News & Events

How political can public servants be online? By Amanda Clarke | Published Tuesday, September 18, 2018 Public servants in the Westminster system of government are obligated to maintain a level of political neutrality in their personal lives. Existing case law and public service rules determine the limits that can be imposed on public servants... More

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Welcoming back SPPA Alumni to Kick off the Year

Every year we welcome a new group of students to campus. Energized and excited for the term ahead, they bring new ideas, experiences and perspectives to the School. They also represent our future colleagues, as in just two short years they will join our extensive and vibrant alumni network here in Ottawa, across Canada,... More

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Induction Exercise: An Introduction to the Complex Challenges of Canada’s Opioid Crisis

For our incoming MPPA and MA-SEP students, the first week of school ended with an induction exercise designed to engage them with the complex challenges facing today’s policy makers. The School has run induction exercises for the past three years. The first considered the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report and its implications for... More

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Where are they now? PhD in Public Policy Alumna Barbara Allen

Barbara Allen finished her PhD in Public Policy thesis in 2006, under the direction of SPPA Distinguished Research Professor Bruce Doern. The thesis dealt with the evolution of Canadian procurement policy. After graduation, Barb took up teaching positions in the UK, starting with the University of Birmingham and then moving to Warwick University... More

Friday, August 17, 2018

SPPA Audio Files: James Meadowcroft on movement toward a low carbon economy in Canada

SPPA Director Graeme Auld sat down with Professor James Meadowcroft to talk about his recent article in the journal Canadian Public Policy. “Let’s Get this Transition Moving!” argues that we ought to think about climate change not as a question of targets but more as a long, and ongoing, transition that will move us from our current... More

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Chief Connie Lazore: Graduate Diploma, Indigenous Policy and Administration

Connie Lazore was recently re-elected as District Chief of the Tsi Snaihne district of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, which lies between the U.S. and Canadian border. This was the second time you were elected as a district chief in Akwesasne. What prompted you to run for the position? I had worked for the... More

Friday, August 3, 2018

Marc-André Gagnon publishes article in Impact Ethics on universal model for pharmacare

PHARMACARE: IMPROVING ACCESS TO EXPENSIVE DRUGS August 3, 2018 · by impact ethics · in Law & Policy, Pharmaceuticals, Public Health, Science and Technology Marc-André Gagnon dispels misconceptions about the benefits of private health insurance plans and argues in favour of a universal model for pharmacare. In its last budget, the... More

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Watch the Women in the Arts panel discussion with MPNL Alumna Meghan Lindsay

The School of Public Policy and Administration invites you to join us for a performance art event and panel discussion at the Carleton University Art Gallery. Young female artists, researchers, non-profit leaders, and arts advocates share their perspective on gender, diversity, and creative work in Canada. Panellists: -Tara Mazurk, Senior... More

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

New capstone project course provides MPPA students skills to excel in future careers

Late April is a time when courses are winding down. Exams are nearly done, and students are turning their attention to the summer ahead. A new job, graduation, post-school travel and the career that awaits them. Not so for this year’s cohort of graduates in the Master of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA). On... More

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Summer Institute: Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership

What links an Imam, a former mine worker, and two yoga instructors? Where do working professionals and recent university graduates with academic backgrounds in bio-medical sciences, film, agricultural economics, psychology, international law, and English literature all find common ground? How are new Canadians from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the... More

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

SPPA welcomes Nathan Lemphers as visiting academic researcher

Nathan is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His research looks at the impact of the fossil fuel industry on climate change policy in advanced, liberal democracies and is funded by a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation scholarship and the SSHRC CGS doctoral scholarship. Beyond his own research,... More

Monday, July 30, 2018

Celebrating Philanthropy: What next for the sector?

Change from multiple sources is creating an urgency to do things differently for Canada’s nonprofit and philanthropic sector. Short term changes include a new government in Ontario, the Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector that is crafting a reform agenda and a recent court decision that upended the rules on political activities by... More

Monday, July 30, 2018

Doctoral Student Research Opportunity: Modern treaty governance

Prof. Frances Abele is seeking a doctoral student to engage with a SSHRC Partnership Grant research project on modern treaty governance. Partners are the members of the Land Claims Agreement Coalition and several academics from the University of Laval, University of Montreal and Carleton University. The specific area of interest is the fiscal... More

Friday, July 27, 2018

SPPA Director Graeme Auld Named Second FPA Research Excellence Chair

Graeme Auld, an Associate Professor and Director in the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), has received a Faculty of Public Affairs’ Research Excellence Chair. “Graeme is internationally known for the quality of his work on the environmental and ethical governance of private industries,” said André Plourde, Dean of the... More

Thursday, July 26, 2018

PhD graduate awarded Senate Medal for Mental Health Research

When she started her career as a family therapist in Ontario’s mental health system, Mary Bartram noticed that most of the families she worked with had lower incomes, and sometimes waited over a year for service. Years later she had an opportunity to be a leader in the development of the 2012 Mental Health... More

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

With the Community of Federal Regulators, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa Launch Lecture Series on Regulations

Regulations are undervalued. They contribute in many invisible ways to society – managing risk, supporting and steering innovations, providing and protecting rights. Much more attention ought to be paid to the essential roles regulations and regulators play in advancing public good. This is a central premise of a newly launched lecture series,... More

Friday, June 22, 2018

SPPA Director Graeme Auld publishes article in Annual Review of Environment and Resources

Transnational Governance for Mining and the Mineral Lifecycle Annual Review of Environment and Resources Vol. 43:- (Volume publication date October 2018) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-030223 Graeme Auld, Michele Betsill, and Stacy D. VanDeveer Abstract This review focuses on transnational governance in the minerals and mining... More

Thursday, June 21, 2018

SPPA Doctoral Student Chosen as 2018 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar

Carleton University doctoral student Fahad Ahmad is one of 15 recipients of a unique doctoral scholarship in the social sciences and humanities presented by The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. Ahmad’s research examines how counter-radicalization policies impact organizations serving Muslim communities in Canada and the United Kingdom. “I am... More

Monday, June 18, 2018

Inuit Leader Natan Obed Delivers Katherine Graham Lecture

Inuit Leader Natan Obed offered a thought-provoking talk on Inuit democracy and governance recently as the keynote speaker at the annual Katherine A.H. Graham Lecture on Aboriginal Policy. Natan Obed is President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canada’s 60,000 Inuit across the provinces and territories. In his talk, entitled... More

Friday, June 15, 2018

Summer Institute: Indigenous Policy and Administration – Kitigan Zibi

At Carleton University it is common for events to begin with an acknowledgement that Carleton sits on unceded Algonquin territory. Students enrolled in the Indigenous Policy and Administration program recently had the opportunity to come to a deeper understanding of what these words mean by visiting Kitigan Zibi, an Algonquin community located... More

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

MPNL Grad Receives Board of Governors Award

Congratulations to MPNL alumnus, Christian Robillard, who was awarded the Board of Governors Award at the June 13, 2018 Convocation Ceremony at Carleton. The Board of Governors Award recognizes exemplary volunteerism involving the not-for-profit sector and, as such, honours non-academic accomplishments during a full-time program of study at... More

Monday, June 11, 2018

SPPA Prof. Robert Sheperd presents at Canadian Evaluation Society Conference

SPPA Prof. Robert Shepherd and Daniel J. Caron, an adjunct professor in SPPA and professor at ENAP, presented "How to evaluate transparency in a digital environment?" at the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) Conference in Calgary in May. They discussed the role of transparency in the democratic process and the consequences of the advent of... More

Friday, June 8, 2018

Summer Institute: Indigenous Policy and Administration – Akwesasne

Since its inception, the Indigenous Policy and Administration (IPA) program has had a strong partnership with Akwesasne. Every year, the Native North American Travelling College and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne have welcomed the IPA class to Akwesasne Territory for a day of relationship-building and learning. This year was no exception. IPA... More

Thursday, June 7, 2018

SPPA Prof. Stephan Schott publishes article in Environmental and Resource Economics

Title The Effects of Communication on the Partnership Solution to the Commons Journal Environmental and Resource Economics, 70(2), 363-380 DOI 10.1007/s10640-017-0124-9 Neil J. Buckley Stuart Mestelman R. Andrew Muller Stephan Schott Jingjing Zhang Abstract Organizing individual appropriators into output sharing groups has been found to... More

Friday, June 1, 2018

SPPA graduates Meghan Lindsay and Audrey Tong featured in FPA Voices

Meghan Lindsay: A professional opera singer expands her skillset. Audrey Tong: Evaluation Analyst at the Department of Justice. Read posts in the FPA Voices June Convocation... More

Friday, June 1, 2018

SPPA Prof. Les Pal attends Global Solutions Summit in Berlin

Prof. Leslie A. Pal has just returned from the Global Solutions Summit/World Policy Forum in Berlin, held on May 16-19. The Summit was organized by the Council for Global Problem-Solving, an organization that is supporting the Think20 initiative connected to the G20. The G20 has been called the “steering mechanism for the world economy” —... More

Thursday, May 31, 2018

SPPA Prof. Mehdi Ammi publishes article in BMC Family Practice.

SPPA Prof. Mehdi Ammi publishes research article in BMC Family Practice, along with Allanah Li, Shawna Cronin, Yu Qing Bai, Kevin Walker, William Hogg, Sabrina T. Wong, and Walter P. Wodchis. "Assessing the representativeness of physician and patient respondents to a primary care survey using administrative data" Abstract Background:... More

Thursday, May 24, 2018

SPPA Alumnus Bruce Linton and Canopy Growth Push Responsible Cannabis Use

By Fateema Sayani The cultural and political landscape around cannabis is changing quickly. At the forefront of this shift is Carleton University alumnus Bruce Linton, BPA/92, founder and CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation. The entrepreneur is building an industry for which there are significant economic and social good implications at the local... More

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

SPPA Prof. Leslie Pal and Post-Doc Jennifer Spence present at Policy Diffusion conference in Brazil

Prof. Leslie A. Pal helped organize a recent conference on Policy Diffusion in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Les presented a paper (co-authored with SPPA PhD Public Policy alumna and current postdoctoral fellow Jennifer Spence) on global policy advisory systems, the subject of his current SSHRC project. He also participated in several plenaries and... More

Friday, May 18, 2018

JUNE 15 Application Deadline: Online Graduate Diploma in Public Policy and Program Evaluation

Citizens have a right to expect both accountability in their governments and quality in the public programs and services they receive. In support of that right, trained program evaluators use social science research tools to check the effects of public programs. Their technical talents—whether exercised in governments, international development... More

Thursday, May 17, 2018

SPPA Prof. Robert Shepherd provides course in evaluation at the Performance and Planning Exchange Symposium

SPPA Prof. Robert Shepherd taught a pre-conference course on May 15 on the fundamentals of program evaluation at the Performance and Planning Exchange Symposium at the Hampton Inn, Ottawa. Pre-conference courses are offered to participants attending this week's annual symposium. The symposium covers various issues related to public sector... More

Monday, May 14, 2018

SPPA Prof. Leslie Pal was Visiting Professor at the Nurkse School of Governance and Innovation in Estonia

In early May 2018, Leslie A. Pal was Visiting Nurkse Professor at the Nurkse School of Governance and Innovation at Tallinn Technical University in Tallinn, Estonia. The annual, named professorship is designed to attract leading international public administration and public policy scholars working in the area of international development and... More

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

4th Annual Youth Science Policy Award of Excellence

The Canadian Science Policy Centre is pleased to continue its legacy, enabling the next generation's scientists and policymakers to positively impact the Canadian science policy landscape. The 4th Annual Youth Science Policy Award of Excellence competition is now open. If you have a creative idea for a policy or program that you would like... More

Friday, May 4, 2018

SPPA PhD in Public Policy alumnus Brendan Haley appointed Policy Director at Efficiency Canada

Brendan Haley is the new Policy Director at Efficiency Canada, a new organization that will act as a national voice for an energy efficient economy. Brendan has a proven record in energy policy entrepreneurship and analysis. While energy coordinator at Nova Scotia’s Ecology Action Centre, he was the principal catalyst behind the creation of... More