Publications

Abstract

Globalization has introduced insecurities to individuals and businesses. Countries are pressed to respond to these insecurities with more inclusive visions of globalization. One policy response is social procurement—public purchasing geared to create social value. Canada is embracing this response but faces barriers of its own making. Through the institutional bricolage of procurement trade rules, Canada has constrained its capacity to use social procurement. This is acutely felt by Crown corporations, which are increasingly under the scope of trade treaties. This article details this phenomenon through textual analysis of Canadian procurement trade rules and state enterprise attempts at social procurement

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Abstract

The literature on regional representation within the federal policy process has had limited engagement with interest group composition. While some have referenced an Ottawa ‘bubble,’ there has been no empirical demonstration. This paper responds to this gap in assessing how regional location affects organizational access to the federal government. Leveraging existing datasets through the Commissioner of Lobbying and some additional data collection, we test hypotheses relating to central Canadian lobbying. Our analysis makes three core contributions. First, we find that lobbying from central Canada has a statistically and substantively significant increase in expected average meeting counts per month. The Great Lakes-Laurentian region in particular sees higher access. Second, using the ‘five region-Canada’ model, we find that Ontario organizations are more active than most regions except the Prairies. Contrary to popular discourse, we find little evidence that Prairies organizations receive less access on average. Third, our findings are consistent when fixating on central agencies.

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The political science literature on lobbying systems tends to focus on three casual factors. Scandals, cross-jurisdictional learning and political manipulation are often used to explain the trajectory of lobbying regulations. This research note advances the role of industrial competition as another causal factor. Using New Brunswick as a theory-building case study, we observe how industrial diversity and economic concentration can shape lobbying regulatory development. This political economic account spotlights how lobbyists may welcome robust lobbying regulations providing there is a real threat of outsider status.

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Canadian policymakers have long been protective of their dairy industry despite reducing state interventions in other sectors. Recent preferential trade agreements (CPTPP, CETA, and CUSMA), however, have shown there are limits to this insularity. These new agreements have introduced dairy access concessions at a moment of flux within the rules-based international order. Why are there dairy concessions at this moment? This article combines political economic and ideational factors to explain this shift in Canadian trade policy. Applying discursive institutionalism, we observe a collapse of the dairy industry’s discursive power over sovereignty and federalism. This discursive breakdown is a function of (1) the legacy of earlier preferential trade agreements and (2) the success of challenger coalitions in persuading actors in favour of economic liberalization. Incorporating content analysis of public statements, we characterize this discursive breakdown within both federal and intergovernmental networks.

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The current liberal Rules-Based International Order (RBIO) is in decline. One symptom of this is the extent to which the US is changing its international strategies and its expectations of other countries in its battle with China for a hegemonic position in a new global context. The chapter argues that the consequences of this have been poorly recognized by middle powers like Canada. Canada’s steadfast commitment to rules-based trade, based on existing but rapidly eroding rules is demonstrated in our analysis of recent trade policy choices including the renegotiated NAFTA agreement (CUSMA) and a variety of new trade agreements. However, being ideationally locked into a set of rules that no longer bind the great powers as much as they may have done in the past may be counterproductive. In an increasingly mercantilist and conflictual international environment, the rules in question need to be rethought. In a brief concluding section, the chapter suggests that Canada’s interests may be better served by facilitating a more agile state, rather than a constrained one, rebalancing the rights and obligations of states and capital, and promoting trade and investment relationships that undo the historic injustices between the Global North and the Global South.

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The last twenty years have been marked by a shift to the right of Quebec’s political spectrum, so much so that the 2018 provincial election resulted in a majority government led by Coalition Avenir Québec. This article examines the changes that such a political trajectory may have brought about in the demands and discourses of Quebec employers. Through a study of the briefs written by the Conseil du patronat du Québec and the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, we analyze the way in which these two organizations are responding to the recent changes in the Quebec political scene. We focus on those changes affecting Quebec nationalism, which has been revolving increasingly around identity-related themes after having abandoned the question of sovereignty and, more broadly, the constitutional question.