How Ottawa Spends, 2014-2015: The Harper Government - Good to Go?

by G. Bruce Doern, Christopher Stoney

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773584990
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

G. Bruce Doern is professor emeritus in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University and in the Politics Department at the University of Exeter.

Christopher Stoney is associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University.

G. Bruce Doern is distinguished research professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University and professor emeritus in the Politics Department at the University of Exeter.
Christopher Stoney is associate professor, School of Public Policy and Administration and director of the Centre for Urban Research and Education at Carleton University.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 The Harper Government - Good to Go? G. Bruce Doern Christopher Stoney 3

Part 1 Economic and Social Policy Agenda and Challenges 3

2 Government Retrenchment and Public Service Cuts: A Tale of Two Processes Andrea Rounce Karine Levasseur 25

3 The Parliamentary Budget Officer: The First Years 40 Ian Lee Philip Cross 40

4 Crime or Punishment: What Is the Harper Justice Agenda? Craig Jones 53

5 Justin Trudeau and Leadership Idolization: The Centralization of Power in Canadian Politics and Political Parties Craig MacNaughton Christopher Stoney 66

6 Coming Full Circle? Ottawa's Search for Parsimonious Cost and Efficiency Reporting Evert Lindquist 80

7 Tax Expenditures and Government Program Spending: Reforming the Two "Spending" Worlds for Better Expenditure Management John Lester 95

8 Harper's Partisan Wedge Politics: Bad Environmental Policy and Bad Energy Policy Glen Toner Jennifer McKee 108

Part 2 Selected Policy and Departmental Issues and Realms 108

9 One of These Things Is Not Like the Other? Bottom-Up Reform, Open Information, Collaboration, and the Harper Government Amanda Clarke 125

10 How Foundations Spend: Is the Current 3.5% Asset Disbursement the Right Public Policy? Iryna Kryvoruchko Ken Rasmussen 139

11 Managing Canada's Water: The Harper Era Davide P. Cargnello Mark Brunet Matthew Retallack Robert Slater 152

12 The National Shipbuilding Model for Goverment Procurement: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff Jennifer Spence 165

13 How Accurate Is the Harper Government's Misinformation? Scientific Evidence and Scientists in Federal Policy Making Kathryn O'Hara Paul Dufour 178

14 CIDA, the Mining Sector, and the Orthodoxy of Economic Conservatism in Harper Decision Making Ruby Dagher 192

Contributors 205