Continentalizing Canada : : The Politics and Legacy of the Macdonald Royal Commission / / Gregory J. Inwood.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Inwood, Gregory J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (480 p.)

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 ? including content analysis, interviews, archival information, and surveys of relevant literature ? Inwood argues that the Macdonald Commission created an atmosphere and political discourse that made the continentalization of Canada possible by way of free trade agreements with the U.S. and Mexico. Through the use of a suspect research program, and with the aid of a select oligarchy within the Commission and the government bureaucracy, opposition to continentalism from both the majority of the Canadian population and even several commissioners was ignored. Accessible to readers interested in Canadian politics, policy, or economy, Continentalizing Canada offers a thorough examination into the Macdonald Commission and the resulting discourse in the Canadian political economy.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Tables and Figures -- Tables and Figures -- Introduction -- 1. Setting the Stage: Canadian Economic Development in the Post-War Years -- 2. The Macdonald Royal Commission: The Struggle Engaged -- 3. Seeking a New Consensus -- 4. The Public Submissions: Reflections in the Mirror of the Macdonald Commission -- 5. The Battle of the Paradigms -- 6. (Mis-)Ushig Social Science Knowledge: The Research Program of the Macdonald Commission -- 7. The Rout Is On: The Influence of the Research Program -- 8. Ideological Homogeneity in the Research Program -- 9. Royal Commission Politics: The Triumph of the Policy Group -- 10. Leap of Faith: Ideology in the Chair -- 11. The Commissioners'Role and the Final Report -- 12. Continentalizing Canada: The Politics and Legacy of the Macdonald Commission -- APPENDIX A: Written Briefs Examined for This Study -- APPENDIX B: Categorization of Topics from Macdonald Commission Content Analysis -- APPENDIX C: People Interviewed -- APPENDIX D: Commissioner's Biographies -- Notes -- Select Bibliography -- Index -- Backmatter