In Federalism, Democracy and Labour Market Policy in Canada the authors provide comprehensive assessments of the current state of governance within the areas of income support for the unemployed, active labour market measures, and youth policy. The analysis focuses on how the current state of governance reflects a combined commitment to specific social policy goals, principles of federalism, and democratic oversight of the policy making process.;This volume sheds new light on the complex nature of the intergovernmental regimes governing labour market policy. It makes recommendations concerning how different governance structures might better serve both Canadians and the federation.
In recent years job training programs have suffered severe funding cuts and the focus of training programs has shifted to meet the directives of funders rather than the needs of the community. How do these changes to job training affect disadvantaged workers and the unemployed? In an insightful and comprehensive discussion of job education in Canada, Cohen and her contributors pool findings from a five-year collaborative study of training programs. Good training programs, they argue, are essential in providing people who are chronically disadvantaged in the workplace with tools to acquire more secure, better-paying jobs. In the ongoing shift toward a neo-liberal economic model, government policies have engendered a growing reliance on private and market-based training schemes. These new training policies have undermined equity. In an attempt to redress social inequities in the workplace, the authors examine various kinds of training programs and recommend specific policy initiatives to improve access to these programs. This book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and students interested in policy, work, equity, gender and education.
This report looks at a range of local employment and economic development issues in Saskatchewan and the Yukon, Canada, with a focus on indigenous peoples.
Current tensions in intergovernmental fiscal arrangements are thus important impediment to improving the health care system. At the same time, the failure of provinces to correct health care problems acts a serious irritant in intergovernmental relations, creating a vicious cycle where deficiencies in intergovernmental fiscal relations make health care reform difficult while failures to effect health care reform increase conflict between the provinces and the federal government. This collection of essays analyses key issues in federal-provincial health care relations, particularly the fiscal component. The authors look at why there is a role for the federal government in health care and consider the critical issues in recent intergovernmental political battles over this role. The issues of whether the vertical federal-provincial fiscal imbalance is myth or reality, how much the federal government does and should contribute financially to provincial health care programs, and methods for settling disputes, such as those over user fees, are discussed. The authors also provide concrete proposals for reconstructing the federal-provincial partnership. Contributors include Keith Banting (Queen's University), Robin Boadway (Queen's University), David Cameron (University of Toronto), Harvey Lazar, Jennifer McCrea-Logie, France St-Hilaire, and Jean-François Tremblay.
Since the inception and design of Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) program, the Canadian economy and labour market have undergone dramatic changes. It is clear that EI has not kept pace with those changes, and experts and advocates agree that the program is no longer effective or equitable. Making EI Work is the result of a panel of distinguished scholars gathered by the Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, and future directions of EI. The authors identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system, and consider how it could be improved to better and more fairly support those in need. They make suggestions for facilitating a more efficient Canadian labour market, and meeting the human capital requirements of a dynamic economy for the present and the foreseeable future. The chapters that comprise Making EI Work informed the task force's final recommendations, and form an engaging dialogue that makes the case for, and defines the parameters of, a reformed support system for Canada's unemployed. Contributors include Ken Battle (Caledon Institute of Social Policy), Robin Boadway (Queen's University), Allison Bramwell (University of Toronto), Sujit Choudhry (New York University School of Law), Kathleen M. Day (University of Ottawa), Ross Finnie (University of Ottawa), Jean-Denis Garon (Queen's University), David Gray (University of Ottawa), Morley Gunderson (University of Toronto), Ian Irvine (Concordia University), Stephen Jones (McMaster University), Thomas R. Klassen (York University), Michael Mendelson (Caledon Institute of Social Policy), Alain Noël (Université de Montréal), Michael Pal (University of Toronto Faculty of Law), W. Craig Riddell (University of British Columbia), William Scarth (McMaster University), Luc Turgeon (University of Ottawa), Leah F. Vosko (York University), Stanley L. Winer (Carleton University), Donna E. Wood (University of Victoria), and Yan Zhang (Statistics Canada).