Policy Brief Library
Current Areas of Study
PAID SICK LEAVE
Andrew Klein & Niara Sareen
The absence of paid sick leave policy in Ontario puts hard working, low-income individuals in compromised positions, essentially choosing to either forfeit their weekly grocery budget or risk infecting their co-workers. In 2019, the provincial Conservative government replaced two paid sick days with three unpaid personal days to free businesses of a short-term financial burden. Despite relieving businesses of short term costs, implementation of paid sick leave policy increases economic productivity, optimizes worker health and decreases public health costs in the long term, advantageous to the individual, the business, and the community at large.
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CANADIAN SKILLED LABOUR SHORTAGE
Philip Couto
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The transition to an electric vehicle ecosystem has the possibility to greatly reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, with nearly 25% currently generated from this sector alone.
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Moving to a low-carbon transportation sector requires a skilled labour force that has the necessary technical training to support emerging technologies that accompany it.
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Unfortunately, Canada is currently facing a skilled labour shortage driven in part by demographic factors and the global pandemic.
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Canada can take a layered approach with short-, medium-, and long-term measures addressing financial incentives, re-skilling, and academic, educational, and vocational training programs.
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CIRCULAR ECONOMY: E-WASTE IN ONTARIO
Matthew Plut
The way we produce, consume, and dispose of electronics is not sustainable. As electronics enter landfills and are turned into e-waste, they dangerously decompose and massive opportunities to reuse products and recover materials are missed.
This growing problem will be most effectively dealt with in Canada at the provincial level where the authority to mandate recycling and resource recovery is vested.
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The Ontario Government has already made significant strides towards making the consumption of electronics more circular by developing an outcome-based policy framework that relies on minimal regulation and market solutions. To ensure this market works optimally, the Government of Ontario should adopt two additional policies:
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A Circular Electronic Opportunity Grant that would give businesses a financially risk-free way of evaluating how to incorporate refurbished products or recovered materials into their processes.
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A Retail Sales Tax exemption on the purchase of refurbished products for businesses and consumers.
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Adopting these policies will also help Government of Ontario achieve its broader climate change and waste diversion objectives while developing jurisdictional expertise on a policy problem that much of the world is struggling to address.
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CANADA'S PUSH TO BECOME A PLAYER IN THE GLOBAL ELECTRIC VEHICLE SUPPLY CHAIN
Nathan Peres
The 2021 Canadian Federal Budget brings forward policy aimed at decarbonizing the transportation sector, with efforts primarily aimed at electrifying light-duty vehicles. This begs the question, how can Canada accelerate to become a global leader in the EV-ecosystem? The electrification of transportation presents Canada with a unique economic and environmental opportunity—as a global supplier of critical materials for electric vehicle batteries. To make positive strides in this respect, Canada must act fast and implement a national strategy. We propose that policymakers develop a strategy that supports Canadian critical mineral miners. The nation’s strategy must prioritize the following:
1. Supply partnerships – establish and clarify international partnerships centered around critical mineral trade
2. Mandate a battery mineral environmental, social, and corporate governance disclosures for all electric vehicles sold in Canada
3. Utilize public-private partnerships to develop large-scale and economical methods to recycle battery waste
Canadian policymakers must strategize and move forward in a timely manner, or the opportunity might vanish. As with other technological “races”, time is of the essence. The reality is, if Canada cannot align its abilities with the needs of the market, other nations will come forward and fill this gap.
