PRISM :: Browsing by Author "Kneebone, Ronald"

Browsing by Author "Kneebone, Ronald"

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Open Access
A sustainable fiscal rule to manage non-renewable resource revenues: oil sands as a second chance for Alberta
(2008) Kendall, Lindsay Marie; Kneebone, Ronald
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Aboriginal Migration, Economic Incentives, and Community Well-being: A Proposal
(2012-08) Chowdhury, Nazmul; Kneebone, Ronald
City Migration Patterns:Data indicate that migration is not a major determinant of Aboriginal population growth in major Canadian cities and provinces. As the reserves have experienced net in-migration of First Nations since 1966, increase in the affiliation of individuals to Aboriginal identity due to the legal changes by the Bill C-31 and C-3, and natural growth have been the major contributors to Aboriginal population growth in cities. Small urban areas and rural areas have been losing Aboriginal population overall. The percentage of Aboriginal population residing in cities has increased due the changes in legal frameworks and natural growth. Provincial Migration Patterns: Provincial migration is a small factor in the geographical distribution of Aboriginal population. However, there has been a clear trend among the Aboriginal peoples to move out of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec to Alberta between 2001-2006. Statistics Canada projection indicates that Alberta may become the second largest home to Aboriginal populations by the end of 2017, following Ontario. Particularly, the Métis have been moving primarily to Alberta from all other provinces. Projection indicates that growth in the Aboriginal population in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan may relegate British Columbia to the fourth largest position for hosting Aboriginal populations from its current second. Ontario is expected to remain as the largest home to the Aboriginal population until the projection period of 2017. Migration and Impact: International studies indicate that migration is positively correlated with well-being in the community of origin. Similarly, study findings strongly suggest that migration is positively correlated with Aboriginal well-being; particularly higher out-migration is correlated with higher education and income among the First Nations in Canada. Since First Nations have had net in-migration to the reserves since the 1960s, the paper examines such trends by focusing on the relative economic incentives between on-reserve and off-reserve locations. Policy Recommendation: The paper recognizes that the current balance between on-reserve and off-reserve economic incentives may need to be adjusted for the greater well-being of First Nations. In order to offset the gap in economic incentives between on and off-reserve locations, the paper recommends a tax credit to off-reserve First Nations members for investing in the reserves. The credit may generate additional capital for economic growth in the reserves on the one hand, and offset any gap in economic incentives between on and off-reserve locations on the other. Such a credit may transform the growing urban Aboriginal population as a source of opportunities for the on-reserve communities and increase economic growth in the reserves that may allow the band councils to initiate taxation in the reserves in the long run.
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Alternate Level of Care: Challenges and barriers for those who wait the longest
(2016-09) Cornez, MacNeil; Zwicker, Jennifer; Kneebone, Ronald
Each year numerous Albertans are admitted to a hospital but upon discharge are no longer able to return home, despite efforts to provide adequate support. Of these individuals who require continuing care services, some will have care needs exceeding the services that are able to be provided in available LTC beds. When the appropriate continuing care services are not available individuals admitted to acute care hospitals (but no longer requiring their services) continue to occupy a bed and are classified as requiring an “alternate level of care” or ALC. This creates inefficiencies in the utilization of acute care resources, has multiple impacts across the entire healthcare system, and most importantly prohibits patients from receiving the appropriate care in the appropriate setting. In Alberta, between 2012 and 2015, there were an average of 2,706,571 hospital bed days per year; ALC days accounted for 10% of all hospital days in 2012-13, increasing to 12.2% in 2014-15. For the Calgary zone specifically, 15.2% of all 2014-15 hospital days were classified as ALC days this translates into approximately 330,201 Alberta hospital days classified as ALC in 2014-15. This is a stark contrast from previous years; from 2006- 08 ALC days accounted for only 2.2% of all hospital days. This represents an increase of 10 percentage points, or five times as many ALC days in 2014-15 compared to 2006-2008.
Open Access
The Calgary Interfaith Food Bank and Corporate Donations: Reclamation, Redistribution and Logistics Management
(2013-09) Jackson, Nicole; Kneebone, Ronald
This project reviewed The Calgary Interfaith Food Bank's donor streams, distribution processes, and receiving social service agencies. The research aimed to better understand the advantages and challenges of partnering with the food industry and corporate donors, the Calgary Food Bank's scale of operations and logistics management, and the distribution channels into the community. Through interviews with key informants, research found that corporate donors viewed their partnerships with the Calgary Food Bank as an appropriate and responsible way to distribute unsaleable food into the community. Corporate donors relied on the food bank's size and ability to receive large donations, as well as their expertise to identify and facilitate food distribution to social service agencies. Reclamation services were also reviewed. Across the spectrum, participants identified the theme of community as a motivation for contributing, and the food bank's commitment to food safety as a key facilitator of donations. The Calgary Food Bank's distribution channels were also mapped. Almost 45% of distributed food is sent directly from the Calgary Food Bank to social service agencies (where food is typically utilized in programming), many of whom are targeting the root causes of food insecurity. Food is also distributed directly to clients (through the main warehouse and community hubs), and to smaller food banks in Southern Alberta. Social service agencies identified the Food link program as an important supply stream for their operations, and gave feedback about how they access the program and utilize the food. The Calgary Food Bank staff also identified several of these key themes, and commented on how their policies actively tried to ensure that the food bank was both providing emergency food assistance and helping to address the root causes of food insecurity by supporting agencies who were doing this work, and actively referring clients to other sources of assistance. Given that the corporate perspective on food bank donations is understudied, and that the operations of food banks vary significantly across Canada, the Calgary Food Bank is an important example of best practices in managing donations, distributing food, and supporting agencies addressing root causes of food security.
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A Comparative Analysis of Domestic Violence Protection Legislation in Canada
(2012-09) Dennett, Thom; Kneebone, Ronald
Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem. It affects all Canadians to some extent, but is especially worrisome for women. "Every hour of every day, a woman in Alberta will undergo some form of interpersonal violence from an ex-partner or ex-spouse" (Wells, Boodt, & Emery, 2012). Although Alberta falls on the higher end of rates of domestic violence compared to other sub-national jurisdictions, it is not uncharacteristic of the rest of Canada (Sinha, 2012). One of the strategies to deal with domestic violence has been the introduction of specialized domestic violence legislation. Nine of the thirteen sub-national jurisdictions in Canada have active specialized domestic violence legislation, and two sub-national jurisdictions had bills for specialized domestic violence legislation that did not get royal assent. The federal government has a bill for specialized domestic violence legislation that was passed through the Senate, and is currently in the House of Commons (Canada P. o., 2012). These statutes all have similarities, but have significant differences in several areas. Specifically they differ in their definitions of violence and what kind of relationship one has to be in, the offence and penalties provision, whether there is an arrest provision, and the duration of orders. This report compares the various legislations, highlights the differences in legislation, and discusses the implications of the diversity of legislation throughout Canada.
Open Access
Debt accumulation by Canadian privincial governments
(2002) Chung, Jennifer; Kneebone, Ronald
Open Access
Dollars Lost, Skills Wasted: Measuring the Economic Consequences of Foreign Credential Non-Recognition in Alberta's Healthcare Sector
(2023-05-29) Zinovieva, Alissa; Kneebone, Ronald
The Government of Alberta is seeking to attract internationally trained doctors to fill capacity shortages in Alberta's healthcare sector. Upon arrival, immigrants face barriers in having their foreign credentials recognized to be able to practice medicine which results in unemployment and underemployment of internationally trained doctors. They encounter high costs and long waits for re-accreditation resulting in lost wages, significant out-of-pocket costs, and sometimes abandonment of their credentials altogether. My analysis seeks to quantify the private and social cost of re-accrediting an internationally trained doctor as compared to accrediting a domestically trained doctor through medical school. Further, I calculate the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) to Alberta of resources allocated to accrediting internationally trained doctors as compared to domestically trained doctors. My results show that conservatively, at the minimum, Alberta receives between a 6% to 8% return on investment for internationally trained doctors. Conversely, on the high end, Alberta sees a 5% to 6% return on investment for domestically trained doctors. Through recommended government initiatives to minimize the costs and barriers faced by internationally trained doctors, Albertans stand to receive an even higher social benefit by supporting the re-accreditation of internationally trained doctors.
Open Access
Domestice Violence Shelter Use Patterns in the Prairie Provinces: The Intersectionality and Complexity of Women's Help-Seeking Behaviour
(2016-08) Williams, Nicole; Kneebone, Ronald
Domestic violence shelter access must be addressed within Canada as in 2013, domestic violence incidents accounted for more than a fourth of reported violent crimes and were particularly prevalent in the Prairie Provinces. Research across North America has demonstrated that domestic violence rates decline as resources become more widely available. However, only about 10% of battered women in Canada access shelter services. As a result, systemic barriers must be identified to facilitate women’s ability to escape intimate partner violence (IPV). Domestic violence policies must be better informed by women’s experiences in order to ensure that policies are properly meeting the needs of IPV victims. The Healing Journey project was a tri-provincial longitudinal study that took place across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Interviews were conducted biannually between 2006 and 2009 with 665 women who had previously experienced IPV, thus constituting a total of seven waves of interviews. Quantitative data analysis consisted of primarily descriptive statistics and cross tabulations, which enabled the impact of several variables on women’s shelter use patterns to be analysed. Women’s self-reported shelter use was categorized into the respective categories: non-shelter use, and single, low, medium, and high frequency use. The major themes that emerged from the literature review informed the data analysis process. Several variables were found to influence shelter use, particularly with regards to women’s demographics, perceptions, and experiences of abuse. Findings suggest that the impact of the chosen variables on shelter use is much more complex than previous studies have identified. It is evident that intersectionality heavily influences patterns of help-seeking as the decision to leave abuse is driven by women’s unique circumstances and experiences of oppression. Accessibility of income supports, affordable housing, childcare, and employment support greatly reduce women’s likelihood of returning to abuse. As a result, the respective policies must be strengthened to ensure that women have the resources to escape domestic violence permanently. Furthermore, policies regarding upstream prevention of abuse play a critical role in addressing domestic violence. By teaching children how to develop healthy relationships, cycles of violence can be broken and future generations can develop the skills to prevent future abuse from occurring. Moving forward, public policies must be developed to address both the causes and consequences of IPV. By strengthening both responsive and preventative domestic violence policies, gender inequality and oppression that lead to IPV can be addressed.
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The Effect Bylaw Enforcement has on Calgary's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness
(2012-09) Hutton, Sarah; Kneebone, Ronald
In 2008, the City of Calgary was the first Canadian city to implement a 10-year plan to end homelessness and the city has since been regarded as a Canadian leader in the effort to end homelessness. This report will address whether bylaws or enforcement methods affect Calgary's effort to end homelessness. Does the enforcement of bylaws create a cycle of jail and shelter usage that is difficult for many homeless individuals to escape? Does the current enforcement method create an economic burden for taxpayers or prevent the success of the Calgary 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness? According to the City of Calgary, "bylaws are created as a way to address issues and concerns of the local community. They are created to protect the environment, public health, public safety, or to maintain an orderly appearance in your community and city" (The City of Calgary, 2012). The City of Calgary must enforce bylaws in a way that serves both Calgary's housed and homeless citizens. The enforcement of bylaws is expected to preserve the quality of life and economic interests for Calgary's housed citizens, while at the same time respecting the rights of homeless individuals and assisting them in getting off the street. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the current bylaw enforcement approach in Calgary and to assess to what extent the current method affects Calgary's 10-year Plan to End Homelessness. This report will address how the City of Calgary balances the interests of various stakeholders; those interested in how bylaws are enforced and those interested in how the homeless are supported. The report will describe how in an attempt to balance the interests of stakeholders the City of Calgary is inadvertently creating a cycle of jail, and shelter usage amongst homeless people. The first section of the report will discuss why bylaw enforcement is necessary to control certain homeless behaviours. Specific discussion of Calgary's Public Behaviour and Panhandling bylaws and Calgary's law enforcement agencies will be included. The second section of the report will discuss what happens when law enforcement leads to ticketing of homeless people, and what happens when tickets lead to court appearances and time spent in custody. The third section of the report will discuss how homeless people return to the street once they are released from custody. This section will represent the end/start of the jail and shelter usage cycle. Each section will include some discussion of the social and economic costs and benefits associated with the enforcement of bylaws in the City of Calgary.
Open Access
Energy price volatility and the risk of deficit in Alberta
(2008) Preston, Ashley Jane; Kneebone, Ronald
Open Access
Estimation of an expectations-augmented phillips curve for Alberta
(1993) Bruce, Duane; Kneebone, Ronald
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Examing a Federal Excise Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages as a Measure of Health Promotion
(2016-09) Giang, Amanda; Kneebone, Ronald
Rates of obesity and chronic disease have been on the rise in Canada, contributing to the burden on provincial and territorial healthcare systems at the expense of other public programs. Many of these illnesses – heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer – are nutrition related and are preventable. A major contributor to these illnesses is sugar and its overconsumption. Sugar – especially added-‐‑sugars – can be found in many packaged and processed foods with no additional nutritional value. Unfortunately, the negative health effects of unconsciously consuming sugar in abundance is not internalized by many Canadians. This effectively elevates the risk of disease, and subsequently an increased demand for healthcare services and creates a burden on the economy in general. Unfortunately, Canada’s existing health promotion and prevention initiatives do not seem to be achieving the goal of alleviating the unnecessary costs to the healthcare system in terms of affecting a change in behaviour of Canadians. As such, the choice of policy instrument should be reconsidered. This project will study the rationale for a tax on sugar-‐‑ sweetened beverages in Canada, its impact on the economy, and factors that must be considered when implementing such a tax.
Open Access
Family Saves: An Experiment in Reaching Efficiencies of Scale in Individual Development Account Policy and Programming
(2013-09) Kassam, Salimah; Oxoby, Robert; Kneebone, Ronald
Asset building is an effective poverty reduction tool, evident through thirty years of research and programming in the field throughout the United States. Individual Development Account programming targets individuals experiencing living on a low income, a state of transition and/or at-risk of homelessness/homeless and provides money management education and monetary incentives in the form of matched funds to encourage savings patterns and asset accumulation. Individual Development Account programs have proven to move people out of poverty and into financial stability through using an asset building approach. Though effective and outcome driven, Individual Development Account programs are costly and require large investments in human and financial resources in-order to operate successfully. This paper determines best practices and strategies in reaching efficiencies in Individual Development Account programs from the field of asset building and merges academic research in behavioural economics to produce an experiment in scaling the Fair Gains Individual Development Account Program at Momentum Community Economic Development.
Open Access
A Geospatial Analysis: Low Childhood Immunization Rates in Alberta
(2014-08) Johnson, Anthony George; Kneebone, Ronald
Childhood immunization rates in Alberta do not meet national targets. Alberta does not have a mandatory program for routine immunizations, which results in both delayed immunizations and an under-immunized population. To identify demographic factors that contribute to these low vaccination rates National Census data collected for Alberta was analyzed. To make the sample more comprehensive data from community health centres and Hutterite colony locations were added. This analysis will use maps of immunization coverage rates to identify target areas for policy change. Separate maps for the demographic variables in those areas will be used to provide policy recommendations for improved rates in Alberta.
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Housing First in Alberta
(2012-09) Campbell, Rachel; Kneebone, Ronald
This paper investigates the way in which the Housing First philosophy and model have been adapted to suit the setting in Calgary and Alberta. It also touches on the relationships between different stakeholders in the realm of homeless service delivery in Alberta, as well as incentives these stakeholders have to reach common goals. The Alberta government has pledged hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to end homelessness through adoption of Alberta's 10-year plan to end homelessness. Calgary has adopted a similar plan. Both plans commit to end homelessness in Alberta and Calgary, respectively, by 2018 by employing a strategy known as "Housing First". Housing First is a fairly new and revolutionary philosophy and service delivery model in which clients experiencing homelessness are offered a permanent housing solution before any other needs, such as mental health, addictions, poor employability, etcetera are addressed. While Housing First has been widely acclaimed in the academic literature, it has only been so in the context of single men and women with a diagnosis severe mental illness. There is no literature proving its efficacy or effectiveness for other populations such as families with children. However, the plans in Calgary and Alberta more widely call for Housing First to be applied to all populations. As time passes and more data is collected, we will see whether this wide adoption of Housing First is hailed as an innovative and forward-thinking or premature on the part of the government and the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
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How Investing in At-Risk Youth Today Will Save Albertans Money in the Future
(2015-09) Sexsmith, Samantha; Kneebone, Ronald
The choice to use custodial sentencing as the dominant punishment solution, or to invest in the development and implementation of juvenile diversion programs aimed at addressing the root causes of crime, has remained a point of contention between decision makers in Canada.1 Seemingly contradictory behaviour between the Canadian Federal Government and the Calgary Police Service lead me to conduct an inquiry into the effectiveness of existing methods of intervention for youth crime in society. An extensive literature review and cost analysis revealed that recent legislation promoting the use of incarceration is not likely to generate desirable social or financial benefits for Canada. Rather, methods of early intervention and multi-systemic therapy should be pursued as a means to reduce crime in society, and incarceration should be utilized only as a last resort. Although there is a convincing body of discernable evidence in favour of preventative and circumstantial reactive methods in the community, the investment in such programs can be a hard political sell. Using a cost analysis and a rough calculation of Alberta’s Willingness To Pay (WTP) to reduce crime, I am able to conclude that the implementation of juvenile diversion programming should not be viewed as politically risky, but instead should be viewed as being politically advantageous.
Open Access
Lost in Translation: A study of how unclear application to the Investment Canada Act has deterred foreign investment into the oil sands
(2015-09) Kullar, Sunny; Kneebone, Ronald
Prime Minister Harper’s statement following the 2012 takeover of Nexen by CNOOC that “going forward, the Minister will find the acquisition of control of a Canadian oil-sands business by a foreign state-owned enterprise to be of net benefit, only in an exceptional circumstance” represented a major shift in the Canadian government’s attitude towards foreign direct investment into the energy sector by state owned enterprises. While the policy announcement was intended to clarify application of the Investment Canada Act (ICA), it has done the opposite. By adding the term “exceptional net benefits” when reviewing state owned enterprise’s bids for control of Canadian oil sands companies, the Canadian government has unfairly targeted Asian SOEs and confused the use of the net benefits test when assessing foreign investments. The resulting policy has had a negative effect on the development of the oil sands and on investor sentiment towards Canadian energy projects. Evidence suggests that the policy change has had negative consequences on investment activity including: increasing investment costs for acquirers, increasing costs of capital and decreasing available capital for junior oil and gas companies, and creating uncertainty in the minds of foreign investors leading to them questioning Canada as a place for future investment.
Open Access
Measures of fiscal insurance to Canadian provinces
(2011) Gres, Margarita; Kneebone, Ronald
In a federation, a cyclically-sensitive central government budget shifts tax revenues and spending programs benefits from states experiencing economic expansions to those enduring contractions. In this way, central governments make citizens better off by using fiscal policy to pool income risk across economically-diverse regions. Correlations of Canadian provincial GDPs confirm that provincial economies experience diverse business cycles. Interprovincial price adjustments and population migrations respond to business cycles; however, non-discretionary fiscal policy remains the only viable policy tool for achieving stabilization. I identify automatically stabilizing budget categories and the size of fiscal insurance they provide. Notably, provinces with relatively high incomes enjoy the benefits of fiscal insurance yielded by the federal budget more so than other provinces. Generating larger amounts of federal fiscal insurance, requires an increase in the sensitivity to those budget components behaving most effectively as both automatic stabilizers and fiscal insurance providers. This thesis identifies those budget components.
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Persons with Neurodevelopment Disabilities and their Interaction with Government
(2012-09) Shelley, Vanessa; Kneebone, Ronald
This capstone project is meant to be an informative depiction concerning the process families in Alberta must pursue when they have children who display neurodevelopment disabilities. Provincial (Alberta Government) funding and services offered to an individual with neurodevelopment disabilities, as well as their families, are outlined throughout this project in detailed progression from diagnosis as a toddler until adulthood. The reader will become familiar with two key provincial government programs -Persons with Developmental Disabilities (POD) and Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH). Parents experiences while dealing with provincial (Alberta's government) services are outlined throughout. There being no comprehensive, statistically valid surveys of which I am aware, these experiences are often anecdotal. This requires that they be interpreted carefully and that recognition be paid to the fact that I may not be able to give sufficient weight to different experiences by other parents not cited in secondary sources. This problem is inevitable but I have taken care to provide as balanced an assessment of parents' views and experiences as possible. This document concludes by revealing the approaches and practices which other provinces have taken and current policy suggestions that could help the Government of Alberta's move forward with respect to easing transitions between services and how to enhance the lives of individuals with neurodevelopment disabilities and their families.
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Poverty Reduction Initiatives: Options Available to Municipal Governments
(2013-09) MacLeod Irons, Angela; Kneebone, Ronald
Nobody chooses to live in poverty. However, sometimes circumstances arise that result in individuals and families trying to live their lives on a very low income. Although there have always been anti-poverty advocates trying to prevent and alleviate poverty at the provincial and federal level, there has been a recent push for municipalities to get involved in these activities as well. Municipalities are not a party of their own right under Canada’s constitution, and are instead governed by the provinces. Each province has passed one or more Municipal Government Act that set out the powers and responsibilities for municipalities within their jurisdiction. As such, cities are extremely limited in their powers to both collect revenue, and redistribute income. These limitations need to be taken into account when policies for poverty-reduction are being considered.