes to Rent Control?

By: Caroline Xhaferri Ford’s Conservative government introduced its first long-term strategy termed the 2018 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, designed to reduce the Province’s deficit and to “help people make ends meet”. Rent control policies in Ontario plays a vital role in mitigating the effects of changing demographics as a result of global attractiveness […]

The Future of Service Delivery: Government in the Digital Age

By: Hiba Siddiqui We live in a society where individuals use powerful digital services on a regular basis for a variety of purposes. With the speed and sophistication of social networking services, enterprise systems and streaming services, it is imperative that public service delivery is also modernized and transformed to mirror the private sector’s fast […]

Four Great Ideas from the 2019 Urban Policy Lab Case Competition

By Breanne Bateman The Urban Policy Lab Case Competition is an annual student-led initiative, organized by the Lab’s Graduate Fellows, that focuses on tackling municipal and urban policy problems. This year marks the fifth edition of the event formerly known as the Municipal Policy Action Case Competition, which offers students at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy the […]

Is it time for us to break up with GDP?

By: Lawrence Zhang How do we measure the economic well-being of a country?  Despite the popularity of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the end-all-be-all measure of economic activity, many would argue that GDP is far from the best way to measure economic well-being. From news reports, to speeches by politicians, to international publications, GDP […]

The GM Closure in Oshawa and the Future of the Auto Industry in Canada

by Daniel Blazekovic On November 7, 1953, production began at the Oshawa General Motors (GM) assembly plant. A century later, the Oshawa plant has become “the most decorated plant with 29 J.D. Power awards, [with] a proven track record of great quality and customer satisfaction.” On November 26, more than 65 years after GM began […]

Bill C-59, Canada’s Secret Spy Agency, and the Cyber Offensive

By Bryan Roh Update 1: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Bill C-59 was currently undergoing second reading in the Senate. That error has now been corrected. Update 2: Some text has been changed to better reflect the authorities of the CSE under Bill C-59. On June 20th, 2017, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-59, an ambitious piece of national security legislation that proposes to dramatically overhaul the […]

Ontario’s Environment Plan: An Abdication of Responsibility

By Megan Mattes On November 29th, 2018, Environment Minister Rod Phillips announced the Ontario government’s long-awaited Environment Plan. Not a climate plan, mind you – an Environment Plan. A weak substitute for the now-cancelled Cap and Trade Act, the new plan contains four sections: protecting air, lakes and rivers; addressing climate change; reducing litter and […]

2018 Prof Talks: Wicked Policy Problems

By Lawrence Zhang Since World War II, humanity has been afflicted with intractable policy problems that extend far beyond the traditional scope of public policy. These are problems that stretch beyond the jurisdiction of one single country, that are too grave in consequence to take a trial-and-error approach to, and have too many competing perspectives […]

Obstacles to Female Leadership: In Conversation with Marie Henein

By Sarah Baker For female attorneys in Canada, the glass ceiling seems to have hardened into a concrete wall. According to findings by the Catalyst, a global non-profit that assists organizations in advancing women into positions of leadership, female attorneys remain significantly underrepresented in positions of seniority, despite constituting nearly half of all practicing lawyers […]

Unpacking Equity: The Fight for Indigenous Rights Under USMCA

Unpacking Equity is a collaboration between the Public Policy and Governance Review and the Gender, Diversity and Public Policy Initiative (GDPP) at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. This series aims to explain equity-related policy issues and break down complicated topics involving equity, diversity and inclusion. Policy professionals can gain a better […]

A New Era of Brazilian Politics: The Election of Jair Bolsonaro

by Daniel Blazekovic Fernando Haddad hopelessly watched as 57 million Brazilians marked their support for Jair Bolsonaro, who will lead the world’s fourth largest democracy for the next four years. On October 28, 2018, Jair Bolsonaro – a right-wing populist – was elected President of Brazil after receiving 55.1% of the popular vote. It is […]

Add Women, Change Politics

by Hiba Siddiqui Every year, the Women In House Program at the University of Toronto provides a platform for female students across a range of undergraduate and graduate programs to share the daily lives of parliamentarians. It is an innovative way to promote greater female representation in government and to encourage young females to pursue positions […]

Restoring the Tree of Life: Facing Hate through Policy

by Myra Lisselle Wein From sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night, Jews commemorate the Sabbath, a day of rest. Yet on the morning of Saturday October 27th, that day of rest was shattered by a massacre in a Pittsburgh congregation; a devastating reminder of the hard truth that anti-Semitism is alive and well. Among […]

Capital Flight: Canada’s Economic Bogeyman

by Megan Mattes In the past few years, backlash against globalization has grown powerful enough to shift political and economic outcomes in the United Kingdom and the United States. While there are certainly some serious concerns to be had regarding globalization, such as its tendency to accentuate income inequality, there are other concerns that are […]

The Crashing Pink Tide

by Daniel Blazekovic Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro maintains a substantial lead over his leftist rival Fernando Haddad in the lead-up to an October 28th run-off vote. Bolsonaro’s rise in popularity brings with it the end of a political phenomenon that arrived in Brazil fifteen years earlier with the election of socialist Lula Da […]

How Election Lawn Signs Silence Low Income Voters

by Megan Mattes During every election cycle, lawn signs spring up like weeds all over our neighbourhoods. Particularly in municipal elections, where candidates receive little media attention, lawn signs are a major component of political visibility and a tool for building name recognition and mobilizing voters. Though one 2016 study found that lawn signs increase […]

Foreign Direct Investment in Canada: A Complicated Opportunity

by Kyle Muir The Government of Canada’s recent decision to block the purchase of Aecon Group Inc. by Chinese state owned enterprise (SOE) CCCC International Holdings Ltd. for $1.5 billion in the interest of ‘national security’ is the just latest example of the country’s habit of placing politics ahead of economic prosperity when faced with […]

Racist Algorithms Exist: How Data and AI can Target Communities of Colour

by Mirusha Yogarajah A few months ago, Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony sparked widespread conversation around Facebook, technology, and privacy. It is now clear that Facebook was the enabler of significant privacy breaches aimed at swaying voters in the 2016 American election. Cambridge Analytica could arguably be responsible for the election of Donald Trump. In light […]