How are policies developed in Canada
How are policies developed in Canada

How are policies developed in Canada? law impact almost all aspects of our day-to-day lives. For example, there are laws that regulate activities such as driving vehicles, riding bicycles, finding work, and getting married, and these laws contribute to a safe and peaceful society. The Canadian legal system respects the rights of the individual and maintains public order. Canada’s legal heritage comprises the rule of law, respect for others, democratic principles, etcetera.

Because Canadian society is so intricate, it is almost impossible for the legislature to have to deal with all the details of every law. To assist with this, provincial and territorial legislatures and legislatures often pass laws to give government departments or other government organizations the power to enact certain laws, called ordinances.

Public policy refers to the actions taken by the government and its decisions that are aimed at solving problems and improving the quality of life of its citizens. At the state level, public policies are issued to regulate industry and business, protect citizens within the country and in diaspora, support state and city governments and people like the poor through grant programs, and promote social causes. A policy set and implemented by the government goes through several stages from beginning to end and these stages are as follows.

Agenda Setting

Before a policy can be made, there must be an issue that can be of concern to the government such as example, illegal immigration which has been giving headaches to the Canadian government since time immemorial but it was not until the 20th century that people saw it as a threat and that prompted the government to take action on it.

Another example is crime, Canadian society, peaceful as it is, tolerates a certain level of crime; but when crime increases drastically, it becomes a problem that calls for the attention of policymakers. Certain events such as flooding and heatwaves which cause wildfire may be topics to be added to the agenda and raise questions as to whether or not houses can be built near water bodies or in hot zones where the risk of flooding and wildfires respectively, are high.

Formulation and Adoption

Policy formulation simply refers to the development of an approach to solving a specific problem. The Canadian parliament, executive branch, courts, and interest groups may be involved in policy formulation. Contradictory proposals in parliament are usually made as the Prime Minister may have one approach to immigration reform, and opposition party lawmakers may have another. The tangible results in policy formulation are: bills go to Parliament, or regulators draft proposed rules and the process progresses with adoption. Directives are enforced when Parliament passes laws, regulations become final, or the Supreme Court decides on a case.

Policy Implementation

Policy implementation is a series of activities carried out by the Government and its partners to try to achieve the goals and targets set out in the Policy Statement.

Running a policy is about moving forward, it’s about spending the freed money on a business. This also involves hiring new staff or additional policymakers, but this is also the stage where, in many cases, policies stall due to a lack of funds to implement them.

Evaluation and Termination

Evaluation means assessing how effective a policy is performing, and it is a daunting exhausting task. People in and out of government often use cost-benefit analysis to find the answer. In other words, if the Canadian government spends billions of dollars on this particular policy, are the benefits worth the costs? The cost-benefit analysis is based on hard-to-find data that is subject to differing and sometimes conflicting interpretations.

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