Vol.
22 No. 3 September 1996
Articles:
Takings of Private Rights to Public Natural Resources: A Policy
Analysis
Richard Schwindt and Steven Globerman
In
Canada, the Crown has maintained ownership of important natural resources
while allocating rights to exploit those resources to the private
sector. Satisfying public demands for parks and wilderness areas,
settling Aboriginal land claims and addressing resource depletion
have led to the withdrawal of private rights.
Knotty
compensation issues have arisen. This paper sets out some basics for
an efficient, equitable compensation policy. Examples of contemporary
policy involving withdrawals of rights to hardrock minerals, timber,
and Pacific salmon are reviewed. They reveal that the current policy
is flawed, particularly regarding the basis for calculating compensation.
Recommendations follow.
The Effectiveness of Bill 70 and Joint Health and Safety Committees
in Reducing Injuries in the Workplace: The Case of Ontario
Wayne Lewchuk, A. Leslie Robb and Vivienne Walters
The
shift towards the internal responsibility system and the mandating
of Joint Health and Safety Committees in the early 1980s represented
a radical departure in terms of how health and safety were regulated
in the workplace. This paper examines the effectiveness of this institutional
change using firm level data provided by the Worker's Compensation
Board on lost time accidents from 1976 to 1989. It finds that where
management and labour had some sympathy for the co-management of health
and safety through joint committees, the new system significantly
reduced lost-time accident rates. At workplaces where either labour
or management resisted the spread of co-management the mandating of
committees appears to have little effect on lost-time accident rates.
Social Transfers, Changing Family Structure and Low Income Among
Children
Garnett Picot and John Myles
Our aim in this paper is to resolve a paradox. Despite declining real
earnings among young adults, there has been no secular rise in child
poverty. We show that the relative stability in child poverty is a
result of two factors. First, the decline in market income in young
families with children has been offset by rising transfers. Since
the 1970s, social transfers have replaced earnings as the main source
of income among low-income families with children. Second, changes
in the fertility and labour market behaviour of young adults have
sharply reduced the risk of young children growing up in low-income
households. Thus, the upward pressure on low income among children
stemming from the labour market has been offset by social transfers,
changes in family formation, and the labour market behaviour of young
adults. Whether these offsetting patterns will continue in the late
1990s remains to be seen.
Public Attitudes Toward Budget Cuts in Alberta: Biting the Bullet
or Feeling the Pain?
Karen D. Hughes Graham S. Lowe Allison L. McKinnon
This
paper examines public responses to the Alberta government's deficit
elimination strategy. Using data from the province-wide 1995 Alberta
Survey (N=1240), we examine how individuals have been affected by,
and are responding to, cutbacks and restructuring in health care,
education, and public sector employment. Public attitudes about government
cost-cutting are contradictory. While most respondents support the
government's deficit elimination strategy, they express considerable
concern about its impact on public services. Experiencing cutbacks
somewhat erodes the Klein government's electoral support, though not
as much as the perception that cost cutting is undermining public
services. The paper raises several key public policy issues regarding
the individual and social dimensions of deficit elimination, especially
when this fiscal policy is linked to a broader "new right"
agenda as is the case in Alberta.
Canadians with Disabilities and the Labour Market
Derek Hum and Wayne Simpson
The master file of the Labour Market Activity Survey is used to investigate
the effect of disability on labour market activity. Our results indicate
the importance of acknowledging the severity of disability, of distinguishing
between men and women, and of distinguishing between earnings and
hours of work when considering the labour market performance of Canadians
with functional limitations. Employment policies directed toward Canadians
with disabilities should therefore recognize the heterogeneity of
this group and consider alternative initiatives to aid those with
differing severity of functional limitations. The paper finds no evidence
of earnings discrimination against employed men and women with disabilities,
although these results must be interpreted cautiously.
