Globalization and Public Policy in Canada - Essay Example

GLOBALISATION AND PUBLIC POLICY IN CANADA al Affiliation GLOBALISATION AND PUBLIC POLICY IN CANADA The 21st century marked a period of intensive globalisation as the world crstallized into a small village withy greater level of interconnection. Globalisation has resulted to international mobility, economic integration and development of new needs within the society. The way that globalisation has impacted public policy has become an important perspective. In Canada, there is evidence that globalisation has challenged the government to formulate new public policies that fit an integratived community and that addresses problems that have come up with this development. The positive side of globalisation is that it has provided opportunities for streamlining of public policies with the international standards. Technology has become an important tool for implementation of public policies as the government has an efficient platform to communicate and roll out their public policies. While Canada has come under spot for failing to face globalisatio head on, there is evidence that many changes have come up due to the new era. Therefore, it is clear that globalisation has had both negative and positive impacts in the development and implementation of public policies. One impact of globalisation is that it came about with social transformation within the country. The era of internationalisation saw many people move from one region to the other in search for a living or for economic reasons. The result was the formation of a diverse population that demanded new public policies to govern. The employment sector in Canada is one of the areas that experienced as people of different races, culture, religion and color filled the labor market raising a number of issues. The gender-wage gap in particular became a serious issue for Canada as result of globalisation. The gender wage gap in Canada has been a controversial issue since early 1980s when this difference was noted. Cornish and Faraday (2008) noted that women salary for equal position in Ontario is 29% below that of women indicating a wide salary gap across the gender boundaries. A close look at the wage gap trends indicates that there has only been slight improvement in the last 25 years despite the numerous efforts to close this gap. In 1987, before the emergence of wage gap activists, the wage gap was approximately 37% in Ontario. These trends indicate that the efforts to bring down the gap have been undermined and the gap remains wide. Cornish (2009) points out the wage gap has affected aboriginal women who have migrated to Ontario in search for a job. This trend in the Ontario employment sector is a matter that has attracted a lot of attention not only from the public but also to the women right activists as many feel that there is a need for equal pay across all gender as part of diversity management. Cornish and Faraday (2008) point out that the wage gap difference is a matter of urgency that the Canadain government needed to address in the globalization age. Wages gap analysts have come up with myriad argument on the cause of wage gap across gender in Canada, Ontario. A good number of them argue that the education difference in Ontario is the major reason why there is wage gap in this society. The argument of those who feel that gender wage gap is not a direct manifestation of female discrimination is that men are more educated and experienced in this society. This argument has received criticism as there has been a great improvement in women education in Canada and the gap is closing down to zero in the near future. The fact that wage gap still persists in this society rules out the probability that gender wage gap is a result of education difference between males and females in Ontario. In addition, the wage gap between aboriginal women and native women is not a shadow of the educational difference in this society. Block (2010) points out that in Ontario women with graduate education earn different depending on their race. In her research, Block found out that aboriginal woman graduate aged between 25 and 44 earn about 47% less than native women holding the same employment position. These statistics point out that racialised women in Ontario are far less paid that native women, showing an aspect of racial discrimination, not forgetting the gender discrimination evident in this society. The deduction that emanates from the situation in Ontario is that gender discrimination is a reality as soon as globalization set in. Therefore, this problem became a source of pressure for the government to reform its wage public policy to eliminate the problems that were facing the country. The country was under obligation by to implement both local and international laws that would empower women and protect them within the employment sector. The Ontario Pay Equity Act was started in 1987 to solve the problem of female discrimination in the employment sector. The main aim of the Equity Act was to mobilize the government and the employers to take personal responsibilities in the gender gap crisis that had hit Ontario. The enactment of this Act came after 1985 labour statistics indicate that the gender wage gap in Ontario was trending at 38%. Statistics indicated that women were paid less for equal work than men no matter the work environment or the type of labour. The pay Equity act intended to bring about a concrete definition of equality in payment in the work sector and to compel the organization to stick by this definition. According to the Human rights Commission pay equity is a condition of justice when people get what they rightfully deserve no matter their gender, age or race. One of the principles that were coined in this act is “equal pay for equal work.” This principle demanded that every person in the employment receive equal pay as long as they held the same responsibilities in the organization (Work Rights, 2008). For instance, a woman and man who hold the position of managers should have an equal pay as they are assumed to serve equal responsibilities. In addition, the international laws became part of the laws that shaped public issues in Canada. The human rights laws were in the frontline to defend the rights of not only women but also the aboriginal members of the society. According to the United Nations (2009), there was need for the global diversity management in a century there was little limitation in movement across geographical boundaries. According to the UN human right laws articles, human beings should treat one another with dignity and respect and the principle of brotherhood should be evident in all levels. The implication of this statement of this law is that people are equal irrespective of their geographical location. The boundaries of culture, race, gender, age and social difference must not be applied to differentiate people across the world. Another UN human right law that discourages discrimination of aboriginal women states that every person has the right to nationality and that within that nationality one must be treated equal to other natives. This law allows aboriginal women in Ontario to acquire equal rights of treatment as the native women in the employment sector. The main aim of the UN human right laws was to set a standard where women in any country would be treated equally and have a modest lifestyle that is similar to that of fellow countrymen. In this light, UN Act shaped Canadas public policies as gobalisation resulting into policy integration. Another impact of globalization was the onset of industrialization in all countries, including in Canada. In the last 30 years, Canada has experienced the highest level of industrial development which has consistently contributed to the development of this state. However, industrialization has been accompanied by the emission of hazardous gases in the atmosphere which has contributed to an increase in the carbon dioxide gas content in the atmosphere. Most industries use crude oil products to fuel their machines as the source of industrial power (Deveau, 2009). The by-product of these industries include smoke, whose carbon dioxide content is high and additive to the atmosphere. As most industries regard the cost of fuel as cheaper than that of electricity, they opt to use this kind of power and consequently contributing to build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Urbanisation is another factor that has contributed to the increased air pollution in the atmospheres. With development of industries, most people have relocated to urban areas in search of job opportunities and better livelihoods. As people obtain job in the urban areas, they have the ability to purchase vehicles that run by diesel or petrol. For instance, in Ontario, every day the town experience an increase in its automotive by a figure of 2000 new cars. This trend promises an increase in the rate of air pollution and an increase in the adverse effects of the carbon dioxide surge in the atmosphere. This has sent an alarm to environmentalists to design effective mitigative measures to reduce and if possible eliminate the level of air pollution in Canada. There industrialization and unrbanization came about with new challenges that demanded reform of Canada’s public policies. The toxic substances management policy is one of the environmental policies that Canada to check the impacts of globalization trends. The act required that all organization take more responsibility of the environment by reducing the carbon footprint in the atmosphere. The Act also compelled the industries to focus on reducing carbon emission within the atmosphere by using purification and recycling strategies. The CEPA act demanded that legal actions be taken against those organization that ignore environmental regulations (Deveau, 2009). However, there is evidence that the government the problem is still persistent and new public policies needs to be implemented. strict environmental policies should be formulated to govern waste and petrochemical gas emission in the industries. Industrial pollution poses a threat not only to the employees but also to the entire population in the country. Employees working in these organizations are at the risk of contracting lung and heart diseases more than any other people in the country. Organizational health standards should institute policies to ensure that the work environment is employee friendly and does not pose danger to the health of the employees. While it is important to allow industries to exercise liberty in investment, the government should intervene to compel the organization to remain friendly to the environment through policy regulations. For instance, organizations should be compelled to implement gas treatment before disposing it to the atmosphere or recycle of gas to protect the environment. Regulating the industrial sector will ensure that employees as well as the general public are free from indoor and outdoor air pollution effects respectively in the globalization period. From another perspective, global trends have resulted into high level of civilization that now demands reforms. In the civilization era, issues such as health have become fundamental for develop as the government recognizes the value of health in supporting economic development. Canada is one of the countries who health policies have achieved improvement in public services. In Canada, the government instituted the Canada Health Act that demanded that all health services be government funded. In comparison to countries such as US and UK, Canada health public policy reforms have significant positive impacts. In terms of funds allocation, the Canadian government spends a greater proportion of its income that either UK or US since the development of the Canada Health Act. Unlike US and UK, the Canada health system is more extensive and there are adequate facilities to take care of the public needs without there being any congestion. As such, the structure of the health system in Canada is more efficient than that of US and UK. The low mortality rate and the high doctor patient ratio in Canada point out that their health system has improved considerably after opublic health reforms. Research shows that 87% of the Canadian population are satisfied with the health services they receive (Gillies, 2009). Therefore, public policy transformation in the globalization period has resulted to improvement of health services within the country. The role of technology in the globalization period has become an important aspect in Canada in the current century. Technology in Canada has resulted into economic integration across the world paving way for the development of a more cohesive world. The government has taken advantage of the internet ploriferation to integrate information networks in the course of public policy implementation. The internet access has helped the government to communicate its policies more efficiently within the public domain. For instance, the Health Act is posted on the online platform, making it more accessible to the people. The government has an avenue to ensure that the public know their rights by reading such policies within the online platform. Canada has been keen also to take advantage of the internet to improve service delivery within the country (Montpetit, 2003). For instance, Canadian companies can register their companies online, which reduces the length of queues within government offices. Secondly, companies can pay taxes online, which is an integral part of government operations. Therefore, globalization has helped the government to implements its public tax policies with ease, hence improving its efficiency. In conclusion, globalization era has had many impacts in Canada reform and implementation of global policies. The international mobility resulted into formation of a diverse nation, which had many equality challenges. Issues of discrimination became important demand extensive diversity management. The government was compelled to enact new employment public policies to streamline employment behaviors. Secondly, the globalization and industrialization came at the same time bringing about pollution and various environmental concerns. This prompted the government to develop new environmental policies which would ensure that the globalization wave did not result to depletion of its natural resources. As health awareness increased, the government formed new policies to ensure that the health care system was efficient and that it was upto international standards. This explains why Canada’s health sector is globally respected for high level of public satisfaction. Besides, technology wave has supported the government’s public policy implementation plans, which was essential in promoting public awareness. Canada has successfully managed to create public awareness of its public policies which explains the high level of assertiveness and public understanding of their rights within the country. From this perspective, globalization has come up with both challenges and opportunities that have helped in the transformation of Canada. Bibliography Block, S., 2010, Ontario’s Growing Gap; The Role of Race and Gender. Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives. Cornish, M., & Faraday, M., 2008, Ontario’s Gender Pay Gaps Cheats Women Workers. The Star. Retrieved from :< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/2008/09/17/ontarios _gender_pay_gap_cheats_women_workers.html> Deveau, D, 2009, Ambivalence and Cultural Industrialization in Canada. Stream: Culture/Politics/Technology, 2(1), 60-66. Gillies, A. 2009, What makes a good healthcare system?: Comparisons, values, drivers. Abingdon, U.K: Radcliffe Medical Press. Montpetit, É, 2003, Public consultations in policy network environments: The case of assisted reproductive technology policy in Canada. Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, 95-110. United Nation, 2010, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from: < http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/> Work Rights, 2008, Human Rights: Pay Equity. Retrieved from: < http://www. workrights.ca/content.php?doc=131> Read More