To what extent does evidence actually influence public policy? We answer that question and more as Cynthia Belaskie, Robbie Brydon and special guest host Jim Dunn talk to Molly Harrington, former Assistant Deputy Minister with the BC government, and Norm Helfand, former Director of Income Security Policy with the Ontario government. They talk about how data and evidence are used to craft public policy and how health effects are - or are not - considered in income security policy. Tune in to...

Prince Edward Island, unlike other provinces, has unit-based rent control, with rent being tied to the units instead of the tenant. However, there is no formal mechanism to know what rent was paid by a previous tenant, despite a provincial bill passed to establish one in 2019. Join Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon as they talk to Darcie Lanthier, a member of the Green Party of Canada and an advocate of rent control. Darcie founded My Old Apartment to help past tenants tell current tenants...

How do we solve the issue of LGBTQ2 vulnerability in housing? In this episode, Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon's guest is Kenna McDowell, a graduate student in the Human Geography program at the University of Alberta. Kenna explains that expanding the social and affordable housing sector could solve so many issues that queer people experience. Especially because queer people are more likely to experience violence and discrimination in emergency shelters. Join in the conversation to learn...

One of the main goals of community housing is to provide more affordable homes for those in need and, ultimately, to help them keep those homes. But what happens when people struggle to maintain tenancy in the community housing sector? In today’s episode, Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon are joined by Dr. Damian Collins of the University of Alberta. Damian is involved in research with Community Housing Canada and recently published the article, “When We Do Evict Them, It’s a Last Resort”:...

Canada had a basic income pilot before Ontario. Evelyn Forget’s research on the 1970s Mincome basic income experiment in Manitoba showed that hospital admissions declined and children were more likely to finish high school. Her latest work explores the lives of people who access government supports and frontline service providers. Evelyn is a professor and health economist at the University of Manitoba and the author of the book Basic Income for Canadians. Evelyn joins Cynthia Belaskie and...

The BC Expert Panel on Basic Income did not recommend a broad basic income for that province, but did recommend three targeted basic incomes (for people with disabilities, youth aging out of care and renters). Dr. Lindsay Tedds, one of the members of the panel, joins Robbie Brydon and Cynthia Belaskie to discuss what they recommended, why they recommended it and the evidence behind several of their recommendations. Could any province implement a basic income or would it require the federal...

Long-term care is not an easy thing to process whether it be for the patient or the family. It can be stressful because you need to think about the relocation to a new environment, the expensive price tag on long-term care services, and most importantly, the needs of the patient. Diving deeper into this topic, Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon sit down with Dr. Tamara Sussman, an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at McGill University. Join in and learn from Tamara’s insights...

Providing housing for the elderly is one of those issues that cannot be properly addressed without cross-sectoral partnerships. The Aging In The Right Place Study looks at the challenges of older adults to not only age in place but age in the right place. Today's guest is Dr. Sarah Canham, Project Director for the Aging In The Right Place Partnership. In this episode, Dr. Sarah discusses with Cynthia Belaskie, Robbie Brydon, and Lindsay Godard how aging is especially challenging for older...

Cynthia Belaskie and Robbie Brydon share what the show is all about: the messy place where evidence meets policy in income security and housing. Dr. Jim Dunn, Director of the McMaster Institute for Health Equity and the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative, joins them to talk about the origin of the show and some of the cases he has encountered where evidence can inform what’s needed, but doesn’t clearly tell governments and decision-makers what to do.