Canadian Directors Research Articles

Missing in Action: Reports of Interdisciplinary Integration in Canadian Palliative Care.

Palliative care has an interdisciplinary tradition and Canada is a leader in its research and practice. Yet even in Canada, a full interdisciplinary complement is often lacking, with psychosocial presence ranging from 0–67.4% depending on the discipline and region. We sought to examine the most notable gaps in care from the perspective of Canadian palliative professionals. Canadian directors of palliative care programs were surveyed with respect to interdisciplinary integration. Participants responded in writing or by phone interview. We operationalized reports of interdisciplinary professions as either “present” or “under/not-represented”. The Vaismoradi, Turunen, and Bondas’ procedure was used for content analysis. Our 14 participants consisted of physicians (85.7%), nurses (14.3%), and a social worker (7.1%) from Ontario (35.7%), British Columbia (14.3%), Alberta (14.3%), Quebec (14.3%), Nova Scotia (14.3%), and New Brunswick (7.1%). Psychology and social work were equally and most frequently reported as “under/not represented” (5/14, each). All participants reported the presence of medical professionals (physicians and nurses) and these groups were not reported as under/not represented. Spiritual care and others (e.g., rehabilitation and volunteers) were infrequently reported as “under/not represented”. Qualitative themes included Commonly Represented Disciplines, Quality of Multidisciplinary Collaboration, Commonly Under-Represented Disciplines, and Special Concern: Psychosocial Care. Similar to previous reports, we found that (1) psychology was under-represented yet highly valued and (2) despite social work’s relative high presence in care, our participants reported a higher need for more. These finding highlight those psychosocial gaps in care are most frequently noted by palliative care professionals, especially psychology and social work. We speculate on barriers and enablers to addressing this need.

U.S. Evidence from D&O Insurance on Accounting-Related Agency Costs: Implications for Country-Specific Studies

ABSTRACTMany studies use country-specific evidence to investigate research questions of broad interest due to data availability or to exploit an exogenous event that allows identification. One such research stream largely examines Canadian directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance and finds that more coverage (i.e., higher limits) is negatively associated with financial reporting quality and positively related to litigation (accounting-related agency costs). However, the U.S. and Canada differ on key issues relevant to securities litigation and D&O insurance. Thus, we predict and find that premiums, rather than limits, provide information about U.S. accounting-related agency costs. Nonetheless, the incremental information provided by premiums about accounting-related agency costs is limited, and audit fees provide better information about these agency costs. Thus, although researchers argue for disclosure of U.S. D&O insurance information, the usefulness of such disclosures may be limited because audit fees are already disclosed. Our findings suggest caution in broadly generalizing country-specific studies.

The possible pitfalls of boards’ engagement in the strategic management process

Scholars endorsing the embeddedness outlook call for directors’ greater engagement in the strategic management process. In contrast, scholars endorsing the control outlook argue that directors should focus on fulfilling their fiduciary duty of supervising top executives. Based on the behavioral-agency theory, this paper outlines a conduct outlook on boards. Recognizing the benefits of directors’ participation in the strategic management process, we hypothesize that it may boost directors’ satisfaction with firm’s performance, strategic planning, and strategy. This could lead to cognitive entrenchment and spur inertial tendencies. Structural equations modeling analysis of the data from a survey of 367 Canadian directors supports the hypotheses. These findings add knowledge to latest research on the advantages vs. disadvantages of activist boards.

U.S. Evidence from D&O Insurance on Agency Costs: Implications for Country-Specific Studies

any studies use country-specific evidence to investigate research questions of broad interest due to research advantages of a given country, such as data availability or to exploit an exogenous event that allows identification. One such research stream largely examines Canadian directors’ and officers’ (D&O) insurance and finds that more coverage (i.e., higher limits) is negatively associated with financial reporting quality and positively related to litigation (accounting-related agency costs). However, the U.S. and Canada differ on key issues relevant to securities litigation and D&O insurance. Thus, we predict and find that premiums, rather than limits, provide information about U.S. accounting-related agency costs. Nonetheless, the incremental information provided by premiums about accounting-related agency costs is limited, and audit fees provide more consistent and better information about these agency costs. Thus, although researchers argue for disclosure of U.S. D&O insurance information, the usefulness of such disclosures may be limited because audit fees are already disclosed. Our findings also suggest caution in broadly generalizing country-specific studies.

Policy work at the sub‐national level: Analytical styles of Canadian and Czech directors and managers

AbstractThis paper uses data from two countries to develop profiles of policy directors and managers in the sub‐national public bureaucracies of Canada and the Czech Republic. Canadian directors and managers undertake more analytically complex tasks for which research and evaluation is necessary. In comparison, Czech managers are more firmly engaged in project management agendas, and Czech directors tend to rely on personal experience and routine approaches. Overall, the sample shows that different policy styles are emphasized in each country and at different levels ranging from rational‐technical and advisory‐interactive (Canadian directors and managers), process expertise (Czech managers), and a combination of analytical rationality and issue activism (Czech directors).

Choreographies of collaboration: social engagement in interactive documentaries

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes new opportunities for using interactive non-linear documentary as social change interventions. Through a series of in-depth conversations with socially engaged Canadian directors, producers and distribution strategists, we discuss how they are reconfiguring their production and outreach in a rapidly shifting and increasingly collaborative media environment. We focus on three recent projects produced or co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada: Here at Home, Highrise and Fort McMoney. The projects address key social issues in Canada including housing, poverty, urbanization, oil production and the environment and are each quite distinct in form as well as strategies of collaboration and engagement. This in-depth analysis of three projects has permitted us to explore interesting tensions and innovations with regard to strategic partnerships and emerging social engagement practices.

Corporate Foreign Corrupt Practices and Director Liability

This article examines the various forms of potential liability faced by directors in their capacity as such in connection with corrupt practices engaged in by the corporations they serve. Although generally little discussed to date, Canadian directors do face potential civil liability associated with contraventions of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act that are particular to their status as directors of a corporation. This article thus highlights this particular area of corporate law by reviewing both Canadian jurisprudence and American case law to decipher what lessons Canadian directors can learn in the absence of Canadian precedent similarly on point. Several key cases are highlighted and various risk mitigation strategies available to Canadian directors to guard against these potential liabilities are also discussed.

American Mary: Directed by Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska

The clarity and precision of American Mary , the new horror offering from Canadian directors and identical ‘Twisted Twins’ Jen and Sylvia Soska, stands in marked contrast to their raw, no-budget breakthrough Dead Hooker in a Trunk . In more ways than just the title, the former is a much more subtle film, and demonstrates how impressive the sisters and their distinctive style can be, given any budget at all. It tells the story of medical student and aspiring surgeon (or …

In-between states: Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz and Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways

Two recent films by young Canadian directors, deal with characters entangled in in-between states. Margot in Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz is caught between her comfortable marriage and her passionate affair with a neighbour, while Laurence in Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways is more radically unsettled by his decision to become a woman. Both films lay themselves open to accusations of superficiality, by drawing on the conventions of romantic comedy ( Take This Waltz) or by a flamboyantly melodramatic style ( Laurence Anyways), but both work to unsettle easy assumptions about the relations of surface and depth, image and self, fantasy and bodily reality.

Canada's IMF executive director

Abstract: This article provides empirical evidence of the autonomy and agenda‐setting capabilities of Canada's International Monetary Fund executive director in Washington, D.C., for further theoretical debate. Little is known about this position in the public service. This article seeks to assess the degree of autonomy of Canadian directors from Ottawa, the nature of the IMF's agenda items proposed by Canada's executive directors, and, most importantly, whether these agenda items originate from the Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada or from the directors' office in Washington directly. The author also seeks to better understand the hiring and recruitment of Canada's IMF executive directors.

Girl power: double jeopardy or diversity in action behind boardroom doors in New Zealand?

A dramatic acceleration in “girl power” predicted for the boardrooms of major New Zealand business is examined against the notion that age is a traditional demographic variable influencing board selection. For example, the average age of directors in Canada and the USA is 59 years, with 56 per cent of Canadian directors over 60 years. The paper examines whether there is a generational divide between younger women with higher educational qualifications who have “fast‐tracked” onto boards and older female directors with substantial business experience and expertise and the seniority to dedicate the time to board membership. Six interviews were undertaken with women under 40 years who are directors, and with older women, aged 45 years and over, on the same three boards. Similarities and differences in selection and perceptions of the role are analysed. Whether being young and female is a form of double jeopardy or an expression of boardroom diversity in action is explored.

The diversity of diversity: Canadian–American differences and their implications for clinical training and APA accreditation.

Abstract When Canadian clinical training programs seek APA accreditation, they face a problem in communicating the unique features of Canadian society relevant to their programs and to the APA criterion relating to This is frequently a basis of misunderstandings that emerge in informal comments and final reports. This article reviews the differences between Canada and the United States in terms of wellbeing, social policy, and the nature of within each nation. It outlines the relevance of these factors to Canadian clinical programs. The review can assist Canadian programs preparing APA accreditation. The American Psychological Association (APA) has accredited 18 university programs1 and 18 internships in clinical and school psychology in Canada, using a joint process with APA and the Canadian Psychological Association. The evaluation of a program may reveal problems that are eventually reconciled, but one theme that has been a source of difficulty relates to Domain D of the criteria (American Psychological Association, 1996), concerning and individual differences and Problems with Domain D have also occurred in U.S. programs, generating criticism of the way programs have been increasingly sanctioned for failure to satisfy these criteria. Critics there have argued that often the criteria of that are emphasized concern a narrow list, essentially race, disability, and sexual orientation (Rickard & Clements, 1993). In fact, race normally dominates APA documentation about minorities, surveys routinely seek program information about defined racially, and APA pressures its committees to incorporate this racially defined minority representation (Thorn, 2000). Domain D problems also occur when APA site team members from the U.S. examine Canadian programs. Informal evidence from directors of these programs suggests that U.S. examiners are looking for race-based evidence that people of African origin are present and are featured in training materials and settings. Canadian directors have been asked by American examiners, Where are your blacks?, and have been told you all look pretty white to me. (Hard data are difficult to get as colleagues advise me these and other events are not for attribution for fear of endangering their accreditation.) Finding little evidence of the expected represents tion of African (or Hispanic) visibility in students and faculty, U.S. examiners describe the program as having limited diversity. The problem continues at the Committee on Accreditation, where criticisms have led to requests for supplemental information, further clarification, and to final reports referring to the Canadian programs' insufficient efforts to address the cultural domain. These examples suggest a narrow construal of in APA criteria, arising from U.S. attempts to ameliorate social problems related to their important racial minorities. In contrast, as this review will show, the diversities upon which Canadian clinical training programs in psychology ought to focus are significantly different, and largely are not correlated with race or social problems. To understand the of diversity in the two nations, I will first review U.S. and Canadian societies across indicators of well-being relevant to psychological practise, documenting significant differences. I will then review the different nature of minorities in Canada, and examine how these relate to Canadian clinical programs and accreditation. Finally, I will propose a way of approaching in our multicultural country that avoids stereotyping while advancing cultural richness. Psychosocial Differences Between Canada and the United States Our two nations are similar in many ways, deriving from common roots in the United Kingdom. Similarities include a commitment to democracy, universal education, universal adult franchise, the rule of law, and freedoms of religion, speech, and association. …

Winnipeg and Minneapolis Bank Resources Compared, 1876-1926

En 1926, la population du Manitoba atteint le tiers de celle du Minnesota; cependant, les actifs accumulés dans les banques manitobaines cette année-là représentent seulement le dizième des actifs bancaires du Minnesota. Comment expliquer la forte production de ressources bancaires au Minnesota et à Minneapolis, par rapport à la faible production au Manitoba et à Winnipeg? Une analyse du nombre des succursales au Manitoba et du niveau des compensations à Winnipeg révèle que ces succursales sont tout aussi actives que celles du Minnesota. Cependant, en comparant la croissance des industries à Minneapolis à celle de Winnipeg, il appert que les habitants de Winnipeg n'ont pas, à l'instar des entrepreneurs de Minneapolis, développé un secteur manufacturier destiné à l'exportation, ni par conséquent les sièges sociaux, ni les services de transport nécessaires pour susciter une accumulation endogène de capitaux. Les succursales de Winnipeg sont le produit d'un système bancaire importé de Montréal et Toronto qui, en même temps qu'il procure des fonds aux Manitobains, sert également les intérêts des directeurs et des actionnaires du Canada central et par conséquent continue d'intégrer les ressources commerciales de Winnipeg à l'intérieur du réseau urbain central. Par contraste, les entrepreneurs de Minneapolis établissent des banques qui produisent leurs propres capitaux et leurs propres pratiques bancaires. Cela signifie que les propriétaires des banques de Minneapolis sont déterminés à façonner les investissements et la croissance de leur région métropolitaine. Tandis qu'à Winnipeg, les succursales sont au service des propriétaires montréalais et torontois qui sont déterminés à encastrer fermement les entreprises de Winnipeg à l'intérieur du système central canadien.

Survey of neurology chairmen in U.S. and Canadian medical schools about neuroepidemiology.

Using a mailed questionnaire, 185 U.S. and Canadian directors of medical school departments and residency programs were surveyed about the role of neuroepidemiology in clinical neurology. Data were obtained about current neuroepidemiologic staff; consultation patterns; current and future needs for neuroepidemiologists, including duties and level of training; funding of neuroepidemiologists; and training of residents and fellows. We recommend more centralized teaching of the epidemilogy of neurologic disease with participation by practicing neurologists, courses in neuroepidemiology in schools without special training programs, and improved training of residents and fellows, with more active participation by medical school epidemiologists.

Americans in Britain's Backyard: The Railway Era in Upper Canada, 1850–1880

Canadian lines that were spreading out over what would become the Province of Ontario looked forward, in the years before the American Civil War, to becoming important east-west carriers between the rapidly growing American cities of the eastern seaboard and the still-new cities of the American Midwest. Canada's small population and undeveloped industry would force her railroads to rely heavily on traffic going from one American city to another. Lines like the Grand Trunk and the Great Western struggled desperately therefore, to avoid American financial control. With the help of British capital, they succeeded. But America's contribution to Canadian railroading ran much deeper than money. Dominating the skilled engineers and experienced construction contractors who came from south of the border was more difficult for Canadian directors to manage. In the end, however, it was the early failure of top Canadian management to bury their rivalries, ignore their English creditors, emulate Americans like Vanderbilt, Thomson, and Garrett, and consolidate into an integrated line between New England, the Middle Atlantic seaboard, and the Midwest that doomed their railroads to becoming, as one Canadian put it, “side streets to the trade thoroughfare.”

Citadel Exchange: The Coe Report

In the fall of 1973, British director Robin Phillips was hired as the artistic director of the Stratford Festival in Ontario, an appointment which set off a wave of controversy across the country. Just a few weeks ago, the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton’s major regional theatre company, named British director Peter Coe as its artistic director and shortly thereafter another controversy began over the question of the capability of Canadian directors to run Canadian theatres. One of the first to respond against the latest importation was Canadian Actor’s Equity Association, which protested against Coe’s appointment “in the strongest possible terms. The Citadel Board thereafter expressed its amazement to Equity that the appointment should have been controversial. The following exchange between Equity and the Citadel define the two positions. They are published in their entirely here for the first time.

Dramatic Documents: Whither Stratford?

In the spring of 1974, several well-known Canadian directors wrote to the Board of the Stratford Festival asking for a meeting to discuss the Festival’s future. The meeting was private and no statement was issued thereafter. Some weeks later, Stratford’s artistic director designate, Robin Phillips, held a press conference in Toronto and announced a seres of sweeping changes for 1975. Following are three documents relating to the ongoing discussion about the future of Stratford — the original letter to the Board; a response by the Stratford Board President to CTR explaining why no statement would be made; and the complete text of Phillips’ announced plans for next season.