Search

The goal of this paper is to present an analysis of the problems raised by the financing of the Quebec Pension Plan. In the first step, we shall try to identify the reasons underlying the financing problem. In the second step, we shall deal with the various financing methods and their impact on the level, the structure and the rate of increase of the contributions to the Plan. Finally, we shall conclude on the financing method which, in our view, should prevail.

Urban and regional economists are often asked to construct central place models which will properly describe the urban hierarchy (in terms of the service sector) of the region which they are studying. In all such studies, the chief analytical problem is basically one of correctly defining (and measuring) tertiary activity and of correctly weighting the various functions which make up the service sector. In this paper, the authors review six alternative methods for measuring and weighting tertiary functions. The mathematical and conceptual properties of each approach are discussed and evaluated. In the second part of the article, the authors compare the actual results obtained by these alternative methods, using data on the Quebec urban system to test their results. They conclude that no one method is entirely satisfactory, each approach measuring a part of reality. But some methods do nevertheless seem to perform better than others: in this respect, the use of localization coefficient type approach seems generally to give the least biased results.

The history of the settlement of the North Shore region of the Gulf St. Lawrence can be divided into five stages : the periodical visits of Basque and Breton fishermen from the XIV th to the XVII th century ; the repeated concessions from 1653 to about 1820 of coast sectors to companies, such as the Hudson Bay Co., and merchants of Québec who hold exclusive rights of occupation and exploitation ; the foundation of most of the existing agglomerations between 1836 and 1865 when settlers gather around sawmills between Tadoussac and Baie-Trinité and fishermen from the south shore of the Gulf, the Magdalen Islands, Newfoundland and the Channel Islands, sometimes after a long association with the exploitation of the coastal fisheries, establish some 20 hamlets and villages between Sept-lies and Blanc-Sablon ; the consolidation of the population, parallel to the growth of the pulp and paper industry up to the advent of the second world war ; the mass immigration brought about by the mining developments in the 1950's. Various conditions have influenced the distribution of the population and given rise to different types of settlement. These conditions have been : the hold of the wood and pulp companies on the land and the labour force, the absence of industrial diversification in any one sector of the region or, in other words, the over-specialization of the economic activities, the proper requirements of those activities, the particular conditions of the land tenure and of the lot structure and, to a lesser extent, the social background of the immigrants. The settlement outlook is thus as follows. From Tadoussac to Natashquan, the habitat is differenciated : the largest communities have grown at the points of transhipment where man and merchandise journey to and fro, that is near deep sheltered bays ; the villages depending on the export of pulpwood are all sited at the mouth of the rivers and show small but dense concentrations of population ; when agriculture dominates, the « rang » System of rural settlement is prevalent ; below Sept-lies, the population concerned with fishing bas settled in small nuclei at short distance from its fisheries. From Kegashka to Blanc-Sablon, the inhabitants are individualistic, dwell on Crown Lands — often as squatters — and keep jealously to their self-appropriated fishing spots, whence their dispersion. In the backcountry, the mining towns of Schefferville, Wabush, Labrador and Gagnon bear witness of the conceptions that presided to their elaboration.

In 1987, historian Jacques Bernier estimated that despite the publication between 1976 and 1986 of a number of prominent papers, the history of medicine and health in French Canada was still in its infancy. Since then, this particular field of study has boomed. The present article examines published studies gathered according to the various themes which have been favoured from 1987 to 2002 and concern the history of medicine and health in French Canada, so as to illustrate the gains of the past sixteen years. In our conclusion, we shall discuss the advancement of the history of medicine and health in French Canada in connection with the various elements suggested by historians Ludmilla Jordonova and Thomas Brown when considering the maturity of a given field of study. We shall identify a number of factors limiting its consolidation., En 1987, l’historien Jacques Bernier signalait que l’histoire de la médecine et de la santé au Canada français, malgré la publication entre 1976 et 1986 de certains écrits importants, était encore au stade de l’enfance. Depuis, ce champ d’étude a connu un essor considérable. Cet article présente une recension des écrits publiés, regroupés selon les thèmes qui ont été privilégiés, au cours des années 1987 à 2002 sur l’histoire de la médecine et de la santé au Canada français, afin d’illustrer les acquis des seize dernières années. En conclusion, nous discuterons du stade d’avancement de l’histoire de la médecine et de la santé au Canada français en lien avec les différents éléments présentés par les historiens Ludmilla Jordonova et Thomas Brown pour juger de la maturité d’un champ d’étude, et identifierons certains facteurs qui en limitent la consolidation.

The general character of Canada-U.S. relations would have been sharply different in the past 65-70 years had there not been established the International Joint Commission under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. That Treaty anticipated in a remarkably prophetic way the lively and sometimes dangerous disputes that arise over shared water resources, boundary and trans-boundary. By providing a mechanism for the settlement of disputes over boundary and trans-boundary water courses, lakes, rivers, etc. and by providing also an investigative mechanism for all other disputes that' may take place along the boundary, the framers of the Boundary Waters Treaty created perhaps better than they knew. For the International Joint Commission has proven to be an instrument of flexibility and high utility. For almost 70 years it has issued Orders of Approval in over 50 cases involving the construction of works affecting the levels and flows of boundary waters as well as causing trans-boundary waters to rise at the boundary and therefore, requiring the approval of the Commission. The whole question of water use/water allocation between neighbouring states sharing common river basins or having rivers and lakes as boundaries is involved in this exercise. It could not have been foreseen, however, that the pioneer language of the pollution provisions of the Boundary Waters Treaty should have moved the Commission with ease into the environmental era. While the Commission was investigating pollution of water questions as early as 1912, and while it recommended a Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Pollution Treaty as early as 1920, it was a great achievement of both countries in signing the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972 and again in 1978, which created the massive environmental role as monitor, co-ordinator and advisor that the Commission now plays in relation to both governments in the Great Lakes basin, and also, in the other watersheds along the 5 500 mile frontier of both countries. With the rise in the knowledge of air pollution, and the interfacing between air, water and land use, there is now a whole complex that is ecologically at the basis of the concerns of Canada and the United States and is of prime interest to the Commission, and has become a fundamental aspect of its work. The future of the Commission is vital to the future of both countries as its successful past has been in maintaining reasonably friendly relations despite the tensions which disputes over water resources can cause. It is the thrust of this paper to describe and demonstrate the processes in dispute avoidance and dispute settlement, in shared resource-planning, for which the Boundary Waters Treaty, the Great Lakes Quality Agreement and the work of the Commission now stand.

Each of the member states of the European Economic Community (EEC) has extended, through a common agreement, its own fishing grounds to 200 miles, thus leading to the creation, since 1977, of the Community waters whose exploitation would be subjected to the common fisheries policy of the EEC. The widespread extension of fishing grounds throughout Europe together with the state of overfishing in the North-East Atlantic have led the EEC to elaborate a policy in order to protect the interests of its member states, to make their fishing vessels competitive, and to ensure the stability of the fishing industry. This paper looks into the implementation of the fisheries policy of the EEC, internally — namely access s rights to Community waters, the coordination of markets and producers, aid to modernize the vessels - as well as regarding foreign countries with whom agreements are sought in order to maintain historic fishing rights - specially in the North Atlantic - or in order to develop new fishing grounds - specially along the West African coast and in the Indian Ocean - a quarter of the EEC catch is made outside Community waters. France is deeply committed to the orientations of the EEC fisheries policy due to the importance of its fleet of trawlers fishing outside French waters and to the potential catch in the exclusive economic zone of its departments and territories overseas. The compromise signed by member states in 1983 is an important step towards the establishment of a true « Europe Fisheries ».

This paper discusses hours of rest for Canadian shipping employees on the basis of statutory regulations, the research literature, and consultations with representatives of the shipping industry during four workshops held in different parts of Canada. Topics include analyses of current regulations, operational practices and research on work and rest and on time of day and rest, and recommendations for change. The analyses found that current regulations do not distinguish between sleep and recreation during rest periods and fall to take into account time of day effects in relation to quality of sleep. The proposed changes in the regulations require the use of non-rotating 24-hour duty schedules providing for minimum rest periods and maximum work periods.

This article briefly discusses the use of "semi-preconstructed phrases" in a corpus of English language newspaper headlines to produce novel collocational effects. Having read the paper Littérature et titres de presse : le cas italien by Michel Bastiaensen in Meta, 39 (1), I would like to propose a study I have carried out on the headlines from the British Press., On fait ici état d'une étude de 2 500 manchettes tirées de la presse de langue anglaise : les considérations portent sur les mécanismes de modifications de citations et d'expressions toutes faites afin de produire des formulations "inusitées" dans la langue.

This paper discusses the strategies adopted by Wole Soyinka in translating his poetry from Yoruba to English. Each of the four Yoruba stylistic categories is examined., L'auteur discute des différentes stratégies adoptées par Wole Soyinka pour traduire sa poésie du yoruba vers l'anglais en examinant chacune des quatre catégories stylistiques du yoruba.

The Free Trade Agreement between Canada and United States mainly seeks to encourage the exchange of manufactured goods. Consumer protection requirements are not, however, taken into consideration. Nonetheless, judicial, bureaucratic and legislative actions adopted in both countries for the security of goods such as mandatory information, product bans, mandatory product standarization requirements, mandatory design, and performance standards, judicial awards of compensation in product liability suits etc. may affect the concurential position of exporters and influence the substance of domestic consumer protection laws. It is the author's objective to measure the impact that different domestic regulations may have on the security of products within the framework of the Free Trade Agreement. In the first part of this paper, the author explores American legislation on the security of products and compares it with Canadian legislation. In the second part, the author considers the liability of manufacturers and evaluates the impact of the statutory regulation on their liability for dangerous products in each country.

This paper presents simulations results using a "Modified St. Louis Model" for Canada. These simulations identify opportunities of trade-off between inflation and unemployment rate. They reveal very slim opportunities of trade-off and demonstrate that any short-term gain in real output caused by monetary stimulus will have to be paid in term of compensating slower output growth to reduce inflationary expectations. This situation of no real trade-off shows up even if the model does not fully endogenize the exchange rate and international trade feedback of changes in money supply growth rate.

This paper deals with the exclusive sale contract or solus agreement. Its first part identifies some characteristic features of this type of agreement, which quite often is not only aimed at regulating the exercise of trade, but also serves as a technique of market organization and economic power concentration. The impact of the increasing currency of such commercial practices on the free market justifies consideration of the various forms of control that can be exercised by public authorities in order to preserve free competition. Control can be achieved through the judiciary applying concepts such as public order in civil law or public policy at common law. However, in view of the courts' reluctance to interfere with such instances of private economic power and their indifference towards the economic inequities inherent in such agreements for the distributor, legislative intervention has become necessary to protect the free market. Thus the Combines Investigation Act was amended in 1976 to allow regulation of commercial practices such as refusal to deal, consignment selling, exclusive dealing, market restriction and tied selling.

Use efficiency of the various forms of energy are essential parameters in the determination of useful energy consumption. Some authors (Adams and Miovic) have attempted to determine these by using econometric models instead of direct, and essentially technical, measurement. The paper presents this last method and insists on the fact that a correct determination of use efficiency requires that we distinguish between fossil fuels and electricity. Some results concerning the rate of substitution between the different forms of energy are provided.

This linear programming model for educational planning, by allowing for choice among techniques of production, permits the introduction of non-constant factor substitution into the production function. The model is applied to educational planning in France and treats simultaneously four kinds of educated manpower and capital in the seven major industrial sectors of an economy. Alternative techniques are drawn from seven other countries for which reasonably comparable data are available. These techniques of production define the production function and determine the demand for educated manpower and capital independently of the supply of these factors. An initial static model maximizes GNP (holding its composition constant) subject to a fixed supply of manpower and capital. The model thus tests whether supply is the constraining factor in the choice of technique in theshort run. In the case tested, it is. In the dynamic version of the model, supply is allowed to increase by means of education (for manpower) and investment (for physical capital). Consumable GNP, that is GNP net of the cost of education and investment, is maximized. Terminal capital stock problems make it impossible to test the model directly. The problem is then broken down into two steps: the identification of the techniques (one for each industry) which permit the greatest net contribution to GNP, and the movement in time towards these "optimal" techniques. The first of these steps is solved using a dual version of the model, but the second is not attempted in this paper.

Une colère noire de Ta-Nehisi Coates livre une analyse de la condition des Africains-Américains centrée sur les violences, notamment policières, dont ils sont victimes. L’auteur affirme que cette violence est structurelle et trouve son origine dans la période esclavagiste. Elle est à la base d’un système qui repose sur l’exploitation et l’exclusion des Noirs. L’ouvrage laisse entendre que les choses sont peu susceptibles de changer, dans la mesure où l’Amérique blanche est décidée à conserver ses prérogatives et l’Amérique noire, impuissante. Cet article démontre que cette vision pessimiste des relations entre Noirs et Blancs est tempérée par un auteur comme Alain Mabanckou qui a préfacé la version française du livre, par la nouvelle ligne éditoriale adoptée par Marvel Comics à laquelle par-ticipe Ta-Nehisi Coates, mais aussi par certains aspects d’Une colère noire. En effet, ces productions invitent à repenser les romans nationaux., In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates analyzes the condition of African Americans. He focuses on the fact that they are victims of violence, particularly at the hands of police officers. The author claims that this violence is structural and finds its roots in the Slave Period. It depicts the American way of life as based on the exploitation and the exclusion of Black people. The book suggests that this situation is unlikely to change since the White American society is determined to preserve its prerogatives and African Americans are powerless. This paper demonstrates that this pessimistic vision of the relationships between Blacks and Whites is tempered by the preface Alain Mabanckou wrote for the French version of the book, by the new editorial line adopted by Marvel Comics with which Ta-Nehisi Coates currently works and finally by some aspects of Between the World and Me itself. Those productions invite the readers to read national narratives from a new perspective.

This article seeks to illustrate how security considerations impact upon trade policy-making. In contrast to interpretations derived from hegemonic stability theory, this paper suggests that the shift from a bipolar to a multipolar world in the 1980s caused growing relative gains concerns within the Western alliance. Comparative analysis of American trade decisions in regard to the machine-tool industry shows that the change of decision between 1982 and 1986 regarding protection of the industry resulted from a change in political coalitions surrounding the demand of protection, which was caused by a transformation in the perception of national security. It is suggested that this uncertainty regarding the distribution of gains from trade is linked to the turn to unilateralism in American trade policy during the same period.

In recent years there has been an important shift in the pattern of Canadian food aid distribution towards a greater concentration on Africa. Recent projections call for increased transfers of food aid to Africa in the foreseeable future. Given the growing concern about the long-term contribution that food aid might make to increasing food sufficiency in Africa, this paper examines the concept of « developmental » food aid and its implications for Canadian food aid policy. First, the article discusses some of the problems that arise out of the provision of increased volumes of non-emergency food aid to Africa. Then, it examines the recent evolution of Canadian food aid policy with particular attention to some of the difficulties involved in implementing a strategy of providing « developmental » food aid to Africa on a long-term basis. The issues of policy dialogue, recipient selection, donor co-ordination, and food aid dependence are discussed respectively.

The review of the budgetary bases of hospitals in Quebec is conducted in three stages: (1) classifying hospitals; (2) evaluating the performance of human and material resources used in each hospital as well as comparing this performance with the average performance of the peer-groups; (3) using the results to establish a correcting mechanism for an adequation redistribution of a portion of the total budget among individual hospitals. The realism of this process of budgetary review lies in the possibility of appropriately classifying the hospitals according to their output. In this paper, along with a short presentation, at the end, of the two last steps of the review process, we focus on the classification itself. We define firstly what constitutes the hospital's output, which is a mix of inpatient services (main variable), outpatient services, research and teaching, as well as environmental variables influencing the output. Then we describe the classification technique, which uses two different similarity indices, one for the distribution of patient-days by category of diagnosis (ICDA, 8th revision), and the other for all other variables; these indices are incorporated in a hierarchical sorting strategy based on the optimization of an objective function. This method is subsequently applied to the acute short-term hospitals of Quebec, using 1976-77 data, and the different resulting eight groups of hospitals are broadly described. In the conclusion, are indicated some suggestions for improving the classification and the budget reviewing mechanism itself.

The dominance of English language content on the Internet raises a question of how consumer bilingualism in a given country affects the amount of home language content and the country's welfare. We address this question by studying two-sided market competition between a foreign and a domestic content distribution platform in a small open economy. On the one hand, bilingualism has the benefit of increasing cross-side network externalities by increasing consumer concentration on the foreign platform, which increases the amount of home language content. On the other hand, bilingualism exposes home language content to competition from foreign language content and softens platform competition, which reduces the amount of home language content. We find that bilingualism mostly increases consumer surplus but can reduce domestic producer surplus. The welfare effect of taxing the foreign platform is also analyzed.