Free trade has been a highly contentious issue since the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney negotiated the first deal with the United States in the 1980s. Tracing the roots of Canada's contemporary involvement in North American free trade back to the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada in 1985 - also known as the Macdonald Commission - Gregory J. Inwood offers a critical examination of the commission and how its findings affected Canada's political and economic landscape, including its present-day reverberations.

Using original research -...

Commissions of inquiry are a vital and ubiquitous part of the Canadian policy landscape. Established to answer the tough questions, they have been charged with examining almost every aspect of public life.

This collection brings together leading Canadian scholars working in political science, public policy, and law to explore fundamental questions about the relationship between commissions of inquiry and public policy for the first time: What role do commissions play in policy change? Would policy change have happened without them? Why do some commissions result in policy changes...

Commissions of inquiry are a vital and ubiquitous part of the Canadian policy landscape. Established to answer the tough questions, they have been charged with examining almost every aspect of public life.

This collection brings together leading Canadian scholars working in political science, public policy, and law to explore fundamental questions about the relationship between commissions of inquiry and public policy for the first time: What role do commissions play in policy change? Would policy change have happened without them? Why do some commissions result in policy changes...