Suchergebnisse

The literature on policy capacity in Canada suggests some governments have experienced an increase in policy capacity while other governments have experienced a decline. At the same time, the policy capacity of the voluntary sector in Canada is thought to be weak. Given the increased role that the voluntary sector is thought to play in the public policy process, this raises an important question: how do the differentiated policy capacities of government and the voluntary sector intersect? This paper provides an answer to this question through an examination of policy capacity at the programmatic – or micro - level. The paper identifies four case studies across Canada and assesses the impact of differentiated levels of policy capacity among voluntary organizations and the corresponding units/branches within government departments. The paper concludes that public policy process unfolds differently depending on the mix of policy capacity amongst actors.

AbstractIncreasingly, jurisdictions are adopting "apology legislation" that allow medical professionals to apologize to patients and family members when an adverse event occurs while disallowing the introduction of the apology in a liability case as evidence of fault or liability. While apology legislation itself is fairly straightforward, its potential meaning and impact is much more complex. This paper conceptualizes apology legislation from an accountability and ethics of care perspective. These two concepts—accountability and care—are distinct but interrelated concepts and this dual theoretical approach offers a rich analysis on the potential impact(s) of apology legislation. We argue that apology legislation is a mechanism added to the existing accountability regime that can offer important opportunities to express and practise care. As an accountability mechanism, apology legislation creates space for an accountability relationship to emerge between medical professionals and their patients. Apology legislation also addresses long-standing gaps in how we as a society think about health care and respond to patients and families in ways that challenge the dominant "consumer of services" role. It is in this sense that apology legislation has the potential to destabilize traditional notions of social citizenship. Last, we argue that empirical research is urgently needed to know to what degree apologies contribute to accountability and the transformation of health care.

Dans le présent article, nous examinons le processus d'Examen stratégique et fonctionnel (ESF) utilisé par le gouvernement du Canada du point de vue de la gestion stratégique. Lancé par le gouvernement Harper dans le cadre du Budget 2011 sous forme de processus étendu sur un an, l'ESF est censé permettre d'économiser 4 milliards $ d'ici 2014-2015 dans le budget de fonctionnement des départements (80 milliards $). Dans cet article, nous examinons la mesure dans laquelle les réductions des dépenses de fonctionnement contribuent aux priorités du gouvernement Harper en matière de politiques publiques. Remarques à l'intention des praticiens Nous nous appuyons sur une étude de cas axée sur le Canada destinée à comprendre la manière dont sont gérées les réductions budgétaires pour examiner la manière dont les décideurs alignent les réductions fonctionnelles sur les priorités stratégiques. Si les réductions budgétaires dans cette étude de cas sont de nature fonctionnelle, le gouvernement central doit leur donner une orientation pour qu'elles contribuent aux priorités stratégiques (au lieu de les entraver).

This article examines a recent funding experiment in one sub-national jurisdiction in Canada. Implemented as a two-year pilot project, this experiment included multi-year funding to non-profit organisations, a single window application portal and rationalisation of reporting requirements when multiple departmental funders are present. To understand the experiment, we situate it in the context of seminal political ideas about the non-profit sector. We assess whether it is a movement away from new public management (NPM) or an adoption of the marketisation of public services and use of the non-profit sector as an instrument to reverse civic decline of third-way politics or if it represents increased collaborative governance practices. We argue that while this represents a meaningful departure from NPM, it is only a partial reflection of third-way and collaborative governance as well as a pragmatic response to situational factors.

This article examines the Strategic and Operating Review (SOR) process used by the Government of Canada through a strategic management perspective. Initiated by the Harper government in the 2011 Budget as a one-year process, SOR is expected to secure savings of CDN$4 billion by 2014–15 from the CDN$80 billion operating budget of departments. Our article assesses to what degree the strategic operational cuts support the public policy priorities of the Harper government. Points for practitioners Using Canada as a case study to understand how budgetary cuts are handled, this article provides an opportunity to consider how policy makers align operational cuts with public policy priorities. While the budget cuts in this case study are operational in nature, they require direction from central government to support – not undermine – public policy priorities.

AbstractIn the past decade, Canadian federal and provincial governments have designed programmes to facilitate entry into trades in an attempt to stimulate economic growth. As part of these efforts, increasing attention is focusing on programmes to encourage women to enter skilled trades, while paying little attention to those trades traditionally dominated by females. In this article, we explore the gendered dimensions of apprenticeship programmes in Canada, demonstrating the ways in which gender inequality is reproduced by programmes that situate employers and women as responsible for change. In particular, using a case study, we illustrate that the gendered structure of the labour market is preserved and reproduced. While efforts have targeted women to facilitate entry into non‐traditional occupations such as electricians and plumbers, female‐dominated trades such as hairstylists remain untouched, thereby sustaining the gendered wage structure of the economy. Thus women remain segregated in low‐paying trades and receive fewer public supports when pursuing training in these segregated trades. The article argues that apprenticeship training and certification is constructed to respond to the needs of male‐dominated trades, but not the needs of female‐dominated trades. Ultimately, the public policy decisions that make up the apprenticeship training and certification system in Canada reproduce gender inequality.

This paper focuses attention on the political orientation and civic behaviour of people working in the non-profit, private, and public sectors. While considerable research has been completed to understand how variables such as age and gender influence voting patterns, one variable that remains understudied is employment by sector. To develop hypothesis statements for this research, this paper begins with the Bureau Voting Model which is rooted in rational choice theory. The hypothesis statements are tested using data from the SSHRC-funded Canadian Provincial Election Project (CPEP) Survey, conducted post-provincial election in 2011-2012 in eight provinces. The paper concludes that while there were diverging orientations amongst employees in the three sectors, there were also some areas of convergence to suggest that there may be substantial diversity within each sector.

Since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, over 2 billion Euros have been poured into Northern Ireland for peacebuilding. This article presents the hopes and experiences of workers in CSOs funded by either or both funds, development officers, and civil servants employed by the funders. They confirm that peacebuilding and reconciliation projects funded by the European Union (EU) Peace and Reconciliation Fund and the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) have positively contributed to the peace process in Northern Ireland. Civil Society Organizational (CSO) projects support peacebuilding, reconciliation, and greater cooperation between the Protestant and Catholic communities. This study explored the perceptions of 120 respondents working with these funders. They indicated that designated peacebuilding funding promotes bridging, needs to be balanced, and is important to building the peace dividend and that local knowledge, practices, and skillsets should be built into the funding process. The politics of post-Brexit Northern Ireland means that understanding how to best fund peacebuilding and reconciliation is critical. At time of writing, tensions have risen.

Problem: In Canadian society, public policies guide the development and administration of social services and systems, including the public education system, the justice system, family services, social housing and income support. However, because social services are often planned and implemented in a 'siloed' manner, coordination and collaboration across departments, sectors and organisations is sorely lacking. Data and resource constraints may prevent services being evaluated to ensure they meet the needs of the people for whom they are intended. When the needs of individuals are not addressed, the result is poor outcomes and wasted resources across multiple areas.Our Response: In 2018, we formed the SPECTRUM Partnership in response to a recognised need for collaborative cross-sector approaches to strengthening the policies that shape social services and systems in our country. The tripartite SPECTRUM partnership comprises representatives from community organisations, government and academia, and is an entity designed to conduct social policy research and evaluation, incorporating interdisciplinary perspectives and expertise from its members. Guided by community-driven research questions and building on existing data resources, SPECTRUM seeks to address specific knowledge gaps in social programs, services and systems. New research findings are then translated into viable public policy options, in alignment with government priorities, and presented to policy-makers for consideration.Implications: In this practice-based article, we describe the key steps we took to create the SPECTRUM partnership, build our collective capacity for research and evaluation, and transform our research findings into actionable evidence to support sound public policy. We outline four of SPECTRUM's achievements to date in the hope that the lessons we learned during the development of the partnership may serve as a guide for others aiming to optimise public policy development in a collaborative evidence-based way.