Panellists
SPPA Anniversary Policy Conversation, March 14 Panellists
Panel I:The Vanishing Distinction Between Economic and Social Policy
Andrew Coyne, Columnist for Postmedia
Andrew Coyne is a columnist with Postmedia News. Raised in Winnipeg, Mr. Coyne is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics. He has written previously for Maclean’s magazine, The National Post, and The Globe and Mail, contributing as well to a wide range of other publications in Canada and abroad, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Time, Saturday Night, and The Walrus. He is the winner of two National Newspaper Awards and the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism, and is a fellow of the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. A frequent commentator on television and radio, he is seen regularly on CBC’s The National.
Rachel Laforest, Associate Professor, Queen’s University
Dr. Rachel Laforest is the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, and one of Canada’s foremost experts on the nonprofit sector. Rachel has been working in this field for over 15 years and is respected nationally and internationally for her research on governance and government-nonprofit relations. She is also interested in intergovernmental relations and Canadian politics. She is the author of Voluntary Sector Organizations and the State, UBC Press, 2011. She is also the editor of The New Federal Policy Agenda and the Voluntary Sector: On the Cutting Edge, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009 and Government-Nonprofit Relations in Times of Recession, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013. Dr. Laforest is an Associate Professor and Head of the Public Policy and Third Sector Initiative at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University.
Michael J. Prince, Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy, University of Victoria
Michael J. Prince is the Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy in the Faculty of Human and Social Development at the University of Victoria where he teaches courses in public policy. His current research interests include Indigenous‐Canadian state relations, federal‐provincial relations, psychologically wounded veterans, and disability policy, topics on which he has authored several books. Dr. Prince has been an advisor to governments at all levels in Canada as well as to four Royal commissions and various parliamentary committees. A frequent media commentator and an active volunteer, he is currently a Co-Principal Investigator (with human rights lawyer Yvonne Peters and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities) on a SSHRC project entitled “Disabling Poverty, Enabling Citizenship.”
Munir Sheikh, former Chief Statistician of Canada; Co-chair of the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario
Munir Sheikh is an Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. He recently served as a co-Commissioner of Ontario’s Social Assistance Review, which submitted its Report to the Government of Ontario on transforming the program in October 2012. Dr. Sheikh has served the Government of Canada in many senior level positions including as Chief Statistician of Canada and Deputy Minister of Labour. He also taught at Queens University, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa for many years and has published extensively in academic journals in the areas of international economics, macroeconomics and public finance. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters in Economics from McMaster University.
Panel II: A ‘Modern’ Public Service?
Bruce Doern, Professor Emeritus, Carleton University
Bruce Doern is Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University and Professor Emeritus in the Politics Department at the University of Exeter in the UK. He has widely published on Canadian and comparative regulation, public policy institutions, governance and democracy, and on fiscal and regulatory governance in areas such as energy policy, industrial policy, business regulation, environmental regulation, food and health regulation, biotechnology, science and innovation policy, government labs, and consumer regulation and policy. Dr Doern initiated and is presently the co-editor of How Ottawa Spends, the Carleton University School of Public Policy and Administration’s annual review of national priorities and fiscal policy, and recently served as the CIBC Scholar-in-Residence at the Conference Board of Canada.
Nick Manning, Head of the Governance & Public Sector Management (GPSM), World Bank
Nick Manning retired as Head of the World Bank’s Governance and Public Sector Management Practice in December 2013 where he led the development and implementation of the Bank’s updated approach to Public Sector Management. Mr. Manning began his public sector career in local government in the U.K. and went on to serve as an advisor in several international organizations. He presently is Visiting Professor at the Herbert Simon Institute for Public Policy, Administration and Management; adviser to the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management; member of the editorial board of the Public Management Review; honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester; and a member of the advisory group for University of London Queen Mary Master’s program in Public Administration.
Catherine MacQuarrie, Vice-President, Strategic Directions, Program Development and Marketing Branch, Canada School of Public Service
Catherine MacQuarrie is the Vice-President (Strategic Directions) in the Program Development and Marketing Branch at the Canada School of Public Service, which she joined in February 2013. Prior to that, Ms. MacQuarrie served as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Public Service Renewal, at the Privy Council Office (PCO), since January 2011. Prior to her tenure at PCO, she was Assistant Deputy Minister of Human Resources at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Since joining the Federal Civil Service in 1994, Ms, MacQuarrie has played a significant leadership role in policy development, management and integration of public service values and ethics in the Canadian Public Service, including the design and implementation of key policy instruments such as the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service, and the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.
George Ross, Ontario DM, former President of IPAC
George Ross has had a career spanning over 30 years in the Ontario Public Service and currently serves as Deputy Minister of Northern Development and Mines, where he is leading government efforts to develop Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” – an area containing vast, untapped mineral deposits. He also leads the Ministry’s efforts to implement the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario and oversees the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation – a government agency that promotes and stimulates economic development in northern Ontario. Mr. Ross has extensive international experience working in various in the area of trade and investment attraction, fostering international research collaborations and in public management and governance capacity building in developing countries. He has served on numerous boards and is currently a member of the board of the Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI). Mr. Ross is a certified Board Director with the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Panel III: 2035 and Beyond: Imagining Canada as a Low-Carbon Society
David Cherniak, SPPA MA Student Sustainable Energy Policy, Class of 2012
David Cherniak studied at the University of Alberta and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science, where his Honours thesis examined the evolution of ENGO campaigning in regards to oil sands development. During his undergraduate years, he also worked in the United States for a summer and interned with the Alberta government. He is currently enrolled in the Sustainable Energy Policy program at Carleton University where he is particularly interested in energy and environmental governance within federal states as well as the international political economy of climate change strategies.
Nancy Cruz, SPPA M.A. Student Sustainable Energy Policy, Class of 2013
Nancy Cruz is a first year MA student in the Sustainable Energy Policy program. She is a graduate of Carleton’s Bachelors in Public Affairs and Policy Management with a specialization in Strategic Public Opinion. During her undergraduate studies, Nancy worked at Environment Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and on Parliament Hill. She currently works in outreach and stakeholder engagement for Elections Canada. Her research interests include community engagement in resource development projects and the role of public opinion on energy and environment policy.
James Meadowcroft, Professor, Canada Research Chair, SPPA
James Meadowcroft is a Professor in both the School of Public Policy and Administration and in the Department of Political Science. He has a BA in Political Science from McGill University, and a Doctorate from the University of Oxford.
His research is focused on the ways in which governments are adjusting their practices and policies in order to cope with the emergence of problems of the environment and sustainable development.
Danny Rosenbloom, PhD Student SPPA, Class of 2013, SPPA Grad, 2011
Danny Rosenbloom is a doctoral student in Public Policy and a Research Associate at Carleton University. He collaborates with a team of researchers investigating the prospects for solar photovoltaic technologies in Canada. His work has culminated in a number of publications and presentations geared at informing policy and decision-making. His primary research interests include investigating transitions to low-carbon energy systems and the diffusion of emerging energy innovations.
Leela Steiner, Ph.D. Student UBC, Class of 2013, SPPA Grad, 2012
Leela Steiner is a first year Ph.D. student at the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Her interest is in regulatory governance for emerging toxics where she hopes to focus on endocrine disrupting compounds as a model for integrating risk, uncertainty, and science into environmental policy decision-making. Ms. Steiner completed her MA in Public Policy at Carleton University where her research focused on climate, energy, transitioning to a low-carbon economy, and protected areas policy.
Panel IV: Indigenous Policy and Governance: The Way Ahead?
Grand Chief Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell, Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne
Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell is one of the most respected First Nation leaders in Canada. Born in Akwesasne and raised by a traditional family, Grand Chief Kanentakeron had the benefit of a strong culture and a spiritual upbringing. Fluent in the Mohawk language, he applied traditional diplomacy skills in solving the challenges faced by First Nations at local, regional and national levels. Grand Chief Kanentakeron was first elected as a District Chief to the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne in 1982 and became its Grand Chief two years later, holding the position until the year 2000 when he retired after 20 years in politics. The community has since brought him out of retirement several times to serve the Council in various capacities and he has, since 2009, once again become the Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. Prior to his involvement in politics, Grand Chief Kanentakeron has worked as an Ironworker (Local 440), a film maker (NFB) and Director of Cultural Education at the North American Indian Travelling College.
Michael Wernick, Deputy Minister of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
Michael Wernick was appointed Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in May 2006. His previous position was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Plans and Consultations, at the Privy Council Office. Since joining the federal public service in 1981, Mr. Wernick has worked at the Social Policy Division of the Department of Finance, Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada, the Economic and Regional Development Policy Secretariat of the Privy Council Office, and the Constitutional Affairs Secretariat of the Federal-Provincial Relations Office. From 1996 to 2003 he served as Assistant Deputy Minister and then as Associate Deputy Minister at the Department of Canadian Heritage. Mr. Wernick received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics from the University of Toronto.
Chief Gilbert Whiteduck, Chief of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation
Gilbert Whiteduck is Algonquin (Anishinabe) from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation. He was elected Chief of the Kitigan Zibi Anishianbeg community in June of 2008. He had previously been elected to Band Council at different intervals, for a total period of 12 years over the past four decades. Chief Whiteduck holds a B.S.W (Honours), a B.Ed, an M.Ed and an Honorary Doctorate which he received from the University of Ottawa in 1999. He has been involved in the field of First Nations education for over 33 years as well as serving on numerous local, regional and national boards, committees and working groups. He also served as President of the First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres which represents some 87 First Nation cultural education centres across Canada. Chief Whiteduck remains active in his efforts to ensure that First Nation voices are not only heard but understood.