NAFTA and the Mobility of Highly Skilled Workers: The Case of Canadian Nurses

This article examines the impact of trade treaties on health professionals' international mobility. It presents a case study of the impact of labour mobility clauses in trade agreements on the Canadian nursing labour market. It provides statistical evidence on the impact of NAFTA's Chapter 16 on the cross-border movement of Canadian nurses in the 1990s. We observed that an increasingly large number of Canadian nurses went to work in the United States using the NAFTA facilitation mechanism but that this growth could not be attributed to the trade agreement alone; domestic labour market conditions are key to understanding this cross-border movement. The article concludes that trade treaties and international migration of health personnel do not offer simple solutions to health personnel shortages, but can pose a danger to precarious health systems in developing countries.labour mobility, NAFTA, nurses, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital,

The Canadian approach to corporate social responsibility in the extractive industry: toward better regulatory governance in mining in Latin America

This papers describes the current Canadian approach to CSR in the mining sector and proposes that, in addition to the current support for CSR, the Canadian government put its efforts toward improving the capacity of national governments in Latin American Countries (LAC) to ensure that the mining industry comply to environmental and labour regulations and that revenues from the sectors are funnelled. In addition to documentary research, this paper relies on more than 35 interviews conducted in Chile, in Canada, in Uruguay and the Caribbean in between September 2008 and March 2009 with representatives of the private sector, governments, regional organisations and civil society organisations.This papers describes the current Canadian approach to CSR in the mining sector and proposes that, in addition to the current support for CSR, the Canadian government put its efforts toward improving the capacity of national governments in Latin American Countries (LAC) to ensure that the mining industry comply to environmental and labour regulations and that revenues from the sectors are funnelled. In addition to documentary research, this paper relies on more than 35 interviews conducted in Chile, in Canada, in Uruguay and the Caribbean in between September 2008 and March 2009 with representatives of the private sector, governments, regional organisations and civil society organisations

Trade Policy and Health: Adding Retrospective Studies to the Research Agenda Comment on “The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Is It Everything We Feared for Health?”

Prospective studies of the potential health consequences of trade and investment treaties, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, are critical. These studies can make visible to trade policy-makers the potential negative impacts associated to such treaties and can influence the outcomes of such negotiations. However, few researchers have examined retrospectively the consequences of trade agreements. With more than 400 trade agreements and more than 2000 investment treaties currently in force, researchers have a large corpus of agreements to analyse in order to assess not only their potential impacts on health system and population health, but also their actual impacts. This comment suggests some research questions that would benefit from retrospective inquir

Enseigner des valeurs à l'ordre collégial

Dans le contexte social et scolaire actuel, il existe une volonté de plus en plus grande des cégeps de donner un sens à la formation technique en enseignant les valeurs rattachées au métier, tout en faisant de la réussite des études une entreprise personnelle. À cet égard, un partenariat entre le Cégep Limoilou et l’Université Laval a permis de développer des activités pédagogiques concrètes pour l’enseignement de valeurs entrepreneuriales dans la formation technique. Cet article présente Ça me tient à cœur !, une activité élaborée en vue de l’acquisition de valeurs entrepreneuriales dans une perspective de développement durable. On y expose les visées de l’activité, les modalités de son déroulement et les résultats de son expérimentation en classe. Réalisée dans un programme technique spécifique, à savoir le programme de Technologie de la mécanique du bâtiment, l’activité présentée est néanmoins transférable à tout programme collégial dont les buts recouvrent le développement de valeurs ou la formation citoyenne. L’article évoque enfin trois autres activités visant le développement d’un système de valeur par les étudiants

Fostering the Catalyst Role of Government in Advancing Healthy Food Environments

Effective approaches to non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention require intersectoral action targeting health and engaging government, industry, and society. There is an ongoing vigorous exploration of the most effective and appropriate role of government in intersectoral partnerships. This debate is particularly pronounced with regards to the role of government in controlling unhealthy foods and promoting healthy food environments. Given that food environments are a key determinant of health, and the commercial sector is a key player in shaping such environments (eg, restaurants, grocery stores), the relationship between government and the commercial sector is of primary relevance. The principal controversy at the heart of this relationship pertains to the potential influence of commercial enterprises on public institutions. We propose that a clear distinction between the regulatory and catalyst roles of government is necessary when considering the nature of the relationship between government and the commercial food sector. We introduce a typology of three catalyst roles for government to foster healthy food environments with the commercial sector and suggest that a richer understanding of the contrasting roles of government is needed when considering approaches NCD prevention via healthy food environments

Why and How Political Science Can Contribute to Public Health? Proposals for Collaborative Research Avenues

Written by a group of political science researchers, this commentary focuses on the contributions of political science to public health and proposes research avenues to increase those contributions. Despite progress, the links between researchers from these two fields develop only slowly. Divergences between the approach of political science to public policy and the expectations that public health can have about the role of political science, are often seen as an obstacle to collaboration between experts in these two areas. Thus, promising and practical research avenues are proposed along with strategies to strengthen and develop them. Considering the interdisciplinary and intersectoral nature of population health, it is important to create a critical mass of researchers interested in the health of populations and in healthy public policy that can thrive working at the junction of political science and public health