Sean Willet

A task force launched by U of T’s School of Public Policy & Governance (SPPG) is recommending a practical blueprint to reform Toronto’s City Hall – one that calls for incremental changes, not a complete overhaul.

“The task force debated whether we should go big or small,” says Gabriel Eidelman, an assistant professor at SPPG, who helped organize the undertaking. “We landed on let’s be smart and sensible rather than blow up the system.

“City Council is not functioning as well as it could, plain and simple. But the system is not beyond repair. What it needs is a push, and a sensible plan of action. That’s what we’ve delivered.”

The task force's 14 recommendations include calling for an annual mayoral address to City Council in early spring to lay out strategic priorities focused on “the big picture, not ward-level grandstanding” and encouraging an annual, rolling review of local agencies, boards, corporations, and commissions. The report advises council meetings be capped at 12 hours per day and councillors’ questions to staff be restricted to a single question period at the beginning of each council session.

See full report

Task force members also urge a more welcoming atmosphere for deputations, including increased information for newcomers. They want City Council to delegate further responsibility and decision-making authority to community councils and focus instead on city-wide priorities.

“City Council meetings frequently devolve into political theatre, which undermines public confidence,” the report states. “Items are too often amended ‘on-the-fly’ without staff analysis, leading to hasty decisions and wasted time and resources.”

The task force hopes City Council will act on the recommendations soon since they don't require any provincial intervention.

“These recommendations are about fixing the City of Toronto’s governance challenges. But the root issues they address are a familiar story for city councils across Canada struggling with efficacy, accountability, and transparency,” said Associate Professor Peter Loewen, director of SPPG.

Eidelman organized the task force along with urban public policy consultant Brian Kelcey, principal of State of the City.

The task force is composed of:

Former city manager Shirley Hoy, who is outgoing chair of U of T’s governing council
Former city manager Joe Pennachetti, currently a senior adviser at U of T's Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance and SPPG and a senior adviser at the Global Cities Institute and executive adviser to the World Council on City Data
Former city councillor David Soknacki
Former city councillor John Parker
Adrienne Batra, press secretary to former mayor Rob Ford and currently editor-in-chief of the Toronto Sun
Western University Assistant Professor Zack Taylor
CivicAction CEO Sevaun Palvetzian
Bianca Wylie, head of the Open Data Institute in Toronto
Ange Valentini, chief of staff to former councillor Adam Vaughan

U of T research shows Canada is not immune to anti-immigration movements

ullahnor — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:20:20 +0000

U of T research shows Canada is not immune to anti-immigration movements

ullahnor Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:20

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Protest in downtown Toronto on Saturday against U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslims during the National Day of Action against Islamophobia and White Supremacy (photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty)

Sean Willet

Author legacy

Sean Willet

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School of Public Policy and Governance

U of T's School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG) is part of a joint study that suggests Canadians are not exceptional when it comes to tolerance of refugees and immigrants, and that there is potential here for the same level of xenophobia experienced in Europe and the U.S.

The study conducted with McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) and the firm Ipsos surveyed 1,522 Canadians between Jan. 18 to 27 – before U.S. President Donald Trump announced his controversial travel and immigration restrictions, and the recent shootings at the Quebec mosque.

“We know now we are not necessarily more enlightened compared to similar countries around the world,” says Michael J. Donnelly, assistant professor of political science and public policy at U of T. “In fact, attitudes amongst Canadians suggest there is potential for the same kind of hate we see appearing elsewhere if we are not careful.”

Donnelly initially looked at recent international public opinion research about immigration and refugees, and then he designed a Canadian poll to compare Canadian attitudes against other countries. The survey sought to answer three questions:

Are Canadian attitudes unusual among a wider sample of wealthy countries?
What do Canadians know about existing immigration policies, and what do they think of those policies?
Are survey respondents restrained by pro-immigration norms from revealing their true attitudes?

The study, “Canadian Exceptionalism: Are we good, or are we lucky,” finds that broadly Canadian attitudes are often assumed to be unusually pro-immigration. Canadians have what Donnelly describes as an “impressive” knowledge of Canada’s immigration and refugee system, and that most are satisfied with Canada’s multiculturalist approach to immigration policy.

But he does not believe that Canada's pro-immigration stance over the last half century is necessarily because of an exceptionally tolerant public. Canada is around average compared to Europe and the U.S. on issues like whether immigrants from poor countries should be accepted and whether the government should be generous in judging people’s applications for refugee status.

About 45 per cent of survey respondents said they would oppose any policy that would end all immigration, 19 per cent said they would support such a policy, but about 35 per cent were undecided.

“The public’s tolerance does not seem to be what drives Canada’s positive history of immigration and integration over the past several decades,” Donnelly says.

The study's results have been featured in the National Post with the data indicating a serious anti-immigration movement in Canada is not impossible.

Read the National Post story

Donnelly and Peter Loewen, director of SPPG and an associate professor of political science at U of T, have also penned an op-ed for the National Post on what this means for Canadian politics and its institutions.

“Canadian politics are not inevitably set to follow the rhetoric and course we see in the United States,” Loewen says. “Our institutions, and particularly our leaders, have the ability to maintain norms of non-racism and inclusion – remember, attitudes do not inexorably lead to policies and politics.”

Read the op-ed

The study also finds that a majority of Canadians think that immigrants are not well connected to society and that they harbour misconceptions about the number and education of immigrants. Loewen and Donnelly argue in the op-ed that politicians and the public have a role to play here:

“[Canadian] politicians and those selecting them have a responsibility to avoid xenophobic pandering and to reinforce the norms of behaviour that have allowed the Canadian model, for all its faults, to create the open, exciting and peaceful society we enjoy.”

The U.S. elections: an insider's view from the outside

sgupta — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:47:57 +0000

The U.S. elections: an insider's view from the outside sgupta Tue, 10/16/2012 - 12:47

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Ambassador David Jacobson will speak about differences between U.S. and Canadian electoral systems, key states and races, and the impact of elections on Canada-U.S. relations

Sean Willet

Author legacy

Sean Willett

Topic

Global Lens

TIFF and U of T's Munk School talk global film

sgupta — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:55:51 +0000

TIFF and U of T's Munk School talk global film sgupta Fri, 09/14/2012 - 08:55

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U of T experts lend their insights to TIFF audiences (image courtesy The Munk School of Global Affairs)

Sean Willet

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Sean Willett

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The Toronto International Film Festival is bringing together the worlds of film and education by partnering with the �ؿ�ζSM’s Munk School of Global Affairs on the Contemporary World Speakers series.

This initiative pairs five films in the Contemporary World Cinema programme with expert scholars from the Munk School.

During the festival audiences have the chance to interact with filmmakers and scholars in extended discussions, following each film’s second public screening. Here, the films serve as springboards to facilitate a deeper understanding of film aesthetics in relation to the broader issues facing the world today. Speakers include Ron Deibert, Janice Gross Stein, Ron Levi, Brian Stewart and Michael Ignatieff.

The series is programmed in conjunction with the TIFF Adult Learning department which provides students, teachers and the community with innovative exhibitions, presentations and hands-on workshops throughout the year.

Since its inception 30 years ago, the Festival’s Contemporary World Cinema program has been home to some of the most relevant social, political and economic stories from around the world. The program continues to be a favourite of Festival audiences.

In an article from the Toronto Star featuring the new partnership, TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey said, “It’s going to be fun for everyone involved, in terms of just deepening and expanding the conversation around these films.”

The Munk School's Ignatieff, echoed the sentiment.

“This is where academics ought to be, right?" Ignatieff told The Star. "We ought to be breaking down barriers, sharing knowledge, and leading discussion.”

TIFF Films and their speakers in the Contemporary World Speakers series:

After the Battle ---
Director: Yousry Nasrallah,
Country: Egypt/France
Premiere: North American Premiere
Mahmoud is one of the “Tahrir Square Knights” who, on February 2, 2011 — manipulated by Mubarak’s regime — charged against the young revolutionaries. Beaten, humiliated, unemployed and ostracized in his neighbourhood near the Pyramids, Mahmoud and his family are losing their footing. It is then that he meets Reem, a young Egyptian divorcée. Modern and secular, Reem works in advertising, is a militant revolutionary and lives in a nice neighbourhood in Cairo. Their meeting will change their lives.

Munk School Speaker: *Janice Gross Stein, Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and member of the Order of Canada, is an internationally renowned expert on conflict management.

Clandestine Childhood
Director: Benjamín Ávila
Country: Argentina/Spain/Brazil
Premiere: North American Premiere
Argentina 1979. After years of exile, Juan (12) and his family come back to Argentina under fake identities. Juan’s parents and his uncle Beto are members of the Montoneros Organization, which is fighting against the Military Junta that rules the country. Because of their political activities, they are being tracked down relentlessly. His friends at school and the girl he loves, Maria, know him as Ernesto, a name he must not forget, his family’s survival being at stake. This is a story about militancy, undercover life and love.

Munk School Speaker: *Brian Stewart, Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is an acclaimed foreign correspondent and an expert on foreign affairs and the military.

Eagles
Director: Dror Sabo
Country: Israel
Premiere: World Premiere
Alienated from a society that no longer seems to have a place for them, two elderly ex-soldiers undertake a vigilante campaign against injustice and disrespect on the streets of Tel Aviv.

Munk School Speaker: *Ron Levi, Director of the Master of Global Affairs at the Munk School, is an expert on global justice, and human rights regimes.

Him, Here, After
Director: Asoka Handagama
Country: Sri Lanka
Premiere: North American Premiere
Returning to his community after defeat in the Sri Lankan civil war, a former Tamil rebel known only as "Him" faces hostility, suspicion and bitter recriminations in Asoka Handagama's beautifully elegiac meditation on the aftermath of war.

Munk School Speaker: *Michael Ignatieff, Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is an internationally renowned writer, journalist, former politician, and expert on foreign affairs.

Underground
Director: Robert Connolly
Country: Australia
Premiere: World Premiere
Set in 1980s Melbourne, Underground is a riveting thriller that focuses on the teenage years of one of the most controversial figures of modern times —Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (newcomer Alex Williams in his first major role). The film follows Assange and his gang of close friends — the International Subversives as they call themselves — as they wage a battle from their bedrooms, trying to break into the computer systems of the world’s most powerful organizations. In the process, they are forced to battle authorities and eventually one another. Written and directed by Robert Connolly, the film also stars Anthony LaPaglia, Rachel Griffiths and Callan McAuliffe.

Munk School Speaker: *Ron Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, is an expert and advisor on cyber security, cyber-crime, freedom of expression, and access to information.

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