For immediate distribution – February 4, 2016
Montreal – The Institute for Research on Public Policy is pleased to announce the appointment of Jennifer Ditchburn as editor-in-chief of Policy Options.
An award-winning parliamentary correspondent, Ditchburn is one of Canada’s best-known and most respected analysts of politics and public policy. She brings to Policy Options two decades of experience covering the public debates that shaped the country, and a deep understanding of the complexity of the policy issues facing governments.
“I am delighted to welcome Jennifer to the Institute,” said IRPP President Graham Fox. “Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a unique ability to get to the heart of the story and an unwavering commitment to journalism as public service. Those values are critical to the success of Policy Options as it continues to establish itself as the premier online forum for thoughtful policy debate.”
Ditchburn began her journalism career in Montreal in 1995, as a reporter-editor for the Canadian Press. She went on to work in the agency’s Toronto and Edmonton bureaus, landing in the nation’s capital in 1997. Ditchburn made the leap to television in 2001 as a national reporter for the CBC, filing reports and participating in live broadcasts from across the country and abroad. She returned to the Canadian Press in 2006.
Ditchburn is a three-time National Newspaper Award winner. In 2015, she was honoured with the prestigious Charles Lynch Award for outstanding coverage of national issues. That same year, she was named one of the ten most influential Hispanic-Canadians.
She has been a frequent contributor to television and radio public affairs programs, including the CBC’s “At Issue” panel, Power and Politics, and The Current. She holds a bachelor of arts from Concordia University, and a master of journalism from Carleton University.
“I am thrilled to join the dedicated team at Policy Options and the Institute. The magazine is a positive, creative space where meaningful policy conversations take place,” said Ditchburn. “I look forward to fostering that intelligent exchange of ideas, and ensuring that the magazine remains a must-read for Canadians who care about public policy.”
Under her leadership, Policy Options will continue to expand its presence in digital space and bring new and different voices to the public square. It will continue to innovate in its use of new technologies to better inform policy debates, and will strive in all ways to reflect the diversity of Canada.
Her appointment is effective March 7, 2016.
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The Institute for Research on Public Policy is an independent, national, bilingual, not-for-profit organization based in Montreal. To receive updates from the IRPP, please subscribe to our e-mail list.
Media Contact: Shirley Cardenas   514-594-6877   scardenas@nullirpp.org
For immediate distribution – February 3, 2016
Montreal – After an incredibly successful year at the helm of Policy Options, editor Dan Gardner is leaving the magazine to write his next book and take on a significant new assignment in the Prime Minister’s Office.
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During his time at the IRPP, Dan completed the magazine’s transformation into a fully digital platform for public policy debate. He greatly increased the number and diversity of authors who contribute to it, as well as the breadth of policy issues explored in its pages. Under his watch, Policy Options has become the leading digital forum for policy debate in Canada.
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At the PMO, Dan’s work will focus on advising the Prime Minister and his senior staff on analyzing complex information to arrive at better decisions. In other words, Dan is being asked to put into practice the methodology he described in his bestselling book,Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction (co-written with Philip Tetlock).
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“Working with Dan was a real pleasure, and we are all sorry to see him leave. But of course, I completely understand his desire to answer the call to serve. I want to thank him for his leadership and his contribution to the growth of Policy Options, and I wish him great success,” said Graham Fox, president of the IRPP. “Together with the talented Policy Options team, he created a multimedia web platform that now attracts over 50,000 page views per month. He leaves a magazine that remains committed to its original mission of vigorous and thoughtful debate, but that has been completely re-imagined for the digital age.”
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“It was an honour to take charge of an institution as venerable as Policy Options and a thrill to re-think it fundamentally and create something new for the digital era. Thanks so much to Graham and the terrific staff of the IRPP. I can’t wait to see how Policy Options evolves,” said Dan.
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The new Policy Options editor will be announced tomorrow.
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The Institute for Research on Public Policy is an independent, national, bilingual, not-for-profit organization based in Montreal. To receive updates from the IRPP, please subscribe to our e-mail list.
Media Contact: Shirley Cardenas   514-594-6877   scardenas@nullirpp.org
For immediate distribution – January 6, 2016
Montreal – The economy is weak, the price of oil has collapsed, and the loonie is doing a swan dive, but Canadians are remarkably happy with the performance of the federal government and the general direction of the country, according to a new survey conducted by Nanos Research for Policy Options magazine.
A large majority (60%) rated the performance of the new Liberal government good or very good. That’s a record in the nine years the annual survey has been conducted. The previous high came after the Conservative victory in 2011, but that peak was only 40% positive.
More surprisingly given present economic woes, Canadians are almost as bullish on the general direction of the country. Sixty-three percent said Canada “is moving in the right direction” – only a hair below the 66% who said the same in 2007, when the economy was booming.
The most dramatic change recorded by the survey involves federal-provincial relations, which slightly more than half of Canadians felt had improved – a positive assessment more than double the highest response since 2007.
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Policy Options, Canada’s leading policy magazine, is published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP). The IRPP is an independent, national, bilingual, not-for-profit organization based in Montreal.
To receive updates from the IRPP, please subscribe to our e-mail list.
Media contact:   Shirley Cardenas   tel. 514-594-6877   scardenas@nullirpp.org
Montreal – Companies in Canada and abroad are increasingly restructuring their operations internationally through outsourcing and offshoring. Will increased integration into global value chains provide economic benefits for Canada? In an advance chapter from the forthcoming volume Redesigning Canadian Trade Policies for New Global Realities, IRPP research fellow and trade expert Ari Van Assche examines how firms are changing their international business practices and the implications for Canadian trade policy.
The chapter will be available on the IRPP’s website (irpp.org) on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at 12:01 a.m. ET.
| Redesigning Canadian Trade Policies for New Global Realities, edited by Stephen Tapp, Ari Van Assche and Robert Wolfe, is the sixth volume of The Art of the State. Thirty leading academics, government researchers, practitioners and stakeholders, from Canada and abroad, analyze how changes in global commerce, technology, and economic and geopolitical power are affecting Canada and its policy. |
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 The Institute for Research on Public Policy is an independent, national, bilingual, not-for-profit organization based in Montreal. To receive updates from the IRPP, please subscribe to our e-mail list.
Media Contact:           Shirley Cardenas  tel. 514-594-6877  scardenas@nullirpp.org