A unique insider's account of the Harper government so damning that it cannot be ignored In March 2008, Kevin Page was appointed by the federal Conservatives to be the country's first Parliamentary Budget Officer. The move fulfilled a Tory campaign promise to deliver greater government transparency and accountability. He was later denounced by the same people who appointed him to scrutinize their spending. When he challenged the government on several issues--most notably about the true costs of the F-35 fighter planes--and publicly claimed the government was misleading Canadians, Page was vilified. He was called "unbelievable, unreliable and incredible" by then-Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Page's term was not extended and he retired from the civil service. Page's assessment of the F-35 procurement was proven right, a major embarrassment to the Harper government. But Page's overriding concern is that Parliament does not get the information and analysis it needs to hold the executive (the prime minister and cabinet) to account. Parliament, he argues, is broken, with power centralized in the PMO. The civil service appears cowed, and members of parliament almost never see enough financial analysis to support the policy decisions they make. That was true at various times on the tough-on-crime legislation, new military procurement as well as changes to the Canada Health Transfer and Old Age Security. In this shocking insider's account, Page argues that democracy is being undermined by an increasingly autocratic government that does not respect facts that run counter to its political agenda. Elected officials need accurate, independently verified data to support the implementation of policies and programs. In Unaccountable, Page tells all Canadians why we should be concerned.

Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in Canada, Fourth Edition introduces students to power relations between elected politicians and unelected public servants, while also covering important topics such as the institutions of the federal government, financial and human resources management, and accountability and responsibility. Johnson explores the ways that the ideological framework of this country shapes what Canadians, their political parties, and their governments think about policy actions and the responsibilities of public servants. The fourth edition is revised and updated throughout, and addresses the legacy of the Harper government on public administration in Canada. Comprehensive pedagogical supports for students highlight key issues in public administration to help connect theories to the reality of practice.

On a day-to-day basis, what does a newly elected Member of Parliament do? How does the House of Commons work? Drawing on his years of service to five majority and three minority parliaments, Rob Walsh shares first-hand insights into the inner workings of the House, beyond the political personalities that dominate its proceedings. Inside this unique public and political institution, laws are made, taxes are imposed, political issues are debated, and the government is held to account on behalf of all Canadians. The House is the national stage on which democracy plays itself out between elections. Neither a procedural manual nor an academic critique, On the House reveals, from Walsh’s perspective, the historical origins of the House, its constitutional place in the parliamentary system, the role of committees, legislation, and administration, and its democratic functions. Providing a deeper understanding of both the House’s successes and its failures Walsh celebrates the value of parliamentary democracy while acknowledging the continuing challenges that face it. On the House is a direct, accessible, and fascinating reflection on more than twenty years of experience in the House of Commons.

"Canada's prime minister is a dictator." "The Sun King of Canadian government." "More powerful than any other chief executive of any other democratic country." These kinds of claims are frequently made about Canada's leader – especially when the prime minister's party holds a majority government in Parliament. But is there any truth to these arguments? At the Centre of Government not only presents a comprehensively researched work on the structure of political power in Canada but also offers a first-hand view of the inner workings of the Canadian federal government. Ian Brodie – former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada – argues that the various workings of the Prime Minister's Office, the Privy Council Office, the cabinet, parliamentary committees, and the role of backbench members of Parliament undermine propositions that the prime minister has evolved into the role of an autocrat, with unchecked control over the levers of political power. He corrects the dominant thinking that Canadian prime ministers hold power without limits over their party, caucus, cabinet, Parliament, the public service, and the policy agenda. Citing examples from his time in government and from Canadian political history he argues that in Canada's evolving political system, with its roots in the pre-Confederation era, there are effective checks on executive power, and that the golden age of Parliament and the backbencher is likely now. Drawing on a vast body of work on governance and the role of the executive branch of government, At the Centre of Government is a fact-based primer on the workings of Canadian government and sobering second thoughts about many proposals for reform.

How can the public manager create and co-create value in the digital economy? While there is much exciting work being done, there is a pressing need to recontextualize public value theory (PVT), specifically in terms of its theoretical precepts, in the fluid and dynamic environment that the digital economy has produced. Much of the theoretical undergirding of PVT predates the full onset of today’s digital economy, leaving aside phenomena including citizen-driven innovations, decentralized digital structures, and the algorithmic foundations of new economic life. This is why a conceptually driven exercise in contemporizing PVT would be of great value to public administration’s theoreticians seeking to lead the theory in catching up to the praxis. This book seeks to answer the question of creating and co-creating public managerial value by developing chapters that revisit categories central to the functions of public managers in relation to other value-creating agents under PVT. It introduces new and important lenses to PVT that are grounded in the praxis of the digital economy, raising new questions about old problems in PVT and generating newer formulations that push PVT forward and make its debates salient to the futures that lay before the modern public manager. The book therefore constitutes an important effort to take PVT forward by shedding new light on the potency of the public manager in confronting and constructing the digital economy through co-creation with the other agents of public value. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and policy makers in the fields of public and nonprofit management, public administration and policy, and PVT.

Whether it’s the first-past-the-post electoral system or partisan government appointees to the Senate, Canadians want better representation and accountability from the federal government. Before reforms can be enacted, however, it is important to explore and clarify the relationships among Canada’s three parliamentary institutions: Crown, Senate, and Commons. In The Constitution in a Hall of Mirrors, David E. Smith presents a learned but accessible analysis of the interconnectedness of Canada’s parliamentary institutions. Smith argues that Parliament is a unity comprised of three parts and any reforms made to one branch will, whether intended or not, affect the other branches. Through a timely, nuanced, and comprehensive examination of parliamentary debates, committee reports, legal scholarship, and comparative analysis of developments in the United Kingdom, Smith uncovers the substantial degree of ambiguity that exists among Canadians and their calls for structural and operational reforms. By illuminating the symbiotic relationship between the Crown, Senate, and Commons, The Constitution in a Hall of Mirrors brings government reform closer to reality.

Canadians can never not argue about taxes. From the Chinese head tax to the Panama Papers, from the National Policy to the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, tax grievances always inspire private resentments and public debates. But if resentment and debate persist, the terms of the debate have continually altered and adapted to reflect changing social, economic, and political conditions in Canada and the wider world. The centenary of income tax is the occasion for Canadian scholars to wrestle with past and present debates about tax equity, efficiency, and justice. Who Pays for Canada? explores the different ways governments can and should tax their peoples and evaluates how well Canada has done so. It brings together a diverse group of perspectives from academia - law, economics, political science, history, geography, philosophy, and accountancy - and from the wider world of activists and public servants. It asks how Canada compares to other countries and how other countries - especially the United States - influence Canadian tax policies. It also surveys internal tax tensions and politics, through the lenses of region and jurisdiction, as well as race, class, and gender. Reasoning from tax perplexities and reforms in the past and the present, it argues that fair taxation requires an informed populace and a democratically inclined public will. Above all, this book serves as a reminder that it is not only what counts as fair that is important, but how fairness is evaluated. Revealing how closely tax policy is tied to mainstream politics, human rights, and morality, Who Pays for Canada? represents new perspectives on a matter of tremendous national urgency.