Vers une redéfinition de la politique d'achat du Québec

Sommaire: Les marchés publics constituent pour le Gouvernement du Québec un précieux instrument de développement socio-éonomique et un puissant levier dans la réalisation de certains objectifs bien particuliers. Aussi, afin de stimuler et de favoriser le développement de l'économie québécoise, la politique d'achat du Gouvernement du Québec révèle plusieurs mesures préférentielles. Elle tente explicitement de maximiser l'utilisation de produits québécois, de canaliser une part substantielle des achats publics vers les entreprises québécoises. Cette politique d'achat préférentielle a été récemment raffermie et ce, malgré le mouvement international de plus en plus vigoureux visant l'élimination des obstacles à la libre circulation des biens et services. Toutefois, au niveau interprovincial, ce même Gouvernement, dans une volonté d'emboîter le pas et de s'aligner sur l'actuelle tendance à la libéralisation des échanges commerciaux, a spontanément souscrit à l'Accord intergouvernemental sur les marchés du secteur public qui prône l'abolition des barrières au commerce interprovincial. Le Gouvernement du Québec doit désormais tenter de concilier l'existence des principes et objectifs de ces deux textes conflictuels. La présente étude offre une vision globale, suggère un survol de la politique d'achat du Gouvernement du Québec et de son champ d'application, dam le contexte de la libéralisation des échanges commerciaux interprovinciaux. Elle souligne que l'Accord ne sonne pas le glas de la politique d'achat du Québec mais en implique une sérieuse et profonde remise en cause. En effet, la politique d'achat devra nécessairement débouher sur une façon originale d'utiliser les marchés publics tout en s'insérant dans le cadre de l'Accord. Abstract: For the Government of Quebec, public contracts are an invaluable tool for socio-economic development and a powerful lever for the achievement of some quite specific objectives. In order to stimulate and promote the development of the Quebec economy, the purchasing policy of the provincial government involves several preferential measures. It explicitly attempts to maximize the use of Quebec products, and to channel a substantial portion of public purchases to Quebec firms. This preferential purchasing policy has been strengthened recently, in spite of the growing international movement towards eliminating impediments to the free trade of goods and services. However, at the interprovincial level, in order to fall in step and align itself with the present trend towards freer trade, the Government of Quebec spontaneously subscribed to the Intergovernmental Accord on Public Sector Contracts, promoting the elimination of interprovincial trade barriers. The Government of Quebec must now aim to reconcile the principles and objectives of these two conflicting approaches. This study provides an overview and suggests a survey of the provincial government's purchasing policy and its field of application, within the context of the liberalization of interprovincial trade. It stresses that the accord does not negate Quebec's purchasing policy, although it does involve a thorough review of it. Indeed, the purchasing policy must necessarily lead to an original way of using public contracts while still staying within the bounds of the accord.     

Cleaning Puparia for Forensic Analysis

We tested procedures for removing adipocere from insect samples to allow identification. An acceptable procedure was determined: (i) Samples were sorted in petri dishes with 75% alcohol to remove any larvae, adult insects, or other soft‐bodied material. (ii) Samples of up to 24 puparia were placed in a vial with 15 mL of 95% acetone, capped, and vortexed for a total of 30–90 sec in 10‐ to 15‐sec bursts. This step removed large masses of adipocere or soil from specimen. (iii) Specimens were removed from acetone and placed in a vial of 15 mL of 2% potassium hydroxide (KOH) and vortexed in 10‐ to 15‐sec bursts until all puparia appeared clean (with our samples this required a total of 60–120 sec). (iv) Specimens were removed from the 2% KOH, placed in 75% ethanol, and examined microscopically. (v) Material was stored in 75% ethanol for identification and long‐term preservation.     

Title VII retaliation claims

Section 704(a) protects employees who engage in activity aimed at remedying employment practices they believe to be unlawful. Such activity may take the form of participation in governmental investigations or proceedings, or expressing opposition to an employer's practices through internal complaints to management, circulating petitions among employees, directly challenging an employer's affirmative action plan, etc. As the Ninth Circuit's recent Crown Zellerbach decision demonstrates, employers must proceed with caution before taking disciplinary action against an employee who engages in arguably protected 704(a) activity. The following article discusses employee activity protected by section 704(a) and examines various employer defenses and concerns in a retaliation case.     

Explaining Crime Diversity with Google Street View

Journal of Quantitative Criminology - Crime diversity is a measure of the variety of criminal offenses in a local environment, similar to ecological diversity. While crime diversity distributions...     

Romantic partners and young adult offending: Considering the role of partner's socioeconomic characteristics

In this study, we examined whether and to what extent the effects on offending of marriage and different types of cohabitating partnerships depend on the romantic partner's socioeconomic status (SES). Such research addresses a key gap in knowledge regarding potential heterogeneity of effects on behavior of romantic partnerships. Drawing on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we examined the within‐individual effects of three romantic partner's socioeconomic characteristics–education, employment, and income–on offending from ages 18 to 34. Results revealed that marriage was related to reductions in arrest only for those whose spouse was employed (full or part time) and had income. In contrast to marriage, partner SES was not related to arrest among those who cohabited with a partner they never married. Additionally, partner SES was often associated with reductions in arrest among those who cohabited with a partner they later married, but the reductions were statistically indistinguishable across levels of partner SES. Lastly, these effects were experienced similarly for low‐ and high‐SES individuals alike, and no gender differences were detected in these effects. Our findings suggest that important life events such as marriage and cohabitation can be behavior‐altering transitions, but the effects of these events are variable.     

The Offset Rule: Some Multinational Evidence

The offset rule is a method to simplify the calculation of lump sum damage awards to compensate victims for an expected lost future flow of income. If the expected nominal rate of interest is roughly equal to the expected rate of growth in nominal wages (assuming the loss is due to lost labour income), then the present discounted value of the loss is shown to be easily computed as just the amount of the loss in the first year multiplied by the number of years over which the loss is expected to occur. We test the assumptions of the offset rule for eleven different countries. For each country, we cannot reject the hypothesis that the assumptions of the offset rule are satisfied. The relevant implication of this work is that the offset rule can provide a starting point for the assessment of damages. While there are undoubtedly good arguments for personalizing awards, there is no longer any good reason to debate the size of the real rate of interest, the expected rate of inflation, or average changes in labour productivity. These variables cancel each other out in the offset rule.