Abstract Governments across Canada are actively reasserting control over where and how public servants work through return‐to‐office mandates, often in the absence of fine‐grained evidence about how different work arrangements shape employee experience. This article examines how in‐office, remote, and hybrid work arrangements relate to public servants' self‐reported well‐being and perceived productivity. Using high‐frequency, longitudinal data collected over 90 days from 38 Canadian government employees, the study combines traditional survey instruments with repeated app‐based “check‐ins” capturing mood, energy, motivation, and productivity. The findings suggest that hybrid work arrangements are associated with lower reported work stress and higher perceived productivity, though work location alone does not fully explain variation in employee experience. By introducing a diagnostic, real‐time approach to measuring public servant well‐being, this study contributes to ongoing debates about hybrid work and provides evidence relevant to public sector managers implementing work‐location policies.
Abstract Canada's climate governance is entering a critical inflection point amid accelerating ecological impacts, shifting geopolitical dynamics, and growing domestic policy uncertainty. This special issue examines how Canadian public administration can better respond to the climate polycrisis by addressing the institutional, political, and governance barriers that impede effective climate action. Despite decades of policy development, Canada's progress remains uneven, constrained by federal‐provincial tensions, fragmented policy instruments, and persistent support for fossil‐fuel development. The contributions in this issue argue that the core challenge is less a lack of policy tools than a misalignment between governance systems and the long‐term demands of decarbonization. Through analyses spanning federal institutions, industrial strategy, regional transition, market instruments, and municipal experimentation, the articles collectively highlight the need for more coherent, collaborative, and adaptive governance architectures capable of coordinating climate action across sectors and scales in a federated state.
Abstract Since 1995, scientific consensus has linked human activity to climate change, yet the political and financial power of the carbon economy remains entrenched. Under conditions of polycrisis, many states continue to miss emissions targets and, in some cases, retreat from climate commitments. Transformative political will is therefore urgently needed to achieve carbon neutrality. To examine constraints on federal climate action, we conducted interviews with 35 senior governance actors, including former public servants, environmental leaders, quasi‐institutional intermediaries (See footnote at the bottom of the page), and private sector advisors. Their experiences point to persistent governance barriers. Findings suggest the political process remains the primary constraint, shaped by short electoral cycles, policy reversals, limited public engagement, and entrenched financial power. We conceptualize these dynamics as limits to the governability of climate change, highlighting the need for stronger coordination, institutional capacity, and durable governance arrangements to sustain climate action under polycrisis conditions.
Abstract This article investigates why electoral districting, which across most of Canada was reformed by the “electoral boundary revolution,” is instead increasingly fraught in two northern jurisdictions, the Northwest Territories and Yukon. While independent electoral‐boundary commissions and judicial rulings have depoliticized and professionalized districting elsewhere, the same developments in the territories have sparked lawsuits, legislative rejections, and political crises. Conducting a narrative analysis of a half‐century of legal, legislative, and archival documents, this article identifies three broader sources of territorial districting conflict. First, demographic concentration produces unusually acute urban‐rural tensions. Second, remoteness and small population size create distinctive representational challenges involving community‐of‐interest protection and constituency service. Third and most fundamentally, electoral boundaries have become entangled with unresolved questions of Indigenous self‐determination, constitutional development, and the political character of northern territories themselves. Together, these factors help explain why districting disputes in the North are more frequent, intense, and politically consequential than elsewhere in Canada. The article concludes that territorial districting may require distinctive legal and institutional frameworks capable of accommodating demographic realities, Indigenous rights claims, and the constitutional fluidity of Canada's North.
Achieving the very ambitious climate action goals of cities with net zero GHG emissions targets will require unprecedented levels of political support and behavioural engagement from residents. Climate engagement methods adopted by most cities typically consist of public education about climate change and public input on emissions reductions strategies. However, there is little evidence to suggest that such campaigns will achieve the level of support and engagement required to meet net zero targets. This article outlines an alternative approach that combines the Connected Community Approach and participatory backcasting to articulate a desired neighbourhood future rooted in local activities, and pathways to such a future. Only then does it make connections to the City of Toronto's climate goals and targets. Our hypothesis is that this approach-focusing on local sustainability-will lay the essential groundwork for fostering higher levels of public support and behavioural engagement on urban climate action than conventional engagement methods. Pour atteindre les objectifs tr & egrave;s ambitieux en mati & egrave;re d'action climatique des villes visant la neutralit & eacute; carbone, il faudra un soutien politique et un engagement comportemental sans pr & eacute;c & eacute;dent de la part des habitants. Les m & eacute;thodes d'engagement climatique adopt & eacute;es par la plupart des villes consistent g & eacute;n & eacute;ralement en une sensibilisation du public au changement climatique et en une consultation publique sur les strat & eacute;gies de r & eacute;duction des & eacute;missions. Cependant, peu d'& eacute;l & eacute;ments indiquent que de telles campagnes permettront d'obtenir le niveau de soutien et de participation n & eacute;cessaire pour atteindre les objectifs de neutralit & eacute; carbone. Le pr & eacute;sent article pr & eacute;sente une approche alternative qui combine les d & eacute;marches de la & laquo; communaut & eacute; connect & eacute;e & raquo; et le backcasting participatif afin de d & eacute;finir un avenir souhait & eacute; pour le quartier, ancr & eacute; dans les activit & eacute;s locales, ainsi que les voies menant & agrave; cet avenir. Ce n'est qu'ensuite que des liens sont & eacute;tablis avec les objectifs climatiques de la Ville de Toronto. Notre hypoth & egrave;se est que cette approche - ax & eacute;e sur la durabilit & eacute; locale - jettera les bases essentielles pour susciter des niveaux plus & eacute;lev & eacute;s de soutien public et d'engagement comportemental en mati & egrave;re d'action climatique urbaine que les m & eacute;thodes de mobilisation conventionnelles.
