Articles from:January 2016

  • Two Lectures on the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan: Mitzi Hunter, Ontario Associate Minister of Finance

    Thursday, January 28, 2016 | By

    Thursday, January 28, 2016
    12:00-1:00 pm
    Academic South 215 

    As many Canadians worry about their retirement, governments are struggling to find the right mechanism to facilitate and incentivize savings. Some are concerned that existing pension plans are insufficient and underfunded. The government of Ontario shares these concerns and campaigned in the 2014 provincial election to create a retirement plan for Ontario. Named the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP), the provincial government’s proposal is being hotly debated. Two of the key players in the ORPP debate will independently make their case for and against an Ontario-specific retirement plan. These lectures are part of POLI 2Q98 – An Introduction to Canadian Public Administration. All are welcome to attend.

    Mitzie Hunter, MPP for Scarborough-Guildwood and Associate Minister of Finance, was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2013. She previously worked as CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance. She was appointed as the Associate Minister of Finance in 2014 and is responsible for implementing the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. Minister Hunter will make the case that the province needs the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.

    For further information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events

  • Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Canada: Framing, Federalism, and Failure

    Thursday, January 14, 2016 | By

    Thursday, January 14, 2016
    2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
    CRN 207

    Professor Dave Snow offers a “meta-commentary” on the academic scholarship surrounding the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2010 Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which struck down the federal government’s attempt to create a national policy for assisted reproductive technologies. He use the concept of jurisdictional framing—describing a policy field as properly belonging to one particular level of government—to explain how federalism frustrated Canadian policymaking efforts. In this presentation he will argue that Canada’s failure to institute a national policy can ultimately be traced to how multiple federal policymakers failed to align their substantive framing strategies with the procedural requirements of the Canadian Constitution. Focusing on the interaction between substantive and jurisdictional framing shows how the language used to justify legislative authority can shape policy outcomes in unexpected ways.

    Dave Snow is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph. His research and teaching interests include assisted reproductive technologies, public policy, constitutional law, and federalism. Prior to moving to Guelph, he completed his PhD in political science at the University of Calgary, and was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University from 2014-2015. His current research examines clinical regulation of embryonic research and possibilities for biobanking human reproductive material in Canada. He is also researching the regulation of assisted reproductive technologies in Canada, Australia, and the United States.

    For further information, please contact Zachary Spicer.

    Categories: Events