Le gouvernement fédéral a dévoilé le 29 mars son plan très attendu de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES). Le plan détaille entre autres comment le Canada prévoit atteindre son objectif de générer 40 % moins de GES en 2030 par rapport à 2005.

Pour parler de ce projet complexe et certainement ambitieux, le directeur du Centre d’excellence sur la fédération canadienne de l’IRPP Charles Breton s’est entretenu avec celui qui aura la mission d’en assurer la mise en œuvre, le ministre de l’Environnement et du Changement climatique M. Steven Guilbeault.

PO Podcast 143 - Le plan pour un air pur et une économie forte

In June 2022, we organized a special lecture at the McCord Museum in Montreal. This is a recording of the lecture Queen’s University Professor Emeritus Keith Banting and McGill University Professor Debra Thompson delivered.

They explore why Canada’s robust welfare state – which includes universal health care and myriad employment and training programs – as well as a race-neutral immigration selection system, official multiculturalism and the Charter have not been able to mitigate racial economic inequality.

PO Podcast 150 - The puzzling persistence of racial inequality in Canada

Tensions within a federation are a frequent, normal occurrence. In Canada, one only has to think about recurrent debates over health care funding to equalization payments.

But recently, Canadian federalism has been experiencing more tension than usual. Alberta’s new premier is proposing a Sovereignty Act, Saskatchewan’s premier expressed a desire for his province to be ‘a nation within a nation’, while Quebec’s government was handily reelected on a platform of strengthening provincial autonomy even further. 

How can a federation manage these tensions and adapt when faced with such challenges? What are the features of a robust federation? This episode of the podcast is a panel that returns to the fundamentals of federalism to answer these questions.

Moderated by Charles Breton, the director of the Centre for Excellence in the Canadian Federation, the discussion features two experts. Jenna Bednar is a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and a leading scholar of federalism. Our second guest, Benoit Pelletier is a professor of law at the University of Ottawa and a former cabinet minister of Quebec.

This episode was recorded during an online event held by the Canada School of Public Service and is the first installment of a partnership between the school and the IRPP’s Centre for Excellence. 

This episode of the podcast is bilingual, with speakers shifting between English and French.

PO Podcast 152 - Why federalism matters

What does it mean to be a status Indian in Canada? Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii), a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, answered this seemingly straightforward question in his keynote speech at our 50th anniversary gala. Explaining the processes of losing and gaining status in his family and the policies made to disempower Indigenous people over the last century, Sanderson paints a powerful portrait of how public policy shaped his life and that of Indigenous people across this land.  

Sanderson’s words are followed by a stirring poetry performance from Greg Frankson (aka Ritallin), a leading Black Canadian poet and editor of AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets (2022). Frankson’s work in this selection continue the theme of inequality. 

This episode of the podcast is a recording of Douglas Sanderson’s keynote speech and Greg Frankson’s poetry from November 23, 2022 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

PO Podcast 155 - Public policy in Canada from an Indigenous perspective

Building and maintaining infrastructure requires lots of funds, and often, it’s not clear who will be responsible. It’s a classic problem in federalism: who will fund what?   

This episode of the podcast explores how the structural characteristics of federalism impact Canada’s economic development and infrastructure. We’ll look at topics like the funding of infrastructure, how to manage regional competitiveness, and the legal and social frameworks that facilitate coordination between the federal and provincial governments.  

Moderated by Hugo Cyr, Director General at Ecole Nationale D’administration Publique (ENAP), the conversation features Herb Emery, Vaughan Chair of Regional Economics at the University of New Brunswick, and Alison O’Leary, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Communities and Infrastructure. 

This episode was recorded during an online event held by the Canada School of Public Service and is the third installment of a partnership between the school and the IRPP’s Centre for Excellence. 

This episode of the podcast is bilingual, with speakers shifting between English and French.

PO Podcast 156 - Building the Federation: Infrastructure within Federalism

This episode of the podcast explores how federalism interacts with Indigenous governance. Moderated by Danielle White, Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy and Partnerships and ISC Evaluation, the conversation features Darcy Gray, Former Chief of Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation, Catherine MacQuarrie, Fellow at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy & Administration, and Martin Papillon, Professor of the University of Montreal.

It starts with a brief history of how Indigenous people and their governance structures have fit within Canadian federalism and how this relationship has evolved. We discuss the role of public servants in policy impacting Indigenous Peoples and the lived experiences of Indigenous leaders having to navigate relationships with other orders of government.

This episode was recorded during an online event held by the Canada School of Public Service and is the fourth instalment of a partnership between the school and the IRPP’s Centre for Excellence.

PO Podcast 158 - Federalism Structures and Relationships with Indigenous Peoples

How do municipalities fit into Canada’s federal structure? How do cities manage policy aims with limited revenue-raising powers.  On this episode of the podcast, we explore the relationship between municipal and federal, provincial and territorial governments.
 
Moderated by Tomas Hachard, independent researcher, author and former manager programmes and research for the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG), our conversation on municipalities features Enid Slack, Director at IMFG, and Kennedy Stewart, Director at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Public Policy Research and the former mayor of Vancouver.

PO Podcast 159 - The Role of Municipalities in Federalism

In this episode, our series on federalism turns to one of the most contentious issues in Canada these days: healthcare.  

We go back to first principles to understand how federalism influences the way we approach healthcare in Canada. We also ask what makes an effective healthcare system? And how does federalism complicate or help that dynamic? What are the different roles of each level of government and the stakeholders they interact with? And how do they work or don’t?  

Our expert guests are Katherine Fierlbeck, McCullough Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University, and Chaim Bell, Physician-in-Chief at Sinai Health and Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. 

This episode was recorded during an online event held by the Canada School of Public Service and is the sixth and final installment of a partnership between the school and the IRPP’s Centre for Excellence.

PO Podcast 160 - Health Care and Federalism

Various orders of government and institutions like universities develop policies for disabled people. How often are disabled people brought into the process of policymaking?

In this episode of In/Equality, host Debra Thompson speaks with Michael Orsini, a Professor of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa and a critical disability scholar. The conversation begins with an an understanding of what policies impact disabled people? How are disabled people made invisible in the making of these policies? How does autism force us to rethink assumptions about disability and diversity? And how can we reconceptualize policy to move toward disability justice? Tune in for answers to these questions and more.

Inequality and Disability Justice, with Michael Orsini - In/Equality 06

Discussions around climate change sometimes portray the climate crisis as a phenomenon that impacts all people equally. But this framing neglects the fact that accelerating climate change disproportionately affects marginalized and vulnerable communities, in particular Black and Indigenous communities, in Canada and on a global scale.
In this episode of In/Equality, host Debra Thompson speaks with Ingrid Waldron, HOPE Chair in Peace and Health in the Global Peace and Social Justice Program in the Faculty of Humanities at McMaster University. The conversation delves into a variety of topics related to the intersection between systemic racism and the climate crisis. What consequences does the concentration of toxic industries and environmentally hazardous projects in racialized communities have for the inhabitants of these communities? What obstacles do these communities face in trying to fight back against environmental racism? How are public policy decisions complicit in the perpetuation of environmental racism? Tune in for answers to these questions and more.

Inequality and Environmental Racism, with Ingrid Waldron - In/Equality 08

Following the 2020 uprisings after the murder of George Floyd, many institutions committed to major changes to address systemic racism. In response to this mass movement for racial justice, a suite of policies and initiatives were announced to address the historical legacy and ongoing impact of anti-Black racism.

In this episode of In/Equality, host Debra Thompson speaks with Craig Wellington, Executive Director of the Black Opportunity Fund and an experienced non-profit leader. This discussion takes stock of what has, and what has not, changed since 2020. What are the limitations of equity, diversity and inclusion programs? How can policies and institutions create avenues for eradicating the wealth gap that keeps Black Canadians from achieving prosperity? Tune in for answers to these questions and more.

Inequality and Anti-Black Racism, with Craig Wellington - In/Equality 13

Well over a decade after the Occupy Wall Street protests, costs of living are still dramatically outpacing wages. The gap between the 99% and the 1% is wider than ever. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, but why?

In this episode of In/Equality, host Debra Thompson speaks with John Peters, Associate Professor and Research Fellow at the Inter-University Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) at the Université de Montréal. Peters is also the author of Jobs with Inequality: Financialization, Post-Democracy, and Labour Market Deregulation in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022). This wide-ranging conversation explores the root causes of rising income inequality in Canada and considers what policy measures can be enacted to change this situation for the better.

Financial Inequality, with John Peters - In/Equality 14

Social inequalities have shown no sign of receding in Canada or worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the persistence of deep-seated inequalities along racialized and gendered lines. Meanwhile, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice has called into question the weight that power and privilege continue to hold in our society. 

Although policymakers continue to attempt to address the many dimensions of inequality, economic, racial and gendered disparities remain. Worse yet, public policy decisions have, in many cases, been complicit in the perpetuation of social inequalities.  

This in-person conversation between Debra Thompson, associate professor of political science at McGill University and the host of the IRPP’s In/Equality podcast, and Joe Soss, the Cowles Chair for the Study of Public Service at the University of Minnesota, addressed these concerns head-on, considering the intersection of public policy and social inequality.

Social Inequality, with Joe Soss - In/Equality 15

It is undeniable that poverty and income inequality are two of Canada’s most pressing issues. But it is less clear what policy solutions need to be enacted to address these problems.

In response to these challenges, some policy practitioners have called for the implementation of an unconditional Basic Income that would be accessible to all Canadians. Bill S-233, An Act to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income, is a clear example of this response. Proponents of a Basic Income present the policy framework as a simple and direct response to poverty, on the grounds that sending people a cheque through the tax system seems efficient.

However, a host of researchers have called into question the underlying assumptions about the causes of poverty that proponents of a basic income take for granted. For instance, is basic income the best tool to achieve a just society? Could other social policies be put in place to achieve the desired outcome more holistically and efficiently? The book Basic Income and a Just Society, published last year by the IRPP, takes such an approach.

This conversation between IRPP CEO and President Jennifer Ditchburn and Senator Kim Pate – a sponsor of Bill S-233 – tackles these questions, which have been at the centre of the IRPP’s and Senator Pate’s work for years.

PO Podcast 165 - An Interview between Jennifer Ditchburn and Kim Pate

PO Podcast 166 - Climate Change in the North

Welcome to Demystifying Community Housing, a special series from the IRPP’s Policy Options Podcast, which explores the different facets of community housing and its role in addressing Canada’s housing crisis.

In this episode, we speak with Yushu Zhu and Meg Holden, professors of urban studies at Simon Fraser University, who are leading the production of this podcast series. Together we talk about their research on community housing, the reason they worked on this podcast and what listeners can expect.

SHOW NOTES
The production of the podcast series is led by Dr. Yushu Zhu and Dr. Meg Holden at Simon Fraser University as part of the Community Housing Canada project and the Housing Inequality in Canada project, with support from IRPP. Student researchers include Hanan Ali, Natasha Mhuriro, Pok Man Tong, and Khoa Vo. This podcast has been a dedicated collaboration, with production assistance by Cléa Desjardins, Ricardo Montrose, and Luc Moulaison at IRPP, and audio producer Jackie G. If you like what you heard and you want to know more about the Institute for Research on Public Policy, head over to https://irpp.org/.

Additional resources:
Community Housing Canada – Partners in Resilience: A research-practice partnership project aimed at increasing the sustainability and resiliency of the community housing sector. It is part of an independent, Canada-wide collaboration of academics and community partners: The Collaborative Housing Research Network (CHRN).

The neighbor spectrum in community housing: Pro-social, anti-social and asocial neighboring in Vancouver (Holden et al., 2024): This journal article presents focus group research with community housing residents in Vancouver, Canada, investigating the role, activities, and importance of neighboring to these individuals living in vulnerable situations. A commentary based on this research is published The Conversation: Higher density living is changing the way neighbouring works in Canada.

Housing vulnerability and well-being in the COVID-19 pandemic (Zhu et al., 2022): Drawing on a representative sample survey of B.C. adult residents, this report examines different aspects of housing situations and factors that may increase housing vulnerability or resilience during the pandemic.

Housing Vulnerability Reconsidered: Applications and Implications for Housing Research, Policy and Practice (Zhu et al., 2024): A special issue published at Housing, Theory and Society (academic journal). This issue presents research into what housing vulnerability means in different world regions, what structures and systems may be driving it, and the variety of experiences of housing vulnerability.

Funding:
This podcast series receives funding from the Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant for The Community Housing project [430-2021-00887] and the Insight Development Grant for the Housing Inequality project [890-2018-1013].

Welcome to Demystifying Community Housing

In this episode of Demystifying Community Housing, co-hosts Hanan Ali and Natasha Mhuriro speak with Rebecca Schiff, dean of the Faculty of Human Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia; Ray Sullivan, executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association; and David Hulchanski, a professor in the Faculty of Social Work and the Graduate Program in Planning in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto. Together they discuss what community housing means, who it serves or should serve, and how to pave the path forward for resilient community housing.

SHOW NOTES
The production of the podcast series is led by Dr. Yushu Zhu and Dr. Meg Holden at Simon Fraser University as part of the Community Housing Canada project and the Housing Inequality in Canada project, in partnership with IRPP. Student researchers include Hanan Ali, Natasha Mhuriro, Pok Man Tong, and Khoa Vo. This podcast has received production support and assistance from Cléa Desjardins, Ricardo Montrose and Luc Moulaison at IRPP, and audio producer Jackie G. If you like what you heard and you want to know more about the Institute for Research on Public Policy, head over to https://irpp.org/.

Additional resources:
Where Are All My Relations? Stories of Indigenous Homelessness in B.C. is an eleven-episode series that explores Indigenous homelessness rooted in Indigenous worldviews and experiences. The documentary can be viewed via Indigenous-led Solutions to Indigenous Homelessness — Lu’ma Group of Companies (lnhs.ca). This film was funded by the Province of BC. The videos were produced by Little Bird Media, an Indigenous-led firm based in Vernon, B.C., including Lu’ma Native Housing Society. The project was stewarded by leaders from various Indigenous organizations. The documentary is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND license.

PUSH (2019), a documentary film investigating housing financialization
Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) at the University of British Columbia

Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC) at McMaster University
At Home in the North, partnership project for Northern housing security and homes

Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership based at the University of Toronto

Canadian Housing Renewal Association (CHRA) Economic Study: The Impact of Community Housing on Productivity

Hey Neighbour Collective (HNC) on community-building, social connectedness, and resilience in B.C.’s multi-unit housing communities.

Funding:
This podcast series receives funding from the Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant for The Community Housing project [430-2021-00887] and the Insight Development Grant for the Housing Inequality project [890-2018-1013].

What is Community Housing? - Demystifying Community Housing 01

In this episode of Demystifying Community Housing we hear from AnaLori Smith, Pam Gill and Rita Wong about what it’s like to live in community housing. We’ll also talk to non-profit housing practitioners Marika Albert and William Azaroff about the challenges of operating community housing and supporting the well-being of their tenants.

Life in Community Housing - Demystifying Community Housing 02

In this episode of Demystifying Community Housing, Hanan Ali and Natasha speak with Damian Collins, Professor of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta and Director of the Community Housing Canada Research Partnership, Marika Albert, the Policy Director of B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association and Alex Hemingway a Senior Economist and Public Finance Policy Analyst at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative’s B.C. Office. Together, they discuss what roles community housing can play in addressing the housing crisis, particularly in supporting tenant well-being, as Canada’s housing crisis wears on.

Additional resources:
•	Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, established under the National Housing Strategy
•	The Globe and Mail’s housing section covers the full spectrum of housing issues from a wide variety of perspectives and communities across Canada
•	Stories About Here, a CBC Gem and Youtube documentary
•	The Non-Capitalist Solution to the Housing Crisis, a video from Uytae Lee’s popular urbanist Youtube channel: About Here
•	Opening Doors: Unlocking Housing Supply for Affordability, final report of the Canada-British Columbia Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability

Funding:
This podcast series receives funding from the Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant for The Community Housing project [430-2021-00887] and the Insight Development Grant for the Housing Inequality project [890-2018-1013].

Why Do We Need Community Housing? - Demystifying Community Housing 03

In this episode of Demystifying Community Housing, we hear from Alex Hemingway, Christina Maes Nino and Steve Pomeroy, on the various challenges facing the community housing sector and how to bolster its resilience.

Additional resources:
•	Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC), a network of more than 30 academics and more than 50 practice partners representing policymakers, housing providers and equity-seeking groups, to accelerate evidence-based solutions that advance Canada’s National Housing Strategy 
•	Business Transformation: Promising Practices for Social and Affordable Housing in Canada. 2015. Published by Housing Partnership Canada.
•	The Community Housing Transformation Centre, a network of organizations that represent and serve the needs of Canada’s community housing sector. The centre provides access to tools, financial resources and best practices to support the growth, transformation and resilience of community housing.

Funding:
This podcast series receives funding from the Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant for The Community Housing project [430-2021-00887] and the Insight Development Grant for the Housing Inequality project [890-2018-1013].

Resilience and Challenges of the Community Housing Sector - Demystifying Community Housing 04

On this last episode in this series, our co-hosts Hanan Ali and Natasha Mhuriro talked to four guests. Djaka Blais, Executive Director of Hogan’s Alley Society; Robert Byers, President & C-E-O of Namerind Housing Corporation; Joshua Evans, Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. and Franz Bernhardt, Postdoctoral Researcher at Aalborg University, Denmark.  

We spend time thinking about and imagining alternative models of community housing. How could or should Canada’s community housing sector look differently in the future? What are some good examples of innovative housing projects and practices from across the country – and around the world? What lessons can we learn?   

The production of the podcast series is led by Dr. Yushu Zhu and Dr. Meg Holden at Simon Fraser University as part of the Community Housing Canada project and the Housing Inequality in Canada project, in partnership with IRPP. Student researchers include Hanan Ali, Natasha Mhuriro, Pok Man Tong, and Khoa Vo. This podcast has been a dedicated collaboration, with production assistance by Ricardo Montrose, Cléa Desjardins and Luc Moulaison at IRPP, and audio producer Jackie G. Karen Sawatzky contributes to script editing for this episode. If you like what you heard and you want to know more about the Institute for Research on Public Policy, head over to https://irpp.org/. 

Additional resources: 

Hogen’s Alley Society - A Black-led non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the social, political, economic, and cultural well-being of people of African descent in Metro Vancouver. 

Namerind Housing Corporation - An Indigenous-led housing provider and social enterprise.  

Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA) - An umbrella organization composed of 41 Members that are each Indigenous Housing providers. The first Indigenous Housing Authority in Canada and only the second in the world. 

Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services - A non-profit housing provider with a focus on the Indigenous community. 

Housing Boom in Gateway Cities – Book written by David Ley, 2023. Utilising a comparative approach in five gateway cities, the author provides an understanding of the politics of booms, lifting the debate beyond narrow housing and real estate studies.  

Policy fact sheet: National Building Fund, Denmark. European Construction Sector Observatory. 2019. 

The resilience of social rental housing in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark: How institutions matter. Timothy Blackwell & Bo Bengtsson. Housing Studies. 2023. 38:2, 269-289.

The Future of Community Housing - Demystifying Community Housing 05

As a new U.S. administration keeps threatening to impose tariffs on Canadian exports, the IRPP hosted a panel discussion on how to address the intersecting affordability and climate crises.

Hosted in partnership with the Affordability Action Council, the panel featured Tyler Meredith, a former economic policy adviser to the Liberal government, Kathleen Monk, former director of communications to NDP leader Jack Layton, Karen Restoule, vice-president of Toronto-based Crestview Strategy and senior fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute and was moderated by Jennifer Ditchburn.

The panel focused on how to protect households from the rising cost of living, how to minimize the impacts of extreme weather events and how to keep affordable food on the table. This podcast is the audio from that discussion.

PO Podcast 168 - Affordability and Climate: Addressing Intertwined Challenges in Politics Today

This week, we’re once again brining you the audio from one of our most recent event. This time it’s from a webinar on Canada-U.S. relations that we held on March 5, 2025. 

The second Trump administration is turning into an unsettling roller-coaster ride, and Canadians can’t seem to get off. Every day seems to bring a new set of goalposts, demands and threats.  

In this webinar moderated by IRPP president and CEO Jennifer Ditchburn, IRPP Board members Jean Charest, Janice Charette, Ian Brodie and Christopher Sands unpacked the challenges facing Canadian governments in these tumultuous times and discussed what it will take to build economic and social resilience for the long haul.   

A video version of the event is also available on our website at irpp.org 

PO Podcast 169 - What is the strategic long game for Canada-U.S. relations?

In our first episode, Jennifer is joined by Ranj Pillai, Premier of Yukon, for a conversation about what it means to build economic resilience in the North.

Premier Pillai speaks about Yukon’s response to global tensions and economic uncertainty, emphasizing infrastructure investment to support major investments in critical mineral projects. He underscores the importance of long-term planning, strong partnerships with Indigenous peoples and maintaining Arctic sovereignty. And, with Yukon’s economy performing well, he also highlights the creation of the Canadian Institute for Arctic Security to counter foreign interference and strengthen defence in the North.

Ranj Pillai on Sovereignty and Strategy in the Arctic - Futureproofing Canada 01

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is an important industrial centre best known for its steel industry. But that industry is currently being threatened by the tariffs on steel and aluminium announced by the Trump administration.

Our guest today is Matthew Shoemaker, Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie. Mayor Shoemaker is lobbying hard across the border to change a situation he can't make any sense of, but he also has ideas for what Canadian governments can do to help the city weather the storm and come out even stronger.

Together we discuss the challenges posed by U.S. tariffs and global trade tensions. He outlines a vision for the city’s future that includes transitioning to greener steel production, expanding immigration to address labour needs, investing in infrastructure and greater support from federal and provincial partners.

Tariffs, Steel, and the Future of Canada's Economy, a Conversation with Matthew Shoemaker

Mitigating harm for sexual assault complainants, a Policy Options podcast. Over 90 percent of sexual assaults in Canada go unreported. According to law professor Elaine Craig, when sexual assault survivors do end up in court, the trials cause them further harm. Craig joined the podcast to discuss how sexual assault trials could be reformed to make the process less traumatic for those testifying.

Elaine Craig is the author of Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession (2018). She is an associate professor in the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.
 
Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

PO Podcast 55 – Mitigating harm for sexual assault complainants

In Canada, thousands of migrants are detained at any time, with up to one third of detainees in maximum and medium-security prisons despite most never having been charged with a crime. The recent Canada v. Chhina Supreme Court ruling allows detained migrants to access the remedy of habeas corpus so that, in appropriate cases, they can challenge the legality and conditions of their detention before a judge. However, critics like migration expert Sharry Aiken say it fails to address the underlying issues of how Canada sets the grounds for detention and the basis for release.

Migrant detention is actually a relatively new phenomenon in North America and, for the participants of the recent De-Carceral Futures conference at the Queen’s School of Law, it’s something we can and must do away with. We attended the conference to interview some of the scholars and activists who are working toward a world in which neither migrants nor citizens are incarcerated.

Download for free. New episodes every second Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @jbugiel.

PO Podcast 81 – Can we end migrant detention?

COVID-19 has been a death sentence for many Canadians living or working in long-term care. The scale of this loss is overwhelming, with over 80 percent of COVID deaths in Canada linked to nursing and retirement homes. 

This crisis brings to light what many have known for years: the system is broken, and society's most vulnerable are paying the price. Dr. Samir Sinha joins the podcast to make sense of this political and policy failure, and to call on all of us to act.

Dr. Sinha is the director of geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He’s also the director of health policy research at Ryerson University’s National Institute on Ageing.

COVID-19 tracker: https://ltc-covid19-tracker.ca/

Policy Options' series on Facing up to Canada’s Long-Term Care Policy Crisis: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2020/facing-up-to-canadas-long-term-care-policy-crisis/

Download for free. New episodes every other week. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @jbugiel.

PO Podcast 103 – Confronting the crisis in long-term care

Earlier in June, the Fair Deal Panel made public its final report to the Alberta government. The stated goal of the panel was to find ways to get Alberta a better deal in the federation, and promote the province’s economic interests along the way. 

In the recommendations, some of the items are now standard fare for Alberta politics, including the referendum on equalization promised by Premier Jason Kenney. Others, like establishing a provincial police force and withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan, not so much. 

This week on the podcast, we take a deep dive into the policy and politics of the Fair Deal Panel, and what they tell us about Alberta today, with Trevor Tombe and Melanee Thomas. 

Trevor Tombe is an associate professor of economics and a research fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy. He’s also the author of the IRPP paper, "An (Overdue) Review of Canada’s Fiscal Stabilization Program," which we discussed on an earlier podcast. 

Melanee Thomas is an associate professor of political science at the University of Calgary. She’s written several pieces for Policy Options, including one about separatist anger in Alberta and another about Jason Kenney’s focus on Quebec.

What’s the deal with fiscal stabilization?: https://options-po.li/2uXBzNk

An (Overdue) Review of Canada’s Fiscal Stabilization Program: https://on-irpp.org/38OBr1q

Jason Kenney’s case of Quebec envy: https://options-po.li/2KOTiLE

As Alberta’s anger deepens, it gets harder to turn off: https://options-po.li/311g0GG

PO Podcast 105 – A “Fair Deal” for Alberta?

Last Fall, Joyce Echaquan, an Indigenous woman, died in a Quebec hospital after posting videos online of the hospital staff insulting her. The tragedy was seen by many as the latest example of the systemic racism that Indigenous people often face when dealing with the Canadian health care system. 

It’s not the first time systemic racism in health care has made the news or has been denounced by the public or by government officials. And yet it often seems as if things are improving very slowly or not at all. Why is that? What are some of the elements blocking or slowing down change? Whose responsibility is it to find and implement possible solutions? 

To help us answer these questions and more, we’ve invited Dr. Alika Lafontaine to this week’s podcast. Alika Lafontaine is an Indigenous physician and the chair of the Governance Council of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Help us get to know you! Fill out our podcast listener survey here: https://options-po.li/podcastsurvey

Download for free. New episodes every other Wednesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP or @JRicardoBM.

PO Podcast 118 – Systemic racism in Canadian health care

Canadians are living through uncertain times. Our country faces interconnected challenges including a new geopolitical world order, economic headwinds, climate change, technological disruptions, shifting demographics and deepening inequality.

Futureproofing Canada brings you conversations with the people who are thinking boldly about how to solve these challenges. Each biweekly episode features a frank, in-depth discussion between IRPP president and CEO Jennifer Ditchburn and the leaders who envision a Canada that’s confident and ready to seize opportunities.

Futureproofing Canada

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