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Browsing by Author "Boyd, Brendan"

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    The greenhouse gas emissions coverage of carbon pricing instruments for Canadian provinces
    (2019) Dobson, Sarah; Winter, Jennifer; Boyd, Brendan
    This paper focuses primarily on provincial systems’ emissions coverage: the share of emissions subject to a carbon price. The federal government has set a pricing benchmark, the minimum level of emissions coverage that provincial pricing policies are required to meet. The federal backstop — consisting of a carbon tax and output-based pricing system (OBPS) for large emitters — is imposed on provinces whose policies don’t measure up to the federal benchmark. We examine how the coverage of implemented, announced and former provincial pricing policies measure up to the benchmark and backstop. Using reported emissions data for each province from 2015, we provide an estimate of emissions coverage in each province from the policies in effect in 2019.
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    Introduction: Theorizing about provinces as provincial laboratories for policy diffusion and transfer
    (2021) Boyd, Brendan; Boyd, Brendan; Olive, Andrea
    Canada's federal system, composed of ten provincial governments and three territories, all with varying economies and political cultures, is often blamed for the country's failure to develop coordinated policy responses to key issues. But in other federal and multi-level governance systems, the ability of multiple governments to test a variety of policy responses has been lauded as an effective way to build local and national policy. Despite high-profile examples of policy diffusion in Canada, there is surprisingly little academic study of policy learning and diffusion among provinces. Featuring cutting edge research, Provincial Policy Laboratories explores the cross-jurisdictional movement of policies among governments in Canada's federal system. The book is comprised of case studies in a range of emerging policy areas, including parentage rights, hydraulic fracturing regulations, species at risk legislation, sales and aviation taxation, and marijuana policy. Throughout, the contributors aim to increase knowledge about this understudied aspect of Canadian federalism and contribute to the practice of intergovernmental policy making across the country.
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    A province under pressure: climate change policy in Alberta
    (2019) Boyd, Brendan
    Alberta is responsible for over a third of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing the country's emissions requires policies and initiatives that reduce emissions in the province. Yet the study of provincial climate change policy in Canada has largely focused on lower-emitting provinces like British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. This article argues that Alberta is best understood as a “reluctant actor” on climate change, whose policies are influenced by decisions and pressures from outside its borders. The literature on Canadian-American environmental policy making and international policy transfer are used to explore provincial GHG targets and carbon pricing policies. The article finds that Alberta's 2002 targets and Specified Gas Emitters Regulation were determined by economic competitiveness and leakage concerns, while the adoption of new GHG targets in 2008 and a carbon tax was the result of policy transfer through political bandwagoning and the desire for reputational benefits.
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    The public servant’s role in democracy
    (2021) Boyd, Brendan; Westley, Jared J.; Rounce, Andrea; Levasseur, Karine; Caron, Isabelle
    This research note reports on the findings from a survey conducted in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). Despite robust debate among public administration experts about the role public servants should play in Canadian democracy, there has yet to be a systematic study of how public servants themselves view democracy and their role within it. We ask: What role do public servants play in democracy? The survey questions public servants about their views and contributions to democracy to gain a better understanding of what role they are playing in Canada’s system.
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    Understanding consultation and engagement of Indigenous Peoples in resource development: A policy framing approach
    (2018) Boyd, Brendan; Lorefice, Sophie
    Canada's legal system has repeatedly ruled that the Crown has a duty to consult with Indigenous Peoples when approving and shaping resource development projects that are located on their land or could infringe on their rights. Yet, there are still incidences where Indigenous communities and organizations find formal consultation processes, and the approach to engagement taken by industry and government, to be lacking. We use insights from the policy studies literature to argue that generating more evidence and analysis about the benefits and impacts of development is unlikely to improve consultation and engagement processes or resolve resource development disputes. We suggest that a policy framing approach, which examines how the different actors frame or define controversial and intractable policy problems, can provide insight into why disputes occur. We examine publicly available documents and statements about consultation and engagement produced by Indigenous groups, Canadian governments, and industry to identify and compare how these groups are likely to frame resource development and consultation activities.