Lecture 1 -Part 2 BLG 605

0:02 Okay. Hi everyone. I hope um you were able to get some examples uh for the goals that was uh in our previous uh recording. So continuing on um I think it's good idea to get the meaning of public policy. I know we kind of looking at teasing out what exactly public policy is like for example definition terms and meaning and development. So if we there are a lot of um uh authors have uh provided the meaning for public policy. James Adser in 1975 um came up with this definition that public policy is a proposive course of actions or inactions undertaken by an actor or set

0:50 of actors in dealing with a particular problem or matter of concerns. So there are a lot of uh things that he actually talked about in this definitions. There's an action, there's an inaction, there is an actor. um problem and the concern. So I want you to just think about and maybe you can press on a stop for this uh recording and you can talk think about what exactly are the distinguishing features of this definition that kind of bring out what exactly public policy is. So there are other opinions uh like I said this was uh for James Anderson. So other authors like E stone, Dye, Rose

1:38 and um uh Frederick they actually came up with their own definitions or meanings of public policies like Einstone said that public policy is the relationship of the government to its environment. of course within that environment and I think you are your background most of you are from the science and they probably know what exactly the environment is and other authors says that public policy is whatever government chooses to do or not to do right so um if one of you would be a policy maker and uh for you it would be something the minister wants you to make the policy for that's what you're going

2:23 to be doing. Same way the rose says that the public policy is not a decision. It's a course or pattern of activity means that we don't just get there. There are a lot of different steps that are involved in that policy or a lot of people that are involved in order to make that policy to happen. So finally the opinion given by Frederick also have the same kind of layout what the other authors have accomplished is that according to him public policy is a proposed course of action of a person group or government uh within a given environment which provide opportunities and obstacles. So means there

3:08 are plethora of different opportunities that are there but also there are different challenges which the policy was proposed to utilize and then overcome. So whatever happened in the past and they were trying to combat that so they can reach a goal to come up with the purpose. So again there are a lot of different definitions that's given but ultimate is that policy is kind of course of government action or inaction in response to public problems. So again if you are a policy maker you're working with the minister and whatever stakeholders have provided the issues to the government um in their surveys or in

3:56 their uh you know challenges based on that government decide that whether we need to have the policy or not to go with that. So of course there are a lot of issues involved like whether having a policy goals and means as well as the regulations and practices. So again a lot of things are involved in uh having the policies and then that could be implemented in the form of some programs um or some issues that have been um you know raised before and that has been resolved due to the policies. So of course we did talk about the importance of public policy. The public the study

4:42 on public policy is quite important uh for us as a learner because if you want to become a policy maker in some point in life or even though you know as a a good citizen we need to be aware what exactly you know those public policies are how we made them uh what kind of politics that are involved in formulating them how we actually get there. What kind of models um we actually proposed and how it actually impacted uh the citizens and of course uh what kind of more most important significant role they have in the society. So you know

5:29 whatever uh issues were raised before that can be resolved and also the public can measure the achievements. So that is really important because um and moving forward if we have a new government and we need to know how they actually did the if they did anything how did they do so those are the things that we can measure and of course responding to the needs of the society right so at this point we can say that you know the need was the covid vaccine and the government has to respond in an expedite manner in order to bring the vaccine to the public to in order to have all of us uh a normaly where we can all go about and then this was the biggest problem we are

6:16 facing right now and a lot of policies we're going to be discussing in the coming weeks and maybe building uh one of ours uh based on uh the issues we are resolving I mean facing sorry so and of course uh as a scientist or as a researcher based the background in science We need to understand what exactly the policies are connected to the science, what course it takes and how what kind of relationship it has with the policy. So there are some examples I have given for some public policies areas and you can appreciate that that they are um education policies, social welfare, there are a lot of policies in healthcare of course there are a lot of policies in

7:02 environmental um social and energy for us as a you know because this course is about science policy we'll probably try to focus more on uh healthcare uh maybe environment and of course some social aspect of uh the you know issues that we are facing. So this example I thought I will uh share with you about this um British Columbia needs to get its endangered species act together. So this was um British Columbia I think you are aware has the most biodiversity of any Canadian province and also the most species uh assessed to be at risk. So the British Columbia Conservative Data Center uh

7:48 which is BCCDC as an acronym has identified about 1,87 species uh wildlife species um at risk including those with declining populations, small populations and restricted ranges. So as part of national evaluations, the committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada uh short form Coswick has assessed that um 278 species are at rate of extinction within uh British Columbia. So these are threatened or these are special concerns and two of 214 of them uh these are actually

8:34 legally listed under the federal species at risk act. So um there are so many recommendations uh based on um this uh you know uh need of the hour that um most of the recommendations are coming from um the scientist that they proposed that um they would like to focus on implementing an adaptive approach with ongoing and transparent monitoring and reporting um to reduce delays between determining when a species is at risk and taking effective actions to save it. So they have come up with a policy or proposal that urge the lawmaker to include this

9:20 strong evidence-based practice for species recovery while they tackle the scientific and soioeconomic challenges of building an effective species at risk. So these are four recommendations uh that are provided uh are given by the scientist. Uh one is committing to species recovery within a broad and integrity framework. Uh, another one is take an evidence-based approach to recovery means going back and looking at the data uh and adopt the listing and find out uh uh which species or uh you know multiecies groups can be recovered. uh implementing effective protection and

10:07 stewardships means that uh they can implement automatic protections on on the crown land work they were proposing. uh so they can um apply additional protections and of course uh ensure accountability to meeting act objectives means that whosoever is working in this field needs to make sure that um they are um following whatever was proposed and of course uh leading to uh recovery actions and of outcomes. So there are a lot of examples such as this that kind of have that science part uh into um you know proposing the recommendations and after that um of course they become

10:52 policies. So of course there is a process each public policy has to go through a proper process. So so that process is called public policy development. So that is um is it provides opportunity for the government to do consultation means that this process is kind of very beneficial to the government and the people and it translate government vision in a kind of proper manner in a systematic manner and that creates a framework as like a skeleton for that for all the parts of the government like legislation before it's become a law government programs and services and of course they clearly

11:38 communicate what exactly the rationale is from the government pro perspective and provide the evidence to the public. So there is a process as I said uh for the public uh policy development has the process. So as a policy maker for you guys that you know you're going to be taking this on you. So you need to have a issue or a problem what exactly um faced by the public or it has been brought to your attention or some scientists read through the new you know through magazines and newspaper and they started to work on it like maybe some of you will be doing research on some of

12:23 the problems like right now it's a was co there might be a problem like you know um repairing uh maybe coming up with a drug or a product for a cancer. Uh something that is not we don't have a cure yet. Maybe uh you know finding some drugs and products for orphan diseases where there are products out there but you know there is always a monopoly of the pharmaceutical company perspective. So uh policy could be something you ease out the costing part then how do you go about it. So based on that you're going to be conducting the research and pro getting the information uh from that

13:08 background and research and analyzing the data just like writing a manuscript or a paper and of course we're going to be doing that in our um course as well. So you all will have this hands-on experience of doing this even having a public policy development process and of course after that analy analysis of your data you're going to be consulting uh the stakeholder groups means the people that is they are being affected to for example you know patients right and for example you know even as a consumer that they have to pay a lot of money out of their pocket pocket in order to get the vaccine. For example, for some of the neocal vaccine, we still have to pay out of the pocket

13:55 and even um for environmentalists where a common public is involved and then you kind of draft this financial cost and all the risk factor will be considered and then you can find out how what kind of you know um areas that are involved. for example, organizational, political, administrative and then then you will um come up with the policy options and then this could be debated by politicians if this could be law or not. So these are some of those processes and it's going to be lot involved and it's quite intense process. So again let's talk about more about the stages of policy

14:41 cycle as an in scientific input. So in terms of scientific input that um policym process is kind of all itself is ongoing messy and generally sometimes without a beginning or an end. So it just goes in circles right? So there are different stages to this uh policym process and it starts with agenda setting and then you have formulations then you will go with the legislation part that is adoption and then implementation and of course after implementation you need to have um evaluation of that whether it's working u and of course then supporting and maintaining that process. So the first

15:30 phase of cycle is agenda setting. It helps policy maker decide which for problems to address like I said before and mostly lot of topics will go through the discussion um through several types of agendas uh for before these individuals can can make them move forward and especially related to the science part and these could be systematic systemic agendas, institutional agendas at big institutional level, discretionary agendas which means um chosen by legislators that have not necessarily made it into the agendas and decision agendas. Decision agendas are kind of finalized list of the issues that could be move to the next phase of the policym cycle really fast forward but because

16:17 they are already at the decision uh stages and the second step is the formulations. So mostly in this situation there is kind of assessments are done for the impact purposes. So in this case uh solutions to the problems are shaped and argued and this phase is mostly characterized by intense negotiation between parties mostly leaders bureaucrats uh kind of fight among themsel for their own needs and desires. So kind of talk about with the opposition and sometimes the concerns could be some budgets concerns, some personal concerns or there are constraints at the political level and the next part is uh okay so

17:04 that's the formulation and the next part is the adoption. So adoption means that okay we are considering it and could be legal it could be authorative and mostly it's supporting and advising to the regulatory bodies which kind of happening and they are going to make it happen. So once this happen it's considered the law of the land and can be implemented and the next part is the implementation which kind of we have everything we come so far and now it's like seeing it's an action right and responsibility passes from policy makers to policy implementers. So from your side you have done your part. Maybe some of you with Guji you never know. Maybe go in the politics and the policies may

17:52 again develop further while this happens because maybe there are some errors maybe there are things that needed to be considered. So if the policy succeeds at this phase and sometimes at this phase they cannot even go back uh because uh sometimes even uh good policies can results in the failure because what was happening was it was um there it was implemented but it whatever was thought about was did not actually happen. Right? So sometimes it's possible that people will reject the policy. So sometimes there are a lot of issues with that but uh most importantly that we need to make sure that we have those uh

18:39 verification techniques that wherever we come from we need to have the evidence and there should be a guidance that how it is being implemented right for example we have this vaccination process going on for covid uh the policy is that you know first of all we have to get the healthare workers then long-term curve and then some you know people who are above uh 80 and then go back. So everybody has to follow that process. So even if there is a change in the process in between that has to be considered and has to be draw uh you know brought to the attention of the policy makers and who did that because if you deviate from the policy it's kind of very visible and people who made this

19:26 policy will they have they will get back to you whosoever is implementing it. So the next important uh part is about the imple evaluation because say for example uh you're evaluate you're implementing but how would you know it's actually working right so in order to make sure that its policy is effective and reaching its goal we need to make sure that um how would you evaluate um the outcomes effectively the measure the outcomes and whether it's efficient or Not. So it could be the evaluation can happen during the implementation or it could be after the policy in question is finished. So the last one sorry not the

20:11 last one support or maintenance. Of course it's the last one and where we have implemented policies are periodically gosh for their relevancy and use means that um we need to make sure that whatever policy we had made will actually be maintained at that level. Sometime it then results in uh need to have some amendment to it need to have some maybe terminate the policy altogether and sometimes the you know the mission and the values of that process we are doing changes completely right so for example maybe at this point say we were talking about the example of the COVID vaccine and what happened was that oh you know we might have to change

20:59 from now we're done long-term we can actually start going giving it to uh people who are uh around older than 40 because they are at great risk or we are not going to be doing in uh the uh hospital now or pharmacy we're going to go to a big areas like Metro Toronto con convention center for example if you're in Toronto you know it's a huge convention center and have that uh huge place where we can actually have everyone uh vaccinated so while new when these a new issue arises then the policym cycle can actually begin again. So that can help these um bodies the governing governance can actually successfully address new and important

21:45 challenges based on uh the need and based on the amendment proposed uh while we are evaluating. Okay. So that is the process for the stages of the policy cycle and I'm sure you probably got the idea of uh like we talked about as a scientific input. So there is a connection uh between policy decisions and policy and the science of course. So policy decisions that are informed by science are critically important and very significant in building a foundation for sustainable future because say for for example we need to have abidance before we approve the covid vaccine um that

22:33 evidence is that it's 95% effective for some of those vaccine so we need to have so again based on that evidence we got the approval And now everybody is getting vaccinated. So for example, understanding our changing climate and its impact on everything from public health and safety to economic security can lead to ways to mitigate and adapt to the effect. So this is another example. But why it is important for science and policy to be connected? Okay. So science and policy uh have kind of interdisciplinary teams with high competencies based on scient science soundness or science evidence the policy

23:21 can be made and can be sustained. So we need to make sure that what exactly the cross policy is and what's the context and what is the continuity. So based on that we know that we are making decisions and if there is a science involved we need to have make sure that scientists understand policy questions and they come up with a framework and that framework should be evidence should show the evidence that it will actually work and of course we need to make sure that even as a scientist scientists should have to have collaborations uh with the politics and with the politicians and

24:08 also of course we have to take into account the geographical differences of lot of things that are happening right and that can if there is a trust in collaboration and networking development then science and policy can go hand in hand so as I said that from climate change to energy and water needs and the impact from natural hazards. The challenges we face are growing more and more complex and of course I said for having the sustainable solutions there is an urgent need for that. So for that we need to go to have that scientific soundness and based on that science scientific and research development can

24:54 play a very important role in solving these challenges and of course they can act as a catalyst for our economic growth for helping us protect the lives of so many people. Right now science has doing it as you can see it's evolving right in front of you and of course raise environmental awareness right that but if we just do keep doing the research so as a scientist if I keep doing my own research and don't share that research with the rest of the world then there's no point the results and the lesson learned are not going be collaborated then we don't have any societal benefits. So as a scientist we

25:41 have the responsibility to make sure that the policy makers or the politics or the politicians understand the value of our science and make sure that we have access to the best scientific knowledge possible. So as a scientist tomorrow you'll be doing masters and PhD or one of you become uh be involved in politics or do something else that you have that knowledge that you can actually share in order to make those policy happen. So you know to have to create the awareness and mostly policy decisions are informed by science are pretty important in building uh a foundation uh for sustainable future right so of course we need to remember

26:27 that so there are a lot of factors that are needed for scientist scientific evidence to inform policy so most important are trust um timing form term format and practice. So trust is because if you know we are working with the politician and if they don't have any trust then that evidence will be ignored completely and you need to make sure that whosoever the collaborator we're working with they have to have a trust and timing is very important and very significant and maybe maybe it should be provided as early as possible that because if you're responding in a you know delaying manner

27:12 you're not responding quickly then you know whatever you're providing will be completely ignored because the politics politicians is not going to understand if you're not responding in a quick manner and if you they have asked for some evidence if you're not providing the evidence quickly and it's uh submitting it you're submitting it too late even the policy decision has already been made then um there's no point and of course uh you have to have a forum form and of course what kind of form and we're going to be talking about different kinds of forms in the coming weeks that it should not be big report like you send the report in 500 pages or thousand pages and it should be sweet and short and sweet. It should be

27:58 concise. It should be to the point maybe in bullet points and because you know that policy makers do not have or the politicians do not have time to read long reports or interpret the data. It has to be clear and whatever format you're providing is quickly understandable. So maybe having a like a visual input like onepage infographics I showed you uh where you know what the scientists are recommending that's a perfect when you know when you're reading this you get the whole picture right and you can actually provide the graph you can provide the pictures and of course that um we need to have the practice that science policy relationship needs to be moved from being a formal armslength

28:45 linear relationship to a very close one where question and answers uh can be generated and answered in a current manner where we work as a collaborator. Right? So again all of these factors needed to be taken into considerations for the scientific evidence. So where is science involved? In fact, um, so novel scientific discoveries can sometimes be the integrator to forming new policies. So one classic example I thought you all guys are would be interested in how this uh Montreal protocol came about. So classic example is this is the ozone

29:31 hole discovery in 1985 by British Atarctic Survey scientist Joseph Farman, Brian Gardner and Jonathan Franklin. So after a series of meetings um and negotiations by scientists, policy officials and politicians, the Montreal protocol and substances that deplete the ozone layer was signed on 16 September 1987. Without scientific evidence, the Montreal protocol would never have been created. So in this case it was mostly done by a first meeting in Helsinki and since then it has undergone seven revisions and it is kind of ratified by 197 uh UN members. So according to this protocol that the production and

30:16 consumption of compounds that deplete ozone in our atmosphere stratospheric atmosphere I think probably you all know um chlorophyll carbons helons carbon tropide and methyl chloroform are to be phased out by 2030. So that is the goal for this and I think you can see that we are kind of reaching there um for the uh modal protocol. So this is something that you can relate that that science is really important bringing these policies uh come forward. So what is the scope and public policies in Canada? So public policies inform the way people make decisions. How to save on retirement,

31:03 education, uh care for children, utilizing healthcare facility, um even um how to access uh you know vaccine um now the policies have changed to everything online and there are a lot of others. So of course we need to make sure that the go working with the government and looking at what exactly they're doing is that they're widening the breadth of their involvement in the everyday lives of citizen. So the vast number of bills with personal and institutional implication that are passed in parliament everywhere attest that to the importance of public policies. So just to conclude that that overall at the end

31:50 we can say that public policies uh you know it's very important you know as a scientist and as a policy maker uh we need to make sure that um the societal relevance of the whatever research we are doing is clear and we as a scientist has an important role uh to play in informing uh successful policy decisions. that can help shape to the future of our country uh and our world. And of course uh by understanding the meaning of policy, how it's being developed and what the stages are um we can actually uh say that that connection between science and policy is very important and that can lead to uh the

32:38 benefits of humanity. So it's um I would like you to read this um section and we can actually talk about that in the class when we actually need. So um these are some of the references I have given you based on the material that I've provided uh in this lecture and uh hopefully this first lectures have provided you some insight and we can continue on in the class uh forever some activities and um in class discussions about this article that I told you to read. Okay. All right. Uh see you in the class.