The Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy (SIPP) is a non-profit and non-partisan research institute based at the University of Regina, which is devoted to policy research that is relevant to Saskatchewan. SIPP was created in 1998 as a partnership between the University of Regina, the government of Saskatchewan (both of which provide core funding), and the University of Saskatchewan. As part of its mandate, SIPP has conducted and disseminated policy research on a broad range of issues including Aboriginal self-government and economic development, public finance and taxation, health care reform, agriculture and rural development, and public ownership and governance. SIPP has also sponsored conferences on issues of national concern including federalism, the social union, and urban Aboriginal issues.
In addition to conducting research, SIPP reaches out to the general policy community through public lectures and presentations, an armchair discussion series, and its regular briefing notes and public policy papers. For students, SIPP organizes and runs a President's Leadership Program as well as an annual competition for student public policy papers. In contrast to purely free standing, university-based or internal government-based policy think tanks, SIPP is a pioneering effort at creating a policy collaboration between university and government that preserves its independence in analysis and prescription.
Gregory P. Marchildon