Pan-Canadian Perspectives: Regulating car-sharing in Regina

Editor’s Note: This week, the PPGR is publishing commentary articles from public policy and public administration students at universities across Canada. This Pan-Canadian Perspectives series is meant to highlight voices from coast to coast, addressing diverse issues of local and national importance. This article, from Anna Lozhkina at the University of Regina, considers how city…

Uber Eats Social: A Creative Policy Solution to Food Insecurity

by Harpreet Sahota In the 2018 winter semester, nine SPPG students participated in a six-week intensive course jointly developed by the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance and Evergreen, a national charitable organization that connects with citizens and stakeholders to create sustainable cities. The course, “Making an Impact from the Outside,” was…

Inviting Amazon: Toronto’s Trade-Off

After a year of cities petitioning their services and assets to Amazon, the tech company announced their shortlist for potential areas for their second HQ on January 19. Out of 20 cities, Toronto was the only one outside of the United States to make the list, which included strong competitors such as Washington, Miami, Boston,…

Freezing Temperatures, Frozen Budgets: How Toronto is Failing its Homeless Citizens

Emily Burton-Brown With temperatures dropping as low as -37 C with wind chill, Toronto experienced record breaking cold this winter. This prompted Environment Canada to issue an extreme cold weather alert, triggering the opening of temporary Warming Respite Centres for the city’s homeless. The homeless needed no warning: freezing temperatures have already contributed to overcrowding…

MPACC 2018: Affordable Rental Housing in the City of Toronto

Ian T. D. Thomson and Lina Pulido On January 19, graduate students from the School of Public Policy & Governance (SPPG) and the Department of Geography and Planning took part in the 2018 Municipal Policy Action Case Competition (MPACC) at the University of Toronto. MPACC is an annual student-led case competition geared towards tackling problems…

The Rise of the Sharing Economy

What does it mean for North American cities? by Andrew Klain and Avery Maloney The sharing economy is on the rise: in 2014, the global sharing economy was worth $14 billion USD, and it is estimated to grow in value by $335 billion USD by 2025. The growing presence of the sharing economy in traditional markets, markets…