Rising income inequality has been at the forefront of public debate in Canada in recent years, yet there is still much to learn about the economic forces driving the distribution of earnings and income in this country and how they might evolve in the future. With research showing that the tax-and-transfer system is losing the ability to counteract income disparity, the need for policy-makers to understand the factors at play is all the more urgent. Income Inequality provides a comprehensive review of Canadian inequality trends, including changing earnings and income dynamics among the middle class and top earners, wage and job polarization across provinces, and persistent poverty among vulnerable groups. The Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), in collaboration with the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network (CLSRN), presents new evidence by some of the country’s leading experts on the impact of skills and education, unionization and labour relations laws, as well as the complex interplay of redistributive policies and politics over time. Amid growing anxieties about the economic prospects of the middle class, Income Inequality will serve to inform the public discourse on inequality, an issue that ultimately concerns all Canadians.

Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide: An introduction to sustainable development planning

This book summarizes recent advances in the work on agenda-setting in a comparative perspective. The book first presents and explains the data-gathering effort undertaken within the Comparative Agendas Project over the past ten years. Individual country chapters then present the research undertaken within the many national projects. The third section illustrates the possibilities and directions for new research in comparative public policy using the data presented in this book. All the data used and discussed in the book is moreover publicly available. The book represents a significant contribution to the study of comparative public policy. By introducing a unified research infrastructure it opens up new possibilities for both empirical and theoretical research in this area.

Regional resource disparities and the tensions they generate are a perennial Canadian topic. This edition of Canada: The State of the Federation presents essays on regions, resources, and the resiliency of the Canadian federal system. Contributors consider questions such as: to what extent do Canada’s natural resource industries benefit the Canadian economy? Do Canada’s federal institutions hinder or promote the ability of the economy to respond to global economic shifts? Do current intergovernmental structures allow for constructive dialogue about national policy issues? In responding to these and related questions, many of the authors touch on energy issues. Others consider the importance of functional institutions in a federal or multilevel context as an essential requirement for the effective resolution of issues. Together, the volume raises questions about the relationship of state and society, the importance of identity, trust, and moral legitimacy for the operation of our federal institutions, and the extent to which federal institutions are reinforced or placed under stress by societal structures. The theme of this volume was triggered by Richard Simeon, the outstanding scholar of federalism who passed away in October 2013, and it is dedicated in his honour.

This interim report covers the activities of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada since the appointment of the current three Commissioners on July 1, 2009. The report summarizes: the activities of the Commissioners, the messages presented to the Commission at hearings and National Events, the activities of the Commission with relation to its mandate, the Commission's interim findings, the Commission's recommendations.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crunch, a pending era of budgetary austerity looms over Canada. Canadian Public Budgeting in the Age of Crises provides a roadmap through the difficult fiscal decisions that have characterized contemporary federal politics across four decades. The authors provide an accessible and comprehensive overview of the constraints that have affected budgetary outcomes in the recent past and that will affect the near future, with analysis spanning micro, macro, social, environmental, and intergenerational domains. They examine the current Harper government's Conservative era, but also look at public budgeting under Chrétien, Mulroney, and Trudeau. Set in the crucial context of macroeconomic policy shifts and in a global comparative context, Canadian Public Budgeting in the Age of Crises broadens and deepens our understanding of government spending, borrowing, and taxing. Budgetary domains - complex realms of fiscal content, choice, and governance - are introduced and balanced against an analysis of these domains with pertinent and up-to-date discussions on institutional influences, dominant actors, and shifting power imbalances.