The ��says Canada’s system isn’t optimized to assist the unemployed – and underemployed – in finding meaningful work with good wages.

"Helping the unemployed is the responsibility of the federal and provincial governments, and neither government is doing a good job,” says 91��ɫ political science Professor Thomas Klassen (right), who co-authored the report with Donna Wood, a postdoctoral fellow at the��University of Victoria.

“In terms of our unemployment rate and our overall economic outlook, Canada appears to be in a relatively good position. The problem at the core of this report is whether we have the best system in place to get unemployed Canadians into meaningful, high-paying jobs. Yes, we could have very low unemployment rates with many people working at low-skilled and low-paying jobs, but that is not a long term solution,” Klassen says.

A major problem, he notes, is that business, labour and other groups have limited input into decision making.

“To date, each level of government has been focused on its own objectives and programs, rather than on the needs of the unemployed and potential employers. The federal government decides how much money to transfer to provinces and territories, along with general guidelines as to how the money should be spent. Any negotiation that occurs is solely between the two orders of government.

“There is a lack of ability for all governments in Canada to learn from each other and for pan-Canadian policy to be developed. Each province and territory does the best for its citizens, but there is limited means to ensure strategic labour market policy for Canada as a whole,” he says.

Klassen notes that job programs remain fragmented with a myriad of rules governing how provinces can deliver services to specific groups of clients. “There are four distinct sets of federal-provincial agreements that govern labour market policy, each with its own targeted client group and set of accountability rules. In some cases, provincial and federal governments have programs for the same set of clients, such as for youth and persons with disabilities,” he says.

Klassen and Wood propose the following solutions to these issues:��

• Create a national agency charged with improving the quality, transparency and usefulness of labour market information, reporting and analysis on a pan-Canadian basis.
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• Revitalize the existing federal-provincial-territorial Forum of Labour Market Ministers to act as a multilateral, pan-Canadian intergovernmental body responsible for the determination of employment and training policy in Canada. This forum would consolidate existing separate federal-provincial agreements into one comprehensive master agreement between the federal government and each province or territory.
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• Hand over responsibility to the provinces and territories for the programs it still delivers for youth and persons with disabilities. In this way, provinces could create integrated programs for all those who need job training and upgrading regardless of their age or other characteristics.

“Increasing human capital and returning the unemployed to the workplace is critical for Canada's economy,” Klassen says. “With these reforms, Canadians – both workers and employers – will be well prepared to compete in the global economy in the years to come.”.

The report is published by the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation. To download a PDF version, .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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“My intention is to focus on the history, appointment, as well as the tensions or problems emanating from the vice-regal role in Quebec, particularly in recent times,” says Persaud. “This topic has to do in large measure with Quebec's identity, but it also has a strong federal-provincial interface, as the lieutenant-governor is appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister, a central feature of Canada's constitutional monarchical system.”

Right: Radha Persaud

Since the lieutenant-governor of Quebec underscores the British monarchical nature of that province, a significant question to look at is whether this institutional feature of Quebec's governmental system creates tensions or problems that impede the province's full domestic legitimacy and capacity in the Canadian federation, says Persaud.

“To put it another way, whether the institution of the lieutenant governor is a heritage that enriches or impedes Quebec's ability for self-determination within the federal system, particularly in the areas where it is supposed to have a relatively large measure of provincial autonomy in a federal system that, arguably, was intended to be asymmetrical in spirit, if not in form.”

His research will contribute to a public discourse on the significance and legitimacy of the head of state for Quebec, a province that was central to the compromises reached by the founding partners in the Canadian system of governance. Persaud argues that this discourse is particularly significant for the governments and societies of Quebec, because the current federal constitutional arrangements deviate in some important respects from the general tenets of federalism, and in effect, the conceptions of Canada, as they were represented in 1867.

Persaud has demonstrated a continued professional interest in the role of lieutenant-governors in his previous research and in his teaching at Glendon. In January , lieutenant-governor of Ontario was an invited guest and speaker in Persaud’s class on Canadian government. In his address, Onley talked about his vice-regal role and responsibilities, and fielded questions from the students.

Persaud��sees his current project as the commencement of a process of formalizing the head of state’s political-legal standing and power in Quebec and, by implication, the rest of Canada��– both legitimating the head of state's power, and formalizing it as a kind of republican move to deal with problems of federalism and the role of the head of state in the parliamentary system.

“Thus, a central question to this study is whether there ought to be a Quebec-based process for selecting a lieutenant governor, or another head of state with residual powers that will give the office more legitimacy for the people of Quebec, rather than the current system of appointment, notwithstanding any process of consultation that may have taken place between the prime minister and the premier before such appointments are made,” he says.

Submitted by Marika Kemeny, Glendon communications officer.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Recently, the school celebrated its public service partners and alumni at its second annual Meet and Greet Breakfast��in the Grosvenor Room of��at Toronto's��Metro Central YMCA. The school��took time to honour��the Ontario Public Service (OPS) for its continued involvement with the practicum and internship programs.

Left: Shelly Jamieson, secretary to the Ontario Cabinet and head of the OPS

Three��members of the OPS who had taken 91��ɫ students year after year were��fêted at the celebration. They were Orna Salamon, director of the��Drinking Water Programs Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment; George Mandrapilias, team leader for��Materials Industries in the��Ministry of Economic Development��& Trade; and Dave Cook, manager of strategic projects for the Ministry of the Environment.

More than 50 people attended the Sept. 14 celebration, including 91��ɫ student association representatives, faculty, alumni and OPS staff.��Shelly Jamieson, secretary to the Ontario Cabinet and the head of the OPS, delivered the keynote speech and also��presented awards.

“Our organizations have helped hundreds of students gain valuable experience and a competitive edge in the job market," said Jamieson about the��importance of the partnership between the OPS and 91��ɫ. "Together, we’re also infusing the Ontario Public Service with a new generation of dedicated and skilled professionals.”

Each year – in conjunction with their fourth-year courses in program evaluation and public policy research – a number of students take a practicum course in which they volunteer to work in a government or other public agency for one day a week.

Most of the placements involve recurrent partnerships,��says Peter Constantinou (BA '89), the school’s internship and practicum coordinator.��This, he adds,��is due to the high calibre of students coming in the program and their commitment to top-notch work.

Left: Peter Constantinou

“Since graduation last June, over half��the students who did not go on to graduate studies have been hired by the public sector, and all attribute it to the experience that they received in this program," says Constantinou. "These practicums and internships have provided students with an invaluable opportunity to apply their formal education and training in real public service situations, and have helped them make decisions about a career in the public sector.”

“It is a testimony to the quality of the careful match we make between work and student, that��each year many students end up being hired as interns by their placement organization,” says Professor Joanne Magee, director of the school.

For more information, visit the��School of Public Policy��& Administration website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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