Selected Canadian Social Research Organizations (II)

Groupes de recherche sociale au Canada (II)

Updated September 4, 2009
Page révisée le 4 septembre 2009

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[ Go to Canadian Social Research Links Home Page ]

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The Fraser Institute and the Flat Earth Society
By Larry Brown, National Secretary-Treasurer
Ottawa (3 Sept. 2009)
Pointing out that the Fraser Institute has released a perverse study ignoring established facts in order to make its case is a bit like pointing out that the sun rises in the east. It’s kind of self-evident. But the institute's latest bit of silliness is over the top even for the notoriously fact-averse Fraserites. In a report released in late August [ Labour Relations Laws in Canada and the United States, 2009 Edition ] comparing labour laws in Canada and the U.S., the institute argues that our labour laws are too “tilted in favour of unions”. This “imbalance” is a problem because, it claims, “empirical evidence from around the world indicates that jurisdictions with more flexible labour markets enjoy better labour market performance.” Empirical evidence? It’s possible. There actually is a Flat Earth Society claiming to prove that the earth is flat. And some people still claim to have seen Elvis alive. But most people expect proof of a theory to be based on a bit more substance.
Source:
National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)

A Cautionary Tale:

Here's an excerpt from the conclusion of the above article:
"(...) Of course, the Fraser Institute has received millions of dollars from the Donner Canadian Foundation and the Max Bell Foundation. These groups are known for their devotion to right-wing ideological causes in Canada, such as anti-union laws, for-profit health care, private schools and the private delivery of social services. The Fraser Institute also routinely collects money from big oil and gas companies, such as EnCana and Sabre Energy, and big pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer. One could suggest that the Fraser Institute, therefore, is only doing what its sponsors want, irrespective of the facts. That might suggest that this report was deliberately slanted to reflect the views of its right-wing corporate sponsors and once more attack laws that protect employees. But let’s be fair to the Fraser Institute. If you believe the world is flat you aren’t going to venture out to the edge for fear of falling off."
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According to the Fraser Institute website's Who We Are page, "[T]he Fraser Institute is a registered non-profit organization. We depend entirely on donations from people who understand the importance of impartial research and who support greater choice, less government intervention, and more personal responsibility."

After I finished giving my head a shake about Fraser's status as a registered non-profit organization, I had to smile (y'know, the jaundiced smile...) when I read the words "impartial research". How can research be touted as impartial, I wondered, when it's funded by the big corporations that stand to benefit most from 'supportive' research? [Never mind - it's a rhetorical question...]
Ya gotta dance wit de one dat brung ya, eh...

The reference to Big Pharma and Pfizer in the above NUPGE excerpt reminded me of a surprising (to me, at least...) CBC report back in the mid-nineties stating that the Fraser Institute was endorsing not only the legalization of marijuana in Canada, but also its regulation and taxation, based on a June 2004 study entitled Marijuana Growth in British Columbia, funded by the Fraser Institute.
[ See also Fraser Institute study calls for legal pot (June 2004) - CBC ]
After reading the Fraser study, though, I concluded that it was perfectly logical for the Fraser Institute (Motto: "A free and prosperous world through choice, markets and responsibility") to favour an option that reduced government control over people's lives. Because that's what Fraser and their kindred libertarian spirits (Donner, Max Bell, etc.) are all about --- getting government out of people's faces and reducing taxes.

When I saw the reference to Pfizer in the NUPGE article, I was curious what Fraser was saying about the legalization of pot these days. Supporters of legalized pot have long maintained that the biggest barrier to legalization is the sustained pressure on government by several industries that are concerned about the impact on their sector if hemp in all its forms (including marijuana) is made legal. Given the increasing volume of evidence and testimonials about the medicinal advantages of marijuana over traditional medicine for treatment of certain conditions and illnesses, it stands to reason that big drug companies like Pfizer would have the required motivation to lobby government against any form of decriminalization of pot. Indeed, when I went to the Fraser Institute's home page while writing this and did a search for "marijuana", the most recent content on the subject from Fraser is the 2004 study that advocated legalization. According to the CBC story, Fraser issued a second press release the same day, to emphasize that the recommendation to legalize pot were from the author, not the Institute. Gee, I wonder how long it took the folks at Pfizer to contact Fraser to demand the second release to distance themselves from the views of the author...

Suffice to say that 2004 (the year of the pot study and recommendations) appears to be the last time Fraser dared say anything substantive about marijuana on their site. Funny thing about that.
(Now I need a Valium, a coffee and a smoke.)

[Aside: The issue of decriminalization of marijuana is one of those 800-lb gorillas - like abortion, universal day care and the death penalty - that cut across political party lines and that can polarize a roomful of social advocates OR a meeting of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation.]

So what's the "cautionary" part of all of this?
1. Be wary of websites that describe themselves or their work as "impartial".
2. Be wary of sites that strive for a free and prosperous world through choice, markets and responsibility.

More content from the Fraser Institute - this link takes you further down on the page you're now reading

Canadian Policy Library "...a social, economic and foreign policy resource - updated daily with the latest jobs, research, and events. Policy Library members reach an audience of hundred of thousands of policy makers, politicians, academics and students." Source: Policy Library - International - incl. World ¦ US ¦ Canada ¦ UK ¦ Germany ¦ Australia Also from the Policy Library: Welfare and Social Security Policy

Think-tanks changing their minds Many top Canadian policy-makers are moving on. Maybe it's time for a bit more edge or relevance, reports CAMPBELL CLARK August 20, 2005 OTTAWA -- A generation of influential Canadian policy-makers are moving on. They're not politicians or bureaucrats, but the heads of think-tanks, the deep thinkers sought out for fresh ideas by government leaders. It is part of a widespread rollover that is leaving Canada's think-tank sector at a crossroads. Even some of the current crop say the field may be strong but it could use something more -- a bit more edge, a little worldliness, or a touch more relevance -- to fill a market of ideas undersupplied by a sterile political debate.(...) The think-tank positions certainly have influence. Brian Guest, a former senior aide to Paul Martin who left the prime minister's office to co-found the Canadian Centre for Policy Ingenuity, which deals with the issues of cities and the environment, said his interest in think-tanks was sparked because he had to keep up with Mr. Martin's demands for arguments about their papers or perspective from someone such as Ms. Maxwell." Source: The Globe and Mail Canadian Centre for Policy Ingenuity (CCPI) "The CCPI is a non-profit organization that solves significant social, economic and environmental problems by applying systems thinking to policy development and activation." - someone from CCPI contacted me by e-mail to ask me to post a link to this site --- although there's not really much content on the site yet except for the full text of the (above) Globe article, which I found interesting enough to share. [- an "About this Site" page would be very nice...]

Fraser Institute - "Competitive Market Solutions for Public Policy Problems"
The Fraser Institute was founded in 1974 to redirect public attention to the role markets can play in providing for the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

This site is very rich in Canadian conservative content.
Here are a few samples of what you'll find on the Fraser Institute's site,
along with some different perspectives from groups that reflect *my* philosophy more than the Fraser Institute does.

NOTE: When I did a linkcheck in September 2009, most of the Fraser Institute's links were broken.
I've fixed some of the key links, but I've removed some of the dead links. If you wish to access a link that's broken, Select and Copy the title of the page you wish to see, then paste the page title from your clipboard into the Fraser website search engine on their home page. I was able to find those key links fairly easily, so give it a shot. Hey, Fraser's search engine can't POSSIBLY be as crappy as the one on the website of my former employer, Human Resources and Skills Development.

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Tax Freedom Day in Canada

Canadians Celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 6
June 5, 2009
On Tax Freedom Day, the average Canadian family has earned enough money to pay the taxes imposed on it by the three levels of government: federal, provincial, and local. In 2009, Canadians celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 6, which means that Canadians will work until June 5 to pay the total tax bill imposed on them by all levels of government. Tax Freedom Day in 2009 arrives three days earlier than in 2008, when it fell on June 9.

Complete study:

Canadians Celebrate Tax
Freedom Day on June 6 (PDF - 97K, 10 pages)
The Canadian tax system is complex and no single number can give us a complete idea of who pays how much. That said, Tax Freedom Day is the most comprehensive and easily understood indicator of the
overall tax bill of the average Canadian family.

Source:
The Fraser Institute
"A free and prosperous world through
choice, markets and responsibility"

Related link:

June 6, 2009
Flaherty Welcomes Earlier Tax Freedom Day
OTTAWA – June 6, 2009 – The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, was pleased to welcome Tax Freedom Day today, as it occurs three days earlier in 2009 than in 2008. Calculated each year by the Fraser Institute, Tax Freedom Day marks the day to which the average Canadian had to work to pay their total tax bill. In 2009, the Fraser Institute has calculated that Tax Freedom Day is today—June 6th. In 2008, Tax Freedom Day fell on June 9th.
Source:
Finance Canada

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Counterpoint:

Tax freedom? What a lot of rubbish.
Only the Fraser Institute could see it as a bad thing
that we spend less of our income on basics like food and shelter than we used to
By Andrew Potter
May 28, 2009
Tax freedom? What a lot of rubbish.What is it about springtime that makes anti-government types go light-headed?
(...) Listening to the relentlessly shrill right-wing rhetoric, you’d forget that any Canadians ever derived a single benefit from their tax dollars. (...) Only the Fraser Institute could see it as a bad thing that we spend less of our incomes on basics like food and shelter than we used to. (...) Indeed, with its mix of dopey populism and economic illiteracy, the anti-government right finds itself uncomfortably close to the anti-market left. Both are peddling economic half-truths and outright fallacies in the service of their competing but ultimately mirror-image ideologies. The main difference of course is that while the left is generally expected to be economically illiterate, the right is supposed to know better. Their brand is economics, you might say. That is why, when it comes to the rhetorical strategies of Canada’s libertarian movement, it is hard to avoid concluding that the deception is deliberate.
Source:
Macleans Magazine

Tax Freedom Day: A Cause for Celebration or Consternation?
By Sheena Starky, Economics Division
September 18, 2006
HTML version
PDF version (108K, 13 pages)
"(...) critics question the usefulness of the Tax Freedom Day indicator since it considers only the tax burden without regard to the benefits received in exchange."
- includes links to online related resources
Source:
Virtual Library
[ Parliament of Canada ]

Tax Freedom Day: A Flawed, Incoherent, and Pernicious Concept (PDF file - 216 K, 27 pages)
June 2005
By Neil Brooks
"(...)In the guise of helping Canadians to understand their tax system, the Institute presents information that is deeply flawed and misleading — information that in fact seriously limits the public’s ability to understand and participate meaningfully in the shaping of tax policy." (Excerpt, p.6)
Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Earth to Flaherty:
What part of "deeply flawed and misleading"don't you get?

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Tax Freedom Day - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year in which a nation as a whole has theoretically earned enough income to fund its annual tax burden. It is annually calculated in the United States by the Tax Foundation—a Washington, D.C.-based tax research organization. Every dollar that is officially considered income by the government is counted, and every payment to the government that is officially considered a tax is counted. Taxes at all levels of government—local, state and federal—are included.(...) Many other organizations in countries throughout the world now produce their own "Tax Freedom Day" analysis. According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day reports are currently being published in eight countries. Due to the different ways that nations collect and categorize public finance data, however, Tax Freedom Days are not comparable from one country to another.

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'Corporate welfare bums' cost Canadians $182-billion: report
By Eric Beauchesne
December 10, 2008
OTTAWA -- Canadians have handed out more than $182-billion -- or $13,639 per taxpayer -- in business subsidies, bailouts and loans over the past dozen years, a right-wing think tank says in an attack on what a former NDP leader coined as "corporate welfare bums." The report from the Fraser Institute, however, comes as an entire industry is holding out its had for billions more in financial aid from taxpayers as the economy slumps into recession.
Source:
The National Post

Complete report
from The Fraser Institute:

Corporate welfare: Now a $182 billion addiction
A fiscal update on business subsidies in Canada (PDF - 104K, 8 pages)
December 2008
When the Fraser Institute published the first study on corporate welfare one year ago, the tally between April 1, 1994 and March 30, 2004 amounted to $144 billion. That was the amount Canadian governments distributed to businesses in the form of subsidies from federal, provincial, and municipal treasuries (i.e., taxpayers) over the 10-year period. One year later, and with two more years of data available, that figure has climbed to over $182 billion for the 12 years between 1994 and 2006.

Canadian tab for corporate welfare exceeds $180 billion; no evidence that subsidies provide net benefits
News Release
December 10, 2008
VANCOUVER, BC—While politicians in Ottawa argue over how much additional money the government should give business in the name of economic stimulation, a new report from independent research organization the Fraser Institute shows that Canadians already provided more than $182 billion in corporate welfare to businesses between 1994 and 2006.

Source:
The Fraser Institute
"A free and prosperous world through
choice, markets and responsibility"
[ Sourcewatch calls The Fraser Institute
"a libertarian think tank based in Vancouver." ]

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The Fraser Institute: Manitoba Rated as Canada's
Most Generous Province but Data Shows Americans Are Far More Generous
Press Release
December 8, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Manitoba continues to be Canada's most generous province, according to the Fraser Institute's annual generosity index. The report, Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2008 Generosity Index, shows that Manitoba has the highest percentage of tax-filers among all provinces donating to registered charities (28.1 per cent). The total amount donated is also the highest in Canada at 1.14 per cent of total income earned in the province.

Complete report:

Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2008 Generosity Index (PDF - 90K, 10 pages)
"(...) The highest-scoring Canadian province is Manitoba (3.9 out of 10.0), but its performance ranks only 37th overall out of 64 North American jurisdictions.

Canadians celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 14th in 2008, four days earlier than 2007
June 13, 2008
VANCOUVER, BC— Tax Freedom Day, the day Canadians have paid off the total tax bill imposed on them by government and can finally start working for themselves, arrives on June 14th, four days earlier than in 2007, according to The Fraser Institute’s annual Tax Freedom Day calculations.

Canadians Celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 14
Executive summary
Complete report (PDF - 100K, 9 pages)

Kindred spirits and similar initiatives:

The Tax Foundation (U.S.)
Adam Smith Institute (U.K.)

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Total government debt exceeds $2.4 trillion; $150,211 for each Canadian taxpayer
News Release
May 20, 2008
VANCOUVER, BC— Each Canadian taxpayer owes $150,211 in federal, provincial, and local liabilities, according to a new study released today by independent research organization the Fraser Institute.

Complete report:

Canadian Government Debt 2008: A Guide
to the Indebtedness of Canada and the Provinces (PDF - 536K, 43 pages)
May 2008

Counterpoint from a voice of reason*:

Tales from the Mouth of the Fraser: Unfounded Liabilities
Debt Monster's Gonna Getcha!!
By Marc Lee*, Progressive Economics Forum Blog
"(...) Total liabilities are estimated over 100 years. (...) What’s missing from their scary picture? The uncounted income we will have in the future. Even if one accepts that their calculations are useful on the expenditure side, they are meaningless without the context of projected future income. And we should expect income to grow – in absolute dollars, and in per capita real terms."
Source:
Progressive Economics Forum
The Progressive Economics Forum aims to promote the development of a progressive economics community in Canada. The PEF brings together over 125 progressive economists, working in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizations.

* Blogger Marc Lee's is one of several "voices of reason" from the Progressive Economics Forum (PEF). I heartily recommend a visit to the PEF website and blog for a strictly non-corporate interpretation of Canada's economic and social policies. I particularly enjoy it when PEF economists offer reality checks as common-sense counterpoints to the slanted studies of the Fraser Institute...
Good on you, Marc and PEF!!

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Government subsidies and handouts to business cost each Canadian taxpayer $1,295
News Release
November 21, 2007
VANCOUVER, BC—Canadians provided business with $19 billion in subsidies in 2004, the equivalent of $1,295 from each Canadian taxpayer, according to a new report released today by independent research organization The Fraser Institute. The 2004 figure was almost double the $10.3 billion governments doled out in business subsidies in 1995. Taxpayer-funded subsidies to business totalled almost $144 billion between 1995 and 2004 (the most recent year for which data is available), the equivalent of $11,030 per tax payer (all figures adjusted for inflation to 2007 dollars).

Complete report:

Corporate Welfare:
A $144 billion addiction (PDF file - 488K, 62 pages)

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November 2007

Number of Canadians depending on government for income has fallen; Ottawa must avoid urge to increase spending and expand bureaucracy
News Release
November 15, 2007
VANCOUVER, BC—The total number of Canadians receiving all or part of their income from some level of government has declined since 1992 when governments were forced to reign in spending and cut costs, according to a new study released today by independent research organization The Fraser Institute.

Complete report:

Government Lovers: Paid by
Canadian Governments and Taxpayers (PDF file - 293K, 25 pages)
November 2007
This study presents information about the size of government in Canada by accounting for the number of Canadians who are paid by governments as civil servants and beneficiaries of social insurance programs. It supplements the annual Tax Freedom Day studies published by The Fraser Institute to track the size of Canadian governments and the fiscal burdens they impose on Canadians.

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Average Canadian family spending more money
on taxes than on food, clothing and household combined
News Release
April 16, 2007
Vancouver, BC - The average Canadian family spends more money on taxes than on necessities of life such as food, clothing, and housing, according to a study from The Fraser Institute, an independent research organization with offices across Canada. The Canadian Consumer Tax Index, 2007, shows that even though the income of the average Canadian family has increased significantly since 1961, their total tax bill has increased at a much higher rate. In 1961, the average Canadian family earned an income of $5,000 and paid $1,675 in total taxes -- 33.5 per cent of its income. In 2006, the average Canadian family earned an income of $63,001 and paid total taxes equaling $28,311 -- 44.9 per cent of its income.

Canadian Consumer Tax Index, 2007
"The Canadian Tax system is complex and there is no single number that can give us a complete idea of who pays how much. That said, The Fraser Institute annually calculates the most comprehensive and easily understood indicator of the overall tax bill of the average Canadian family: Tax Freedom Day. This Alert examines what has happened to the tax bill of the average Canadian family over the past 45 years. To determine the changes, an index of the tax bill of the average Canada family, the Canadian Consumer Tax Index, is constructed for the period 1961-2006."

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Manning and Harris Call for Downsizing of Government;
Reduced Taxes and Spending Key to Economic Freedom
News Release
The Fraser Institute
November 20, 2006
Toronto, ON - As Ottawa readies its economic update for release this week, now is the ideal time to move forward on reducing spending, cutting taxes and eliminating provincial trade barriers, Preston Manning and Mike Harris say in a new policy paper released today, Building Prosperity in a Canada Strong and Free. “The government plays too large a role in the Canadian economy and that’s hindering our growth. We call on Canadian governments to cut government’s share of the economy to 33 per cent from its current 39 per cent over the next five years. That alone will save Canadian taxpayers almost $400 billion over five years and spur increased prosperity,” Manning said.

Complete report:

Building Prosperity in a Canada Strong and Free (PDF file - 871K, 110 pages)
November 2006
By Mike Harris & Preston Manning

Related Links:

Tories not right wing enough according to Harris, Manning
November 20, 2006
OTTAWA - If Preston Manning and Mike Harris had their way, the Harper Conservatives would be more conservative. The Reform party founder and the former Ontario premier are calling on the federal government to implement massive tax reforms, cut the size of government, strip away regulations governing businesses and individuals and rein in spending. Among other things, Ottawa should slash the corporate tax rate in half and eliminate the cap on Registered Retirement Savings Plan contributions, says a paper by Manning and Harris, to be released today by the right-wing Fraser Institute.
Source:
Canada.com

Canadian Government Debt 2006:
A Guide to the Indebtedness of Canada and the Provinces
"Canadian government debt stands $2.7 billion with each taxpayer owing $171,000. (...) Largely due to increases in program obligations, in 2003/2004 federal, provincial, and local liabilities added up to $171,032 for each Canadian taxpayer or $85,525 for each Canadian citizen."
Source:
Fraser Institute

Canadians Celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 26th
News Release
June 24, 2005
"Vancouver, BC - This year, Canadians start working for themselves on June 26th. According to The Fraser Institute’s annual Tax Freedom Day calculations, Canadians worked until June 25th to pay the total tax bill imposed on them by all levels of government."
By Jason Clemens, Director of Fiscal Studies, and Niels Veldhuis, Senior Research Economist

We Beg to Differ.

From the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA):

Don’t believe the hype: What’s really behind the Fraser Institute’s “Tax Freedom Day”
News Release
June 16, 2005
"OTTAWA—Each summer the Fraser Institute announces the arrival of 'tax freedom day': the day when Canadians allegedly stop 'working for the government' and start 'working for themselves.' A study by Neil Brooks, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, takes a closer look at Tax Freedom Day and finds that to arrive at this politically loaded and heavily-reported date the Fraser Institute’s calculations understate the income of Canadians, overstate their taxes and misuse the concept of averages."

Tax Freedom Day: A Flawed, Incoherent, and Pernicious Concept (PDF file - 216 K, 27 pages)
By Neil Brooks
"(...)In the guise of helping Canadians to understand their tax system, the Institute presents information that is deeply flawed and misleading — information that in fact seriously limits the public’s ability to understand and participate meaningfully in the shaping of tax policy." (Excerpt, p.6)

More from Neil Brooks on Tax Freedom Day - from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

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NOTE: The Tax Freedom Day concept is not a concoction of the Fraser Institute --- follow the Google.ca web and news search results links below to see similar themes from The Tax Foundation in the U.S. and the Adam Smith Institute in the U.K.

"Tax Freedom Day" Google.ca Web Search
"Tax Freedom Day" Google.ca News Search
Source:
Google.ca

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Tax Freedom Day: A Cause for Celebration or Consternation?
By Sheena Starky, Economics Division
September 18, 2006
HTML version
PDF version (108K, 13 pages)
"Each year, typically in June, Canadian media recognize the arrival of Tax Freedom Day, the day on which Canadian families with two or more individuals are purported to have earned sufficient income to pay their total tax bill to all levels of government for the entire year, and , therefore, to be able to "start working for themselves." Critics claim that the notion of Tax Freedom Day is misleading and is calculated using a flawed methodology.
(...) While the idea of Tax Freedom Day is intuitively appealing and media-friendly, the concept does not enjoy unanimous support in Canada or in other countries where similar reports on Tax Freedom Day exist. (...) More fundamentally, critics question the usefulness of the Tax Freedom Day indicator since it considers only the tax burden without regard to the benefits received in exchange."
- includes links to nine related resources
Source:
Virtual Library
[ Parliament of Canada ]

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New Study Warns Against Expansive Welfare Policies in Ontario
News Release
December 7, 2004
"Toronto, ON - A new study, Welfare Reform in Ontario: A Report Card released today by The Fraser Institute, gives Ontario praise for its previous welfare reforms but warns that these policies may be under threat. 'Ontario has been a leader in Canadian welfare reform by focusing on employment and diverting potential welfare recipients to alternatives,'said Sylvia LeRoy, policy analyst at the Institute and co-author of the study. 'However, last week, the Ontario Government received a report by Liberal MPP Deb Matthews [see below] which recommended abandoning many of those reforms and returning to policies that were in place pre-1995. Such policies had disastrous effects, including the doubling of welfare use between 1985 and 1995, increasing from 5.2 percent of the population in 1985 to 12.4 percent in 1995 and a substantial increase in welfare spending', she continued."

Complete Fraser Institute report:

Welfare Reform in Ontario: A Report Card (PDF file - 524K, 53 pages)
December 2004
- examination of welfare policies in Ontario since 1985, "evaluating the welfare reforms initiated under the newly elected provincial government in June 1995. These will be compared with reforms of welfare policies in the United States, which have proven abundantly successful in reducing dependency, increasing employment and earnings of welfare leavers, and lowering poverty rates, as well as with reforms of welfare policies undertaken by other Canadian jurisdictions.
- the evaluation of Ontario's welfare reforms is based upon "six principles that research has found to play a prominent role in effective welfare reform" - these principles are: Ending the entitlement to welfare - Diversion - Immediate work requirements and sanctions - Employment focus - “Making work pay” - Competition for the administration of welfare and for program delivery.

Source:
The Fraser Institute

Related Link:

Review of Employment Assistance Programs in Ontario Works &
Ontario Disability Support Program (PDF file - 167K, 48 pages)
December 2004
Deb Matthews
Source:
Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services

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Fraser Forum February 2004
- articles include : The Art of Fish Management - Some Basic Insurance Concepts - The Cost of Canada's Employment Insurance System - Why We Need a Return to Experience Rating in EI - Revealing Research on Auto Insurance - The Problem with Public Health Insurance - Poverty Among Seniors in Canada - The 2004 Budget Performance Index - Exploring Potential, Results from the 2003 - 2004 Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies - Ontario's Labour Reforms Ill Advised - New Health Reform Policy in Slovakia Reminds Canada of a Lesson it has Yet to Learn

Poverty Among Seniors in Canada (PDF file - 94K, 2 pages)
by Chris Sarlo
"The claim that almost one in five seniors in Canada is currently impoverished has as much credibility as the latest sighting of Elvis."

Complete Fraser Forum (PDF file - 542K, 28 pages)
For those with high speed connections, this PDF file contains the complete Fraser Forum (rather than broken down into the links above).

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats (PDF file - 100K, 2 pages)
by Niels Veldhuis and Jason Clemens
"Does economic growth benefit those with the lowest incomes? Research seems to show that it does."

The National Homelessness Initiative (PDF file - 99KB)
by Chris Sarlo
"What specific successes has the National Homelessness Initiative achieved in its first three years to warrant its renewal?"

Source:
Reasons for Economic Optimism
January 2004 Fraser Forum
(Table of Contents page)
- click on the link above to access other articles in this issue of the Fraser Forum, on the Canadian standard of living compared with other advanced countries, education in Alberta, electoral reform in BC, Alberta and Ontario as models for tax reductions elsewhere in Canada, media literacy and the installation of left-wing politics into the school curriculum, after the Albert Advantage, Paul Martin's Expenditure Review Committee, and more...
Complete January 2004 Fraser Forum (PDF file - 634K, 32 pages)

The Relativity of LICO (PDF file - 82K, 2 pages)
by Chris Sarlo
"A relative line, such as LICO, may be useful as a marker of what income is required to keep from falling behind the mainstream, but is not useful at all as a measure of what income people need to avoid being 'straitened.'"
Source:
November 2003 Fraser Forum
NOTE: In the November Fraser Forum, you'll also find links to the following articles:
- Ontario's Best Education Premier (Poll says Ontarians disagree with Liberal plan to roll back education credits)
- Could Alberta's Provincial Police Return by 2012?
- A Council of the Federation (PDF file - 94K, 2 pages)
- Dismal Consequences from Canada's Regional Programs
- How Feasible is an Alberta Pension Plan?
- The Potential and the Penalty for Real Health Care Reform
- Constituting Democracy in Alberta:A Centennial Proposal
- Some Comments on Economic Freedom in Bangladesh
- The Case for Privatizing BC's Forests
- False Failures
- Revisiting Reference Pricing in BC's Pharmacare
- Florida's Proof: Testing the Effects of Competition
Click on the November link above to access links to each article, or on the link below to download the entire issue.
Complete Fraser Forum (PDF file - 489KB, 30 pages)

Welfare Reform Saves Lives (PDF file - 78K, 3 pages)
by Sylvia LeRoy, Todd Gabel
"Welfare reform helps save people trapped in dependency and poverty"
Source:
October 2003 Fraser Forum

The Market Basket Measure of Poverty (PDF file - 93K, 2 pages)
by Chris Sarlo
"The "market basket measure" of poverty may be a victory for the basic needs approach this author developed, but celebrations are premature."
Source:
Fraser Forum - April 2003

Saskatchewan Welfare Reform Lacks a New Vision for Social Assistance
News Release
Fraser Institute
January 16, 2003
"Saskatchewan has failed to fundamentally reform welfare and must implement major changes to reduce caseloads, increase the employment and earnings of welfare recipients, and decrease provincial spending on social services, says a new study, Welfare in Saskatchewan: A Critical Evaluation, released today by The Fraser Institute."
NOTE: The news release contains the authors' seven recommendations for reforming the delivery of social services in Saskatchewan.
For the record, I agree with and support recommendation number six - and only recommendation number six (improvement of earnings exemption provisions).

Welfare in Saskatchewan: A Critical Evaluation
Chris Schafer and Jason Clemens
Fraser Institute
November 2002
Executive Summary -
Complete report (PDF file - 298K, 50 pages)

November 2002 Fraser Forum - Taming Media Myths
"Fraser Forum is a monthly review of public policy in Canada, with articles covering taxation, education, health care policy, and wide range of other topics. Forum writers are economists, Institute research analysts, and selected authors, including those from other public policy think tanks."

Here are just a few of the 16 titles in this month's Fraser Forum; click on the link above to access all articles in this issue.

November Questions and Answers (PDF file - 133K, 3 pages)
- public sector employment figures : number of employees in 1991 and 2001 in eight different areas of the public sector for all of Canada + total number of public sector employees and average wage information by province/territory for 1991 and 2001

Judges versus the Media (PDF file - 97K, B)
by Sylvia LeRoy
"Media attention to judicial decisions has increased many-fold since the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

The Media & Globalization Myths (PDF file - 105K, 3 pages)
"Even the Prime Minister isn't immune to the mythology that income disparities between rich and poor nations are widening."

Poverty and the Federal Government (PDF file - 115K, 2 pages)
by Chris Sarlo
"My own measure [of poverty] is one of so called “absolute poverty” and attempts to reveal serious material deprivation (hunger, inadequate housing, deprived living conditions)—not a lack of social comforts."

October 2002 Fraser Forum - "Do Judges Make Good Policy?"
"Fraser Forum is a monthly review of public policy in Canada, with articles covering taxation, education, health care policy, and wide range of other topics. Forum writers are economists, Institute research analysts, and selected authors, including those from other public policy think tanks."
Here are a few of the titles in this month's Fraser Forum (click on the link above to see all articles in this issue)
Activist Judges Attack Common Sense Revolution (PDF file - 92K, 3 pages)
-"Activist judges have used the Charter of Rights to roll back cost-cutting policy initiatives in health, welfare, and labour relations."
- "judicial attack" against the Mike Harris legacy - incl. references to the Falkiner ("spouse-in-the-house")case

The UN's Right to Welfare (PDF file - 103K, 2 pages)
- "A right-to-welfare court challenge in Quebec could affect us all."
- Ref. to the Gosselin case ("...the real legacy of this case will be that litigants may turn to documentary evidence from international human rights instruments, nowhere legislated in domestic law, to push for ever greater economic benefits and state resources. Why work when you can sue?")

Labour-saving Devices in Poor Households (PDF file - 86K, 2 pages)
"Are those defined as poor far behind the rest of society in the use and enjoyment of labour-saving devices?"
[Gilles' comment: Petty. I knew before reading the article that author Chris Sarlo would equate ownership of one kitchen labour-saving device or another with affluence - or at least non-poverty. Petty.]

Other articles in the October Forum cover topics such as the Nisga'a Treaty, the Court Challenges Program, Kyoto, drug benefit programs, government spending, democratic reform (constitutional constraints), market forces and Canada's highways, measuring the size of government and more.
Source : Fraser Institute - "Competitive Market Solutions for Public Policy Problems"

BC Welfare Reform Receives a “B” : Province Leaps to Forefront of Intelligent Welfare Reform and Sets New Standard for Canadian Welfare
The Fraser Institute
October 21, 2002
"BC’s recently announced welfare reforms have catapulted it beyond any Canadian jurisdiction and into the realm of reform-minded US states such as Wisconsin, says a new report, Welfare Reform in British Columbia: A Report Card, released today by the Fraser Institute."
News Release and Summary
Welfare Reform in British Columbia: A Report Card (PDF file - 208K, 30 pages)
Source:
Fraser Institute - "Competitive Market Solutions for Public Policy Problems"
The Fraser Institute was founded in 1974 to redirect public attention to the role markets can play in providing for the economic and social well-being of Canadians.
-----------------------------------
Wow - it's not often that the conservative Fraser Institute is on the same wavelength as the British Columbia social advocacy community, but there ya go, folks.
Here's what authors Chris Schafer and Jason Clemens say about incentives to work:
"The government should move to immediately re-instate earnings exemptions as they existed prior to the change. Furthermore, the government should consider enhancing the opportunities to “make work pay” by extending earnings exemptions further."
"Hear, hear!" say the social advocates --- but then, the Fraser report also gives the BC government high marks for being the first Canadian jurisdiction to set a time limit to welfare eligibility [max. two years out of every five years] regardless of personal circumstances or the economic situation --- definitely not a popular feature with those who work with and speak for the most disadvantaged in BC...
-----------------------------------
Re. Wisconsin:
Wisconsin Studies (W-2) - The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) of the University of Wisconsin has a section of its Welfare Reform website that includes links to over a dozen studies on the outcomes and impacts of welfare reform in Wisconsin. Pick one or two, read them and decide for yourself how successful Wisconsin's reforms have been...
Source : Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
----------------------------------
Caveat :

"The welfare caseload composition of Canadian provincial welfare rolls and US state welfare rolls varies on a number of different levels. While female single- parent families comprise the bulk of US welfare caseloads, in Canada that figure is approximately 29 percent (CCSD, 1998). In addition, Canadian caseloads also consist of disabled persons, whereas in the US disabled persons fall under alternative support programs not categorized as “welfare.” - Footnote #4, page 25

There are indeed a number of differences between the current Canadian and American social safety nets - too many to cover in a newsletter, and certainly enough that the Fraser Institute should have considered posting the disclaimer/caveat just a bit more prominently.
For example...
- poor single people and childless couples in the U.S. can't even apply for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and states decide individually whether or not to grant residual welfare to applicants without dependants
- 35 percent of the total U.S. caseload is "child-only cases", i.e., kids outside the parental home (in Canada, the vast majority of these kids are covered by child protection)
- Canadian welfare is broader than TANF plus the Food Stamp Program plus Medicaid...
- and so on.

 

Related Links (welfare in Canada and the U.S.): Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF) : Fourth Annual Report to Congress April 2002 Source : Department of Health and Human Services Canadian equivalent to the 4th annual TANF report to Congress : None. There is no requirement within the framework of the Canada Health and Social Transfer for a report by government to Parliament on the administration of the welfare portion of the CHST (or any other portion, for that matter) by provincial and territorial governments. Pity... Other Canadian (national) welfare information resources: Canadian Social Research Links Key Government Welfare Links Page National Council of Welfare Canadian Council on Social Development Caledon Institute of Social Policy Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Canada Spends the Most on Health Care Among OECD Countries
but Ranks Low on Key Health Indicators
News Release (August 19, 2002)
"Canada spends more on health care than any other industrialized country providing universal access yet winds up near the bottom of the heap in quality of service says a new study, How Good is Canadian Health Care: An International Comparison of Health Care Systems."
Executive Summary ( PDF file - 540K, 6 pages)
Report - links to the executive summary and six sections of the report

Canada ranks 17th on Index of Human Progress -- Most of the World Sees Large Gains
July 24, 2002
"Canada ranks a weak 17th on the Fraser Institute's Index of Human Progress released today, compared to its 3rd place ranking on the United Nations' often-quoted Human Development Index."

July 2002 Fraser Forum - "Tax Freedom Day"
"Fraser Forum is a monthly review of public policy in Canada, with articles covering taxation, education, health care policy, and wide range of other topics. Forum writers are economists, Institute research analysts, and selected authors, including those from other public policy think tanks."
Here are some of the titles in this month's Fraser Forum (click on the link above to see all 16 articles in this issue)
- Canadians Celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 28 (PDF file - 450K, 6 pages) - "Over time, Tax Freedom Day arrives earlier. But progress is very slow."
- Rising Capital Flows and Falling Corporate Tax Rates ("High tax rates are difficult to sustain in the new globalized economy.")
- The Corporate Capital Tax: Canada's Most Damaging Tax ("...by far the most destructive and growth-inhibiting tax imposed by Canadian governments.")
- Is Child Poverty Declining? (PDF file - 58K, 2 pages) - "The federal Human Resources Minister has credited the National Child Benefit with reducing child poverty. Her claim should not be taken seriously."
- Don't Tamper with Welfare Success (PDF file - 93K, 2 pages) - "There is a move afoot in the US to roll back the initial 1996 reforms that were so successful in ending welfare as Amerians knew it."
- Tug-of-War: The Security vs. Sovereignty Dilemma
- Medical Research and Media Hype
- Just Say No to Agricultural Subsidies: Ten Reasons to Dump Farm Aid
- More Guns, Less Crime? What Canada can Learn from Gun Control Around the World
- Freedom and Security not Mutually Exclusive
- Government on the Grill
Source : Fraser Institute - "Competitive Market Solutions for Public Policy Problems"

Nobel Laureates Call on G8 to Focus on Economic Freedom
June 25, 2002
"Calgary, AB - If the G8 is serious about fighting global poverty and terrorism, it needs to focus on promoting economic freedom, say Nobel Laureates in economic sciences Milton Friedman and Gary Becker"

Economic Freedom of the World: 2002 Annual Report
June 2002
"This 6th global economic freedom report, by James Gwartney and Robert Lawson, ranks 123 nations on 37 variables with data back to 1970. Economic freedom is based on personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and protection of the person and property. This requires the rule of law, property rights, limited government intervention, freedom to trade, and sound money."
- incl. links to eight PDF files : Introduction and notes - Economic Freedom of the World - Index of Patent Rights - International Tax Competition - Country Data Tables (Albania to Zimbabwe)

Related Link :
United Nations Human Development Report 2001

Surveying US and Canadian Welfare Reform (PDF file - 838K, 68 pages)
August 2001
Executive Summary
Introduction
1. Historical development of welfare in the United States
2. PRWORA—the end of welfare as Americans knew it
3. American states—experimentation and innovation
4. The results of PRWORA and state welfare reforms
5. Welfare in Canada
6. Provincial welfare reforms
7. Recommendations for Canada
Glossary
References

Measuring Poverty in Canada - New study says poverty in Canada continues to be overstated
Fraser Institute Critical Issues Bulletin
July 23, 2001
Media Release

Measuring Poverty in Canada - Executive summary and links to the complete report (in three separate PDF files)
2001
1. Measuring Poverty in Canada - Part 1(PDF - 236KB)
2. Measuring Poverty in Canada - Part 2(PDF - 982KB)
3. Measuring Poverty in Canada - Part 3(PDF - 284KB)

The Adequacy of Welfare Benefits in Canada
by Joel Emes and Andrei Kreptul
April 1999
- Compares welfare benefits in 1998 by province with Christopher Sarlo's Basic Needs Lines. Includes information on earnings exemptions and special assistance, plus Pre-Tax Wage Equivalence charts explaining how much a working person would have to earn to end up with the same annual "net income" as an income assistance (IA) recipient.
Executive Summary
Complete Report (PDF file - 427K, 30 pages)

Canadian Living Standards 1998 Report by Christopher A. Sarlo
Executive Summary
Complete Report (PDF file, 732K, 62 pages)

Canadians Celebrate Tax Freedom Day on June 29
June 26, 2001
Canadians finally start working for themselves on June 29. According to The Fraser Institute's annual Tax Freedom Day calculations, announced today. Canadians worked until June 28 to pay the total tax bill imposed on them by all levels of government. This represents a five day improvement over last year when Tax Freedom Day fell on July 4.

But see also :

The Tax Freedom Daze
June 2001
Every year, the ultra-conservative Fraser Institute pronounces Tax Freedom Day--the day when Canadians (finally) stop "working for the government" and start "working for themselves". Tax Freedom Day is, without a doubt, a clever and media-savvy ploy. That people actually derive benefits from government services in exchange for the taxes they pay is conveniently swept under the ideological carpet. Instead, the Fraser Institute suggests that up to a certain date, the government takes all of your income, burying it in some distant mineshaft never again to see the light of day, and thus stripping away your ability to be truly free.
Source : Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Fraser Forum Online
The site redesign appears to have done a real number on the Fraser Forum. The old site had a single link where visitors could select monthly Forum issues back to 1991 - over a thousand articles. With the new site, you either select a recent issue from the right-hand side of the Fraser home page or use the search engine for older issues. I haven't figured out how far back they go in the new site. I wasn't impressed with the Advanced Search feature. Damn those database sites.

C.D. Howe Institute

"The C.D. Howe Institute is Canada’s leading independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit economic policy research institution. Its individual and corporate members are drawn from business, universities and the
professions."

<begin "nonpartisan" rant>
I have to laugh (not the genuine ha-ha laughter, but the jaundiced one) when I see the expression "nonpartisan" in the description of the Institute (from the C.D. Institute blurb in the report). They're about as non-partisan as their West Coast brothers-in-arms, the Fraser Institute. They didn't fool Wikipedia, though --- here's their take on the Institute: "The C.D. Howe Institute is a Canadian economic and social think tank based in downtown Toronto, Ontario. It is non-profit, officially non-partisan, and a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency. However, it is funded mainly by large corporations, and generally advocates market-oriented economic policies such as tax cuts.(bolding added)" [Source]
I like the way Wikipedia adds the word "officially" as a nuance to the Institute's own description of itself as nonpartisan...
</end "nonpartisan" rant>

- Publications List - close to 100 C.D. Howe Institute reports (in PDF format) going back to 1996. Subjects include the Social Union, the CHST, the National Child Benefit and Employment Insurance, to name but a few...

Here are links to a few samples:

Dramatic Decline in Welfare Dependency in Canada,
Several Factors Responsible: C.D. Howe Institute (PDF - 40K, 3 pages)
Communiqué
June 19, 2008
Canada has experienced a dramatic decline in welfare dependency since the early 1990s, according to new study by the C.D. Howe Institute, which notes that Canada’s Social Assistance (SA) dependency rate fell by approximately half from the early 1990s to 2005, taking the country’s rising population into account. In The Welfare Enigma: Explaining the Dramatic Decline in Canadians’Use of Social Assistance, 1993-2005, authors Ross Finnie and Ian Irvine provide a nationwide analysis of the factors responsible for the truly remarkable decline, and draw implications for policymakers.

Complete study:

The Welfare Enigma: Explaining the Dramatic
Decline in Canadians’ Use of Social Assistance, 1993–2005 (PDF - 548K, 32 pages)
Commentary
June 2008
"(...) Keeping people off welfare in the first instance, rather than attempting to get them off once on, is likely the most effective means of affecting caseloads and reducing longer-run welfare dependency."
Source:
C.D. Howe Institute
The C.D. Howe Institute is Canada’s leading independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit economic policy research institution. Its individual and corporate members are drawn from business, universities and the professions.

Related links:

Jobs, government cutbacks cut Canadian welfare rolls in half: report
OTTAWA — More available jobs, with a kick from stingy government policies, has contributed to a dramatic decrease in the number of Canadians receiving welfare cheques, says a new study by the C.D. Howe Institute.
Source:
Google News

Solving the welfare enigma
By Ross Finnie and Ian Irvine
Source:
National Post

COMMENT:
It appears that every eleven years or so, the C.D. Howe Institute, minions of the business, university and professional elite, trot out another earth-shattering study about how reducing access to welfare results in fewer people on welfare. Well, Whoop-De-Doo. That's about as informative an observation as "It's better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick."

Here's the earlier C.D. Howe study:

Alberta welfare reforms
a model for other provinces, says C.D. Howe Institute study (PDF file - 668K, 38 pages)
April 1997
Kenneth J. Boessenkool, Prime Minister Steve's occasional confidant and advisor, produced this study praising the 1993-1996 Alberta welfare reforms, for other provinces to emulate.

See the Alberta section of Another Look at Welfare Reform (1997) from the National Council of Welfare for a different perspective on Alberta's welfare reforms.

The Paradox of the Social Union Framework Agreement (PDF file - 58K, 11 pages)
Backgrounder
March 2002
"The agreement is worth preserving for a further three years with the aim of strengthening its provincial principles. If it ends up providing cover for major unilateral federal spending in provincial areas, however, the agreement should be scrapped."

The Dynamics of Poverty in Canada: What We Know, What We Can Do
(PDF file, 193K, 59 pages)
Ross Finnie
Sept. 28, 2000
- explores the dynamics of Canadians’ poverty experiences from 1992 to 1996 using the recently developed Longitudinal Administrative Database. By following individuals over time, the database allowed analysis of movements into and out of poverty, including those related to changes in family status.

Perceptions of Poverty: Correcting Misconceptions about the Low-Income Cutoff (PDF, 6 pages)
Backgrounder
April 2000

The Canadian Standard of Living: Is There a Way Up?
(PDF file, 525K)
Pierre Fortin
1999 Benefactors Lecture
C.D. Howe Institute Commentary
October 19, 1999

The Dark Side of Targeting: Retirement Saving for Low-Income Canadians (PDF file,173K)
Richard Shillington
September 1999
Back to Work: Learning from the Alberta Welfare Experiment (PDF file, 668K)
"Alberta welfare reforms a model for other provinces, says C.D. Howe Institute study"
April 1997
Improving the National Child Benefit: Matching Deeds with Intentions
May 1999
Growing Child Benefits, Growing Tax Rates
February 1999
The Social Union Agreement: Too Flawed to Last
February 1999
More Than the Sum of Our Parts: Improving the Mechanisms of Canada’s Social Union
January 1999

Canada West Foundation
"The Canada West Foundation (CWF) is a [Calgary-based] non-partisan, non-profit research organization active in economic and public policy studies. Founded in December of 1970, Canada West grew out of the "One Prairie Province" Conference held in Lethbridge, Alberta earlier that year. The consensus developed at the conference was that research on western Canadian concerns should be continued and expanded. This led to the formation of the Canada West Council, which then developed the mandate for the Canada West Foundation."

Regional Approaches to Services in the West: Health, Social Services and Education
February 2002
- "provides an overview of the different approaches being used in the four western provinces for health, social services and education. The main provincial similarities and differences are also compared. Finally, due to their increasing political, economic and social importance, the large western cities are briefly considered within the context of regional approaches to provincial services."

Enhanced Urban Aboriginal Programming in Western Canada
January 2002
"Almost as many Aboriginal people live in urban areas of Canada as do not, and in every city in Canada, Aboriginal people are a visible presence – particularly in western Canada. To inform ongoing decision-making and public debate, a better understanding of the policy program landscapes for urban Aboriginal people is needed."

- Click on Publications on the main page to download full copies (PDF format) of many CWF reports, including the following :
(only the first report below is hyperlinked - use the above link to get to the rest)

Where Are They Now?: Assessing the Impact of Welfare Reform on Former Recipients (1993-1996) - Press Release + link to PDF version - September 1997
Welfare Reform in Alberta: A Survey of Former Recipients
The Safety Net and Seniors in Alberta
Social Services for Persons With Disabilities in Alberta
Restructuring of Social Services: The Impact on Women in Alberta
Alberta's Children: Issues, Programs and Restructuring
Making Ends Meet: Income Support in Alberta
Issues and Options for Change: Social Services for the 21st Century
Income Support in Canada: A Statistical Profile

policity.com (The Institute On Governance)
"policity was created [by the Institute on Governance and FreeBalance] in the spring of 1999 as a site dedicated to governance issues and practices. Its mission is to illuminate and support the processes by which citizens can be engaged in issues of community concern and in the formulation and implementation of public policy."
August 2002:
"This web site was developed as part of the Institute On Governance's past work on Citizen Participation. While it is no longer being updated, we continue to host sections of the site as a public service to fellow practioners."

Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP)
"The mission of the IRPP is to improve public policy in Canada by promoting and contributing to a policy process that is more broadly based, informed and effective."

Sample reports from IRPP:

From the September 2008 issue of Policy Options (free online magazine):

The theme of this issue of Policy Options is "Canada's Working Poor"

Selected content from this issue:
(click the link above to access the complete contents of this issue)

* The working poor: Canada and the world (PDF - 316K, 6 pages)
By Jody Heymann, Magda Barrera and Alison Earle

* Is welfare a dirty word? Canadian public opinion on social assistance policies (PDF - 198K, 4 pages)
By Allison Harell, Stuart Soroka and Adam Mahon

*[French only] Le Québec, à l'avant-garde de la lutte contre la pauvreté au Canada (PDF - 261K, 5 pages)
Par Marie-Renée Roy, Guy Fréchet et Frédéric Savard

* Canada's legacy of inaction on early childhood education and child care (PDF - 345K, 6 pages)
By Martha Friendly

* Improving policies for the working poor: lessons from the UK experience(PDF - 199K, 3 pages)
By Jane Waldfogel

* How (un)healthy are poor working-age Canadians? (PDF - 182K, 4 pages)
By Myriam Fortin

*[French only] Soulager la pauvreté (PDF - 202K, 1 page)
par Alain Noël

---------------------------------------

Policy options (free online magazine)
"Policy Options is Canada's premier public policy magazine. Its goal is to encourage an informed debate on the important public policy issues of today, and of tomorrow. In each edition, short articles on the immediate issues that dominate the headlines are combined with in-depth analyses of longer-term issues that are certain to emerge on the policy horizon. Policy Options is published ten times per year."

Below, you'll find links to just two of the dozen-plus articles from a sample issue of Policy Options. Other articles in the same (April 2008) issue covered topics including the 2008 federal budget, NAFTA, the Castonguay Report on health care in Quebec, Canada's Afghan mission and much more. Click the link above to access all past issues of Policy Options.

Guaranteed annual income:
why Milton Friedman and Bob Stanfield were right (PDF - 172K, 6 pages)
By Hugh Segal
April 2008
[Abstract] In this article, former IRPP president Hugh Segal considers the merits of a guaranteed annual income or a negative income tax, an idea whose time may never come, but which always generates a good debate. It?s a concept where thinkers on the left and right have found some common ground, from conservative economists such as Milton Friedman in the United States, to Red Tories such as Robert Stanfield in Canada. "If it is done right," Segal argues, "instituting a basic floor income could diminish federal-provincial and labour-management tensions" and could even, "over time, reduce the net burden of state spending while increasing aid to, and the privacy and dignity, of those who fall behind."

"This just in: surpluses across the board" (PDF - 163K, 3 pages)
By Thomas J. Courchene
April 2008
[Abstract] The achievement of budgetary surpluses in Ottawa and in all provinces and territories simultaneously was 60 years in the making. This brief commentary on budgetary federalism adapts the informative charts in Budget 2008 and traces the fiscal/budgetary fortunes of the two levels of government over the past two decades. The near collapse of provincial finances in the wake of the 1995 budget has now been offset by a huge influx of federal cash transfers (Canada Health Transfer, Canada Social Transfer and equalization) and by resource revenues. When combined with federal tax cuts, the result is that the excess of provincial over federal revenues has never been larger.

Links to earlier issues of Policy options:
- this is the link to the April '08 issue of the magazine;
the links to the earlier issues appear in the right-hand margin of that page.

Links to all IRPP publications

The Canadian Immigration System: An Overview (PDF file - 283K, 21 pages)
March 2007
Workshop on German and European Migration and Immigration Policy from
a Transatlantic Perspective : Challenge for the 21st Century
By Geneviève Bouchard
- Powerpoint presentation, includes historical info, current situation, stats, policy challenges, potential solutions
Source:
Institute for Research on Public Policy

The Use of Family Friendly Workplace Practices in Canada (PDF file - 526K, 42 pages)
September 2006
The increase in two earner households has changed the structure of the labour market, presenting employees, government and firms with new challenges. These changes have spurred an increasing interest in
new workplace practices and policies that may respond to the requirements of the New Economy. Research in the area covers a variety of fields in social sciences and has mainly focused on the availability of benefits to workers with families. However, a natural question that has only received passing attention is to what extent these benefits are being used by families.
News Release (PDF file - 35K, 2 pages)

Toward Squaring the Circle: Work-Life Balance
and the Implications for Individuals, Firms and Public Policy (144K, 28 pages)
June 2006
Contents:
* Introduction
* Defining and Framing Work-Life Balance
*Demographic and Labour Market Trends
* Work Hours, Constraints on Choice and the Life Cycle
* Work-Life Balance in the Context of Labour Policy
* Conclusion

Working for Working Parents:
The Evolution of Maternity and Parental Benefits in Canada (PDF file - 218K, 42 pages)
May 2006
Table of Contents:
* Introduction
* Setting the Stage: The Changing Labour Market and Social Context for Families with Young Children, 1973-2002
* A Short History of Maternity and Parental Benefits Policy in Canada
* Sample Benefit Calculations for Five Historical Periods and the Quebec Program
* Statistical Evidence on Benefit Receipt
* What Are the Goals of the Federal Program and How Well Are They Being Achieved?
* Where to From Here? Discussion and Recommendations

Early Childhood Development and Child Care: What Do We Know?
Conference
March 27, 2006 (Vancouver)
- co-organized by the Human Early Learning Partnership of the University of British Columbia
Conference program (PDF file - 55K, 1 page)
Presentations:
NOTE: "The presentations below are the original versions as presented by the authors at the conference, and are not to be cited or quoted without the author's permission."
* Understanding Recent Research on Quebec’s Childcare Programme (PDF file - 124K, 24 pages)
by Kevin Milligan
* Child Care Services: A Major Missing Piece of the Family Benefit Package (PDF file - 992K, 23 pages)
by Paul Kershaw
* How can the latest research contribute to early learning and child care policy? What do we know – and what do we think? (PDF file - 163K, 31 pages)
by Martha Friendly
* At the Crossroads:Child Care Policy and Funding in BC and Canada (PDF file - 188K, 12 pages)
by Lynell Anderson

-------------------------------------------------

Fiscal Dispute among Governments in Canada Is Damaging to the Cause of Health Care Reform
"On January 27, the IRPP and the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations released Money, Politics and Health Care: Reconstructing the Federal-Provincial Partnership, edited by Harvey Lazar and France St-Hilaire. The contributors to the volume maintain that continual federal-provincial squabbling over health care funding has hampered the process of reform needed to ensure the quality and sustainability of health care for future generations. Moreover, this inability to address the real problems in the system has in itself become detrimental to the proper functioning of the federation."
News Release (small PDF file)
January 27, 2004
Report:
Money, Politics and Health Care: Reconstructing the Federal-Provincial Partnership
Order a copy of this book
Chapter on vertical fiscal imbalance (PDF file - 625K, 54 pages)

-------------------------------------------------

Paul Martin's Briefing Book - from the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP)
The December 2003 issue of Policy Options from IRPP includes (among other content) 17 articles with advice to the incoming Prime Minister on a range of issues from air quality to U.S.-Canada relations, written by a number of social policy experts from the Left and the Right.

Here are two sample articles:

Will the Prime Minister Displace the Finance Minister?
Paul Martin's Social Policy for a "New Era" (PDF file - 206K, 5 pages)
December 2003
Jane Jenson
"Many of the social policy changes that the new prime minister will have to overcome are of his own making : the emphasis on labour market participation and on children, a preference to use the tax system as the delivery mechanism, which limits the government's role to providing income transfers and has largely constrained its influence over policy, and a poisoned intergovernmental atmosphere."

Aboriginal Policy - Time to Rethink? (PDF file - 187K, 5 pages)
John Richards
"...despite some progress and large sums of money, Aboriginals' socio-economic status remains desperately worrying, 'the most serious social scar on Canadian society', and the exaggerated stress on 'otherness' at the heart of the current policy is partly responsible for the slow pace of progress."

Source:
Policy Options (December 2003)

-------------------------------------------------

Windows of opportunity: social reform under Lester B. Pearson(PDF file - 568K, 12 pages)
by Jim Coutts
"...in only five years of two minority governments Pearson enacted the Canada-Quebec Pension Plan, The Canada Assistance Plan, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and Medicare, all keystones of the modern social security system."
Source:
Policy Options: November 2003 Issue
[Theme: Corporate Governance]
NOTE: in this issue of Policy Options, you'll also find links to over a dozen articles on the following topics:
- A call for a culture of values, not just rules - from the corner office to the boardroom
- From carrots to sticks: restoring investor confidence in Canada
- A road too far - compliance at the expense of performance?
- The importance of good governance for confidence in Canadian capital markets
- Une saine gouvernance pour préserver nos avoirs collectives
- The new private-sector ombudsmen
- From the blame game to accountability in health care
- Multinational governance and worker rights in the global village
- Loving the market or supporting business
- Socrates does Canadian electrical policy
- Symbolism vs. economics: the loonie vs. the greenback
- National missile defence: it is rocket science
- À propos du financement des universités et des droits de scolarité au Québec
- Performing the news - not the facts, but the story
- Ranking prime ministers of the last 50 years: IRPP's Web visitors speak
- Book Excerpt: Understanding Canadian Defence
- Book Review: Geoffrey Kelley reviews Understanding Canadian Defence by Desmond Morton
- Will Martin touch our new economic Constitution?
[ Institute for Research on Public Policy ]

IRPP Study: Child Tax Benefit Ineffective in Addressing Child Poverty
June 10, 2003
"An exhaustive examination of Canada’s family policy concludes that recent federal and provincial government initiatives are misguided and have not efficiently addressed the problems of child poverty. 'The Child Tax Benefit is a dead end'assert Pierre Lefebvre and Philip Merrigan in 'Assessing Family Policy in Canada: A New Deal for Families and Children,' released today by the Institute for Research on Public Policy."
News Release (small PDF file)
Summary (small PDF file)
Complete Study (PDF file - 395K, 100 pages)

Policy Options"Canada's premier public policy magazine"
This link offers short summaries of the articles in the current issue, ordering information and links to back issues. You can access the complete text of all articles in every issue of  Policy Options in PDF format back to 1997 by clicking Back Issues (near the top of the Policy Options page), then on a particular year and month

Sample content from a few recent issues:

February 2003 Issue
Includes the following five analyses of the Romanow report:
- "Romanow-A Defence of Public Health Care, But is There a Map for the Road Ahead?" by Antonia Maioni
- "Le défi de la santé dans un contexte électoral : redonner aux Québécois unsystème public de santé à la hauteur de leurs attentes" by Jean Charest
- "L' « épineuse » question d'André Burelle et le rapport Romanow" by John Richards
- "He Said, She Said: The Debate on Vertical Fiscal Imbalance and Federal Health-Care Funding" by France St-Hilaire and Harvey Lazar
- "Health Care as a Commodity" by Joseph Heath

Dec/2002 - Jan/2003 Issue (Policy Options)
Health Care: From Reinvesting to Reinventing (PDF file - 44K, 5 pages)
An interview with Michael Kirby

Dec/2002 - Jan/2003 Issue
The Democratic Deficit (PDF file - 35K, 3 pages)
Excerpts from a speech on parliamentary reform and public ethics given by Paul Martin, the former finance minister and leading contender for the Liberal leadership, at Osgoode Hall, York University (Toronto) October 21/2002
Health Care: From Reinvesting to Reinventing (PDF file - 44K, 5 pages)
An interview with Michael Kirby

January-February 2001 Issue
Table of Contents
- A guaranteed annual income: From Mincome to the millennium (PDF file) by Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson
Whatever happened to Mincome Manitoba?

December 2000 Issue
Index of 2000 Policy Options articles (PDF file - 6 pages, 34K)
-Almost 200 articles from all 12 issues of Policy Options released in 2000, organized alphabetically by author.

October 2000 - The Flat Tax
(For related links, go to the Canadian Social Research Links Flat Tax Links page)

April 2000 : ASSESSING THE SOCIAL UNION FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT
Includes links to articles on the Social Union Framework Agreement by six different authors
- also includes analysis of the 2000 federal budget from seven different sources, and more...

November 1998: THE SOCIAL UNION
19 articles on various aspects of the Social Union, from provincial/territorial perspectives to fiscal considerations. Contributors include Monique Jérôme-Forget, Thomas Courchene,  Keith Banting, John Richards and Roy Romanow, to name but a few. Follow the links to read abstracts and to download PDF copies of all articles
(For related links, go to the Canadian Social Research Links Unofficial Social Union Links page)

Empowering Reforms Needed for Parliament's Contribution to Budgetary Process
"May 14, 2002 - In a new Policy Matters paper released today by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), Peter Dobell and Martin Ulrich analyse how Parliament carries out three roles in the annual budget process – representing citizen interests, empowering the government and scrutinizing the government’s performance."
Complete Study (PDF file - 66K, 24 pages)

Negative Economic Impact of Aging Exaggerated, Says New IRPP Study
"March 11, 2002 - Many assessments of the effects of an aging population on the standard of living of Canadians and our public finances are too pessimistic. Population aging can also have positive consequences, says Marcel Mérette, economics professor at the University of Ottawa, in a new study published today by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP)."
Complete Study (PDF file - 487K, 28 pages)

Shifting Sands: Exploring the Political Foundations of SUFA
Roger Gibbins (July 2001)
Complete Report (PDF file - 68K, 20 pages)

Flat Taxes, Dual Taxes, Smart Taxes: Making the Best Choices
(PDF file - 124 pages, 725K)
Jonathan Kesselman (November 2000)

Taxing Canadian Families: What’s Fair, What’s Not
July 18, 2000
Study (PDF file, 186K, 44 pages)

Montreal Economic Institute
The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institute. It endeavours to promote an economic approach to the study of public policy issues. The MEI's mission is to propose original and innovative solutions for the crafting of efficient public policies, using successful reforms applied elsewhere as models.The MEI studies how markets function with the aim of identifying the mechanisms and institutions which foster the prosperity and long-term welfare of all the individuals which make up our society. The MEI is the product of a collaborative effort between Montreal-area entrepreneurs, academics and economists. The Institute does not accept any public funding. [ Excerpt from Who Are We ]

Four out of five people in Quebec say social assistance should be fully conditional
- Success elsewhere shows the way to social assistance reform
Media Release
Montreal, January 25, 2007
- With Quebec reigning as North American social assistance champion, behind only Newfoundland and the District of Columbia, economist Norma Kozhaya of the Montreal Economic Institute says social assistance could be reformed in a way that would reduce dependency and poverty among persons fit for work. This change could draw insight from measures applied successfully in parts of Canada and in many U.S. states.

Quebeckers’ opinion on social assistance payments (PDF file - 89K, 4 pages)
January 2007
According to a Léger Marketing poll released today, 80% of people in Quebec would agree to having social assistance taken away from recipients who are fit for work and who refuse to take part in job preparation programs such as studies, training or community work.

Social assistance: What North American reforms can teach us (PDF file - 250K, 4 pages)
January 2007
Economic Note on the social assistance reforms instituted in the United States and in some Canadian provinces
[ version française : Aide sociale: les leçons des réformes nord-américaines (fichier PDF - 258Ko, 4 pages)

Editorial Comment
Canadian and American welfare systems are different from one another, a fact that the Montreal Economic Institute and its ideological soulmate on the Canadian West Coast, the Fraser Institute, willfully and consistently ignore in their welfare reform reports. After reading this short report on how *swell* the American state governments (along with Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia) have been doing in reducing their welfare caseloads, I note that the most important bit of text is actually in a text box on page 2, i.e., "In the United States, financial assistance for adults without children and without work constraints does not exist at the federal level and is very limited at the state level."

Unlike the Canadian welfare system, state welfare programs under the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) initiative exclude single people and childless couples, who must apply to the national Food Stamp program and to residual aid programs where they live (if there are any such programs, which is not always the case), as well as people with disabilities (who must apply under the separate American Social Security program). In Canada, singles and childless couples make up close to 60% of the total welfare caseload and households headed by people with disabilities account for about a third of the total caseload. These are just a few of the more significant reasons why Canadian welfare shouldn't be compared with American programs under TANF.

What North American reforms can teach us informs us that in 2002, British Columbia became the only jurisdiction in Canada to set time limits (24 mo. in any 60-month period) on social assistance eligibility for recipients who were fit for work. I guess the author of WNARCTU didn't get a chance to read more recent reports of her Fraser Institute pals --- in a February 2004 commentary, the Fraser Institute bemoaned BC's "backtracking" on its welfare reforms, effectively nullifying the time limit rule by exempting any client who was complying with his/her recovery/action/work plan. The absence of that bit of info in WNARCTU taints the analysis, no?

Bottom Line:
Canadian and American welfare systems are like apples and oranges.
They shouldn't be compared without situating each system in its appropriate context.

Social Research and Demonstration Corporation
SRDC’s two-part mission is to help policy-makers and practitioners identify social policies and programs that improve the well-being of all Canadians, with a special concern for the effects on the disadvantaged, and to raise the standards of evidence that are used in assessing social policies and programs

SRDC Publications - Links to SRDC reports on SSP and on the Earnings Supplement Project

For more information about specific SRDC Projects :

* Child Care Pilot Project
...a research project that will evaluate the impacts of a preschool program on the children’s linguistic and cultural development, and their readiness to learn

* learn$ave
...a national demonstration of matched savings accounts for poor families to encourage learning activities and micro-enterprise development

* Access to Post-secondary Education Pilot Projects
...pilot projects to determine the best way to increase access to post-secondary education in Canada in three Canadian provinces

* The Self-Sufficiency Project
...a test of temporary earnings supplements as a "make work pay" strategy to support the transition of lone parents from welfare to work

* The Earnings Supplement Project
...a recent type of a financial incentive in the form of temporary "earnings insurance" as a way of hastening the re-employment of Employment Insurance (EI) beneficiaries

Some sample reports...

Final evaluation report of the
Case Coordination Project in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
February 2009
SRDC released its final evaluation report of the Case Coordination Project (CCP) in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an area with high rates of poverty, substance abuse, poor housing, and unemployment. The project was designed to determine whether a comprehensive model delivering one-to-one support to long-term unemployed residents of the Downtown Eastside could help them return to employment and self-sufficiency. Components of the project and methods of delivery had to be flexible to meet the changing needs of participants. The final report presents the findings of the CPP, with details on participants’ employment, their outcomes from receiving Income Assistance, and their experiences with the project. The report also draws conclusions relating to project implementation and administration, as well as policy implications for similar projects.
Source:
Learning What Works (February 2009)
- the latest issue of SRDC's newsletter

Complete report:

The Downtown Eastside Case Coordination Project:
Moving Hard-to-Employ Individuals from Welfare to Opportunity (PDF - 840K, 65 pages)
By Barbara Dobson Susanna Gurr
July 2008

NOTE: the February 2009 issue of Learning What Works
also includes articles (and links to related reports) about:
* The B.C. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Early Implementation Report: Addressing academic barriers to PSE (AVID that aims to increase post-secondary enrolment among Grade 8 students with a B to C average).
* Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP): A viable alternative for vulnerable communities and the unemployed
* Data from the Community Employment Innovation Project is available to interested researchers
* The Child Care Pilot Project is extended (testing a preschool daycare service designed to help children master the French language)
* SRDC to evaluate initiatives of the BC Healthy Living Alliance

All SRDC Publications - by theme
All SRDC Publications - alphabetical

Source:
Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)
SRDC is a not-for-profit organization, a registered charity, and a pioneer in the use of social experiments in Canada. SRDC’s two-part mission is to help policy-makers and practitioners identify social policies and programs that improve the well-being of all Canadians, with a special concern for the effects on the disadvantaged, and to raise the standards of evidence that are used in assessing social policies and programs.

Learning What Works Newsletter - May 2008 issue
IN THIS ISSUE:
* New report shows communities can help improve local development and capacity
* Developing francophone children’s abilities: Child Care Pilot Project family workshops
* Transition to work for people facing multiple barriers
* Does increased contact with participants improve the ability of surveys to gather evidence?
* SRDC mourns the passing of Arthur Kroeger

[ Earlier issue of the newsletter : March 2008 ]

All SRDC Publications by theme

Early results show low-income Canadians can save for their education
News Release
January 25, 2008
A new report released by SRDC presents the 18-month results of the Individual Development Accounts project learn$ave. The program has so far yielded positive effects on saving and budgeting, as well as participants’ attitudes towards education.

Learning to Save, Saving to Learn: Early Impacts of the learn$ave Individual Development Accounts Project, a new report released by SRDC, presents the 18-month results of learn$ave, a project designed to demonstrate how Individual Development Accounts can encourage low-income adults to save in order to increase their human capital by participating in education or training, or starting a small business.

Download the full report (PDF file - 525K, 115 pages)
January 2008
Download the executive summary (PDF file - 1.9MB, 12 pages)

Find out more about learn$ave
The learn$ave project was conceived and implemented in 2000 by Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI), and is being funded by Human Resources and Social Development Canada. The evaluation of learn$ave is being conducted by SRDC.

Interim Results From Major Study Show That Community-Based Work Can Improve Skills and Social Capital back
November 16, 2007
Can community-based employment help the unemployed develop their transferable skills and social capital? A major Canadian study released today by the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) reveals promising results in that respect. "Improving skills, networks, and livelihoods through community-based work: Three-year impacts of the Community Employment Innovation Project" presents interim results from the Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP), a program designed to encourage the longer-term employability of participants while supporting local community development in regions of continuing high unemployment.

Complete report:

Improving Skills, Networks, and Livelihoods through Community-Based Work:
Three-Year Impacts of the Community Employment Innovation Project (PDF file - 750K, 181 pages)
October 2007

Executive Summary (PDF file - 985K, 16 pages)

SRDC Publications by theme

Source:
Community Employment Innovation Project
...a project evaluating the effects of community-based employment in the social economy in Cape Breton on the employability of EI and income assistance recipients and on the five participating communities themselves

Early Results From Major Study Show That Communities Can Create
Meaningful Jobs
November 28, 2006
Ottawa — Can communities create meaningful work that is an attractive alternative to Employment Insurance and welfare? A major Canadian study of a new, innovative program is showing this to be true. Today the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) is releasing a new report presenting early impacts from the Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP), a study of a program designed to encourage the longer-term employability of participants while supporting local community development in areas of continuing high unemployment...

Testing a Community-Based Jobs Strategy for the Unemployed:
Early Impacts of the Community Employment Innovation Project
Complete report (PDF file - 1.4MB, 166 pages)
Executive Summary (PDF file - 836K, 14 pages)

Learning What Works — Volume 5, Number 1 (PDF file - 1.7MB, 15 pages)
Spring 2005
Newsletter
Table of Contents:
- Asset-Building Strategies for the Poor: Is Policy Ahead of Research?
- Whither Welfare? (Excellent overview of recent welfare reforms in Canada and the U.S.!)
- One-on-One Help for Addressing the Employment Needs of Long-Term Unemployed IA Clients
- Why Experience-Rate the EI Program?
- School Readiness: Evidence From the Manitoba 2004 EDI Parent Survey
- Bulletin Board

A Literature Review of Experience-Rating Employment Insurance in Canada
Working Paper
by Shawn de Raaf, Anne Motte, and Carole Vincent
May 2005
"This working paper reviews both the theoretical and empirical literature on experience-rating unemployment insurance programs. In reviewing the existing research, the paper identifies a number of lessons learned to determine whether an experience-rated Employment Insurance (EI) program might, by modifying the behaviour of Canadian firms and workers, address the magnitude of subsidies some firms receive from the program year after year or lessen the extent to which claimants frequently rely on EI benefits."

Can Work Alter Welfare Recipients’ Beliefs? (PDF file - 236K, 32 pages)
The Self-Sufficiency Project
Peter Gottschalk (Boston College)
February 2005
SRDC Working Paper Series 05-01
NOTE: this is written in economese --- not for the faint-hearted!
(For example: "We find that exogenous increases in work induced by an experimental earnings supplement led to the predicted change in beliefs.")
Source:
The Self-Sufficiency Project

Understanding Employment Insurance Claim Patterns:
Final Report of the Earnings Supplement Project
March 2004
"This report brings to an end the Earnings Supplement Project (ESP), a long-term, multiphase project that was designed to study the reliance,1 especially the frequent reliance, on Employment Insurance (EI) benefits. In 1994 Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) funded ESP to determine whether a financial incentive could hasten the return to work of individuals who were receiving EI benefits."
Complete report (PDF file - 1.4MB, 77 pages)
Executive Summary (PDF file - 294K, 8 pages)

SRDC Publishes the First Report on the Community Employment Innovation Project:
The Community Employment Innovation Project: Design and Implementation
December 12, 2003
"This is the first report from the Community Employment Innovation Project (CEIP). CEIP is a long-term demonstration project taking place in Cape Breton that is designed to measure the effects, on individuals and on communities, of providing community-based employment opportunities to the long-term unemployed. This report presents the basic design of the project, its implementation in the field, and early observations of implementation issues."
Complete report:
The Community Employment Innovation Project:
Design and Implementation (PDF file - 1.1MB, 232 pages)

Who benefits from unemployment insurance in Canada : Regions, industries or individual firms?
- The Earnings Supplement Project (PDF file - 34 pages)
November 2003

SRDC Publishes the Final Report on the Self-Sufficiency Project:
Can Work Incentives Pay for Themselves? Final Report on the Self-Sufficiency Project for Welfare Applicants
October 7, 2003
This report presents the final findings from the Self-Sufficiency Project's Applicant study. It describes the impacts of an earnings supplement on the employment, earnings, income, and welfare receipt of new income assistance applicants through the six years since they were randomly assigned to the study.
Complete report (PDF file - 961K, 164 pages)

Learning What Works (SRDC newsletter) - (PDF file - 1439K, 13 pages)
Fall 2003 issue
- incl. the following articles: Can Work Incentives Pay for Themselves? - Why Should Seasonal Work Be Excluded From EI Coverage? - A Feasible Way to Deliver Supports to People With Disabilities - Final Call for Research Papers Using the Complete Data From the Self-Sufficiency Project - Bulletin Board.

Assessing the Impact of Non-response on the Treatment Effect in the Canadian Self-Sufficiency Project (PDF file - 274K, 44 pages)
October 2003
"... investigates whether there is a bias in the measurement of the Self-Sufficiency Project treatment effect because up to 20 per cent of the intended sample did not agree to take part."

Equilibrium Policy Experiments and the Evaluation of Social Programs (PDF file - 386K, 72 pages)
October 2003
"...presents a model for evaluating equilibrium policy experiments, and illustrates the usefulness of this model as a tool for assessing the impact of social programs by using it to evaluate the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP). SSP’s reports to date have been subject only to partial equilibrium experimental evaluations."

The Disability Supports Feasibility Study: Final Report (PDF file - 460K, 112 pages)
June 2003
"The Disability Supports Feasibility Study (DSFS) pilot project provided supports to unemployed people with disabilities to help them find work and keep working. Unlike many support programs, DSFS did not assess an individual’s need for a particular support. Instead, people with disabilities could purchase any support they wanted from a list of eligible supports (up to a monthly maximum expenditure). (...) The study concluded that it was feasible to operate a DSFS-type program offering disability and employment supports."

Learning What Works — Volume 3, Number 1 - Winter 2003 (PDF file - 220K, 15 pages)
- incl. What Happens When a Temporary Earnings Supplement Is Withdrawn? The effect of the “cliff” on SSP participants - Program Participants Say Thank You SSP! - Preparing for Tomorrow's Social Policy Agenda

Do Earnings Subsidies Affect Job Choice?
The Impact of SSP Supplement Payments on Wage Growth (PDF file - 659K, 50 pages)
January 2003
"This working paper asks whether wage or earnings supplement programs encourage participants to move into jobs with greater wage growth or to change jobs more often in order to raise their wages, and provides an analytical model that identifies the key causal links between earnings subsidies and wage growth. The paper then applies this analytical model to data obtained from the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP) to see if the SSP data is consistent with what would be predicted from the model."

Preparing for Tomorrow's Social Policy Agenda : New Priorities for Policy Research and Development
That Emerge From an Examination of the Economic Well-Being of the Working-Age Population - (PDF file - 1000K, 176 pages)
by Peter Hicks
November 2002
"In this working paper, author Peter Hicks lays out how Canada’s working population will change in the next five years and offers a variety of directions policy-makers might take to manage those changes. The paper is intended to identify the topics that are likely to be on the policy agenda in this time frame and to propose policy development work that could begin now in order to prepare for such an agenda. While the paper is primarily about policies that support the economic well-being of working-age people in the medium-term time frame, a broad definition of social policy and longer view are discussed."

In the author's own words: "I attempt to identify the main pressures that are likely to drive social policy over the next 5 to 10 years (including different scenarios) and to examine the new policy responses that will likely be needed. The paper also looks back and tries to situate today's social policy agenda in the context of recent trends in economic well-being."

Impact of the Allowable Earnings Provision on EI Dependency: The Earnings Supplement Project
November 2002
by David Gray and Shawn de Raaf
"...provides an in-depth analysis of the way in which Employment Insurance (EI) claimants combine the receipt of EI benefits with work"

Learning What Works — newsletter (PDF file - 162K, 11 pages)
(Fall 2002)
- incl. Leaving Welfare for a Job - new research on the kinds of jobs SSP participants take after they leave welfare

Learning What Works : Evidence from SRDC's Social Experiments and Research (PDF file - 165K, 13 pages)
Newsletter
Spring 2002
- includes a five-page article entitled The Self-Sufficiency Project After 54 Months ("New Report Provides a Wealth of Policy Insight and Knowledge")

When Financial Incentives Pay for Themselves: Interim Findings From the Self-Sufficiency Project’s Applicant Study
(November 2001)
This report provides an update to the SPP applicant study, describing the effects of SSP on applicants’ employment, earnings, income, and use of income assistance 48 months after participants entered the study.
Full report (PDF file - 285K, 66 pages)

SRDC releases 36-month results from the Self-Sufficiency Project
Press Release
August 15, 2000
Program to Encourage Work for Long-Term Welfare Recipients Continues to Hold Promise

When Financial Incentives Encourage Work:
Complete 18-Month Findings from the Self-Sufficiency Project
Social Research and Demonstration Corporation
September 1998
- "When tied to a substantial work requirement, financial incentives can help address three often conflicting goals of welfare reform: to increase work effort, to reduce poverty, and to reduce welfare dependence. Financial incentives are not a quick fix, though, and can cost money in the short run, but the increased cost of financial incentives buys a substantial improvement in well-being."

Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (ICURR)
Canada's Local Government Information Centre
The Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (ICURR) provides a unique and comprehensive database and lending library on local government. Municipal and other public sector employees, planners, consultants and academics regularly use ICURR's extensive information resources. The research and publication program represents a vital element in the analysis of economic, environmental and planning issues confronting local governments throughout Canada.

Federation of Canadian Municipalities - Fédération des municipalités canadiennes
"...the national voice of municipal governments, dedicated to improving the quality of life in all communities by promoting strong, effective and accountable municipal government."

Related links:
- Go to the Municipalities Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/municipal.htm

Council for Canadian Unity
The Council for Canadian Unity was founded in 1964 with a mandate to "conduct research and studies for the purpose of educating and informing all persons generally in Canada in a better understanding of the legal and fiscal structures and the cultural and political nature of Canada, its provinces and its other civic and government bodies; and to promulgate the findings and results of such studies and research through public assemblies, literature and other means of communication throughout the whole of Canada."

The Centre for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC)
The Centre for Research and Information on Canada (CRIC), established in 1996, manages the Council for Canadian Unity (CCU) research and communications activities. It keeps volunteers abreast of Canadians' thinking by constantly tracking and analyzing public opinion about the federation.
Check out the Quick guide for links toa plethora of issues

policy.ca
policy.ca is a non-partisan resource for analysts, advocates, journalists and citizens.
Our mission is to gather, organize, and communicate information about a wide range of policy issues from a variety of perspectives in one location.
Covers the following policy areas : Defense - Education - Environment - Family Policy - Fiscal Policy - Foreign Affairs - Forest Policy - General Policy - Government Reform - Health Policy - Labour - Tax Policy - Social Policy

The Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy (CRISP) is a multi-disciplinary research organization based at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Fredericton. CRISP is dedicated to improving the effectiveness of social policy in Canada, to help Canadian communities provide better education and care for their children, and to contribute to capacity-building efforts in developing countries.

Policy Research Initiative (PRI)
"The Policy Research Initiative's core mandate is to advance research on emerging horizontal issues that are highly relevant to the federal government's medium-term policy agenda, and to ensure the effective transfer of this knowledge to policy-makers. The PRI mandate extends to two ancillary objectives: to contribute to the strengthening of the federal government's policy research capacity, and, to create an infrastructure that fosters collaboration on horizontal policy research."
- incl. links to: About The PRI - Research Projects - Capacity Building - Community Infrastructure - Publications - Events - Environment and Trade Symposium

Research Projects
The PRI is currently running five horizontal research projects:
[NOTE: each of the projects below has its own publications list; also, at the bottom of the brief description of each project, you'll find a link to more information, some of it quite detailed.]
Population Aging and Life-Course Flexibility
New Approaches for Addressing Poverty and Exclusion
Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool
North American Linkages - incl. four inter-related research projects: International Regulatory Co-operation - Moving Toward a Customs Union - Cross-Border Regions - North American Labour Mobility
Sustainable Development

Sample content from the PRI site:

Horizons - April 2006 issue : Work and Life Balance (PDF file - 553K, 60 pages)
Volume 8 - Number 3
This issue of Horizons explores the topic of work-life balance and its related consequences. While a few of the articles address work-life balance directly, many also speak to some of the fundamental causes and outcomes of the time-stress numerous Canadians feel.
Table of contents:
*Work-Life Balance in an Aging Population * Time-Related Stress: Incidence and Risk Factors * Self-Employed Women’s Work-Life Imbalance: An Urgent Need for Policy Response * Gender Models for Family and Work * Informal Caregivers: Balancing Work and Life Responsibilities * Policy Implications of Delayed Reproduction and Low Fertility Rates * Equality of Opportunity and Inequality Across the Generations: Challenges Ahead * Changing Nature of the Family * Lifetime Labour Force Transitions

Source:
Policy Research Initiative

Related Links:
- go to the Work-Life Balance Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/work_life_balance.htm

Horizons - Social Economy
February 2006 Issue
Volume 8 Number 2
- incl. links to : Introduction - Feature Articles - Eyewitness Reports - Book Reviews - Data for Policy Research - Bookmarks - Population Aging and Life-Course Flexibility Project - PRI Horizons Team
HTML version - table of contents with links to individual sections
PDF version - complete issue - 659K, 74 pages

Sample content from this issue:
(use either of the two links above to access all of this content and more)

Social Economy: Entrepreneurial Spirit in Community Service
The Government of Canada and the Social Economy
The Social Economy in Canada: Concepts, Data and Measurement
The Social Purchasing Portal: A Tool to Blend Values
The Role of Government in Supporting the Social Economy
International Conference on Engaging Communities
Co-operative Membership and Globalization (Book review)
An Analysis of Social Capital and Health Using a Network Approach: Findings and Limitations
Aboriginal Policy Research Conference 2006 (Bookmark)
Population aging and life-course flexibility project of PRI
More --- click the link above for links to two dozen articles, reviews, etc.

Source:
Policy Research Initiative (PRI)
"The PRI, while conducting independent policy research projects, is attached to the Privy Council Office through the Plans and Consultation Branch. The PRI currently has five horizontal research projects: Population Aging and Life-course Flexibility * New Approaches for Addressing Poverty and Exclusion * Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool * North American Linkages * Sustainable Development (Freshwater Management)."

------------------------------------------------------

Encouraging Choice in Work and Retirement
Project Report (1.1MB, 57 pages)
October 2005
"This report evaluates the extent of the economic risk to society posed by population aging and specifically the baby boom retirement. It emphasizes the need to maintain a healthy economy and fiscal prudence, while still respecting the opportunity and need for people to exercise choice in the best interests of their families, society, and themselves."

Source:
Population Aging and Life-course Flexibility
[ Policy Research Initiative - PRI ]

Research Projects
The PRI is currently running five horizontal research projects:
* Population Aging and Life-Course Flexibility
* New Approaches for Addressing Poverty and Exclusion
* Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool
* North American Linkages, and
* Sustainable Development
NOTE: on the Research Projects page, you can click on each of the project names to read a brief description of the project and, in the small box right next to the title, a link to PRI publications for that particular project.

Other recent PRI publications - PRI released a number of reports in September on the following topics:
Measurement of Social Capital - Briefing Notes on Sustainable Development - Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool Project Report - Social Capital: A Tool for Public Policy (Briefing Note)

Working Paper Series
"...ongoing analytical work developed in relation to the PRI's horizontal projects"
- covers nine working papers, including two on poverty and exclusion written by staff of Social Development Canada on poverty and exclusion
("What Does It Mean to Be Poor and Working?" and "The Other Face of Working Poverty")
NOTE: all links on the working paper page point only to abstracts of the papers; in order to obtain an actual copy of a particular paper, there's a form that you must complete and send to PRI. Because of some red asterisks on that form, it looks like you're required to divulge personal information (name, org, job title) as well as your e-mail address. Then you wait (&*%$) until someone at PRI receives, reads and responds to your request, i.e., presumably by sending you a reply with a copy of the requested paper attached. If you want two or three of the working papers, prepare to repeat the process two or three times.
This sucks.

Policy Research Initiative Update - Autumn 2004 (PDF file - 1MB, 12 pages)
September 15, 2004
Core Research Projects:
- New Approaches for Addressing Poverty and Exclusion
- Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool
- Population Aging and Life-Course Flexibility
- Sustainable Development
- North American Linkages
Other Research Activities: Genomics - PRI-Social Science and Humanities Research Council Roundtable Series - Policy Research Conference: Exploring New Approaches to Social Policy (Dec/04) - Policy Research Data Group/Data Gaps Initiative - Policy Research Development Program
Source:
Policy Research Initiative

---------------------------------------------------------------

Horizons - newsletter of the PRI
Check this page out for links to seven complete issues of the newsletter from back to July 2002, covering a range of themes like social sohesion, cities, aging, knowledge transfer, etc.
For each issue of Horizons, you'll find a link to the PDF file and a link to "Featured Sites" (sites that are mentioned or related to the articles in each issue)

Sample issue:

North American Linkages - June 2004
"This issue examines some of the challenges the Government of Canada is facing in its management of our multi-faceted relations with the United States. Like Ulysses, who had to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis on the return from Troy to Ithacus, Canada has to steer certain public policies between twin perils, pursuing a balance between the risk of being engulfed by its giant neighbour, as a possible result of ill-considered integration, and the risk of losing important economic benefits if it steers away from North American integration."
Featured authors : André Downs (Policy Research Initiative) - David Griller (SECOR Consulting) - Madanmohan Ghosh and Someshwar Rao (Industry Canada) - Shenjie Chen and John M. Curtis (International Trade Canada)

Frontier Centre for Public Policy (Winnipeg)
"The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent public policy think tank whose mission is "to broaden the debate on our future through public policy research and education and to explore positive changes within our public institutions that support economic growth and opportunity."

International Development Research Centre
"IDRC is a Canadian public corporation that works in close collaboration with researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies."

See also Selected Canadian Social Research Organizations I
Go to  Non-Governmental Organizations
Go to Ontario NGOs and Municipalities
Go to Other Countries for international groups
Go to Union Pages

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