Issues

Policy Wiki Featured Issue #4: Canada's Policy on Immigration

The Issue

Canada is a nation of immigrants. Apart from Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, we all either came to Canada from another country or we are descended from ancestors who did so, whether years, decades or centuries ago.

Canada now possesses the highest level of immigration on a per capita basis of any country in the world (an average of 7 migrants per 1,000 population every year).

There is near consensus that the immigration system – from the point system to refugee policy to settlement programs - needs to be fixed.

Get more information:

To find out more about Canada’s immigration system, read Dr. Myer Siemiatycki’s “Canadian Immigration Policy: What Next?” (Siemiatycki Analysis) and also the background material on our resources page (Resources). You can also read:

1) An analysis and proposals by Ratna Omidvar (Omidvar Analysis), President of the Maytree Foundation.

2) An analysis and proposal by Daniel Stoffman (Stoffman Analysis), author of the award-winning Who Gets In: What’s Wrong with Canada’s Immigration Program and How to Fix It.

3) An analysis and proposal by Rudyard Griffiths (Griffiths Analysis), co-founder of the Dominion Institute and author of Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto.

Once you have familiarized yourself with the issues, you can go through the briefing notes we've collected List of Positions and either vote on them, post a comment, edit an existing note or create your own using the built-in wiki tools, or write about it on one of your writing jobs. Be sure to abide by the Policy Note Guidelines and also the Code of Conduct.

For more, see the Immigration page.

Policy Wiki Featured Issue #3: Canada and Climate Change

The Issue

While most minds are currently focused on the economic crisis, a climate change crisis continues to loom. A recent poll by the Dominion Institute shows that Canadians are concerned: according to the survey, 59% of Canadians are more concerned about climate change than they were last year, in spite of the economic crisis.

It seems obvious that action is needed by the government. For all the talk about climate change from politicians of every stripe, the results remain lacklustre. Canada ratified the Kyoto Treaty in 2002, but even today our emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise rather than fall. In December of this year, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen to develop the post-Kyoto framework.


Get more information:

To find out more about Canada and climate change, read Mark Jaccard’s “Canadian Climate Policy: the Past, the Present and the Future” (Jaccard Overview), and also the background material on our resources page (Resources). You can also read:

1) An analysis and proposal by Dr. David Suzuki, co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, as well as an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster (Suzuki Analysis)

2) An analysis and proposal by Ian Morton, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Summerhill Group (Morton Analysis)


Once you have familiarized yourself with the issues, you can go through the briefing notes we've collected (List of Positions) and either vote on them, post a comment, edit an existing note or create your own using the built-in wiki tools. Be sure to abide by the Policy Note Guidelines and also the Code of Conduct.

For more, see the Climate Change page.

Public Policy Wiki featured issue #2: Canada's Policy on Afghanistan

The Issue

What is Canada’s role in the world? No single issue has raised this question so pointedly in recent years as our role in Afghanistan.

Many wonder what is a nation of peacekeepers is doing in a country where there is no peace to keep. Over 100 soldiers have died in the fight against Taliban insurgents, mostly in the dangerous Kandahar province.

Canada is not in Afghanistan on its own; we are there at the request of the Afghan government as part of a mission sanctioned by the United Nations. Some of Canada’s allies, such as the Netherlands, are trying to end their military presence, while President Obama has signalled that American military strength will increase.

Our presence in Afghanistan is not only as a military. Canada’s role in Afghanistan is described as defence, development and diplomacy. Canadians have helped improve education, infrastructure, health care and governance, but Afghanistan continues to rank among the world’s least developed countries.

To find out more about Canada’s role in Afghanistan since 2001, read Janice Stein’s “How Canada's Forces Went to Afghanistan” (Stein Analysis), and for one informed opinion about how Canada should approach the situation, read the overview and analysis from retired Major General Lewis Mackenzie, the former head of the UN effort in both Sarajevo and central America (Mackenzie Analysis).

Once you have read these experts opinions, as well as the links to research papers, news stories, opinion pieces and other information on the Resources page, you can either vote for the expert view you support, post your comments in a forum, edit one of the existing "briefing notes" we have prepared with specific policy proposals List of Positions or create your own briefing note based on our Policy Note Guidelines and our Code of Conduct.

For more background, see the Afghanistan page.

Public Policy Wiki featured issue #1: The Federal Budget

The Issue

As most people are well aware, Canada does not exist in a bubble. The Canadian economy has been gravely affected by the current global economic crisis. The past few months have witnessed a severe economic slowdown marked by a credit crunch, reduced consumer confidence, increased unemployment, deflationary pressures, falling stock values and once-unthinkable government deficits. That we are now in a recession is generally accepted, some even say that we are at the start of a depression.

Get more information: To find out more about the causes of Canada’s current economic predicament, read Prof. Tony Frost’s background/overview paper, “How the Crisis Developed" (Frost Overview), and also the background material on our resources page (Resources). You can also read:

1) The analysis and proposal by Don Drummond, chief economist of the TD Bank (Drummond Analysis)

2) The analysis and proposal by Jim Stanford, an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers (Stanford Analysis)


And then you can go through the briefing notes that we've collected (budget briefing notes and invited author briefing notes) and either vote on them, post a comment, edit an existing note or create your own using the built-in wiki tools. Be sure to abide by the (Policy Note Guidelines) and also the Wiki (Code of Conduct).

Previous Issues

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The Budget?

Afghanistan