Canadian Public Policy Research Articles

The Value of the Long Form Canadian Census for Long Term National and International Research

Canadian PubliC PoliCy – analyse de Politiques, vol. xxxvi, no. 3 2010 T federal government’s decision in June 2010 to replace the long form Canadian census with the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) was met with vigorous opposition. While the opponents unanimously denounced the voluntary National Household Survey on the basis that it would suffer from the differential (and largely unmeasurable) non-response of particular population subgroups, two further effects of this decision are worth discussing: the termination of a 154-year national series of modern nominal censuses and the elimination of Canada’s place in the International Integrated Public-Use Microdata Series (IPUMSi).

Transforming Long-Term Care Pain Management in North America: The Policy–Clinical Interface: Table 1

The undertreatment of pain in older adults who reside in long-term care (LTC) facilities has been well documented, leading to clinical guideline development and professional educational programs designed to foster better pain assessment and management in this population. Despite these efforts, little improvement has occurred, and we postulate that focused attention to public policy and cost implications of systemic change is required to create positive pain-related outcomes. Our goal was to outline feasible and cost-effective clinical and public policy recommendations designed to address the undermanagement of pain in LTC facilities. We arranged a 2-day consensus meeting of prominent United States and Canadian pain and public policy experts. An initial document describing the problem of pain undermanagement in LTC was developed and circulated prior to the meeting. Participants were also asked to respond to a list of relevant questions before arriving. Following formal presentations of a variety of proposals and extensive discussion among clinicians and policy experts, a set of recommendations was developed. We outline key elements of a transformational model of pain management in LTC for the United States and Canada. Consistent with previously formulated clinical guidelines but with attention to readily implementable public policy change in both countries, this transformational model of LTC has important implications for LTC managers and policy makers as well as major quality of life implications for LTC residents.

Escaping from the Phantom Zone: social determinants of health, public health units and public policy in Canada

Despite the Canadian record of concern with the social determinants of health (SDOH), actual public health activities consistent with such an approach are sporadic at best. Canadian research and advocacy activities in the service of strengthening the SDOH are so divorced from everyday public policy activity, media discourse and public awareness as to metaphorically suggest that SDOH researchers and advocates exist in a Phantom Zone of irrelevance. Why this might be the case and means of escaping from such irrelevance are presented. Implications for jurisdictions where the situation appears to be even worse-such as the USA-and for those where the situation may be somewhat better are also presented.

(Re)Constructing women's resistance to woman abuse: Resources, strategy choice and implications of and for public policy in Canada

While there has been considerable attention paid to Canada's anti-woman abuse policy framework, much of this attention has neglected its implications for women's resistance to abuse. This paper attempts to address this gap by using the lens of women's resistance to analyse the anti-woman abuse policy in Canada. I begin by exploring the ways in which the policy framework constructs the `problem' and considering its implications for women's choice in resistance strategy. Using the Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization (1999), I apply independent samples tests to explore women's (non)usage of various strategies, as it varies by class, race, and ability. I conclude with suggestions for policy reform.

LEGITIMATING PUBLIC POLICY

This article critiques the failure to adopt and enforce procedural norms in Canadian public policy making and suggests that the failure of legislatures and courts to require appropriate procedure prior to the elaboration and implementation of regulatory policy undermines the democratic and substantive legitimacy of that policy. It supports this position through analysis of current approaches to policy making in Canada and the United States, through application of theories of deliberative democracy to policy making and, ultimately, through consideration of what appropriate procedures for policy making should look like.

Religion and public policy in Canada: An itinerary

Although the intersection between religion and public policy is the subject of intense interest within and outside of the academy, the Canadian work on these often fraught phenomena is still fairly modest. In an effort to clarify some of the basic issues underlying this relatively new subfield in religious studies, in this article I address three questions. First, how is religion currently framed by existing Canadian laws and policies? Second, is there evidence that policy-makers are actually interested in academic perspectives on religion and public policy? Third, which problematic issues might merit scholarly attention in the near future? Although religion is framed in quite a positive manner in the federal policies I review, until very recently Canadian policy makers have been reluctant to engage critically the problematic social and political issues in which religion is intimately involved. However, as a result of five "source tensions" in our society, policy makers and other elite members of our society are increasingly interested in a discursive realm in which religious studies scholars have something unique to contribute.

Introduction: Multiculturalism Discourses in Canada

CONTEXT AND FOCUS The management of ethnocultural diversity is a major governance function in most countries in the world today, and Canada is no exception. In most of these countries various approaches to diversity management have been highly scrutinized and debated in the media and in the academic literature. One of the approaches that has received extensive attention has been multiculturalism. In Canada multiculturalism, both in terms of public philosophy and public policy, has been the subject of much debate during the past four decades. The extensiveness and intensity of the debates have increased in recent years in light of at least four major developments--the inclusion of the provision related to multiculturalism in the Constitution Act of 1982, Canada's Multiculturalism Act of 1988, Quebec's adoption of the interculturalism model for managing diversity, and the concerns for security in light of the events of September 11, 2001 and subsequent events such as the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the 2005 London bombings, the 2005 civil riots in France, and the 2006 arrests of seventeen alleged terrorists in Ontario, Canada. It can be argued that September 11, 2001 was a formative event that demarcated a new period in diversity management, now commonly referred to as thepost 9/11 era. In this new era, multiculturalism discourses now clearly have a component that can be referred to as and/or discourse. The term post-multiculturalism was first used in Britain a few years ago in the context of the need for alternative philosophies and models to multiculturalism that would foster social cohesion and promote assimilation and a common identity. (1) The central premise of the anti- and/or discourse is that multiculturalism is not working and that modified or radically different public philosophies or public policies and programs are needed that move beyond multiculturalism as it is presently known and constituted. (2) A central argument contained in the anti- and/or literature is that multiculturalism is not working because it is segregating, rather than integrating, diverse racial, ethnic, and religious groups. In other words, the policy and practice of multiculturalism contributes to social and political fragmentation that makes social and political cohesion difficult, if not impossible. It is this fragmentation discourse of the anti- and/or post-muhiculturalism literature that this special issue addresses. The two central questions are: What is the nature of anti- and/or discourse in academic and media texts regarding the effects that Canadian multiculturalism public philosophy and public policy have on fragmentation and cohesion? What implications does this discourse have for the current Canadian public philosophy and public policy on multiculturalism and, ultimately, for the Canadian polity? OBJECTIVES AND OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLES The objective of each of the articles in this issue is to examine a central aspect of the discourse on multiculturalism and, where possible, on the aspect of the discourse that relates to anti and/or in which social and political fragmentation is a theme. Lloyd Wong provides an overview and analysis of the literature produced by leading sociologists in Canada and Europe (e.g., John Porter, Reginald Bibby, Michel Wieviorka, Bruno Latour, and Tahir Abbas) in which multiculturalism is depicted as fostering societal fragmentation. After providing an overview of the positions of these sociologists on the fragmentary effects of multiculturalism, Wong explains two important conceptual distinctions in the extant literature. The first distinction is between fragmented pluralism, which entails a separation and segregation of members of various groups, and interactive pluralism, which entails interaction and conversation between members of various groups. …

Globalization restricted: the Canadian financial system and public policy

Globalization restricted: the Canadian financial system and public policy

Preventing Mental Disorders in Children

At any given time, 14% of Canadian children experience clinically significant mental disorders, which frequently persist into adulthood. Canadian public policy has emphasized specialized treatment services, yet these services only reach 25% of children with disorders. Prevention programs hold potential to reduce the number of children with disorders in the population. To inform policy-making, we systematically reviewed the best available research evidence on programs for preventing conduct disorder (CD), anxiety and depression, three of the most prevalent mental disorders in children. We systematically identified and reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on programs intended to prevent CD, anxiety and depression in children aged 0-18 years. Fifteen RCTs met selection criteria: nine (on eight programs) for preventing CD; one for anxiety; four (on three programs) for depression; and one for all three. Ten RCTs demonstrated significant reductions in child symptom and/or diagnostic measures at follow-up. The most noteworthy programs, for CD, targeted at-risk children in the early years using parent training (PT) or child social skills training (SST); for anxiety, employed universal cognitive-behavioural training (CBT) in school-age children; and for depression, targeted at-risk school-age children, also using CBT. Effect sizes for these noteworthy programs were modest but consequential. There were few Canadian studies and few that evaluated costs. Prevention programs are promising but replication RCTs are needed to determine effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in Canadian settings. Four program types should be priorities for replication: targeted PTand child SST for preventing CD in children's early years; and universal and targeted CBTfor preventing anxiety and depression in children's school-age years. Conducting RCTs through research-policy partnerships would enable implementation in realistic settings while ensuring rigorous evaluation. Prevention merits new policy and research investments as part of a comprehensive public health strategy to improve children's mental health in the population.

Telling stories: News media, health literacy and public policy in Canada

Mass media are very influential in shaping discourses about health but few studies have examined the extent to which newspaper coverage of such stories reflect issues embedded in health policy documents. We estimate the relative distribution of health stories using content analysis. Nine meta-topics are used to sort stories across a range of major influences shaping the health status of populations adapted from the document Toward a Healthy Future (Second Report on the Health of Canadians (1999)) ( TAHF). A total of 4732 stories were analyzed from 13 Canadian daily newspapers (10 English, 3 French language) using a constructed week per quarter method. Stories were sampled from each chosen newspaper for the years 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2001. 72% ( n=3405) of stories in this analysis were from English-language papers, 28% ( n=1327) were from French-language papers. Topics related to health care (dealing either with issues of service provision and delivery or management and regulation) dominated newspaper stories, accounting for 65% of all stories. Physical environment topics accounted for about 13% of all stories, the socio-economic environment about 6% of stories, personal health practices about 5% of stories, and scientific advances in health research about 4% of stories. Other influences upon health identified in TAHF were rarely mentioned. The overall prominence of topics in newspapers is not consistent with the relative importance assigned to health influences in TAHF. Canadian newspapers rarely report on socio-economic influences frequently cited in the research literature (and reflected in TAHF) as being most influential in shaping population health outcomes.

Affirmative Action and Employment Equity: Policy, Ideology, and Backlash in Canadian Context

Abigail B. Bakan and Audrey Kobayashi take up the issue of “backlash” in “Affirmative Action and Employment Equity: Policy, Ideology, and Backlash in Canadian Context.” But where most studies examine the social forces orchestrating backlash, Bakan and Kobayashi consider the ways in which policymakers, including those on the “Left,” respond to and make room for the politics of backlash. In their case study of “employment equity,” Bakan and Kobayashi explore how policymakers abandoned “affirmative action” in favour of “employment equity” in response to an anticipated backlash. Drawing on interviews with policymakers involved in the Abella Report and the Rae NDP government in Ontario, Bakan and Kobayashi argue that the fear of backlash was a central, though often overlooked, factor in shaping employment equity in Canada. The result was that important social policy objectives were abandoned early in the policymaking process. Their study is a timely indicator of the need to consider how and to what extent the politics of backlash may be indirectly shaping public policy in Canada.

Not This Time: Canadian Public Policy and the Marijuana Question, 1961-1975

Not This Time: Canadian Public Policy and the Marijuana Question, 1961-1975

Canadian Public Policy Analysis and Public Policy Programs: A Comparative Perspective

This article seeks to place Canadian public policy programs in a comparative context and to provide an overview that identifies the status of the Canadian public policy analysis profession and policy analysis/policy studies instruction in light of domestic and global developments.1 The authors acknowledge that instruction plays a crucial role in the training as well as in the future approach and orientation of policy analysts and they analyze shifts in the perspective of policy analysis studies and policy analysis instruction.This preliminary comparative paper primarily discusses the characteristics and training needs of policy studies/analysis by tracking the needs of the profession; the development of the field to date; orientations arising from conceptual and historical developments in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and shaping particular public policy programs, curriculum orientations, and practices; and implications of and lessons drawn from the various contexts in comparison to Canada. Throughout the paper the terms policy analysis and policy studies are used interchangeably, because in the various traditions highlighted in this paper, programs of policy studies, rather than policy analysis, are prevalent. Policy analysis skills are promoted, albeit with various degrees of emphasis, within these programs.

Income and health in Canada: research gaps and future opportunities.

The goal of this research project was to identify and suggest means of filling the gaps/needs in Canadian research activity and public policy action on the income and health relationship. The research consisted of an environmental scan and analysis of 321 empirical research pieces from Canada (n = 241), the United Kingdom (n = 40) and Finland (n = 40) followed by a systematic gaps/needs analysis of these studies by members of three advisory committees, consisting of researchers and policy advocates. These data were complemented by key informant interviews with researchers from Canada, the UK and Finland. The gaps/needs were then reviewed and assigned priority rankings by members of the three advisory committees. Numerous gaps/needs in Canadian research on income and health were apparent. They fell into five main areas: (a) training and capacity building in addressing income as a health determinant; (b) developing adequate data and measures; (c) researching specific substantive health issues; (d) researching specific public policy areas; and (e) developing an understanding of the pathways and mechanisms mediating the income and health relationship. Members of the advisory committees achieved a high level of agreement concerning these gaps/needs and means of reducing them. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Institute of Population Health should target specific research initiatives to help fill the identified gaps in knowledge. They should also work together with public policy institutes to synthesize findings concerning income, its distribution, and health, and help distribute these findings to the public in general and policy-makers in particular.

Revenu et santé au Canada: Lacunes sur le plan de la recherche et possibilités futures

The goal of this research project was to identify and suggest means of filling the gaps/needs in Canadian research activity and public policy action on the income and health relationship. The research consisted of an environmental scan and analysis of 321 empirical research pieces from Canada (n=241), the United Kingdom (n=40) and Finland (n=40) followed by a systematic gaps/needs analysis of these studies by members of three advisory committees, consisting of researchers and policy advocates. These data were complemented by key informant interviews with researchers from Canada, the UK and Finland. The gaps/needs were then reviewed and assigned priority rankings by members of the three advisory committees. Numerous gaps/needs in Canadian research on income and health were apparent. They fell into five main areas: (a) training and capacity building in addressing income as a health determinant; (b) developing adequate data and measures; (c) researching specific substantive health issues; (d) researching specific public policy areas; and (e) developing an understanding of the pathways and mechanisms mediating the income and health relationship. Members of the advisory committees achieved a high level of agreement concerning these gaps/needs and means of reducing them. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Institute of Population Health should target specific research initiatives to help fill the identified gaps in knowledge. They should also work together with public policy institutes to synthesize findings concerning income, its distribution, and health, and help distribute these findings to the public in general and policy-makers in particular.

Application of the Precautionary Principle by Senior Policy Officials: Results of a Canadian Survey

Though use of the controversial precautionary principle in risk management has increasingly been recommended as a guide for the construction of public policy in Canada and elsewhere, there are few data available characterizing its use in risk management by senior public policymakers. Using established survey methodology we sought to investigate the perceptions and terms of application of the precautionary principle in this important subset of individuals. A total of 240 surveys were sent out to seven departments or agencies in the Canadian government. The overall survey response rate was 26.6%, and our findings need to be interpreted in the context of possible responder bias. Of respondents, the overwhelming majority perceived the precautionary principle and the management of risk as complementary, and endorsed a role for the precautionary principle as a general guideline for all risk management decisions. However, 25% of respondents responded that the lack of clarity of the definition of the principle was a limitation to its effective use. The majority of respondents viewed their own level of understanding of the precautionary principle as moderate. Risk managers appeared to favor an interpretation of the precautionary principle that was based on the seriousness and irreversibility of the threat of damage, and did not endorse as strongly the need for cost effectiveness in the measures taken as a precaution against such threats. In contrast with its perceived role as a general guideline, the application of the precautionary principle by respondents was highly variable, with >60% of respondents reporting using the precautionary principle in one-quarter or less of all risk management decisions. Several factors influenced whether the precautionary principle was applied with the perceived seriousness of the threat being considered the most influential factor. The overwhelming majority of risk managers felt that "preponderance of evidence" was the level of evidence required for precautionary action to be instituted against a serious negative event. Overall, the majority of respondents viewed the precautionary principle as having a significant and positive impact on risk management decisions. Importantly, respondents endorsed a net result of more good than harm to society when the precautionary principle was applied to the management of risk.

Political Culture, Labor Movement Power, Religion, and Public Policy in Canada and the United States: Vive la Différence?

rightly--considered "most similar cases." Yet in some important respects, the two societies diverged markedly in recent years. This is obvious in high profile public policy areas such as the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gasses and legislation legalizing gay marriage. But no less important--because, I shall argue, as it helps to explain the public policy divergence-is the growing difference in the level of union organization and in the level and character of religiosity in the two countries. In the mid-1950s, about the same share of Canadians and Americans (35 percent) were union members; at the same time, about 60 percent of Canadians and 50 percent of Americans told pollsters that they went to church each Sunday. By the dawn of the 21st century, U.S. "union density" had fallen to about 12 percent, less than half the Canadian level (about 35 percent), while regular churchgoing in Canada had fallen to 22 percent, about half of the U.S. level (42 percent) (Adams, 50). What explains these divergences? To what degree do differences in national political cultures contribute to these divergent trends? These are among the central concerns of the three books under review. All three argue (or assume) that differences in national political cultures explain differences in the level and character of civil society organization, and in public policy. All three books rely mainly on large-scale national surveys to map the contours of these cultures, and to argue for connections between culture, organization, and policy. However, our authors disagree on what aspects of national cultures are most important, on how large differences in these areas are, and on whether these differences are growing or shrinking over time! Lipset and Meltz assert that the core political values of each country are fundamentally different and that this difference has not changed over the last quarter century, or indeed, for the past two centuries. Inglehart et al. argue that Canadian and American political values were not very different in 1981 and had become even more similar by 1990. Adams holds that there were major differences in national cultures in 1992, and that some of these had grown substantially by 2000. In this review, I argue that national culture arguments contribute little to an explanation of diverging union density and religiosity in these two countries. We are better off, I think, looking at differences in the goals and the power of different factions within the labor movements and the religious communities of each country. These differences explain diverging levels of membership, political power, and political goals in labor and religious organizations in the two countries. Such an analysis suggests that the two trends are causally related as well-that is, it is no coincidence that levels of union density are much lower, while levels of religiosity are much higher, in the United States than in Canada.

Political Culture, Labor Movement Power, Religion, and Public Policy in Canada and the United States: Vive la Différence?

rightly--considered similar cases. Yet in some important respects, the two societies diverged markedly in recent years. This is obvious in high profile public policy areas such as the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gasses and legislation legalizing gay marriage. But no less important--because, I shall argue, as it helps to explain the public policy divergence-is the growing difference in the level of organization and in the level and character of religiosity in the two countries. In the mid-1950s, about the same share of Canadians and Americans (35 percent) were members; at the same time, about 60 percent of Canadians and 50 percent of Americans told pollsters that they went to church each Sunday. By the dawn of the 21st century, U.S. union had fallen to about 12 percent, less than half the Canadian level (about 35 percent), while regular churchgoing in Canada had fallen to 22 percent, about half of the U.S. level (42 percent) (Adams, 50). What explains these divergences? To what degree do differences in national political cultures contribute to these divergent trends? These are among the central concerns of the three books under review. All three argue (or assume) that differences in national political cultures explain differences in the level and character of civil society organization, and in public policy. All three books rely mainly on large-scale national surveys to map the contours of these cultures, and to argue for connections between culture, organization, and policy. However, our authors disagree on what aspects of national cultures are most important, on how large differences in these areas are, and on whether these differences are growing or shrinking over time! Lipset and Meltz assert that the core political values of each country are fundamentally different and that this difference has not changed over the last quarter century, or indeed, for the past two centuries. Inglehart et al. argue that Canadian and American political values were not very different in 1981 and had become even more similar by 1990. Adams holds that there were major differences in national cultures in 1992, and that some of these had grown substantially by 2000. In this review, I argue that national culture arguments contribute little to an explanation of diverging density and religiosity in these two countries. We are better off, I think, looking at differences in the goals and the power of different factions within the labor movements and the religious communities of each country. These differences explain diverging levels of membership, political power, and political goals in labor and religious organizations in the two countries. Such an analysis suggests that the two trends are causally related as well-that is, it is no coincidence that levels of density are much lower, while levels of religiosity are much higher, in the United States than in Canada.

The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free Expression (review)

Reviewed by: The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free Expression Jan Narveson (bio) L.W. Sumner . The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free ExpressionUniversity of Toronto Press. xii, 276. $60.00, $29.95 In this cogent and yet readable work, L.W. Sumner proposes no less than a theory of free expression, that is, a 'coherent set of principles capable of answering the most important ... questions about expressive freedom and its limits.' His focus is on two fairly narrow though very important such areas: pornography and hate propaganda. He also limits himself, virtually, to Canadian law and public policy, to the imposing of restrictions on pornography and hate speech by the criminal law, in relation to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The question is: should we have criminal restrictions on these activities in this country now? His answer, essentially: no - a position, as he explains, virtually the opposite, with regard to hate [End Page 166] speech, to his view of fifteen years earlier when he first became involved with these issues. Why the change of mind? Thinking further about it, and finding out more about it - and what better inducements could there be? His theory on this subject appeals to a foundation in a sense readers not familiar with contemporary social philosophy may need to have explained; happily, it is quite well explained (chapter 2) and is virtually that found in John Stuart Mill's classic work, On Liberty. Mill advances a famous general principle, that the only legitimate purpose of impositions by the public on the individual is the prevention of harm to others. Sumner proposes that this is indeed the best underlying theory to attribute to the framers of the Charter. Liberty is to be protected up to the point at which such harm is forthcoming. Sumner carefully explains that the principle is to be applied pretty much as an 'absolute' restriction, neglecting details and apparent cases in which perhaps more good than harm might come from repression. Mill's principle aims to protect especially the personal part of one's life, which, he supposes, is intrinsically not such as to affect others at all. However, the social part, as we might call it, needs to be divided carefully into two cases: those where the other persons involved are so voluntarily, and those where they are not. The point of Mill's principle is to restrict government-licensed interference in the lives of individuals in all contexts except the last: in which others are affected negatively, that is, harmed, by the actions in question. And even then, the government shouldn't necessarily always interfere; a major issue for government is when the harm done is sufficient to justify intervention by the law. We should not use cannon against fleas, even if what we are attempting to regulate is indeed somewhat harmful to some persons. After much careful and well-informed discussion, Sumner arrives at the conclusion that nearly all the constitutional decisions affecting these issues over the past couple of decades are in error. Sometimes they fail of clarity on the issue of who is harmed and how much; and almost always, they fail of a reasonable requirement of evidence. No one can doubt the importance of these issues, and you are unlikely to read anything as carefully reasoned as what you will find in this remarkable book. Like all of Sumner's work, it is also a model of organization and incisive prose that is a pleasure to the inner ear. Few academics manage to be so readable. Read it, by all means. Jan Narveson Jan Narveson, Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo Copyright © 2006 University of Toronto Press Incorporated

Cheaper for Whom? Costs Experienced by Formal Caregivers in Adult Family Living Programs

A current emphasis in Canadian public policy is on community care for frail seniors. Such care is viewed as attractive in part because public costs are lower than for traditional nursing home care. Adult Family Living (AFL)is seen as an exemplar of this community focus. Data from a multi-model evaluation of residential continuing care in western Canada are used to show that while AFL programs have lower public costs than nursing homes, AFL caregivers incur high levels of economic and non-economic costs. We address the question of the sustainability of this approach to community-based residential care in light of the apparent transfer of public costs to AFL caregivers.