Presenter – Michael Mendelson

Michael is speaking in “People-Led Policy” on October 26thMichael Mendelson is Senior Scholar at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy. Prior to his appointment to the Caledon Institute, he was the Deputy Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Cabinet Office in Ontario. He has served as an Assistant Deputy Minister in Ontario’s Ministries of Finance, Community Services and Health. In Manitoba, he was Secretary to Treasury Board and Deputy Minister of Social Services.

Mr. Mendelson has been an active participant in several of Canada’s major developments in federal-provincial relations, finance and social policy. As Deputy Minister in Manitoba and in Ontario, he helped prepare three Budgets: one each for an NDP, Conservative and Liberal administration. He co-led Ontario’s delegation on ‘division of powers’ in the Charlottetown Constitutional negotiations. In the Federal Privy Council’s Ministry of State for Social Development, he played a critical role in the development of the Canada Health Act. He was a consultant for the National Forum on Health and the Parliamentary Task Force on Federal-Provincial Fiscal Relations. As Deputy Minister in Manitoba he oversaw the recognition of path breaking First Nations Child Family Service agencies on reserve and the establishment of the first major off-reserve Aboriginal controlled child and family preventive agency in Canada.

Mr. Mendelson has published many articles on social and fiscal policy, as well as a book on the issue of universality. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto, School of Social Work. He has undertaken many consulting projects both in the private and public sector since leaving government. Mr. Mendelson also has had numerous appearances on TV and radio and articles in the print media.

Some recent reports and publications: The UK in 2011 is not Canada in 1996 published by the Barrow Cadbury Foundation in the UK; Why We Need a First Nations Education Act, Measuring Child Benefits: Measuring Child Poverty and Aboriginal Peoples and Post Secondary Education in Canada all published by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy; Asset-Based Social Programs: A Critical Analysis of Current Initiatives published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); ‘Benefits for Children’ in Family Matters (Australian Institute of Family Studies); Benefits for Children: A Four Country Study (ed. with Ken Battle) published by the Caledon Institute and the J. Rowntree Foundation in the UK; Financing the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans for The American Association of Retired Persons Public Policy Institute; Aboriginal People in Canada’s Labour Market: Work and Unemployment, Today and Tomorrow and Aboriginal People In Canada’s Labour Market (with Ken Battle) published by the Caledon Institute with support of Human Resources Development Canada; The WIS that Was: The Canadian Working Income Supplement published by the J. Rowntree Foundation in the UK