Category: Government

Canadian PSE History Through Election Manifestos: 1997-2011

This is part IV of a series.  Catch up with Part I, Part II and Part III.  We have arrived at the modern, post-Redbook manifesto period, where promises get costed, fiscal frameworks are explicit, and parties hew more closely to their promises.  At least in theory. During the Chretien-Martin years, the Liberals were, well, inconsistent.  In 1997 they talked small (their only real promise was the introduction of a small set of grants for students with dependents) but in office

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PSE History Through Election Manifestos: 1979-1993

Late to this incredibly hip party on Canadian PSE history?  Catch up with the previous two installments here and here. The late 70s to mid-90s were maybe the ghastliest period in Canadian history.  Economically, they were full of unemployment, inflation and debt.  Yet our politics were driven not by economics, as they would have been in normal countries, but by national unity: a referendum in 1980, constitutional conferences in 1981, repatriation in 1982, the Meech Lake Accord in 1987, three

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Canadian PSE History through Election Manifestos: 1963-1974

If you’re just joining us, we’re exploring the history of post-secondary education in Canada as seen through election manifestos. 1949 to 1962 was yesterday.  The party manifestos for the five federal elections from 1963 to 1974 represent a kind of a highpoint in dealing with post-secondary education, research, and skills. It’s a fascinating period because you can see the pendulum swing from activist federal ambitions in education and skills to total avoidance. The Socreds were the most consistent party through

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Canadian PSE History through Election Manifestos: 1949-1962

Care about politics?  Of course you do. Horrified by the current federal election campaign?  Of course you are.  Well, the One Thought blog has you covered: an entire week on previous federal election campaigns, just to keep you distracted from the present one!  This is fascinating, I swear.  No, really. Over the summer, I spent a ludicrous amount of time on Université Laval’s Poltext site, which contains all the federal election manifestos going back to 1949 (and much else besides), and it occurred to me

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Developments in Ontario’s Performance-Based Financing System

Good morning all. Today, the CD Howe Institute is releasing a paper I wrote on Performance-Based Financing (PBF) called Funding for Results in Higher Education. It’s a quick tour through the various ways that performance-based financing works around the world—in France, Germany, Scandinavia, as well as the United States—as well as some analysis of what we know of the PBF scheme that Ontario is theoretically implementing over the next couple of years. (NB: The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

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