As governments are faced with the increasing possibility of austerity measures in the coming years following the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be incumbent governments at all levels to find ways to better regulate economic, social and governance systems and issues that do not overly tax various public governments and resources. There are several emerging themes that could determine the future of improving regulatory governance in Canada and other OECD countries. It is important that governments take a holistic approach to regulation across different regulatory jurisdictions, institutions, and processes that supports an ecosystem orientation to regulatory policy design. Policy makers must understand the implications of regulation across multiple domains, which may facilitate innovation in the face of increasing policy complexity.

PANEL
Our esteemed panel will explore various jurisdictional and institutional research into effective regulation across different policy domains.

Darcy Gray is chief of Listuguj First Nation, north of Point-à-la-Croix, Quebec. He graduated from the first cohort of the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA)’s graduate diploma in Indigenous Policy and Administration in 2016. Before joining the IPA program, he worked for 15 years supporting students in the Listuguj community’s Alaqsite’w Gitpu School, then as a guidance counsellor for Listuguj students attending Sugarloaf Senior High School. He is teaching again this winter for Cape Breton University’s in-community Bachelor of Arts Community Studies program. He is a Peace and Friendship Treaties co-lead on the steering committee for the Rebuilding First Nations Governance (RFNG) project.

Catherine MacQuarrie is an adjunct professor in SPPA. Her career comprises a range of experience and expertise — in media, public service and Indigenous governance. Over 23 years as a public servant, she held increasingly senior leadership positions in a number of departments and central agencies in the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Recently retired from government, she is now pursuing a life-long ambition to help advance First Nations’ self-government, with a leadership role in the Rebuilding First Nations Governance project (RFNG).

Alexandra Mallett is an associate professor in SPPA. Her experience spans academia and the public sectors, working on the design, implementation and evaluation of energy, climate change and environmental policy. She has worked for the Canadian government (Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada), an intergovernmental organization (the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C.), and academic institutions including Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and the University of Minnesota in the United States. Research areas include an examination of the innovation, cooperation and adoption processes (including policies, actors and institutions) involved in sustainable energy technologies, especially in emerging economies, and Canada and the United States.

Kevin Stringer is an adjunct professor in SPPA and program director of the Certificate Program in Regulatory Leadership with the Regulatory Governance Initiative. He was appointed as the Chief Administrative Officer of the RCMP in September 2019 where he served until he retired from the Public Service in August 2021. He became Associate Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in 2016, after serving as Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, for three years. He previously held a variety of senior executive positions at DFO, including ADM, Ecosystems and Oceans Science, ADM, Program Policy, and Director General, Resource Management, as well as Director General, Petroleum Resources Branch, at Natural Resources Canada.

MODERATOR
Robert Shepherd is an associate professor in SPPA. His research spans public management and governmental reform, Indigenous public management, ethics, and policy and program evaluation. He is interested in how public accountability and oversight systems intersects to improve overall public management and governance systems. In addition, his research extends to understanding how governmental program evaluation functions can improve public policy and decision-making. Improving ethics in government also contributes to governmental legitimacy and democracy.