The Margaret MacMillan Trinity One Program

Public Policy Stream

Students in the Public Policy stream enrol in TRN160Y1, TRN161Y1 and a first-year course in History, Political Science, Philosophy or Sociology; or a course taken with permission of the Coordinator. These three courses are among the five courses typically taken by a first-year Arts and Science student.

TRN160Y1 Public Policy and the Public Good

What is public policy? Is there such a thing as the public good? This seminar course examines the notion of a “public” (is there a public, or is society simply a collection of atomized interests?) and a central ideological issue of our time: what is the purpose of government in a liberal democratic society? Drawing on readings in philosophy and political theory, the course considers a variety of approaches to interpreting the nature of the public good. It also considers the ethics of public choice: how should policy makers respond when competing goods—freedom and security, for example, or economic liberty and social equality—clash with each other? Following discussion of these topics, the course turns to ethical questions underlying a selection of major policy issues in the world today, such as economic growth, social inequality, Aboriginal affairs, crime and punishment, immigration, and the environment.

TRN161Y1 Making Public Policy Work

The role and size of government in Canada have changed enormously over the last two centuries, even as many basic functions of government have stayed constant: keeping citizens safe, ensuring public health, fostering economic growth, and preserving the federation. But what are the best ways to tackle these challenges? When is government action justified? How do we know what kinds of public policy will work and what will not? How do we assess the effectiveness of a given policy? This seminar course studies the history of responses by governments in Canada to a range of public policy problems and, in a series of case studies, examines a selection of the most important areas of federal and provincial activity today.