This is the first comprehensive study of the origins, structure, membership, and resources of interest groups representing business firms in Canada. William Coleman shows how Canadian businesses have used such associations to acquire special privileges within the policy process and to avoid assuming wider political responsibilities.

Based on a survey of all national business associations, and interviews with many interest-group executives, Business and Politics outlines the wide variety of roles assumed by interest groups in the Canadian policy process. Coleman argues that the present fragmention of business interests makes consultation with major socio-economic producer groups highly unlikely. Instead, adjustment takes place as a series of ad hoc bailouts related to an electoral calculus rather than to a more reflective consideration of the longer-term evolution of the Canadian economy and the relative economic position...