The 2014-15 edition of How Ottawa Spends critically examines national politics and related fiscal, economic, and social priorities and policies, with an emphasis on the now long-running Harper-linked Senate scandal and the serious challenges to Harper's leadership and controlling style of attack politics. Contributors from across Canada examine the Conservative government agenda both in terms of its macroeconomic fiscal policy and electoral success since 2006 and also as it plans for a 2015 electoral victory with the aid of a healthy surplus budgetary war chest. Individual chapters examine several closely linked political, policy, and spending realms including the growing strength and nature of the Justin Trudeau-led Liberal Party challenge, the 2014 Harper Economic Action Plan, the demise of federal environmental policy under Harper’s responsible resource development strategy, the Conservative’s crime and punishment agenda, the growing evidence regarding the federal government’s muzzling of scientists and evidence in federal policy formation, and the now five-year story of the Harper creation, treatment, and role of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The 2013-14 edition of How Ottawa Spends critically examines national politics, priorities, and policies with a close lens on Stephen Harper's Conservative party during the middle of their first term as a majority. Contributors from across Canada examine the federal government and its not uncommon mid-term problems but also its considerable agenda of long term plans, both set in the midst of national economic fragility and a global fiscal and debt crisis. Individual chapters examine several related political, policy, and spending realms including the Budget Action Plan, the ten year Canada Health Transfer Plan, the Canada Pension Plan, and Old Age Security reforms. The contributors also consider austerity related public sector downsizing and strategic spending reviews, national energy, and related environmental strategies, and the growing Harper practice of "one-off" federalism.

Leading scholars from across Canada examine a new era of "life under the knife" in the context of the Harper agenda after five years in power, the partisan calculus of a minority Parliament, and a deep global recession still in crisis mode. Given the budget-related pressure for an election, the book poses questions about the degree to which the budget agenda involves the political arts of "trimming fat" versus "slicing the pork" of partisan spending. Several closely linked political, policy, and spending realms are examined, including economic stimulus, environmental assessment, energy and climate change, health care, science and technology, immigration, and northern strategy (including affordable housing). Related governance issues such as the use of new media, regulatory budget cuts, Industry Canada as an economic regulator, and federal compensation costs are also discussed in detail. Contributors include Frances Abele (Carleton University), Caroline Andrew (University of Ottawa), Vandna Bhatia (Carleton University), Neil Bradford (University of Western Ontario), Francois Bregha (Statos), David Castle (University of Edinburgh), G. Bruce Doern (Carleton University and University of Exeter), Nick Falvo (Carleton University), Mary Francoli (Carleton University), Ruth Hubbard (University of Ottawa), Derek Ireland (Carleton University), James Lahey (University of Ottawa), Douglas Macdonald (University of Toronto), Eric Milligan (Regulatory Consulting Group Inc, Ottawa), Leslie A. Pal (Carleton University), Gilles Paquet (University of Ottawa), Peter W.B. Phillips (University of Saskatchewan), Richard Schultz (McGill University), Christopher Stoney (Carleton University), Kernaghan Webb (Ryerson University), and Wei Xie (doctoral student, Carleton University).

A critical examination of the federal government policy agenda in the context of Canada's opposition power structure and the global debt crisis.

Canadian Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy presents new critical analysis about related developments in the field such as significantly changed concepts of peer review, merit review, the emergence of big data in the digital age, and the rise of an economy and society dominated by the internet and information. The authors scrutinize the different ways in which federal and provincial policies have impacted both levels of government, including how such policies impact on Canada’s natural resources. They also study key government departments and agencies involved with science, technology, and innovation to show how these organizations function increasingly in networks and partnerships, as Canada seeks to keep up and lead in a highly competitive global system. The book also looks at numerous realms of technology across Canada in universities, business, and government and various efforts to analyze biotechnology, genomics, and the Internet, as well as earlier technologies such as nuclear reactors, and satellite technology. The authors assess whether a science-and-technology-centred innovation economy and society has been established in Canada – one that achieves a balance between commercial and social objectives, including the delivery of public goods and supporting values related to redistribution, fairness, and community and citizen empowerment. Probing the nature of science advice across prime ministerial eras, including recent concerns over the Harper government’s claimed muzzling of scientists in an age of attack politics, Canadian Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy provides essential information for academics and practitioners in business and government in this crucial and complex field.

Broken down into five sections explaining how public budgets are developed, Canadian Public Finance presents a comprehensive account of the budget process of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. With a specific focus on the public policy process, Geneviève Tellier walks readers through the five steps involved in the budget process including agenda-setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation. Taking a close look at how much influence key decision-makers actually have over the budget process, Tellier highlights recent events that reveal the political, social, and economic constraints that impact budgetary decisions. Tellier uses key words and textboxes at the end of each chapter to reflect on current issues and new developments in the world of public finance, such as gender-sensitive budgets, performance-based budgeting, and fiscal transparency.

Informed authors from across Canada examine recession-related policy fields, including the Canadian banking system, new industrial policy pressures such as the automotive industry bailout, policies in science, technology, and innovation, and suggestions about how to resist the United States' "buy America" trade policies. The chapters in this volume also consider Canada's national, regional, and political divisiveness, the impact of the dynamic Obama Administration on Canadian domestic affairs, and governance during a time of minority government.