Public Policy

OPINION | Who Benefits from high student debt?

Student debt has been pushed by Canadian governments as a way to ensure that all students have the opportunity to access higher education. But, students have been taking on too much debt with no way to feasibly pay it off. The result has been a lack of student participation in societal innovation. Policy makers should thus look to other models, such as the Nordic countries for inspiration.

OPINION | Welfare Walls, Not Welfare, Discourage Work

The typical attitude towards welfare policies in Canada among the majority of the population is not generally a positive one. But much of this hate is due to misconceptions about what welfare policies are and how they actually work. In cases like this the policy details do matter and in Canada these details need to be reconfigured and re-conceptualized.

OPINION | Of Firearms and “Root Causes”: Looking Beyond Easy Answers on Gun Violence

Contextual analysis is what separates nuanced thinking in the justice policy realm from the basic Benthamite calculus still seemingly favoured by most of the political right. However, when it comes to the issue of guns and gun control, a great many left-wing politicians and activists have seemingly discarded this nuanced understanding for a combination of monocausal insistence and culturally-based revulsion. This singular focus betrays a lack of broader thinking on the issue as well as lack of understanding about the nature of guns and gun crime within our society.

Village Consolidation in China: Unequal Outcomes & Next Steps

In an effort to combat land distortion, improve its food security, and to narrow the gap of the living conditions between urban and rural communities, the Chinese government has implemented the Building New Rural Communities (BNRC) initiative. However, the policy and method used to implement this initiative has led to mixed results due to being rooted in a system without sufficient accountability. This article will put forward the idea that a more democratic process that engages the residents and implementing a bottom-up approach would help to address this issue.

International Women’s Day, Pandemic Edition: The Need for a Collective Feminist Struggle

This International Women’s Day the United Nations celebrated under the theme of “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a Covid-19 World.” The Canadian government followed suit by promoting the hashtag #FeministRecovery on March 8, 2021 in recognition of the uneven impacts the covid-19 pandemic has had on women. Specifically, the current pandemic has seen women exit the labour market in large numbers. Without women in the labour force, there is less chance that women will advance to leadership roles as there will be gaps in their resumes and skill depreciation over time. The issues that are preventing women from re-entering the labour force and progressing in their careers  and achieving leadership roles urgently need to be addressed. 

OPINION | Domestic Violence Leave in Canada: Who Benefits?

With the anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre and the National Day of Remembrance and Day of Action on Violence Against Women on December 6 and the Global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign having run from November 25 to December 10, now is a good time to reflect on domestic violence in Canada and what can be done to provide better supports. With a focus on domestic leave policies in Canada, this article comments on the gap in equality between women in lower and those in higher paying positions and the implications arising from this gap.