Futureproofing Canada

Alberta has spoken! On October 18, as Albertans voted in municipal elections, there were two additional questions on the ballot. One was fairly inconsequential and asked people if they preferred doing away with daylight savings. It was narrowly rejected, with just 50.2 per cent of the vote. The second was more weighty and could end up changing the Canadian Constitution. Albertans were asked if section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, concerning equalization payments, should be removed from the Constitution. To that question, they said “YES,” with 62 per cent of the vote. But what on earth is equalization!? And what happens now? Will Alberta be able to convince other provinces to get on board? And will the federal government entertain the idea of a constitutional change? To answer these questions, we speak with two professors in Alberta. First up is Trevor Tombe, professor of economics at the University of Calgary and research fellow at the School of Public Policy. His research focuses on international trade, macroeconomics and fiscal federalism. He will explain what equalization is, and talk about the flaws in the program. Then we speak with political science professor Lisa Young, also at the University of Calgary. She researches Canadian political parties, women's participation in politics, interest groups and social movements, and the regulation of electoral finance. She will discuss what this vote might mean for Alberta and for the rest of the country.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security should follow the blueprint that U.K. and U.S. institutions use to protect critical national infrastructure. Read the full article here: https://options-po.li/3G2tfLS By: David Masson

Over the course of the pandemic, largely due to the increase in cases due to workplace transmission, there were calls to improve the current regime of sickness and caregiving leaves across Canada. Over a year later, almost all of those calls have been ignored. Federal, provincial and territorial governments had to enact emergency measures to address these serious gaps in the system. Those programs will soon run out, and Canada will return to a mismatched system where the province you live in determines whether you have adequate access to paid sickness and caregiving leaves. It is crucial that we re-evaluate this regime and create one that is beneficial for all workers, because when workers decide that they cannot take time off due to illness, the resulting costs are borne by both individuals and society. In their new IRPP paper Eric Tucker and Leah Vosko examine international norms in comparable economies for sickness and caregiving leaves and what principles need to be included in a Canadian regime. They join the podcast to discuss the shortfalls in Canada’s current system and what the ideal system would look like for workers.

Canada exploited Chinese workers from its start. The anti-Asian racist violence during the pandemic has exposed how little has changed. Read the full article here: https://options-po.li/2YntK1P By: Chandrima Chakraborty

At the onset of the pandemic, in March 2020, there was an (unconfirmed) collective idea that in a few weeks or months we would be able to go back to our lives as usual, and the pandemic would be a thing of the past. Now we recognize that it wasn’t that simple, that the regular functions of the country must continue, and that we would, at least for now, have to learn to live with the virus. In September 2020, New Brunswick held Canada’s first election during the pandemic, and electoral management bodies had to grapple with the challenge of how to prepare for an election. Canada has now seen six provincial and territorial elections and a federal election. So what have we learned? And how can we use these lessons to better prepare ourselves for voting in times of emergencies? Today’s guests are Allison Harell and Laura Stephenson, co-directors of C-DEM. This organization administers the Canadian Election Study, which collects and analyses public opinion data on electoral attitudes in Canada. They will be speaking about their research and the lessons we have learned from voting during a pandemic.

A young dentist’s ideals led him to Afghanistan as an infantry officer. After two tours, he began to question what was ultimately achievable. *** Mû par ses idéaux, un jeune dentiste s’est engagé comme soldat d’infanterie. Deux séjours en Afghanistan l’ont amené à douter de la mission. Read the full article here: https://options-po.li/3mDZ9Hh Lisez l'article complet ici : https://options-po.li/3zfGO6a By: Luong Phuc Nguyen

There is no doubt that social media has changed politics. It has connected politicians and constituents, making it easier for them to speak more freely with one another than ever before. But these sites have also changed the way people communicate with politicians. If you look at the replies to any tweet, by any politician, you will see a series of replies that express disagreement, or support. But there is also a steady stream of hatred directed toward politicians, from a minority of people who engage in behaviour that experts have described as “toxic.” It’s easy to brush off these tweets as nothing more than posts on a Website, but they can actually have a harmful effect on our democracy. Not only do they make politicians’ work – already difficult – even harder, they dampen people’s willingness to engage in political conversations online and dissuade people from entering the political arena. My guest today is hoping to stop online toxicity, for the betterment of Canadian democracy. Sabreena Dellen is the executive director of the Samara Centre for Democracy, a charity dedicated to strengthening democracy in Canada. The Samara Centre recently partnered with Areto Labs on a project that tracks the tweets received by incumbents who are running for re-election, to find out how toxic these tweets are and who is receiving them. Today we will discuss the project, as well as SAMbot, which they use to track this data, and how they hope to foster a positive culture change in digital democracy. If you would like to find out more about SAMbot, check it out here - https://sambot.ca/

After the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools, political leaders won’t be able to ignore commitments to advance reconciliation.

The pandemic, combined with working from home, has challenged our perceptions of how we work. People are now able to “work from home” from anywhere, and the concept of a disaggregated workforce is gaining acceptance. The idea that being employed means staying in one place and following the same rules that we have followed for generations is crumbling, and people are adapting to this new normal. But the changes have not been all positive. In fact, research shows that people are more stressed and overworked than they have been in decades, and that the technology that was supposed to make work easier has invaded our non-work lives and broken down the barrier between work and life. How can employers decrease the stress that employees are feeling, and how can we rethink work? To discuss these ideas I am speaking with Linda Duxbury, Chancellor's Professor at Carleton University, who studies work-life balance and the impact of technology on employees. Some employers are indeed recognizing that the pandemic gave us an opportunity to change the way we work and reduce the stress felt by employees. One of these is our second guest, Barry Carroll, chief administrative officer at the municipality of Guysborough on the east coast of Nova Scotia. He transitioned his entire workforce to a four-day work week. Our third guest, Christina Bowie, is an employee at the municipality of Guysborough who now works four days a week. We will be discussing their experiences and how the change has impacted the lives of these employees.

The last year has been a reckoning for so many aspects of our society, revealing that we need fundamental reform in the way the country operates. However, one piece of news that has been shocking to many Canadians is the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential schools across the country, with thousands more expected to be found. While many Indigenous people have known about these graves and have tried to shine light on them for decades, they have continued to be hidden from the public by various institutions and governments. But we have to be very clear: Canada has committed a genocide. From the late 19th century up until 1996, Canada forcibly removed over 150,000 Indigenous children from their families in order to, as John A. Macdonald put it, “remove the Indian from the child.” Canadians are learning that we have an individual responsibility to advance reconciliation. In fact, a new survey conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, along with the Institute for Research on Public Policy and a number of other leading public policy organizations called the Confederation of Tomorrow, showed that the percentage of Canadians who believe individuals have a role in advancing reconciliation has increased from 55 per cent in 2020, to 70 per cent in 2021. These statistics were taken before the news of any unmarked graves came to light, and may have changed since. So if residents of Canada want to enact change where policy has failed to do so, and work collectively toward reconciliation, what can they do? This week on the podcast we are speaking with Tara Williamson and Robert Houle, researchers at the Yellowhead Institute, a First Nation-led research centre that aims to foster education and dialogue on First Nation governance. We are discussing the role that individuals play in advancing reconciliation, and what steps settlers can take to push for it in their everyday lives.