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Item 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, RonaldThe 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.Item Embargo Toward Better Policy: A Study of Healthcare Aides' Well-being and Working Conditions in Alberta's Long-Term Care Sector(2023-05-29) Wong Yi Nei, Elaine; Kwok, Siu MingIn the backdrop of Alberta's Long-Term Care (LTC) sector, Health Care Aides (HCAs) play a pivotal role, often facing multifaceted challenges. This research provided a comprehensive understanding of these challenges by reviewing a combination of academic journals and grey literature. The methodology integrates qualitative and quantitative findings to provide a holistic view. Two dominant categories of challenges emerged: work environment challenges and relational processes. Regarding the work environment, HCAs grapple with staffing shortages, substantial workloads, financial strains, and compensation disparities. Meanwhile, relational processes reveal issues in resident-staff interactions and underscore systemic inequities and workplace discrimination. These challenges are further magnified by occupational marginalization and the intricate dynamics of workplace relationships. Drawing from these insights, this research proposed policy recommendations. For structural challenges, the research suggested standardizing care parameters and enhancing workers' rights to improve job security and working conditions. To address relational issues, recommendations include implementing strategies to improve resident-staff interactions and promoting diversity and inclusion using data-driven decision-making. In conclusion, the study underscores the importance of recognizing and integrating the perspectives of HCAs to address structural and relational challenges, intending to optimize the LTC sector in Alberta.Item Open Access Advancing Inclusive Policies for Children and Youth with Disabilities in Alberta(2023-05-29) Vashist, Neha; Zwicker, JenniferThe COVID-19 pandemic revealed significant gaps in disability-inclusive policy. Children and youth with disabilities encountered heightened difficulties due to barriers already in place at the onset of the pandemic. While policy responses to public health crises tend to offer "universal" measures, individuals with disabilities face intersecting vulnerabilities that require targeted attention. Policies in place before and during the pandemic failed to provide the necessary supports to navigate these challenges effectively. The pandemic revealed an urgent need for comprehensive and targeted disability policies that consider intersectional vulnerabilities, diverse healthcare needs, and barriers to access. This study aimed to explore how lessons learned from the pandemic can guide the creation of equitable policies that support children and youth with disabilities in Alberta. A virtual focus group was conducted using the Nominal Group Technique. Participants included youth with disabilities, families of children and youth with disabilities, and non-profit stakeholders. The goal of the focus group was to better understand the challenges and barriers that disabled children, youth, and their families faced during the pandemic to inform future inclusive disability-policy recommendations. Data gathered from the focus group was transcribed to text so that participant responses to policy recommendations could be effectively analyzed. Based on the focus group findings and current literature, the following policy recommendations are offered to policymakers in Alberta: 1. Recognize disability services as essential services to ensure continuous access. 2. Design fair and sustainable economic supports for parents/caregivers of children & youth with disabilities. 3. Co-design policy with relevant stakeholders, including children & youth with disabilities, their families, service providers, and community organizations. 4. Implement a flexible design for disability programs and healthcare services, prioritizing a patient-centric approach. 5. Reduce reliance on the education system to provide all types of services.Item Embargo Public Policy Analysis: Social Prescribing and Improving Older Adults' Access to Healthy Food(2023-05-29) Toth, Aidan; Beall, ReedWhile federal and provincial social security programs exist that provide general economic assistance, and social and welfare services exist for addressing emergent need for food, healthy food access remains suboptimal, affecting the physical and mental health of affected populations, and older adults are especially vulnerable. This policy analysis used a modified version of Patton's Rational Problem-Solving Process: problem identification, determining evaluation criteria, identifying and assessing policy options, selecting the preferred policy, and implementing, monitoring. The policy problem used is: Too many older adults cannot afford enough healthy food to follow the nutritional advice of their healthcare providers. Six policy options were identified in a previously conducted environmental scan that systematically scanned and identified literature on programs to reduce the cost of, and improve access to, healthy foods. These policy options were evaluated using decision criteria adapted from the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy, effectiveness, unintended effects, equity, cost, feasibility, and acceptability. Stakeholders with expertise in health service and delivery, food insecurity and social prescribing were consulted. The top policy options identified were voucher prescriptions and income support with reimbursement. Following a fulsome analysis and stakeholder feedback, the highest scoring and recommended option was income support with reimbursement.Item Open Access Corporate Social Responsibility and Conflict Areas: SodaStream a Case Study(2023-05-29) Suchotzky, Sarah; Fellows, KentThe purpose of this paper is to review and compare international Corporate Social Responsibility standards through the case study of SodaStream. There are three main international organizations that are compared; the United Nations' "Guiding Principles on business and Human Rights"; the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development "Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct" and World Trade Organization's regional trade agreements. The main critique for these guidelines is that they are voluntary for both states and their corporations that operate outside their jurisdiction. I examine the case study of SodaStream because the Israeli company operated in West Bank, in internationally recognized illegal Israeli settlements. The company claimed that it was operating out of West Bank as a means to economic cooperation of the region and provide well paid employment to Palestinians. However, the company faced backlash from the international community due to claims that SodaStream was not treating employees fairly and that the company was detrimental to the establishment of a two-state solution. International standards and reporting of corporate social responsibility could play an important role in examining the impact that the behaviour of SodaStream had on the region. This paper lists four recommendations to for the international community to consider: 1. Increase publicly available research on the impact of corporations and corporate social responsibility in conflict regions 2. Develop more specific and standardized corporate social responsibility indicators 3. Establish Funding requirements returned to the community 4. Create more legally binding corporate social responsibility provision through trade agreements.Item Open Access Food Security in the Northwest Territories: A Market Competition Evaluation(2022-11-10) Pilling, Russell; Fellows, KentIn this capstone project, I examine food prices in the Northwest Territories (NWT) through a competition lens and make policy suggestions to improve Northern food security based on the findings. I primarily focus on assessing food prices through retail food competition, and secondarily on harvesting as a food source. Harvesting is important to include as it affects food security (and market competition) but is less easily captured by economic data. Despite examination through a competition lens, I find that remoteness, and thereby shipping costs, play a dominant role in NWT food prices. The number of food stores in a community plays an insignificant role (statistically and in effect) compared to remoteness. Harvesting supports appear to be a helpful policy option to pursue; however, further evaluation is needed to assess trade-offs and to target policies to specific demographics and communities.Item Open Access Growing end-of-life oil & gas liabilities in Alberta; Regulatory Impact Analysis of the new liability management framework(2023-05-29) Olawuwo, Samuel; Galay, GregoryItem Open Access Canada's Arctic: A Concern for National Security(2023-02-13) Patel, Shridhar; Bratt, DuaneWith a changing security environment as well as the threat of climate change, Canada needs to do more to assert its sovereignty over its Arctic region to avoid threats to territorial sovereignty. This paper provides legal, economic, international cooperation, and military recommendations that, in conjunction with Canada's Northern Policy Framework, aim to reassert Canadian sovereignty over northern territories well into the future. Primarily, these recommendations serve to deter our allies, such as the United States, and adversaries, like Russia and China, from trying to infringe upon the Canadian Arctic in both explicit and implicit ways. While Canada may not be able to fully deter a foreign nation from imposing its will on the region if it chooses to move forward with no regard for any consequences, it can implement a series of policies that make deterrence effective against all but the most damaging outcomes.Item Open Access Navigating Canadian Rail Delays: A Path to Agricultural Prosperity and Global Trade Resilience(2023-05-29) Stewart, Faith; Fellows, KentThis Capstone delves into the repercussions of Canadian rail delays on both agricultural producers and Canada's global trade standing. It focuses on Western Canadian grain transportation by CN and CP railways, evaluating the challenges resulting from delays, exploring the viability of an interswitching policy, and presenting a policy solution. Addressing these rail issues is pivotal for future trade success, as uncertainty in transportation currently hinders economic prosperity for farmers and jeopardizes Canada's international reputation. A more diverse and competitive rail transportation landscape would enhance the efficiency of grain transportation and contribute to a more resilient and sustainable agricultural supply chain in Canada. The recommended policy, an expanded Extended Interswitching Policy (Flip the Switch Campaign) presents the opportunity for positive economic impacts. These gains would extend to shippers, railways, and regional economies, with shippers poised to gain enhanced flexibility and cost savings in transporting their products to market. The policy must also carefully consider the potential impacts on all stakeholders and ensure appropriate infrastructure development to provide the greatest success. This paper endeavors to provide context on the issue and offer a practical recommendation to amplify competitiveness in the agricultural market and streamline supply chain efficiency moving forward.Item Open Access Fiscal Incentives for Critical Mineral Development in Canada: An Empirical Analysis(2022-11-10) Oladunni, Sunday; Mintz, JackThis capstone investigates empirically the effect of mining tax rate review on Nickel and Zinc production in Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. We employ the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modelling technique to analyze the dynamic interactions between output of the two transition minerals and prices, mineral foreign direct investments, and relevant tax policy variables. Results show that long run relationship exist between Nickel production and the determinants for Quebec and Manitoba. However, no such relationship exists for Ontario. Zinc production is cointegrated with its determinants in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. The effect of mining tax policy is most discernible for Nickel in Manitoba, as a lower mining tax rate elicited improvement in Nickel production. Tax policy is not significant for Quebec and Ontario's Nickel production, but price and foreign direct investments are prime for Ontario and Manitoba, while only foreign direct investments matter for Quebec. Zinc output in Quebec is significantly impacted by price and foreign direct investments, while the gradual upward tweak to Quebec's mining tax rate coincides, curiously, with improvement in Zinc production. Possibly, the 2009/10 post-crisis growth momentum in Quebec's mineral space overshadowed sensitivity to a mining tax hike. To boost critical mineral supply in the era of energy transition, both federal and provincial governments need to roll out more critical mineral-friendly tax and non-tax incentives, oriented toward growing the supply chain responsibly and sustainably.Item Open Access Beefing up the Cattle Supply Chain: Policies for improving Canada's beef sector resiliency(2023-05-29) Nolan, Kinga; Fellows, KentIn the last decade, the Canadian beef sector was subject to two major supply chain shocks; in 2012, XL Foods shut down for two months after their beef was linked to 18 cases of E. Coli and in 2020, two of Canada's largest beef processing plants closed or reduced capacity for three weeks to contain hundreds of COVID-19 cases among plant employees. Both incidents caused extensive disruptions throughout the cattle supply chain, which lasted months. To understand how these closures affected the cattle supply chain, I run a series of linear regressions using panel data to test how the plant closures affected ranchers' profit margins, processor margins, beef retail prices, and net exports. The results suggest that ranchers' margins were negatively affected in 2012, but less so in 2020. Smaller processors were negatively affected by the XL Foods closure, but medium-sized facilities saw increased profit margins in 2020, which suggests the generation of scarcity rents. Beef retail prices decreased in 2012, but not in 2020 likely due to exogenous changes in demand, rather than either of the plant closures directly. Finally, the value of beef exports drastically shrank in 2012, notably because the United States suspended beef imports from XL Foods for four months. I argue that these findings can inform proactive public policy to limit the negative impact of these events in the future. Governments should consider homogenizing inter-provincial trade beef regulations, incentivizing automation and blockchain technology traceability programs in processing facilities, and most importantly, ensuring the Canada-US border remains open to trade to maintain a competitive environment between beef processors.Item Open Access Exploring Policy Solutions to Address the Primary Care Access Crisis in Alberta(2023-05-29) Ngezi, William Paul; Leslie, MylesThe primary-care access crisis in Alberta (AB) has reached a critical level, leading to a lack of essential healthcare services, and placing a significant burden on the healthcare system. Immediate action and effective solutions are needed to ensure equal access to healthcare and address the shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs). The study provides a comprehensive analysis of AB and Ontario's existing policies and initiatives aiming to increase the number of PCPs, improve working conditions and support teamwork to retain the PCPs and avoid burnout. It proposes evidence-based policy recommendations addressing AB's needs. Key areas of focus include lessons learnt from ON's compensation reforms, team-based approach educating new primary PCPs, and credentialing. The study recommends the creation of a dedicated policy monitoring and evaluation team tasked with tracking implementation, collecting data, assessing impacts, and ensuring continuous improvement of policies. This approach, underpinned by support for healthcare providers, will help address the crisis in access to primary care and build a sustainable healthcare system in AB.Item Open Access Market Concentration in Canadian Beef Packing: The Wrong Target for Competition Policy(2023-05-29) Munro, Grady; Fellows, KentDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, market concentration within the Canadian beef packing industry was highlighted as a policy issue that should be addressed using competition policy. This paper finds though the market is indeed highly concentrated, concentration alone is unlikely to give packers the ability to exert oligopsony power in live cattle markets nor is it maintained through anti-competitive conduct. Beef packing has reached this level of concentration primarily due to the strong influence of economies of scale, whereby firms are incentivized to increase scale in order to remain efficient. Yet, during normal market conditions firm concentration does not allow Canadian packers to exert market power because of competition from U.S.-based processors for live cattle inputs. Literature analyzing market power during the BSE-crisis, as well as analysis of beef sector Lerner Indices during the COVID-19 pandemic, do suggest that Canadian packers will exert oligopsony when market conditions allow. In terms of competition policy, market concentration alone is neither a violation of the law nor a necessarily undesirable outcome. To ensure Canadian beef packers cannot exert market power in live cattle markets, policymakers would be better served to ensure the U.S.-Canada border remains open to trade in cattle.Item Open Access What can Alberta Learn from British Columbia's experience with $10-a-day child care?(2023-05-29) Mohamed, Rahim; Kneebone, RonaldOn November 14, 2021, Alberta became the ninth province to sign onto the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Agreement. Under the terms of this bilateral agreement, the Province of Alberta will receive approximately $3.8 billion from the federal government to facilitate the creation of at least 42,500 new subsidized child-care spaces over five years. This would increase Alberta's total supply of licenced child-care spaces by over forty percent, resulting in enough total spaces to serve nearly half of all children in the province aged five and under, with an average daily user fee of $10 a day. This paper will use a novel analysis of British Columbia's recent experience with publicly subsidized child care to extract lessons for policymakers in Alberta. In the fall of 2018, British Columbia became the first Canadian province to launch a "$10-a-day" child care pilot program. Since then, the province has created more than 12,700 $10-a-day child-care spaces, giving it a sizeable head-start over the other provinces that signed onto the Canada-wide ELCC agreement (with the exception of Quebec, which this paper will touch on less directly). Using an original data set containing data on 267 $10 a day child care centres across British Columbia, I identify a marked regional disparity in the distribution of centres and preliminary evidence of the inequitable distribution of spaces within Vancouver. These findings are similar, although not identical, to findings obtained from earlier studies of access to subsidized child care in Quebec (see, e.g., Haeck et al., 2015). In light of both my novel findings from British Columbia and the extant literature on Quebec's child-care program, I recommend that policymakers in Alberta take proactive action to offset the likely regressive effects of the introduction of $10-a-day child care to the province. Such action could include subsidies for informal care in parts of the province with low concentrations of $10-a-day spaces and mandating that a certain proportion of $10-a-day centres be created in low- and moderate-income areas. Policymakers should also take steps to ensure fairness in the process of choosing which sites are to become $10-a-day centres.Item Open Access Analysis of the Effects of Misinformation on Climate Change Policy Effectiveness in Canada(2023-05-29) Loebach, Emily; Boucher, Jean-ChristopheThis capstone project was completed to address climate misinformation both in Canada and across the world to aid in understanding how it affects climate policymaking. The first step in doing so is to review what misinformation and disinformation are, how they spread, and whom they affect most. In doing so, that context may be used to understand how policymakers can navigate the public sector given the presence of misinformation as well as which policy models will be most successful in limiting its spread. Moreover, background regarding what the current state of misinformation research looks like and where the gaps are provides context for why climate misinformation continues to persist globally. The case study on major nations and their states of climate misinformation/skepticism allows for a better understanding of how Canada's perception of climate change compares to other countries. Finally, recommendations can be made for how policymakers can best approach implementing climate policies given the level of misinformation within Canada.Item Open Access Evaluating Methodologies of Quantifying Avoided Costs in Energy, Capacity, and Transmission and Distribution Resulting from Energy Efficiency Policies(2023-05-29) Li, Qiushan (Lillian); Shaffer, BlakeThis study embarks on an in-depth exploration of methodologies for quantifying avoided costs in energy, capacity, and transmission and distribution as a result of energy efficiency policies. The research is anchored in a comparative lens, scrutinizing techniques adopted by jurisdictions such as California, New England, and Ontario. Motivated by the escalating electricity demand due to heightened electrification, the study seeks to understand how energy efficiency policies can be a counterforce by quantifying their utility system benefits. While the U.S. showcases a consistent adoption and documentation of energy efficiency policies, Canada's engagement appears fragmented. The prevailing measure for energy efficiency cost-effectiveness remains the total resource cost test, emphasizing avoided costs as energy efficiency's primary benefit. The investigation reveals a dependency on forward electricity price forecasts for avoided cost in energy, and construction costs of new power facilities for avoided cost in capacity. Methodologies for avoided transmission and distribution cost display variance, with some hinging on historical data blended with investment forecasts. Spotlighting Alberta reveals an imminent need for robust data infrastructure and agile adaptation mechanisms in the energy landscape, ensuring precise utility benefits quantification from energy efficiency policies.Item Open Access Mandatory Radon Testing and Mitigation of Businesses in Alberta(2023-05-29) Kursaeva, Mariia; Shaffer, BlakeThis paper investigates the need for mandatory radon testing and mitigation measures in workplaces in Alberta. Radon, an odourless and colourless radioactive gas arising naturally from soil, has been linked to lung cancer. Despite alarming statistics, most businesses in Alberta are not required to conduct radon testing. The paper conducts a cost-benefit analysis within a 25-year timeframe to evaluate the implementation of mandatory radon testing and mitigation measures in workplace settings in Alberta. The paper highlights that the lack of mandatory radon testing in businesses poses a significant and avoidable health risk. By focusing on occupational radon exposure and drawing on the precedent set by mandatory testing in childcare facilities, the paper proposes a feasible solution to mitigate radon-induced health hazards in workplaces. The paper analyzes two alternatives: the status quo, where testing is voluntary, and mandatory testing for all registered businesses. It examines costs and benefits, including healthcare expenses and the value of statistical life. The analysis concludes that the mandatory testing scenario demonstrates cost reductions under both three percent and eight percent discount rates. The adoption of this approach could yield significant savings, estimated at eight to seventeen billion dollars over the next twenty-five years. The paper acknowledges assumptions and limitations but ultimately recommends that the government enforce mandatory radon testing and mitigation, safeguarding public health and ameliorating financial implications for Alberta.Item Open Access Alberta's Hydrogen Roadmap: Efficacy and Efficiency of the Province's Vision for Supporting Low-Carbon Hydrogen(2022-11-10) Mahoney, Shannon; Bailey, MeganAlberta's Hydrogen Roadmap sets a vision for how the province will grow a hydrogen economy to diversify its energy sector, benefit the economy and contribute to emissions reductions. This paper examines the efficiency and efficacy of Alberta's proposed policy actions to support low carbon production and makes recommendation for how to further advance this strategy. It finds that Alberta's Roadmap as industrial policy may be warranted and also finds that Alberta's Roadmap is a solid start to building its hydrogen economy. It sets forth strong policy actions to reduce emissions in existing production, grow demand by implementing hydrogen in carbon-intensive sectors, and support technology and innovation. A weak carbon price combined with the current high cost of low carbon hydrogen production make it unlikely that the hydrogen industry would develop and produce a maximum benefit in an appropriate timeframe for reaching net zero goals if left to the market. Unless the gap between the cost of emissions and the cost of emissions reduction is closed or significantly decreased, no financial incentive exists for companies to act. Government policy tailored to each of these market issues could support the development of hydrogen to produce economic and environmental benefits. However, without such tailored policy, industrial policy could simultaneously address several of these failures. In addition to Alberta's proposed policy actions, this paper offers four recommendations to further support low carbon hydrogen production and deeper decarbonization: 1. Increase the stringency and emissions coverage of carbon pricing to signal firms to reduce emissions and improve the economic feasibility of low/zero carbon technologies. 2. Fund innovation to improve low carbon hydrogen feasibility and reduce investment risks/uncertainty. 3. Provide transparency and establish stricter eligibility requirements for fossil fuel subsidies. 4. Prioritize adopting a hydrogen emissions classification system that establishes an emissions threshold aligned with global standards. 5. Establish a regulatory framework to avoid overlap and confusion between regulatory bodies and existing legislation.Item Open Access Professional Competition and its Influence on Access in Primary Health Care(2023-05-29) McDonald, Anita; Leslie, MylesDue to the low availability of family physicians, Canadians are currently experiencing a crisis in access to primary health care (PHC). Interprofessional collaboration, supported by expanded scopes of practice for non-medical professionals, has been repeatedly presented as a potential solution to the challenges that have led to the access crisis. This capstone argues that interprofessional collaboration is likely to remain an ineffective policy goal as long as decision makers continue to neglect the self-serving and competitive character of interprofessional interactions. It argues that collaboration's unacknowledged second face is competition, and that fair and full competition is a likely solution to the access crisis and making good on collaboration's promises. Medical professional dominance in PHC has created an anti-competitive environment that allows physicians to subordinate other professions, leading to under-utilization of non-medical professionals and so the inhibition rather than expansion of access. An example of this is presented in a case study of non-medical prescribing. Reports from the United States and Europe suggest that supporting fair and full competition amongst health professions can improve access. Those reports provide details on the regulatory requirements for creating a health professionals' market that would allow for barrier-free competition, full patient choice, and the fruition of interprofessional collaboration's promise. This capstone concludes that PHC policy needs to move away from collaboration rhetoric and should focus on designing a system that optimizes the competition between health care professions for the benefit of Canadians.Item Open Access Tackling the post-secondary affordability crisis in a post-covid world(2023-05-29) Fredua-Agyeman, Kelvin; Zwicker, JenniferThe price of goods in Canada has increased significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic and this change has negatively impacted the quality of life for many households in Canada. Although this has impacted the vast majority of Canadians, discussions about how this issue has affected post-secondary students has been severely limited. In order to address this, a survey conducted by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Student Association (SAITSA) was created with the specific aim of helping identify issues caused by the affordability crisis. This research paper will also analyze the history of policies that deal with how postsecondary education in Alberta has been funded up until the present day to help contextualize the issue. Through analyzing the survey results as well as performing a historical analysis on postsecondary funding policies in Alberta, recommendations will be made for key stakeholders. These stakeholders are the provincial & federal government, student associations, and postsecondary institutions.