Minding The Public Purse

Although initially opposed to the radical cuts and downloading imposed by Martin in his 1995 budget, MacKinnon now argues that they were essential and analyzes how they have irrevocably transformed the Canadian federation."--BOOK JACKET.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Saskatchewan was one of the fastest growing provinces in the country. In the early 1900s, it revolutionized the Canadian political landscape and gave rise to socialist governments that continue to influence Canadian politics today. It was the birthplace of Canada’s publicly funded health care system, and home to a thriving arts and literary community that helped define western Canadian culture.In Perspectives of Saskatchewan, twenty-one noted scholars present an in-depth look at some of the major developments in the province’s history, including subjects such as art, literature, demographics, politics, northern development, and religion. It lays the foundations for a greater understanding of Saskatchewan’s unique history, identity, and place in Canada.

In stark contrast to the dysfunctional megacity of today, The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was a city that worked. Some refer to this period from 1954 to 1998 as Toronto’s “Golden Age”. This book traces the growth and governance of the city from its creation in 1834 through its successful Metro years to why and how the decision was made to establish the present megacity while at the same time either accidentally or deliberately turning the Ontario government into both a provincial government and a regional government, as well, for a significantly enlarged Greater Toronto Area. Then it urges the provincial government to initiate a long over-due review of the governance of the city aimed at returning it to a city that works either by way of a de-amalgamation, as successfully achieved in Montreal, or at the very least by a decentralization of local responsibilities.

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.

When social democratic politicians in the 1990s moderated their ideas and policies as part of a turn towards the "third way," they were assailed as traitors to the cause. Remaining Loyal demonstrates that while third way social democrats in Quebec and Saskatchewan supplemented certain social democratic ideas with more right-wing economic programs, their public policies remained true to the original spirit of social democracy. Drawing on a range of archival resources, David McGrane traces the evolution of social democracy in Quebec and Saskatchewan from their respective origins in social Catholic thought and agrarian protest movements at the turn of the twentieth century to the most recent Parti Québécois and New Democratic Party governments. In doing so, he reconstructs the public policies of traditional social democracy from the postwar era and the third way in the 1990s and early 2000s and finds both differences and continuities. McGrane contends that remaining loyal to core social democratic values is exactly what differentiates the third way from neo-liberalism in Saskatchewan and Quebec. The first historical comparison of social democracy in Saskatchewan and Quebec, Remaining Loyal challenges how we think about the recent ideological evolution of left-wing parties in Canada and the rest of the world.

"Myth has played an important and ongoing role in the development of Saskatchewan's political economy. First, during the time of the National Policy, Saskatchewan was portrayed to immigrants as a promised land. This period served as the psychological and economic foundation for the provice. When belief in Saskatchewan as a promised land was shattered by the Great Depression and Dirty Thirties, the myth was reconstituted through the inspiration of the social gospel. It was then politically reinvigorated in the meaning of medicare and has been expressed in recent decades through the competing visions for economic development. Through all these eras, no matter what the tides of politics, there remained one constant--the singular, collective idea that Saskatchewan was a special place with unrealized potential. The challenge for the public dialogue of Saskatchewan, as the province enters its second century, is to not replay the mistakes of the past. Saskatchewan people must recognize the role that myth has played, and must continue to play, in the life of the province. But, at the same time, they must differentiate it from reality by understanding the power of myth as a force for progress and its potential to create false expectations."--pub. desc.