Program and public policy

Bill 64: Firearms Registration Act

The issues related to access to firearms go well beyond the use of these weapons in criminal activities. Access to firearms is an important risk factor for suicide, homicide, particularly spousal homicide, and accidental death.

Most firearm-related deaths are not linked to criminal activities and involve long guns

Between 2009 and 2013, an average of 127 people died in Québec annually due to firearm-related suicide. This is 5 times the number of victims of…
Brief

Public Policy Models and Their Usefulness in Public Health: The Stages Model

This briefing note belongs to a series on the various models used in political science to represent public policy development processes. Each of these briefing notes begins by describing the analytical framework proposed by a given model. Then we set out to examine questions that public health actors may ask regarding public policy, while keeping in mind the perspective that this model affords. It should be noted that our aim in these notes is not to further refine existing models; nor is it…

Synthesis and summary

An Introduction to the Ethical Implications of Economic Evaluations for Healthy Public Policy

Public health actors analyzing policy options usually try to assess and compare the expected effects of policies on the health of the population. They can take on neutral brokering roles, simply providing the best available information to decision makers, or they can also engage in advocacy-related analysis. Whatever their role, those looking at policy options often try to answer — or are asked by others to answer — questions such as the following: Which option will result in broader social…

Synthesis and summary

Road Diets: Healthier Pubic Ways

This briefing note introduces the road diet, an engineering technique that reallocates space on a street or road for other uses when they are over-built and have excess lanes. In what follows, we will present a definition, some study results and practical implementation considerations for road diets.

When applied with consideration for contextual details, it is generally agreed that road diets provide significant safety benefits for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike.

Synthesis and summary

Wicked problems and public policy

The term wicked problem is increasingly used in policy and public health circles and there is often some confusion about what it really refers to: are wicked problems the same as complex problems? How are they different from regular or “tame” problems? This fact sheet is designed to present the definitional characteristics of wicked problems as well as discuss how they may be addressed.

Synthesis and summary

Constructing a Logic Model for a Healthy Public Policy: Why and How

This briefing note outlines the process for constructing a logic model as proposed in the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy's (NCCHPP's) method for synthesizing knowledge about public policies (Morestin, Gauvin, Hogue, & Benoit, 2010). It also shows the use of this type of logic model in applications other than knowledge synthesis, as a tool that public health actors can use to analyze public policies.

Synthesis and summary

Policy Avenues: Interventions to reduce social inequalities in health

Various social factors, such as education, income, work, living environment, housing, lifestyle and access to services, determine an individual’s state of health. These interact in varying combinations throughout the life course. Inequitable distribution of these factors, or health determinants, among groups generates considerable health differences among people within a community or a country, or between countries. The gaps, or unequal distribution of health status, linked to these…

Research report, study and analysis

Work-Family Balance and Health: Can Québec Draw Inspiration from Government Policies Implemented in Other Jurisdictions? A Summary

The issue of work-family balance (WFB) has not been given much attention in terms of its impact on health. Therefore the purpose of this advisory is to examine WFB policies likely to foster the health of working mothers and fathers. The conceptual framework is innovative in that the analysis incorporates the impact of WFB difficulties on health, the role of the neighbourhood, working conditions and public policy in the work-family-health equation.

The statistical portrait of WFB in…

Synthesis and summary

Health Authorities and the Built Environment: Actions to Influence Public Policies

The mandate of the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) is to increase the expertise of public health actors across Canada in healthy public policy through the development, sharing and use of knowledge. Health authorities constitute a key group of stakeholders targeted by the knowledge translation, synthesis and exchange activities integral to the fulfillment of the Centre's mandate. It is within this context that the NCCHPP has developed various projects tied to…

Research report, study and analysis

Enabling Sustainability Policy and Planning at the Local Level: The Example of Food Policy

While sustainability policies and planning have relevance at multiple scales from the neighbourhood, to city-level, regional, national and beyond, this briefing note is intended to help public health, government and non-governmental actors promote sustainability at the local level, whether in urban or rural settings.

This briefing note begins by presenting traditional and emerging responsibilities of local governments. It then briefly summarizes approaches to putting sustainability…

Synthesis and summary