The conversation surrounding the COVID-19 recovery has been almost entirely centred on the economy. Governments have allocated countless resources to protecting people from economic hardship and keeping businesses afloat. But there is one aspect of Canada’s recovery that has received little attention from policy-makers: How do we heal people and cities, so that when we “build back better” we are building a society that includes and works for everyone? This type of healing does not require a vaccine. It requires a rethink of who we are and how our cities operate. The pandemic did not create the issues that dominate the news cycle, such as racism, sexism and the repression of marginalized voices, but it did make these issues much more prevalent in everyday life. This week’s podcast guest is Jay Pitter. An award-winning place-maker and author, she works in her practice to mitigate the growing divide in cities across North America. She will be discussing marginalized and underrepresented groups, their experience during the pandemic, and what policy-makers can do to truly build back better.

Policy Options Podcast

PO Podcast 128 - Healing Canadian cities for an equitable post-pandemic future

En dépit de nombreux rapports qui préconisent depuis plus de 20 ans une réforme majeure des soins de longue durée au Québec, aucun gouvernement n’est véritablement passé à l’action. L’indignation en réaction aux défaillances systémiques révélées par la pandémie entraînera-t-elle un véritable changement ? Quelles politiques faut-il prioriser pour lancer une réforme en profondeur qui produirait des résultats probants ? Le balado de cette semaine est l’enregistrement d'un webinaire que l’IRPP a tenu le 3 juin 2021. Il portait sur les problèmes du système de soins de longue durée qui doivent être abordés dans le Québec post-pandémique. Réjean Hébert, Marie-Louise Leroux et Yves Couturier étaient les invités de cette rencontre animée par Charles Breton, directeur du Centre d'excellence sur la fédération canadienne de l'IRPP.

PO Podcast 127 - Feuille de route pour une réforme des soins de longue durée au Québec

COVID-19 has shaken the Canadian labour market to its core, and it has revealed that our Employment Insurance system is not well equipped to handle a major disruption to the economy. In the first half of 2020, roughly 2.4 million Canadians were laid off or had permanently lost their jobs. By January 2021, roughly 511,000 individuals had been unemployed for more than six months. In response to these unprecedented unemployment numbers, the federal government created a patchwork of emergency response benefits to cover the gaps in the EI system. Now, as vaccinations go out across the country and the economy reopens, people will need to get back to work. EI could provide a stepping stone, but will the current system get people back to full-time employment? A new IRPP study argues that the system could be improved by redesigning the working-while-on-claim provisions, which allow claimants to take part-time or casual jobs and still keep a portion of their EI benefits. The authors of the study, IRPP Research Director Colin Busby, Stephanie Lluis, professor of economics at the University of Waterloo, and Brian P. McCall, professor of education, economics and public policy at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, join us on the podcast to discuss their research.

PO Podcast 126 - Making EI work for workers

The story of western alienation runs parallel to the story of Canada. Both stories have their roots in 1867, when a country was born out of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. At the time those two provinces were leaders in business and population numbers. But in the western part of the country, a different story was started – one of alienation – that would lead to the creation of modern-day political parties and calls for separation from the rest of Canada. Despite attempts by successive governments to reduce it, western alienation persists, and while it may seem that current political issues are driving these feelings, the root cause remains in 1867. The current political debates around big issues like energy or the environment, and other issues such as equalization payments, are manifestations of long-lasting grievances in the west dating to the founding of the country. Canada’s original sin ─ building the country on the foundation of the eastern provinces ─ persists. To discuss these issues, this week’s guest is Loleen Berdahl, professor and head of political studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She has been studying western alienation and how it fits into the context of pan-Canadian regional conflict for two decades. Her recent essay for the IRPP’s Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation delves into the origins of western alienation and recommends ways to tackle it.

PO Podcast 125 - The past, present, and future of western alienation

COVID-19 has been one of the largest disruptions in the Canadian labour market in the country’s history. Not only were some sectors like tourism nearly decimated, the economy as a whole took a hit - making it extraordinarily difficult for laid-off Canadians to find jobs that they could easily transfer their skills to. Retraining workers who have lost their jobs so that they can successfully transition into a new field has been an elusive goal for governments. This is partly because skills retraining is a difficult to sector to navigate for policy-makers, but also because studies have shown mixed results in the benefits and drawbacks of this training, which has shaken the public’s confidence in whether or not it’s an economically viable solution. But given the pandemic’s toll on our labour market, it is time for governments to start taking a serious look at skills training, and to develop a functional system so that workers can find not just any job, but the right job for them. Kelly Pasolli, along with Karen Myers and Simon Harding of Blueprint, conducted a study for the IRPP that examined previous research on skills training to find what worked and what didn’t. Through this research, they found two promising systems that Canadian workers could benefit from. For this episode of the Policy Options Podcast, we speak with Kelly Pasolli about these systems, and what Canadian governments need to do to successfully retrain under- or unemployed workers for the post-pandemic future.

PO Podcast 124 - Publicly funded skills training that works

Canada has vaccinated nearly 40 per cent of its citizens, an important milestone in the fight against COVID-19. But underlying this success is a concerning aspect of the global vaccine rollout: wealthy countries like Canada have taken the lion’s share of vaccines – 87 per cent, leaving medium- and low-income countries with just 0.2 per cent of the vaccine supply. Not only is this a moral concern, with the pandemic ravaging medium- and low-income countries that may struggle with increased health-care demands, it’s also a health concern as new variants emerge from the hardest-hit areas. But there is a plan to correct this, and Canada has an opportunity to support it: COVAX, a program designed in early 2020 with the hopes of distributing vaccines globally and equitably. Today’s guests are Annie Bodmer-Roy, the director of international policy and programs at UNICEF Canada, and Srinivas Murthy, a clinical professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia and a consultant with the World Health Organization. They will be speaking about the global inequality in vaccine distribution, and how Canada can support COVAX in its goals.

PO Podcast 123 - COVID-19 doesn't care about our borders

On April 19, 2021, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented the first federal budget in two years. Among the many new and updated policies, one stood out especially – the promise of affordable universal childcare for all Canadians. Universal child care had been promised in the past and never come to fruition, not for lack of political will or public support, but rather because it is such a difficult policy to enact. One place in Canada, however, already has universal, affordable child care: Quebec. The federal government plans on taking this model of child care and replicating it in every province and territory. But this system is not perfect, and the government needs to be careful not to make the same mistakes that Quebec has made while creating this policy. This week we are joined by Sophie Mathieu and Gordon Cleveland to speak about the Quebec model of child care, and how this policy will be enacted across the country. Sophie Mathieu is a postdoctoral researcher at Université TÉLUQ in Quebec City, with a focus on family policy in Quebec. She holds a PhD in sociology. Gordon Cleveland is emeritus associate professor of economics at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and a member of the Expert Panel on Early Learning and Child Care Data and Research. He is also president of Cleveland Consulting: Early Childhood Education and Care Inc.

PO Podcast 122 - The future of child care in Canada: What to expect

This special episode of the Policy Options Podcast is a recording of our recent webinar on the 2021 federal budget. The webinar can also be found online at IRPP.org, or on YouTube. This budget came with high expectations. Public debate around such issues as reforming long-term care, helping displaced workers transition back into the labour force, righting the impact of the “she-cession,” and the relative powers of the provinces, had Canadians wondering which sectors would see funding. On April 20, 2021, the day after the tabling of the federal budget, our panel of experts held an in-depth conversation around the key policy issues critical to Canada’s post-pandemic recovery.

PO Podcast 121 - Will the 2021 federal budget position Canada to emerge strongly from the pandemic?

In March 2020, Canada saw a major “office-drain,” as office workers made the sudden switch to working from home. Most were told that this would be a temporary solution to the social distancing orders and lockdown measures put in place to lower the spread of COVID-19. But just a few weeks later, COVID-19 was named a full-blown pandemic, and talk of returning to the workplace became less and less hopeful. Now, over one year later, a majority of Canadian office workers are still working from home, and there is still no timeline for a safe return to work. Our guest this week is Jean-Nicolas Reyt. Reyt is an assistant professor of organizational behaviour at McGill University, and has studied work-from-home since 2010. Over the past year, he has had a rare opportunity for a researcher: the chance to see his theories play out in the real world. Reyt has used “earnings calls” – calls made by CEOs to their investors – to track how Canadian and U.S. executives have been talking about working from home, how their perceptions of this style of work have changed, and what is and isn’t working. In this episode, he shares his insights about how far we’ve come, and how much farther we have to go.

PO Podcast 120 - What Canadian CEOs are saying about work from home

Indigenous treaties are enormously significant for both First Nations groups and Canada. These treaties are constitutionally recognized agreements that lay out the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canada, where Yukon is a leader in treaty-making. Out of the 14 Indigenous groups that live in the territory, 11 hold signed treaties with the government. But there is a disconnect between the generation of leaders who originally negotiated these treaties, and the youth, young people between 16 and 30, who are now taking the reins of governance. These individuals did not grow up under the Indian Act, and were not there to witness the negotiations in person. Our guests for this episode of the podcast are Gabrielle A. Slowey and Geri-Lee Buyck. Gabrielle A. Slowey is a professor in the Department of Politics the director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University, and has worked with Indigenous groups in Yukon to train youth to negotiate and implement treaties. Her new paper, published by the IRPP’s Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, describes her work with communities to develop a treaty negotiation simulation, where young people can learn from the elders and experts who negotiated the original treaties. Geri-Lee Buyck is an Indigenous youth from the Na-Cho Nyuk Dun First Nation. Buyck is a first-year student at Vancouver Island University, and took part in one of these simulations

PO Podcast 119 - The next generation of Indigenous self-government in Yukon

Last Fall, Joyce Echaquan, an Indigenous woman, died in a Quebec hospital after posting videos online of the hospital staff insulting her. The tragedy was seen by many as the latest example of the systemic racism that Indigenous people often face when dealing with the Canadian health care system. It’s not the first time systemic racism in health care has made the news or has been denounced by the public or by government officials. And yet it often seems as if things are improving very slowly or not at all. Why is that? What are some of the elements blocking or slowing down change? Whose responsibility is it to find and implement possible solutions? To help us answer these questions and more, we’ve invited Dr. Alika Lafontaine to this week’s podcast. Alika Lafontaine is an Indigenous physician and the chair of the Governance Council of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Help us get to know you! Fill out our podcast listener survey here: https://options-po.li/podcastsurvey Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @JRicardoBM.

PO Podcast 118 – Systemic racism in Canadian health care

COVID-19 has put many Canadians out of jobs. But even after the pandemic ends, there’s no indication the labour market will go back to the way it was. Automation, climate change, and the rise of gig work will all have very real consequences for the nature of work. In light of these disruptions, giving job seekers and employers the support they need is more important than ever. Today on the podcast, we’re joined by the authors of an IRPP paper that’s looking at one piece of the puzzle: how to help people get the skills they need to succeed in the jobs of tomorrow. Tony Bonen leads the Labour Market Information Council’s team of economists and data scientists, delivering high-quality labour market information to stakeholders and decision-makers. Matthias Oschinski is an economist specializing in inclusive growth, well-being and climate change at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Read more in Mapping Canada’s Training Ecosystem: Much Needed and Long Overdue: https://on-irpp.org/394Gz2N Help us get to know you! Fill out our podcast listener survey here: https://options-po.li/podcastsurvey Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @jbugiel.

PO Podcast 117 – Mapping Canada’s training ecosystem

It’s just over a month into Canada’s vaccine rollout, and every day seems to bring new federal-provincial bickering or logistical nightmares. It’s difficult and confusing at a time when Canadians just want to get needles into arms. The problem is, it’s not just a Canadian issue – as recent disruptions to vaccine supply have reminded us, the pandemic is global. Our response must be global, too, whether that means helping vaccinate people beyond our borders or considering the international implications of our own COVID-19 policies. Here to discuss this and more is Dr. Alan Bernstein. He’s president and CEO of the global research organization CIFAR and was the founding president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is a member of Canada’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. Help us get to know you! Fill out our podcast listener survey here: https://options-po.li/podcastsurvey Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @jbugiel.

PO Podcast 116 – The global dimensions of Canada's vaccine rollout

This week we’ve got a special, bilingual episode of the podcast. To celebrate 40 years of Policy Options, and the end of a truly terrible year, we’re joined by Jennifer Ditchburn, Policy Options’ editor-in-chief. She takes us back to 1980 to discuss what policy concerns of the time still resonate today. And we chat about what the future holds for public-policy debate in Canada, within the magazine and beyond. Plus, let us know how you like the podcast! Fill out our brand-new listener survey here: https://options-po.li/podcastsurvey Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or any member of the team (@jbugiel, @JRicardoBM or @jenditchburn). ... Pour célébrer les 40 ans d’Options politiques et finir cette année difficile en beauté, Jennifer Ditchburn, rédactrice en chef du magazine, nous ramène en 1980. Dans ce balado bilingue, elle revient sur les enjeux politiques de l’époque et examine leur pertinence dans la période actuelle. Elle se penche également sur l’avenir du débat politique dans les médias et nos instances politiques. Si vous appréciez le balado d’Options politiques, nous vous invitons à répondre à notre sondage (seulement en anglais) en cliquant sur le lien qui suit: https://options-po.li/podcastsurvey Le téléchargement est gratuit. Nous mettons en ligne de nouveaux balados chaque deuxième mercredi. Vous pouvez envoyer vos commentaires par Twitter à @IRPP, @jbugiel, @JRicardoBM ou à @jenditchburn.

PO Podcast 115 – Policy Options at 40 / 40 ans d'Options Politiques

COVID-19 has tested Canada’s intergovernmental system. With the stakes as high as they are, it’s crucial that all levels of government continue to meet, communicate, and try to work together. To make that process a little easier, this week’s podcast has lessons for policymakers on successful cooperation in the face of complex intergovernmental challenges. Charles Breton, executive director of our new Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, moderates a discussion between Mireille Paquet, Robert Schertzer, and Roxanna Benoit. Mireille and Robert, who are associate professors of political science at Concordia University and the University of Toronto respectively, share findings from their recently released study with the Centre of Excellence, "Irregular Border Crossings and Asylum Seekers in Canada: A Complex Intergovernmental Problem." Meanwhile, Roxanna brings insights on intergovernmental collaboration, drawing on her experience in the public service, including as Alberta’s former deputy minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations. This discussion was originally recorded as a webinar by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada for its recent conference. Read the study here: https://on-irpp.org/3neOikf Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @charlesbreton.

PO Podcast 114 – COVID-19 and Canadian federalism

Policy Options is a digital magazine published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) in Montreal, Quebec. It features daily articles on issues of public policy by contributors from academia, research institutions, the political world, the public service and the non-profit and private sectors. We’re committed to introducing our listeners to a diversity of viewpoints on the important public policy challenges of our time. Twitter: https://twitter.com/IRPP Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IRPP.org/

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