Canadian public policy and the social economy

Over the six years of the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships, public policy emerged as a key theme. Canadian Public Policy and the Social Economy brings together the National Hub's public policy and knowledge mobilization paper series, three papers examining strategic and practical aspects of public policy development, and new research on the links between the social economy and environmental sustainability. International comparisons present some of the characteristics of jurisdictions where public policy has contributed to a dynamic social economy sector, and papers on governance, financing and procurement focus on some of the issues that are key for the development of the social economy. The contents reflect a common interest in the public policy implications of the social economy as a unified sector of social and economic life, contributing to outcomes in social and economic development, environmental sustainability, and democratic governance. We hope that Canadian Public Policy and the Social Economy contributes to debate, dialogue, and learning on the social economy, highlighting its potential and signi cance to address many of the public policy we face now, and which will confront future generations. We wish to acknowledge the funding support of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council and the commitment of students and staff at the Social Economy Research Hub co-directed by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) and the University of Victoria. [...] Our colleagues have looked into: the role of the social economy in addressing poverty and homelessness; the role of cooperatives and social enterprises in the delivery of goods and services that make a social and economic contribution to communities; new forms of production and retailing in the social economy to contribute to sustainable food and agriculture; the social economy's value in First Na [...] In the context of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, literally on the door step of the Forum's location in downtown Montreal, the debate centred on the need to use the social economy as a means to address two central issues in the current economic crisis: The need for economic democratization that allows people and their representatives more say over the means of production and distribution of wea [...] Chapter Seven presents the work of the Quebec research centre's Vaillancourt on the role of the social economy in the co-construction of public policy, with particular attention to the importance of social economy actors in not just influencing but also "constructing" public policy that integrates social and economic objectives in Quebec. [...] At the International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy in 2011, representatives of our research program were struck by the quality of quantitative and qualitative research being conducted in other countries, and perhaps most importantly, the level of engagement by government, civil society and other stakeholders in using that evidence to purposefully strengthen the utility of the social e