AGING, PUBLIC POLICY AND GOVERNANCE: UNPACKING THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF A COMPLEX POLICY ISSUE **DRAFT** (please do not cite)

Across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, populations aged 65 years and over have dramatically increased in the past three decades, both in size and as a percentage of total population. This fact of demographic change is pressing societies to respond and herein we see policy reforms in such areas as pensions, retirement, healthcare and caregiving. In this, ideational constructions and the discourses that carry change are important. In public policy, the dominance of certain perspectives over others is critical to the types of policies that are adopted. This research examines this dynamic—the interplay between disciplinary discourses, expert knowledge and aging policy. Employing discursive institutionalism, it considers: the role of ideas in prioritizing and privileging certain policy responses over others; how are ideas constituted into discourse and policy actions; where and among whom influencing discourse takes place; and how ideas and discourse drive policy (and institutional) change. This work is grounded in a review of the United Nations' Madrid framework, which calls for a 'society of all ages' and Canadian responses.