The Cardus team was honoured to host a luncheon with Her Excellency Petronila Garcia of the Philippines, His Excellency Jose Fernando Moreira da Cunha of the Portuguese Republic, and His Excellency Andrej Droba of the Slovak Republic. Also in attendance were special guests including Gregg Hinzelman of Power to Change Ministries, Darlene McLean and Robert Montgomery of the Christian Embassy, and David Sweet, M.P. Ancaster-Flamborough-Westdale. Several members of the Cardus board joined the luncheon as well. An exciting conversation about the role of government in society followed, as the ambassadors each shared about the countries they represent. The guests also took time to talk with Cardus staff about their projects. To view more photos of the event, visit our Facebook page.

When asked to think about their end-of-life planning, 75% of Canadians express a desire to die in their own homes. Yet in actual fact, 70% of Canadians die in hospital. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a new Nanos Research poll, commissioned by Hamilton-based think tank Cardus, showed that 73% of Canadians fear their end-of-life wishes will not be respected in whatever setting they pass their final days. The research team at Cardus believes there are ways to alleviate that fear. Building on good work done by the 2011 Parliamentary Committee and hundreds of excellent organizations in this field, the think tank is releasing a report entitled “Death Is Natural.” Download a copy of the report here. Today’s launch of Cardus Health sees the think tank entering the health care space with a unique anchor: emphasizing the social structures that undergird the common health institutions we see every day. Cardus aims to contribute to the public dialogue regarding aging and the provision of health care, while respecting the dignity of human life and promoting small, incremental improvements to public policy and practice. “I’m becoming increasingly convinced that in addition to palliative care, the gamut of enmeshed family, community, and spiritual supports necessary for best-practice end-of-life care are being ignored to the detriment of all Canadians,” wrote Cardus executive vice president Ray Pennings in an op-ed for the Vancouver Sun in February. In “Death Is Natural,” Cardus Health is advancing research on Canadian end-of-life care by examining three aspects of the subject: The need to build a social system that supports the desire of Canadians for a natural death—dying of natural causes in natural environments surrounded by natural caregivers. The recognition that not only the patient but also the natural caregivers need to be the focus of support, and thus the full range of social institutions best equipped for natural deaths need to be made more available to more Canadians. The delivery of care not as a series of difficult choices, but rather as a continuum of care in which there is a seamless continuity of end-of-life care supports and settings. Cardus has made this report available online, along with more resources and information on the improvement of end-of-life care. Visit cardus.ca/health for more information about this project.

Government budgets always involve “cheques and balances,” but election-year budgets are equally about messaging and vote-getting. Many of the key messages were leaked in advance. A $1.4 surplus after seven years of deficit is designed to mark the success of the Economic Action Plan in response to the 2008 international economic collapse. Balanced budget legislation is designed to make it more difficult for future governments to return to deficit. When it comes to overall economic growth and jobs, the government is sending a cautious signal. Slow growth rates are assumed, and contingencies designed to allow for unforeseen changes in economic circumstance reinforce a cautious forecast. The complicated impact of lower oil prices are also highlighted. As a net exporter of oil, lower prices reduced our gross domestic product and the value of our trade. However, they also freed up over $12 billion for consumers to spend on other products (about 1 percent of the GDP) over the past few quarters. The “supporting jobs and growth” agenda relies on a catalogue of tweaks to tax rules (lowering the small business tax rate from 11 percent to 9 percent), encouraging the harmonization of apprenticeship training across provinces, and adjusting the formulas that determine eligibility for student loan programs. Many will be affected (albeit in relatively small manner) by specific measures. The big-ticket items are infrastructure investment, especially transit infrastructure, spread out over time. Bridges, highways, water treatment plants and ports are highlighted as “shovels in the ground” projects, undoubtedly with a prominent government promotion sign reminding voters that their tax dollars are working for them. Though budgets are more than balance sheets and dollars, we make important statements about our social priorities through our financial priorities. A very welcome inclusion in this budget is the extension of the Compassionate Care Benefit, effective January 2016. Presently, if someone receives a terminal diagnosis of six months, family members can receive up to six weeks of combined income support in order to provide care for their dying relative over that period. Building on the recommendations of an all-party 2011 Parliamentary report and the advocacy of various groups (including Cardus), this budget increases the benefit from six weeks to six months, at an estimated annual cost to the EI system of $37 million. There are many other groups who are similarly supported. Measures targeting support for those with autism, an extension of the Registered Disability Savings Plan, and a provision that will allow charities to receive private shares donations exempt from capital gains tax are but a few of the very specific targeted supports that are included in the budget. The federal budget comprises 518 pages worth of details, covering a wide range of initiatives. However, at its core, the message is straight-forward. The books are in balance and the government intends to keep it that way. Tax cuts are a priority and there is a reliance on the private sector to create jobs. Incentives for individuals to save money, whether through an expanded Tax Free Savings Account or changed Registered Retirement Income Fund rules for seniors, are designed to create less reliance of government. The task of government in the economy is seen as one in partnership and cooperation with other groups, from other levels of government to private-public infrastructure plans. Undoubtedly this budget will be pitched as support for middle class families—that coveted middle space of uncommitted voters who will decide the next election. The Conservative appeal to the middle class is to pitch them as consumers: “We’ll leave you with enough of your own money.” It’s about savings and private-sector opportunity, with the government’s focus on opening up trade and catalyzing activity through very targeted limited projects. Time will tell what the opposition responses will be, but if they follow the narrative they have been following since the Throne Speech, they will seek a different appeal to the middle class. The opposition New Democrats focus on expanding the middle class with an increased minimum wage, subsidizing daycare, and using the tax system to bring more people into the middle class and lessening the extremes. The Liberals call for “giving the middle class a raise,” saying government should build new infrastructure and taking a more prominent, visionary leadership role. It would seem that at least part of the decision voters will be determining in Election 2015 is how the government should support the middle class. The Conservatives say it’s by getting out of the road, leaving them with more of their own money to save and spend as they see fit. The New Democrats imply that it is by using the tax system to ensure that more are included and that the middle class is, in fact, the biggest class. The Liberals have argued that the government needs to use its influence to give the middle class a raise, investing in infrastructure and other programs that will help us dream big dreams together. Yes, it’s a budget, but it’s also another warm-up for the not-yet-official election campaign. On the surface, it sounds like a “muddle in the middle.” However, there are fundamentally different presumptions about what defines these voters. And as non-ideological as most Canadians think themselves, it may in fact be their implicit anthropology that is a significant determinant of the next election campaign. When forced to prioritize, is it our consumerism, entitlement, or shared aspiration that will come out on top?

Ottawa, Ontario—It’s a middle-class budget. But what exactly does “middle-class” mean? Government budgets always involve “cheques and balances,” but election-year budgets are equally about messaging and vote-getting. An exciting and very welcome inclusion in this budget is the extension of the Compassionate Care Benefit, effective January 2016. Presently, if someone receives a terminal diagnosis of six months, family members can receive up to six weeks of combined income support in order to provide care for their dying relative over that period. Building on the recommendations of an all-party 2011 Parliamentary report and the advocacy of various groups (including Cardus), this budget increases the benefit from six weeks to six months, at an estimated annual cost to the EI system of $37 million. To access an analysis of this year's budget by Ray Pennings, click here.

This week, the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance's Stanley Carlson-Thies, also a Cardus senior fellow, reported in the Center for Public Justice's Capital Commentary on what religious freedom in the United States actually entails. "Should it be required that we all shed those convictions and identities when we interact outside of our families and places of worship and enter the public square to serve or be served?" Carlson-Thies asks. "A place to start is with a vision of the public not as uniform, but rather as diverse and heterogeneous." We are a society of heterogeneous convictions: multiple religions, different philosophical systems, varied identities, and contrasting convictions about many serious matters. It is not just, nor workable, to demand that we all shed those convictions and identities when we interact outside of our families and places of worship and enter the public square. Or, more accurately, it is not just, nor workable, to demand as the price of entry to the public square that those persons and organizations with countercultural minority views, people and groups out of sync with the current majority views about religion, sexuality, relationships, and life, must leave their views behind and conduct their lives and their organizations as if they agreed with the majority. Find this article in full at the Capital Commentary website.

Cardus is delighted to announce the appointment of Beth Green as its new program director for education. Dr. Green is a prize-winning scholar with an international reputation for research in Christian education. She joined Cardus this week, relocating from the northwest of England, where she directed a Christian education research centre. "Having a scholar of Dr. Green's international calibre join the Cardus team is a moment of immense pride for us an organization," executive-vice president Ray Pennings said in announcing the appointment. "It demonstrates an evolution in the reach of our educational research, and our commitment to ground-breaking study of Christian schooling. It means, too, that Cardus is welcoming someone so committed to research in the Christian education field that she's willing to cross an ocean to contribute her gifts to our mission. Beth has already spent time with the team, and we could not be more delighted to have her join us," Pennings said. Dr. Green assumed her full-time duties in the Hamilton office, where she will work closely with the executive vice-president further developing the Cardus Education initiative at the University of Notre Dame. She will also be the key point of contact for all stakeholders in Canadian Christian education circles. Pennings noted Dr. Green's hiring was the result of a lengthy and intensive search process that attracted interest from the highest quality candidates. Her educational résumé comprises a B.A. (hons) and D.Phil. from Oxford as well as degrees from Cambridge and London Universities. A former history teacher, she has developed an international reputation for her research into Christian school ethos, leadership and management, teaching and learning, and social theory in education. "I'm passionate about translating rigorous scholarship and research in Christian education into practices that build the Kingdom of God in institutional structures, processes and pedagogy," Dr. Green says. "I've never believed the purpose of research is to fill dusty library shelves. Its purpose is to engage with—and shape—the lives of practitioners, policy makers and, most importantly, the young people in our schools." Explore the Cardus Education research program.

The 4th International Conference on School Choice & Reform (ICSCR) took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this month, bringing together researchers, policy specialists, practitioners, and organization leaders from around the world to consider how private religious schools contribute to the public good. The Cardus Education Survey published in 2014 compares school sector differences in the U.S. to show how they influence graduates into young adulthood. CRSI, a regular contributor to this conference program, submitted a symposia entitled: "Faith-Based Schools: Current Issues and Research." Ray Pennings, Albert Cheng, Dr. David Sikkink, and Dr. Beth Green presented this research at the prestigious conference. Pennings provided a comprehensive review of the data which found that, contrary to many assumptions, private and public schools do not differ significantly when it comes to involvement in civic life. Cheng’s paper reviewed the data in relation to volunteering in more depth. Volunteering is a good proxy for civic commitment and involvement and tells us about graduates community ties and the strength of social trust. Dr. Sikkink’s research drilled down into some of the nuances of the data, especially in relation to STEM subjects. And Dr. Green offered a UK perspective on the CES findings. Together these papers show that religious schools do not de facto result in social segregation and that they can enrich the diversity of education provision, but that they do need to retain autonomy and the freedom to innovate in order to benefit the public good.

One Cardus*U participant was interviewed about one of his projects in the Hamilton Spectator. Caleb Heerema is studying the results of 817 responses to an online survey that probed consumers' appetites for passed-over produce that doesn't make it to mainstream supermarkets. "We wanted to see if there are people out there who were interested in it," said Heerema, who studied biology and chemistry at Redeemer College and is in the middle of an eight-month project with the Hamilton-based think-tank Cardus. "Seconds" are available at farmers' markets, but Heerema's idea is to provide another, more formalized option at The Mustard Seed for such rejected produce, if the figures support it. He wants to help farmers offer cheaper produce to consumers and cut back on food waste. "Really, everybody wins." The idea, still in its conceptual stage, aligns with The Mustard Seed's members' interests, says co-founder Graham Cubitt. "We know it doesn't have to look perfect to be good." Heerema, who was raised on a northern Ontario farm, said Canadians are blessed with bountiful resources but might have the "wrong mindset" when it comes to food stewardship. Read the rest of this article at the Hamilton Spectator's website, and listen to Heerema's radio interview on The Scott Radley Show here. Learn more about the Cardus*U program by clicking here or following the Facebook page.

Critical decisions that direct our shared future as Canadians increasingly deal with the place where more and more Canadians live: cities. Please donate by December 31, 2014 to receive a 2014 charitable tax receipt: click here. For a flourishing urban life, physical infrastructure matters. Water, food, electricity, gas, and building materials need to be organized into systems, often ones that are complex and interdependent. And cities need to pay close attention to these systems because when they don’t work, everyone notices: potholes tell us the roads need attention and murky water suggests that our water mains might need repairs. Yet at Cardus, we realize that the social infrastructure of our cities needs similar attention. Particularly when the various signs of breakdown—loneliness, community disintegration, or crime—manifest themselves, we know it’s time to work towards renewal. For this reason, Cardus has been working in several major Canadian cities and a handful of smaller ones in order to raise awareness about the current state of our social infrastructure. Although it’s an uncommon phrase, social infrastructure is concerned with the way in which our families, schools, workplaces, courts, businesses, governments, and many other organizations relate to each other in their dependence on agreements, shared cultural values, and common social goods. We have noticed a gap between faith-based organizations and municipal planning processes. Despite significant contributions to community well-being, there remains a missing piece of social infrastructure that prevents greater respective contributions to more resilient and enriched communities. We and our community partners are pioneering new approaches that explore what might be developed to bridge this gap. Cardus is also making significant investments in learning how our historic work on social architecture can make a particular contribution to the social resources of our city institutions and organizations. Stepping out into new territory requires significant support, talented people with an ability to learn and persist, as well as strong institutional partnership skills. We are bringing all of this to our Social Cities project and would greatly value being able to count you among this visionary effort. Your financial support for our research programs will provide a tax deductible receipt for you and a strong signal to us that we are on the right track. Finding new ways to invest in the social infrastructure of our communities is as vital as maintaining bridges, clean water, and policing. We believe that the best time to invest in this work is now. Milton Friesen Program Director, Social Cities December 2014 Please donate by December 31, 2014 to receive a 2014 charitable tax receipt: click here.