Port reform: international perspectives and the Canadian model

Article Abstract:

Global port reform has followed the dictates of neoliberal economics seeking less government involvement in public ports. Although Canadian port reform reflects a shift to the neoliberal right, its slower pace contrasts with the more rapid shift to port corporatization and privatization found in New Zealand and Britain. Despite the vast majority of Canada's international trade being shipped by surface modes to the United States, Canada's major commercial ports do play a vital role in supporting the transportation of goods by sea. Canada's major ports were restructured in 1983 by the Canada Ports Corporation Act. Over time, bureaucratic interference, ministerial directives, and growing domestic and competitive forces created the need for further port reform. A Transport Canada internal review was initiated in 1993 and supplemented with country-wide hearings by the parliamentary standing committee on transport in 1995. The minister issued a white paper, the National Ports Policy in Dec 1995, followed by the introduction in Parliament of the Canada Marine Act in June 1996. After having been twice adopted by the House of Commons (before and after the 1997 federal election), the act was proclaimed in June 1998. This paper considers Canada's port reform process with measures taken elsewhere, particularly in Australia, New Zealand and Britain, and evaluates its effectiveness in making major commercial ports more flexible, adaptable and competitive. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Marine cargo handling, Ports, Analysis, Management, Transportation policy, Privatization, Privatization (Business), Canada. Department of Transport

---

Human rights in hard times: the post-war Canadian experience

Article Abstract:

Do human rights suffer in hard times? Does the implementation of programs against discrimination weaken during periods of economic decline, showing rights to be a relative luxury available only in good times? This paper seeks to answer the above questions by comparing human rights developments in Canada during the hard times period of the early 1980s to ones during periods immediately before and after. The comparison shows that human rights indeed have suffered in hard times. While there is little evidence to suggest that general support for human rights protection diminishes, there is evidence that political commitment to implementing programs of human rights protection weakens. This was reflected in the diminished funding of anti-discrimination programs during the early 1980s and, in the case of British Columbia, in the radical restructuring and downsizing of a program making it the weakest in Canada. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Social aspects, Economic aspects, Human rights, Economic history

---

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Domestic tax reform and international oligopoly. Optimum taxation and allocation of time. The optimal threshold for a value-added tax
• Abstracts: Intergenerational transfer, production and income distribution. Second-best optimal taxation of capital and labor in a developing economy
• Abstracts: Demand for health insurance and precautionary motives for savings among the elderly. Life-cycle modeling of bequests and their impact on annuity valuation
• Abstracts: Seeking out printer speed, ID integration. Fast track badging. Furby alert: a national security concern?
• Abstracts: Private protection against crime. Private roads

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.