Under Childcare Policy

• Income assistance will not pay a parent or other relative for day care, while private day cares often charge more than what the public system does, forcing those in poverty to pay from personal income.
• As for other costs if one takes on a job, it often requires unusual hours and/or shift work. The single parent among others, has to somehow manage child care around this, often with little advance notice.

Under Transportation Policy

• Due to the lack of public transportation at certain times of the day in some areas and/or no public system in many areas of N.B., workers are forced to use more expensive modes of transit such as taxies.

Under Health Policy

• Research has also demonstrated that many government policies are not well known or are misinterpreted by both clients and staff. There is a clear need for better communications and application of policies, plus more flexibility among staff to handle cases on a more individual basis. Regularly, people hear a mix of responses about a single policy. It seems to depend on what the particular staff person understands or interprets, at a single point in time. Since the policies are often in transition it may be that staff can never keep pace or arrive at the equivalent understanding. Some seem to know when and how they may exercise flexibility within guidelines, while others seem to be unaware.
• The Health Card is an example of a policy that seems to be applied differently to various persons. There seems to be a true gap in understanding of the card. For example, experience indicates that even if a person could qualify for it - often neither they nor their case worker understands and may never make application for it initially and/or do not benefit from it to the full extent.
• The lack of dental coverage is also a very serious concern.

On the Inside: Creating Public Policy in New Brunswick

Presented by Bill MacKenzie, Director, Policy & Federal-Provincial Relations Branch, Family & Community Services, Province of New Brunswick

A comprehensive review of the policy-making process of the New Brunswick government was presented through the use of a power point presentation interspersed with brief commentary. The presentation follows.

MAKING POLICY
Policy Drivers
Policy Considerations
Policy Development

Process Because of the complexity of moving through the process, Mr. MacKenzie chose to use one of the four policies as an example. In consideration of the Household Income Policy, he presented the following ‘map’.

Policy Drivers

• Government Platform
• Stakeholders
• Media
• Legislature/Opposition
• Courts
• Human Rights Commission