The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) connects the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean by providing Canada, the United States, and Europe with a common defence framework. In the field of defence and security, the burden-sharing problem of distributing the cost of collective defence – and what a fair share among member states should look like – can become a complex issue. NATO is not excepted from equity controversies. The central goal of this paper is to understand a specific part of the transatlantic burden-sharing story: Canada’s decision to contribute to NATO and its position during the first debates on burden-sharing in the alliance. This paper argues that Canadian contribution strategies can be best understood by looking at the geopolitics of the middle power on the one hand, and the concepts of fair-share and burden on the other. It shows that burden-sharing is not a mere technicality, but instead is filled with interpretative gaps. By looking at the normative level, the paper explores why burden-sharing became an issue in the first place and elaborates on the politics of burden-sharing from the Canadian point of view.

This policy paper (a) explores the reasons that people should consider the parallels between Canada and the European Union, (b) describes the instruments of the Open Method of Coordination and what lessons Canada might be able to draw from them, (c) highlights how the OMC might open a window of opportunity for discussions of the social development of Europe and (d) suggests a number of incremental steps that could be taken to encourage policy learning between the provinces and the federal government in Canada.

Contexte: Au début de l’année 2011, des manifestations sans précédent en Tunisie et en Égypte mènent à l’exil du président tunisien Ben Ali et à la démission du président égyptien Hosni Moubarak. L’UE est prompte à réagir au changement politique, pourtant inattendu. La révision en cours de la Politique européenne de voisinage dans laquelle s’inscrivent les relations avec les pays du sud de la Méditerranée aide à proposer rapidement une série de mesures et d’initiatives pour répondre aux besoins de la région en pleine mutation. Dans le contexte de transition politique, la stratégie européenne insiste davantage sur la conditionnalité de l’assistance aux progrès de la réalisation des réformes et aux résultats concrets. Si la Tunisie, où l’on trouve un contexte interne favorable aux réformes, progresse plus positivement dans le processus de transition politique et obtient le statut avancé, il en va autrement en Égypte, où l’approche déployée par l’UE est mise à rude épreuve. Les faiblesses politiques du premier président élu démocratiquement, Mohamed Morsi, son éviction par les militaires puis l’élection présidentielle du Général al-Sissi compliquent les relations avec l’UE et obligent à les repenser.

Par conséquent, la présente analyse évalue la réponse de l’UE au printemps arabe afin d’en tirer des leçons pour l’engagement du Canada dans la région. Le Canada bien qu’étant un acteur mineur gagnerait à inscrire son action dans un véritable cadre stratégique axé sur la coopération régionale avec moins d’insistance sur Israël, et sur la diversification ainsi que l’innovation de son assistance. Lisez le document ici.

At a time when an unprecedented wave of democratization is rippling through the Arab world, it is very important to reevaluate the actors’ commitment to democracy promotion and to examine the challenges which they must overcome if they seriously want their efforts to succeed. Three of the significant questions highlighted in this policy paper are: Why is it important to rethink electoral assistance when dealing with democracy promotion policy? What instruments and approaches did the EU, the US, and Canada employ while implementing their electoral assistance policy in the PT? How effective were the actors’ policies in the democratization process of the PT and why? Addressing the actors’ policy successes and shortfalls is necessary before providing valid proposals to the policy-makers who are pioneering the democracy promotion programs in the MENA region.

In this policy paper, the origins of the regulation of trade in energy will be explored from the beginning of the European integration process until today. Subsequently, an account of the state of play of the multi-level governance doctrine in EU scholarship will be given. Then, an analysis of the electricity forum will be conducted, identifying multi-level elements of it. Finally, the paper concludes by discussing the possibility of using the EU regulation of electricity as a model for the WTO.

The last decade has seen a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the financial exchange industry. This policy paper looks at two recent, high-profile merger proposals that failed : DB’s blocked acquisition of NYX, and the London Stock Exchange’s failed takeover of Canada’s TMW INC. Based on the political lessons learned from this attempt, this paper identifies the common challenges facing regulators and stakeholders across the two cases analysed here, and suggests a forward research agenda.

The world’s first transnational, digital right of initiative, the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) took effect on April 1, 2012, when the EU Regulation on the citizen’s initiative entered into force. Despite its rocky start, the ECI represents and innovative first step towards a more inclusive and democratic Europe and it could help in the development of a greater solidarity within the Union.

Policy Paper by Alexander Gunn, University of Victoria

Cities are increasingly identified in Canadian academic and policy literature as being an integral support structure for the settlement and integration of immigrants to Canada – often serving as the “first point of contact” between newcomers and government due to the day-to-day dependence of immigrants on various local public services. The ability of municipal governments to assist in the immigrant settlement process, however, is continually challenged by their weak fiscal capacities and their limited (or non-existent) role in the development of immigration policy – a field that has traditionally been dominated by the federal and provincial levels of government. This paper will examine how various Canadian cities are overcoming these challenges in order to become “policy innovators” in the fields of immigrant settlement and integration, often working in collaboration with their federal and provincial counterparts as well as with local businesses and civil society organizations. 

This paper comes out of the 4 March 2011 workshop on Local Food Policy held by the Canada-Europe Transatlantic Dialogue at the British High Commission in Ottawa. A common topic identified by workshop participants was the role of government procurement policies and non-governmental certification schemes in the development of sustainable local food systems.

This short article addresses some of the policy issues related to the growth of sustainable public procurement policies and non-governmental certification schemes in the European Union and Canada.

English version

French version