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Since the late 1980s, there has been no explicit regional policy in Canada. Indirectly, though, equalization payments, industrial policies, as well as regional agencies encouraging the adoption of federal industrial and innovation policies, impact regional economies. In 2017, the federal government appeared to alter its approach: the Supercluster initiative was announced, drawing upon the idea that localized networks of interrelated firms can generate innovation and local development. In this paper, we discuss the mechanisms through which spatially focused industrial innovation policy can lead to regional development. We then focus on Canada's Ocean Supercluster initiative. The question we address is as follows: to what extent can this initiative (and, more widely, Canada's Supercluster policy) be understood as a regional development strategy driven by a coherent rationale for regional intervention? Apart from the fact that each Supercluster focuses on a pre‐existing core of firms located within a region, there is little evidence that the Supercluster initiative has regional development objectives or impacts. Key messages: In 2018, Canada's federal government implemented the Supercluster policy. Five regionally focussed clusters were selected for support for business‐led innovation initiatives.Superclusters were presented as a means both to develop regional economies and to enhance Canada's global innovation impact, in a manner similar to Europe's smart specialization.Despite the initial regional dimension, Superclusters are geared towards national, not regional, objectives and do not focus upon regional development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada entered the COVID‐19 pandemic with a strong fiscal position, which gave it room to mitigate its economic impacts. Of interest in this paper is the history of Canada's financial position in terms of net debt as reported in the Government of Canada's annual financial statements. Net debt is a measure of fiscal sustainability that has been reported in the Government of Canada's public accounts since the country's earliest days. It created (and continues to create) a particular visibility of the "effectiveness" of the federal government's financial management and of the country's financial position at a particular point in time but also impacts future political policy. Although there were periods of sharp increases in the federal net debt over the country's history, the federal government was always able to regain control, and this has resulted in the reasonable level of net debt the country has today. This study shows how this net debt changed, was sustained over time, and was influenced by the political and economic context in which it was situated. We find evidence of its use for supporting government accountability to the population but also as an accounting measure employed by the government to influence public opinion and thereby gain support for government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the policy analytical capacity (PAC) of governments has suffered in the past from the anecdotal nature of most studies, leading to different evaluations of specific analytical activities and of the overall competences and capacities of governments as a whole. What is needed to advance the field is a set of metrics that can generate insights into the capabilities of different units and how changes to their and overall government capacity develop over time. Focusing on this component of policy capacity, we map and measure the distribution of policy professionals in the provincial, territorial, and federal governments in Canada. Our measures are tested against two major findings regarding PAC: first that variation among governmental PAC varies by size of the civil service, with smaller jurisdictions likely to have less capacity, and second, that concentration of professionals in specific issue areas underscores that area's political and/or policy salience to the government concerned. Both measures prove robust in assessing Canadian government activities in these areas. Points for practitioners: Policy capacity is acknowledged as a significant perquisite for policy success.While some general frameworks exist highlighting policy relevant competences and capabilities important to policy success, how to measure these remains under‐investigated.Focusing on policy analytical capacity, this paper draws on the literature on policy professionals to develop two measures of this component of policy capacity linked to the extent to which an agency focuses on analysis and the proportion of their staff who work on the subject compared to other agencies.The measures are deployed in an illustrative case of Canada and Canadian governments at the territorial, provincial, and federal level which confirms their utility and robustness as indicators of the different levels of analytical capacity different agencies employ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare flexible low‐carbon regulations in the transportation sector and their interaction and sequencing with greenhouse gas emissions trading systems in California and Quebec. As momentum builds for greater climate action, it is necessary to better understand how carbon markets and other low‐carbon transportation policies influence one another. First, we demonstrate that emissions trading between California and Quebec has been asymmetric, with linking having little influence on carbon prices from California's perspective but leading to a considerable cost reduction from the point of view of Quebec. Second, we present evidence that Quebec has replicated many of California's low‐carbon transportation policies that promote increased electric vehicle use, where Quebec has an advantage, while deferring to the Canadian federal government with regard to policies that incentivize the production of other low‐carbon transportation fuels. Third, we demonstrate that while the stringency of the policy mix of carbon pricing and flexible transportation regulations has increased over time in both jurisdictions, the stringency of flexible regulations has been more aggressively ratcheted up and is expected to continue to dominate. Overall, our findings suggest that the policy sequence observed in California and Quebec can be attributed to the political economy benefits that the selected instruments confer to governments seeking to move from the middle towards the bottom of the clean technology experience curve. We discuss a number of important research questions and associated hypotheses emanating from our findings, which provide the basis for more in‐depth studies involving a larger universe of cases and economic sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In call to action 57, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls upon federal, provincial and territorial governments to enhance the skills and knowledge of public servants. Leveraging collaboration theory and collaborative capacity, this article delves deeper into the skills, attitudes and knowledge required of public servants who regularly work with First Nations organizations and governments. Using findings from a health care collaboration between First Nations, federal and provincial governments in Alberta with 25 mid‐ to senior‐level leaders, this participatory action research highlights the importance of member capacity to strong collaboration as Canada embarks on the journey from colonization to reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments around the world are developing smart city projects, with the aim to realize diverse goals of increased efficiency, sustainability, citizen engagement, and improved delivery of services. The processes through which these projects are conceptualized vary dramatically, with potential implications for how citizens are involved or engaged. This research examines the 20 finalists in the Canadian Smart Cities Challenge, a Canadian federal government contest held from 2017 to 2019 to disburse funding in support of smart city projects. We analyzed each of the finalist proposals, coding all instances of citizen engagement used to develop the proposal. A significant majority of the proposals used traditional types of citizen engagement, notably citizen meetings, round tables, and workshops, to develop their smart city plans. We also noted the use of transactional forms of citizen engagement, such as apps, and the use of social media. Despite the general rhetoric of innovation in the development of smart cities, this research finds that citizens are most commonly engaged in traditional ways. This research provides cues for governments that are developing smart city projects, placing an emphasis on the importance of the process of smart city development, and not simply the product. Key Messages: In the Canadian Smart Cities Challenge contest, smart city proposals were created using traditional citizen engagement actions, such as face‐to‐face citizen meetings.The use of transactional methods of citizen engagement, such as mobile apps and social media, is secondary in the development of smart city proposals.Regardless of the outcome of smart city proposals, the process of developing the proposal should meaningfully engage citizens and resident stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Federal Government of Canada established a $1.1 billion compensation programme in 1999 to support individuals who acquired hepatitis C virus (HCV) through blood products between January 1986 and July 1990. We aimed to describe the morbidity and mortality of this unique post‐transfusion cohort (n = 4550) followed for over 15 years from 2000 to 2016. The age‐standardized mortality rates were compared with that of the Canadian general population and HCV cohorts from other countries. We evaluated all‐cause mortality using Kaplan‐Meier survival curves and HCV‐related and unrelated mortality using competing risk models. The age‐standardized all‐cause and HCV‐related mortality rates per 10 000 person‐years were 127 (95% CI: 117‐138) and 76 (95% CI: 69‐85) for males, and 77 (95% CI: 69‐87) and 43 (95% CI: 37‐51) for females, respectively. The risk of death of the post‐transfusion cohort was almost twice as high as the Canadian general population (rate ratio = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.7‐1.9). All‐cause, HCV‐related and HCV‐unrelated mortality were 20%, 12% and 8%, respectively at 15 years of follow‐up. By comparison, HCV‐related mortality rates per 10 000 person‐years for population‐based HCV cohorts varied from 18 and 11 in Australia to 65 and 43 in Scotland for males and females, respectively. We reported long‐term follow‐up data for the largest post‐transfusion cohort in the literature. The all‐cause mortality rates were markedly higher than that of the Canadian general population. We also showed that HCV‐related mortality were greater compared to other HCV cohorts. This suggests that continued efforts to identify and treat post‐transfusion HCV are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over half of Canada's Indigenous identity population reside in urban centres. Despite their growing numbers, Indigenous Peoples remain under represented in municipal government. While it has been argued that all levels of government have responsibility for urban Indigenous Peoples, neither the federal government nor the provinces have provided direction regarding their representation in urban centres. The local response to urban Indigenous input has emerged over the past ten years in the form of Aboriginal advisory boards in some municipalities. While these nascent entities provide a bridge to Indigenous Peoples to access municipal government, they fall short of providing them with governance models recommended in various consultations with Indigenous Peoples over the past twenty years. This article argues that over time models of representation are being overshadowed by policies of service delivery for urban Indigenous Peoples in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the digital revolution has created new pressures and tensions for governing institutions in Canada, a broad discussion of the evolution of the Canadian Westminster governance ecosystem has yet to occur in earnest. The article seeks to contribute to such a discussion. We identify three related trends shaping the Canadian governance context: the rise of digital culture, the disintermediation of traditional authorities, and the increasingly distributed nature of governance. We then draw on scholarly literature surrounding 'multilevel governance' to help contextualize these trends, and identify key tensions and needs related to the increasingly pressing imperative to develop a 'made-in-Canada' governance approach that is well attuned to the needs of the digital era. We conclude by suggesting that such an approach will require a new style of leadership, one that privileges agility and resilience and that is issue-based and outcome-focused, rather than constrained by jurisdictional silos or narrowly conceived institutional mandates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workforce development policy in Canada has undergone extensive reforms in the past two decades, often driven by intergovernmental pressures. Many of these reforms, including the transfer of thousands of federal civil servants to the provinces, along with $2.5 billion annually, have occurred largely unnoticed by the public, or even recipients of services. Accountability measures have remained weak as the federal and provincial governments have few incentives to increase public scrutiny. In particular, transparency (making information available for public scrutiny) and justification (the provision of reasons for decisions) are inadequate. A more inclusive public accountability framework in the policy area needs to be developed that can support innovation in programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various ways which federalism influences gender policies has recently received a surge of academic interest. This article contributes to this literature by moving beyond formally adopted policies to study the influence of federalism on social learning amongst women's organizations. Using a most-likely case study design, this exploratory work traces the policy positions held by women's organizations in Canada during a seven-year period now known as the Great Pension Debate. Focusing on four empirical indicators of issue attention, participation in policy discussions, specificity of policy proposals, and consensus for reform, the findings suggest that the plurality and temporal proximity of successive policy venues - such as royal commissions and parliamentary committees - created by various governments offered women's organizations an optimum environment to engage in ongoing exchanges leading to the development, and greater specification, of policy positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy entrepreneurship is often used to explain agenda setting through reference to the behavior of individual 'change agents.' But there are still gaps in our understanding of what motivates entrepreneurs. Rational choice theory emphasizes the importance of material and nonmaterial incentives; however, it remains unclear what role institutions play. This article aims to empirically examine the relationship between incentives and institutional encouragement of innovation. Using a case study of the federal government of Canada, I find evidence that incentives matter. Government agencies with many incentives are more likely to encourage innovation than agencies with few incentives. These results underscore the importance of institutions in determining the motivations of policy entrepreneurs, and suggest future research should focus on the interplay among individual, political, and institutional factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the conventional notion of accountability rooted in bureaucratic and hierarchical structures of government and advances an alternative conceptualization more useful for analyzing complex horizontal network delivery systems. Although such systems are increasingly prevalent, they often exacerbate the problem of accountability in the public sector. By examining regional economic development policy implementation in Manitoba, this article illustrates the prospects and challenges of adapting conventional constructs of accountability to horizontal network delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sustainability is a priority for cities, challenging public administrators to coordinate action on environmental policy, economic development and social policy. Multilevel governance is now a popular theoretical framework but research must illuminate the constraints on local administrators. This case study reviews efforts of public administrators in the City of Ottawa and Canada's national capital region to implement sustainability policies with collaborative governance, but new governance relationships are constrained by traditional intergovernmental relations. Case study research illuminates the challenges of multilevel governance for local governments and provides insights on the pursuit of sustainability with environmental programs, land use, and urban and development by Crown corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government policy-making affecting Indigenous communities in Canada has often been met with stiff resistance from Indigenous leadership. We examine multilevel governance as an alternate model for Aboriginal policy-making by examining a particular case study: the process leading up to the 2005 Kelowna Accord. We find that although multilevel governance may have the potential to produce highly desirable outcomes, its emergence seems to depend heavily on political agency. Meaningful and enduring change to Aboriginal policy-making will therefore likely require significant institutional adjustments to the Canadian federation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada and Australia bear many similarities, but historical developments have affected the way each country practices federalism. This article seeks to answer the following question: Why have institutionalized horizontal relations been present in Canadian intergovernmental relations (IGR), while they have generally not in Australia? Developments in each country have produced different dynamics in intergovernmental relations which serve to favour vertical relations in Australia and open up space for horizontal relations in Canada. These dynamics become especially apparent when the histories of the institutions for facilitating intergovernmental relations in each country, notably the Canadian Council of the Federation and the Council of Australian Governments, are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are redistributive politics in Canada fading or merely in abeyance? In this essay, I examine the empirical evidence for the 'fading' metaphor, examine new, neoliberal lenses that have shaped recent policy developments, and identify changes in the role of political actors and policy-making institutions that have facilitated the redistributive weakening. Ever the optimist, however, I conclude on an upbeat note on future democratic possibilities for a fairer and more just Canada. La politique de la redistribution au Canada, est-elle en train de s'étioler ou est-elle tout simplement en suspens? Dans un premier temps, je pose le contexte empirique à la fois pour et contre la métaphore d' 'étiolement', tendances concernant la disparité des revenus, la pauvreté, et la répartition du revenu. Dans un deuxième, je me concentre sur le rôle des nouvelles politiques ainsi que sur le soi-disant virage néolibéral dans l'idéologie politique qui ont façonné nos réponses à ces développements. Finalement, je discute le caractère changeant à la fois des acteurs politiques et des institutions politiques qui ont restructuré d'une façon cumulative la politique de la redistribution des revenus au Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the historic settlement of the rest of Canada, treaties with the First Nations originally occupying most of present-day British Columbia have never been finalized. Since 1993, the federal government of Canada, the provincial government of British Columbia, and approximately two-thirds of the First Nations in British Columbia have been engaged in treaty and land claim negotiations under a unique British Columbia treaty process. To date the process has produced only five agreements, three of which are fully ratified, one of which is in the ratification process, and one of which was rejected by the First Nations membership. This article reviews the history of treaties in British Columbia and uses exploratory illustrative case studies to examine two of these recent treaty negotiations-the Lheidli T'enneh First Nations and the Tsawwassen First Nations. These case studies demonstrate that treaty negotiations are very complex processes and do not always achieve mutual agreement, yet features of governance and land ownership included in these agreements have implications for land use policy and planning that affect all First Nations people in British Columbia, in Canada, and around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under s.91 (27) of the BNA Act, 1867, the Federal Parliament has the exclusive authority to legislate 'criminal law.' This has not stopped the provinces from passing 'quasi-criminal' laws that are difficult to distinguish from criminal law. Recent legislation regarding 'public fighting' and civil remedies for criminal acts suggest there are few legal obstacles to enacting provincial criminal law. This article identifies such provincial criminal laws, explains how the modern doctrines of federalism might invite and allow for their enactment, and discusses impacts on criminal justice policy and administration. It highlights the discretion afforded the Crown and police in charging individuals under the federal Criminal Code or similar provincial laws (or municipal by-laws). While provincial or local laws may allow for more efficient law enforcement, they do so at the expense of the procedural guarantees associated with the criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper portrays the emergence of Canadian settlement work with immigrants and explores its prospects as an occupation. Currently, settlement work includes three forms of practice: (1) a loose occupation; (2) a specialty of social work; and (3) an emerging profession. The paper argues that settlement work is likely to have a professional future. However, whether or not it will become an independent profession depends largely on the funding regime of the settlement service sector. If the existing federal and short-term funding regime continues, settlement work will still be trying to define itself in the broader field of social service work. If a provincial and long-term funding regime emerges, prospects for an independent professional settlement work will improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the performance of Canada's employment policy governance regime post-1996 by explicitly comparing Canadian approaches to those used in the European Union ( EU) through the open method of coordination ( OMC). It concludes that Canada has moved so far along the decentralization continuum - with 13 provincial systems as well as a federal-only system in place - that coordination, coherence, mutual learning and information sharing on a pan- Canadian basis have been lost. While EU OMC approaches hold promise, to be realized stakeholders would need to become more engaged in the policy domain and provinces, rather than the federal government, must take the initiative for enhanced coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Canada and the European Union ( EU) have been active in developing pension policies despite the lack of formal mandates to do so. While the Canadian government used its fiscal powers to expand its role in pension programs when pension emerged as a policy issue, the EU has been strongly limited by its lack of resources, institutional complexities, and the maturity of public pension programs in its member states. The EU experience generates interesting lessons for Canadian policy makers who are dealing with increasingly complex pension issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open method of coordination ( OMC) mechanisms have not gained much acceptance in Canada in spite of evidence that they could improve policy making and implementation. In Canada, 'learning,' in particular at the political level, occurs somewhat differently from how it was envisaged in the intellectual underpinnings of the OMC because of the ethos of intergovernmental relations. The provinces, territories and the federal government might, however, improve policy learning by approaching the process in a somewhat different fashion while still benefiting from the European experience. The market for learning may exist less at the level of governments and more at a localized practitioner level. Canada may benefit from taking an indirect approach to the issue and creating institutional arrangements that will allow civil society groups to engage in mutual learning more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this issue suggest that intergovernmental governance takes a different form in Canada and the EU, raising questions about the transference of practices and institutions from one to the other. In both systems, non-hierarchical modes of governance provide coordination in social policy. Hierarchy also plays a role, though not in a manner that one might expect. In the EU, hierarchy is tempered by members' direct participation in policy formulation. In Canada, hierarchy is important, but within rather than between governments, resulting in executive dominance of the intergovernmental process at the expense of devolving power to civil society and sub-provincial governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the role of citizens in public reporting exercises of Canada's National Child Benefit and health care service delivery to that of the European Union's open method of coordination ( OMC) for social protection and social inclusion. It finds that the institutional infrastructure providing for coordination across social policy areas and possible roles for non-governmental actors in policy development is more extensive in the OMC than in the 'new modes of governance' in Canada. However, there are obstacles to developing such infrastructure in Canada, given the different histories and political contexts of the European community and the functioning of federalism in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic analyses of Canada and the EU as comparable federal systems have been neglected for a variety of methodological reasons. Most importantly, neither body fits the mould of the dominant model of the American federal state. A revised conceptual framework can show, however, that Canada and the EU both provide a similar institutional and procedural environment for policy making: powers are shared rather than divided; policy directions are determined by executive negotiation rather than parliamentary deliberation; unanimity takes precedence over majority rule; and inter-regional competition is moderated by a commitment to equalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the infrastructure policy sector's capacity to respond to climate change adaptation through an analysis of the Canadian case. It includes a three-level examination of capacity: at the macro level through a virtual policy network analysis; at the meso level through examination of the lead department's evolving mandate and resources; and at the micro level through analysis of survey data related to departmental workers policy tasks and attitudes. Four hypotheses across these three levels are set out and tested at the national and subnational levels. Together, the findings suggest that the policy capacity in the Canadian infrastructure sector will be unable to meet the demands placed upon the sector to respond to the increasing challenges of climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1874, the original 275-officer contingent of North- West Mounted Police left Manitoba for what is now Alberta, to bring law and order to a frontier suffering the depredations of American whiskey traders preying on Aboriginal people. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, now 28,000 strong, has since become world renowned. It deals with organized crime, terrorism, illicit drugs, economic crimes and offences threatening the integrity of Canada's national borders. It also protects VIPs, supports other Canadian law enforcement agencies through its National Police Services, and carries out provincial and municipal policing under contract in eight provinces and three territories. This article reviews the history, outlines the benefits, and examines some of the implications of these policing contracts, using the 2012 Alberta agreement as the template. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses organization theory to examine the strengths and challenges of contractual arrangements between the federal government's Western Economic Diversification Canada ( WD) and the Manitoba government to jointly manage regional economic development policy over the past two decades. This experience illustrates how strategies for managing intergovernmental cooperation on policy delivery are increasingly dictated by complex environmental forces, and how the survival of these contractual arrangements seems to rest on adaptive capacity in the face of constant change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces debates about federal employment equity policy in Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing specifically on the role of data and statistics in policy-making. The authors interpret policy-makers' extensive use of evidence-based policy instruments in the implementation of employment equity as an attempt to offer a technical solution to the deeply politicized problem of workplace discrimination. By exploring policy debates from the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment (the Abella Commission) (1984) to the passage of the reformed Employment Equity Act in 1995, the authors show how recourse to evidence-based deliberation failed to contain political conflict, because the meaning and use of statistical data became the object of political struggle among the main policy stakeholders. The article concludes by considering the implications of this case study for the broader comparative debate on the role of evidence-based methods in policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a rich and well-developed literature on Canadian federalism, multilevel governance, and aboriginal-settler relations, scholars have tended to ignore the variety of inter-governmental agreements that have emerged between aboriginal and municipal governments in Canada. This article examines ninety-three such agreements to construct a typology of aboriginal-municipal inter-governmental partnerships in British Columbia. It finds that over time there has been a shift from mundane, service-provision agreements towards more collaborative, cooperative and sometimes decolonizing, horizontal and multilevel governance partnerships. As a result, the authors suggest that scholars study these agreements to further explain and understand the evolution of aboriginal-settler relations and multilevel governance in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-1990s Canada's federal government, concerned about a debt-to-GDP ratio that was approaching 70%, began a decade-long policy of cutting government spending. It also increased taxes, but by only one dollar for about every six dollars of spending cuts. The Canadian government cut subsidies to individuals, corporations, and provincial governments while tightening eligibility for unemployment insurance. The government also sold off its holdings of various state-owned enterprises. One major success was its shifting of air traffic control to NAV Canada, a private, non-profit user cooperative. This step netted the government $1.4 billion at the outset, saved about $200 million a year in subsidies, and resulted in a technological revolution in air traffic control that has put Canada years ahead of the United States. From 1997 to 2008, Canada's government had an unbroken string of annual budget surpluses; and by 2009, Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio had fallen below 30%. Starting in 2000, the government used some of what otherwise would have been surplus to cut taxes on individuals and corporations. The corporate tax rate was cut in stages from 28% in 2000 to 21% by 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative corporate governance has long focused on national models of corporate governance with particular attention paid to the balance of influence between divergent path dependence and convergent global market forces. Within this debate, the Canadian model of corporate governance has received little attention and has long been assumed to be an extension of the U.S. model. An analysis of the corporate geography of Canada demonstrates that the path-dependent forces of Canada's resource-dependent economic development remain a principal determinant in contemporary corporate Canada. Continued resource dependence in combination with a system of asymmetric federalism has led to a distinctively multi-jurisdictional model of corporate governance. As corporate interests are provincially distinct because of the heterogeneous distribution of natural resources and markets across Canada, this model may lead to provincial lock-in and an associated degree of managerial entrenchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments in Canada have recently been exploring new accountability measures within intergovernmental relations. Public reporting has become the preferred mechanism in a range of policy areas, including early learning and child-care, and the authors assess its effectiveness as an accountability measure. The article is based on their experience with a community capacity-building project that considers the relationship between the public policy, funding and accountability mechanisms under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements related to child-care. The authors argue that in its current form, public reporting has not lived up to its promise of accountability to citizens. This evaluation is based on the standards that governments have set for themselves under the federal/provincial/territorial agreements, as well as guidelines set by the Public Sector Accounting Board, an independent body that develops accounting standards over time through consultation with governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we take a look at restructuring initiatives involving functional departments. First, we review the documented reasons leading to the decision to restructure. Next, we compare recent restructuring activities in three Canadian provinces and at the federal government level. The examples used provide us with information on the reasons for engaging in the restructuring process, and its implications. The cases reported (all territories combined) reveal that some areas seem more problematic than others (for example, economic development, environment) – that is, they are the focus of more frequent restructuring, and the subsequent outcome is not always satisfactory. The reasons for explaining the restructurings point to the complexity of the file and government priorities. Furthermore, the consequences of the restructuring process fall into three main areas: implications at the administrative and budgetary levels (costs related to moving, printing, etc.), implications revolving around the department's direction (mission and vision), and implications on personnel (loss of employment, impact on employees' morale, etc.). On a practical level, the premiers must particularly avoid the restructuring of departments during Cabinet shuffles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making government services more responsive to the needs of citizens is an ongoing preoccupation of public administration. Doing so in a federal system presents particular challenges and has led to efforts to integrate service delivery across two or more orders of government or into what some have called “citizen-centred federalism.” This article offers a critical evaluation of this concept by emphasizing the need to distinguish between instrumental and organic conceptions of both citizenship and federalism. Doing so reveals that much of what has been done to date by way of service integration deals only with a limited subset of all the services that governments provide. It also suggests that some Canadians may be willing to sacrifice efficiency in order to preserve or strengthen local autonomy and identity and that Canadians who hold an instrumental conception of federalism may well be willing to entertain quite dramatic changes as to who does what if this means more effective delivery of public goods. Finally, this analysis suggests that, for some citizens, the key criterion for evaluating any given proposal to provide public goods is much less one of efficiency and much more (or at least equally) one of federalism and strengthening the institutions and practices of federation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999, Revenue Canada became the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA), with a governance model that combines traditional ministerial responsibility in program areas and Crown corporation governance in internal management. The greatest changes were in human resources management, where the agency became a separate employer, providing a rare opportunity to design from first principles. This article discusses the factors that led to the single most ambitious federal government “alternative service delivery” project. It then looks at the agency's governance model and the development and implementation of its human resources management regime, which sought to meet agency business requirements while responding to criticisms of the mainstream public-service model. The agency's workforce is on the scale of the larger provincial governments, and it provides extensive support to the provinces and territories, compounding the need for innovative governance and human resources management. The circumstances of moving to agency status and later reinforcements have contributed to its success and make it unlikely that the decision will be reversed, notwithstanding the later return of the Customs function to the mainstream public service. Tensions with broader public-service management objectives make it equally unlikely that the move will be replicated on a large scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under Prime Minister Paul Martin, the federal government developed a "cities and communities" agenda, with Ottawa prepared to be much more active about municipalities. The pendulum has swung back under the Harper government, which is far less inclined to intrude into this area of provincial jurisdiction. But these recent developments are not unique. The federal government ivas involved with the urban file in the 1970s through the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, and there have been other historical instances of federal interest in municipalities. This article explores the factors that are associated with the place of municipalities and urban issues on the federal policy agenda. The time period covered is 1867-2005. The methodology is the one common to the agenda-setting literature: cross-correlation functions and lagged correlations. The authors think there may be three operative independent variables: rapid population growth in cities; restructuring of municipal systems by provincial governments; and financial stress. The analysis investigates the strength of each factor in placing urban issues on the national policy agenda. In the end, there is no single explanatory model to explain the rise of municipal issues on the agenda: history matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on research that is part of the five-year Major Collaborative Research Initiative project examining public policy in Canadian municipalities, this article provides an overview of the federal-municipal machinery developed to facilitate urban policy and program development. The "federal-municipal machinery" refers to the many programs and initiatives that have been used to structure federal- municipal relations and influence urban policy and development. The research time frame begins with the period leading up to the creation of the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, in 1971, and continues through four decades to include recent events of note such as the creation of the Prime Minister's Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues, the subsequent announcements of the New Deal, and the Gas Tax Fund for Canada's cities and communities. The authors begin with a discussion of why federal governments involve themselves in municipal and urban affairs and then provide an overview of their analysis by identifying patterns and trends in the evolution of federal-municipal machinery. They then discuss the effectiveness of the machinery, over three periods, and conclude by considering the implications of their findings for the future of federal-municipal relations in the context of the growing pressures facing urban Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, federal and provincial governments in Canada have made major modifications in the governance of workforce development policy, an area critical to economic prosperity. Governance shifts have been accomplished primarily through devolution from the federal government to the provinces (including the transfer of federal staff) via a variety of bilateral agreements. This article analyses the performance of the intergovernmental relations system in workforce development policy in Canada since 1996. While there has been remarkable success in producing results in the form of agreements, and workability on a bilateral basis has improved – thereby reducing federal-provincial tensions – this has not been accompanied by improved workability on a multilateral basis. In addition, the changes to the system introduced by devolution have not always been consistent with federal principles. The article concludes that, without a more robust multilateral inter-governmental process to bridge the two orders of government, workforce development policy in Canada will remain inadequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, there have been a number of studies that seek to evaluate the state of federalism studies in Canada. The general conclusion seems to be that, while federalism continues to be an important part of the scholarly literature, there is a decline in the study of the traditional areas of federalism, a small number of federalism studies come from scholars in Quebec, and a relatively small number of studies are by female scholars. However, these analyses are based on a single, somewhat limited source of data, the reflections of a single scholar, or a review of a small number of Canadian scholarly journals. In this article, the authors combine a large quantitative assessment of relevant publications dealing with Canadian federalism with a brief qualitative assessment of the state of the federal studies from researchers active in the field. Their research supports some of the earlier conclusions but also suggests that, in recent years, federalism is, very often, a contextual or explanatory factor not the principal object of study. Moreover, there are potentially two Canadian scholarly traditions on federalism, one written in French and the other in English, with far too little engagement between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how political tensions developed around the issue of Canadian water export, how policy solutions and alternatives to the problem were offered, and how finally it came to be recognized by the national government. The water export issue reached the formal agenda after a lengthy period of being denied serious consideration. However, it is arguable that agendas are set if an issue receives attention from policy decision makers. This is because an issue's ascension to agenda status is not an indication of how it is actually going to be decided upon. The case of water export demonstrates that the government adopted a policy solution consistent with assumptions prevalent at the time and acceptable among elected decision makers. Yet, the solution was contrary to the expectations of those who demanded a complete water export ban in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the continuing rollout of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies and programs in Canada. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment handled the signing of the action plan for EPR embraced by provincial, territorial and federal governments. The effectiveness of EPR as a policy instrument for end-of-life product wastes is assessed. The relationship of EPR with other environmental policies and sustainability strategies is also explored.