In the twenty-eighth edition of How Ottawa Spends leading Canadian scholars examine the Harper government agenda in the context of Stéphane Dion's election as Liberal opposition leader and the emergence of climate change as a dominant political and policy issue. This volume focuses on Quebec-Canada relations and federal-provincial fiscal imbalance. Contributors explore several key policy and expenditure issues, including Canada-U.S. relations, the Federal Accountability Act, energy policy, health care, child care, crime and punishment, consumer policy, and public service labour relations. They also offer a critical analysis of the challenges to overall governance, including ministerial responsibility, public-private partnerships, and the handling of long-term spending commitments inherited by succeeding governments. Contributors include Timothy Barkiw (Toronto Metropolitan University), Gerard Boychuk (Waterloo), Keith Brownsey (Mount Royal College, Calgary), Peter Graefe (McMaster), Geoffrey Hale (Lethbridge), Carey Hill (Western Ontario), Ruth Hubbard (Ottawa), Derek Ireland (PhD student, Carleton), Rachel Laforest (Queen's), Ian Lee (Carleton), Trevor Lynn (Saskatchewan), Jonathan Malloy (Carleton), Scott Millar (Government of Canada), Gilles Paquet (emeritus, Ottawa), Michael Prince (Victoria), Christopher Stoney (Carleton), Gene Swimmer (Carleton), Katherine Teghtsoonian (Victoria), Andrew Teliszewsky (Ontario Minister of Health Promotion), Lori Turnbull (Dalhousie), and Kernaghan Webb (Toronto Metropolitan University).

Analyzing the Harper government's agenda in the context of changing federal-provincial relations.

This is the thirtieth volume in the series How Ottawa Spends. It is arguable that never in these years have Canadians faced such serious economic upheaval and political dysfunction as the current climate. The dramatic and seemingly sudden changes in the economy occurred simultaneously with a political drama - one that was largely disassociated from the real and pressing economic challenge. Early Harper budgets delivered lower taxes for all Canadians partly through highly targeted but politically noticeable small tax breaks on textbooks for students, tools for apprentices in skilled trades, and public transit costs. The needs of the beleaguered average Canadian and the "swing voter in the swing constituencies" of an already strategized "next" election were a key part of Conservative agenda-setting. In the 2007 budget alone there were twenty-nine separate tax reductions and federal spending was projected to increase by $10 billion, including a 5.7 percent increase in program spending. A small surplus of $3.3 billion was planned, almost all of which would go to debt reduction. As Harper savoured his 14 October 2008 re-election with a strengthened minority government, although without his desired majority, he and his minister of Finance already knew that his surpluses were likely gone in the face of the crashing financial sector and a looming recession. Future deficits were firmly back on the agenda. Contributors include Malcolm G. Bird (Carleton University), Chris Brown (Carleton University), G. Bruce Doern (Carleton University and University of Exeter), Melissa Haussman (Carleton University), Robert Hilton (Carleton University), Ruth Hubbard (University of Ottawa), Edward T. Jackson (Carleton University), Kirsten Kozolanka (Carleton University), Evert Lindquist (University of Victoria), Allan M. Maslove (Carleton University), Peter Nares (Social and Enterprise Development Innovations), Gilles Paquet (University of Ottawa), L. Pauline Rankin (Carleton University), Jennifer Robson (Carleton University), Robert P. Shepherd (Carleton University), Richard Shillington (Informetrica Limited), and Chris Stoney (Carleton University).

In the twenty-seventh edition of How Ottawa Spends, leading Canadian scholars examine the Tory agenda in relation to the changing dynamics of a resurgent Western Canadian power base, Quebec-Canada relations, Canada-U.S. tensions, and key Martin policies. Contributors explore the challenges that have been created by unsustainable promises made by both major parties on expenditures and growth. They also look at the thorny issues of federal procurement policy and ethics, fiscal policy, energy policy, equalization and energy revenues, cancer control, patent policy and access to emergency medicines, the regulation of tobacco, gambling, and alcohol, and efforts to review spending. Contributors include Barbara Allen (Birmingham and Carleton), Malcolm Bird (Carleton), Keith Brownsey (Mount Royal College), Bruce Doern (Carleton and Exeter), Geoffrey Hale (Lethbridge), John Langford (Victoria), Evert Lindquist (Victoria), Lisa Mills (Carleton), Tanya Neima (Carleton), Andre Plourde (Alberta), Michael Prince (Victoria), Andrea Rounce (Carleton), Christopher Stoney (Carleton), Allan Tupper (British Columbia), and Ashley Weber (Carleton).

Fresh takes on the recession and the federal minority government.

Continuing its tradition of current, exemplary scholarship, the 2012-13 edition of How Ottawa Spends casts a critical eye at national politics, priorities, and policies, with an emphasis on the Conservative majority's mandated austerity measures and budget-cutting strategies. Leading scholars from across Canada examine a new era of majority government and a transformed political opposition both in Parliament and in provincial politics. Several closely linked political, policy, and spending realms are examined, including corporate tax reform, Conservative Party social policy, regional economic development, science and technology investments, Canada-US perimeter security and trade agreements, the rise and fall of regulatory regimes, and Canadian health care. Related governance issues such as federal infrastructure program impacts, the Harper government's Economic Action Plan impacts in Ontario, and community colleges in the federal innovation agenda, are also discussed in detail.

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.