Communicating Contaminant Risks from Sport-Caught Fish: The Importance of Target Audience Assessment

A fish consumption health advisory has existed for New York Lake Ontario sport-caught fish since 1978. Our study objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness of the advisory for reaching potential target audiences and to identify appropriate advisory content, style, and dissemination methods using a risk communication planning model as an evaluation framework. We used a combination of mail surveys and personal interviews with three target audiences (opinion leaders among recreational anglers and charter boat operators, migrant farm workers, and low-income individuals) and two communicator groups (fishery experts and health care experts). The New York Lake Ontario advisory appeared to be successful in reaching and encouraging risk-mitigating fish consumption behavior in recreational angler opinion leaders and low-income individuals but not in migrant farm workers. The advisory may not be reaching two sensitive subpopulations, women of childbearing age and children. Communicators and target audiences differed in their assessments of important information to include in an advisory. The health advisory could be improved with additional information such as risk-reducing cooking and cleaning methods and by diversifying the dissemination methods to reach the variety of audiences who potentially consume Lake Ontario fish.     

Planners' Perspectives on Obstacles to Sustainable Urban Development: Implications for Transformative Planning Strategies

A major problem confronting planning is the gap between transformative proposals and enduring urban development trends. The paper interprets interviews with 62 planners involved in a sustainable urban development strategy in a large region focussed on Toronto, Canada. Surveyed planners were asked about the obstacles they encounter when attempting to modify prevailing urban development. Mentioned obstacles are consistent with expectations arising from three major perspectives on inertia: institutionalism, political economy and path dependence. Interviews also highlight the role of planners' practical knowledge in identifying and interpreting obstacles, and the existence of a consensus among respondents over sustainable urban development.     

A model of the Canadian global exchange rate: A test of the 1970s

This comment points out some methodological weaknesses in the Canadian global exchange rate model and the associated efficiency tests of Marwah and Bodkin. The model is found to be inadequate for policy analysis.     

Positive enough? A content analysis of settlement service organizations' inclusivity of LGBTQ immigrants

Little is known about how effective Canadian settlement organizations are in meeting the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) immigrants. The authors conducted a two-stage content analysis of the inclusion of LGBTQ immigrants in 34 settlement organizations in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, and on the delivery of services by nine settlement organizations that self-described as LGBTQ-positive spaces. Stage 1 deductive content analysis findings revealed poor inclusion and support for LGBTQ immigrants. Stage 2 inductive content analysis findings revealed four service priority areas: health/well-being, community connections, advocacy/education, and disability. Recommendations for best practices are discussed.     

加拿大安大略省早期教育工作者协会行业自律机制探析

为规范早期教育工作者的职业行为，加拿大安大略省2007年颁布了《早期教育工作者法》，并依法成立了早期教育工作者协会作为该行业的自律组织，该协会对早期教育工作者实施注册制度，制订了道德准则与专业标准，对注册人员实行监管，对投诉问题进行受理与调查，并作出惩处。注册委员会、投诉处理委员会、纪律委员会和职业适应性委员会会各司其责，构成一套完整的监管机制。通过实施行业自律机制，该省早期教育工作者的职业行为得到了有效监督。     

Utilizing a Border as a Local Economic Resource: The Example of the Prohibition-Era Detroit-Windsor Borderland (1920–33)

Abstract

This essay describes a border between nation-states as an economic resource for a borderlands local economy, an exploitation that not only has an impact on the borderland itself, but also on the nations along either side of the border. The borderland of Detroit-Windsor in the prohibition era (1920–33) provides a vivid example of such use of a border. This example highlights how legal and, to a lesser extent, cultural asymmetries between both sides of the border were used to generate numerous very profitable and innovative businesses. First, the legal foundations of smuggling, which developed during the prohibition era in the Detroit-Windsor borderland, are described and analysed. Second, the impact of the Detroit-Windsor Funnel narrative about this smuggling and the illegal alcohol business in the US is highlighted. Third, ‘border vice’ in the Detroit-Windsor area and its use of legal and cultural differences on both sides of the border is analysed. In this context both the use of asymmetries and spatial proximity to the border are described as the principles of a borderland-specific economy.     

Rent seeking and the North-South terms of trade

In this paper results are reported for a series of counterfactual experiments with an eight- region numerical general equilibrium model of world trade, production, and welfare. In these analyses trade restrictions in the developing world are modeled as quantity constrained import licensing, which generates competitive rent-seeking behavior. Model experiments concentrate on the implications of differential factor endowment growth for the North-South terms of trade, and the effects of alternative trade policy changes in developing countries.     

Are midwifery clients in Ontario making informed choices about prenatal screening?

BackgroundInformed choice is often lacking in women's decisions about prenatal screening.AimThe aim of this study is to evaluate how well midwives in Ontario, Canada are facilitating informed choice in this area.MethodsAn Internet-based survey was used to investigate 171 midwifery clients’ knowledge, attitude towards and experience of prenatal genetic screening tests, and to determine the proportion of study participants who made an informed choice about prenatal screening.FindingsAll participants demonstrated adequate knowledge of prenatal screening. The vast majority (93.0%) of participants made an informed choice. Participants who chose to screen had lower knowledge scores than those who opted out of screening. Client satisfaction rates in regard to care received in this area ranged from 97% to 100%.ConclusionsResults of this study suggest that Ontario midwives are effective in conveying information on prenatal genetic screening, contributing to high levels of client knowledge and satisfaction in comparison to similar studies in other jurisdictions.     

Searching for Local Solutions: Making Welfare Policy on the Ground in Ontario

Over recent decades welfare dependency has played a powerful role in defining the welfare “problem” and in passing appropriate “solutions.” One result has been the proliferation of short-term, low-cost employment programs and training programs that have emerged as critical sites for challenging and reforming the attitudes and behaviors of welfare recipients. By exploring work-readiness programs in four communities in Ontario, Canada, we provide insight into how these programs relate to the lived realities of those compelled to attend them. The research shows how dependency discourse informs program rules and content, raising expectations about both the benefits and the immediacy of work. This focus risks individualizing blame and ignoring the structural realities of labor markets and the systemic forces that create poverty and unemployment. Although the particular empirical focus is on Ontario, the approaches used and their outcomes resonate with strategies that are evident wherever neoliberalism has made its mark.     

Context and differentiation: Development of the wine industry in three Canadian regions

This paper uses the cluster concept to explain the key factors of the development of wineries in Canada. First, we describe the salient features of the Canadian wine industry. Then we investigate the key factors of the emergence of the wine clusters in three different regions and discuss the structural and institutional problems hampering the development of the wine industry. Finally, differences across wine regions are discussed and assessed in relation to the cluster concept.