For more than a generation this concise survey has been the classic introduction to the fundamental ideas and structure of Canadian government and the practice of democracy in this country. It examines the various elements of federal government — the House of Commons, the cabinet, the Senate, the monarchy and governor-general, the public service, and the courts — and of provincial and municipal governments, and explores their interrelationships. In this new edition Norman Ward has incorporated the many changes in government since his last revision in 1971.

Opening the Government of Canada presents a compelling case for the importance of a more open model of governance in the digital age – but a model that also continues to uphold democratic principles at the heart of the Westminster system. Drawing on interviews with public officials and extensive analysis of government documents and social media accounts, Clarke details the untold story of the Canadian federal bureaucracy’s efforts to adapt to new digital pressures from the mid-2000s onward. This book argues that the bureaucracy’s tradition of closed government, fuelled by today’s antagonistic political communications culture, is at odds with evolving citizen expectations and new digital policy tools, including social media, crowdsourcing, and open data. Striking a balance between reform and tradition, Opening the Government of Canada concludes with a series of pragmatic recommendations that lay out a roadmap for building a democratically robust, digital-era federal government.

For more than a generation, Democratic Government in Canada has been the classic introduction to the structure and fundamental ideas of the federal government. A close examination behind the interrelationships of the House of Commons, the cabinet, the Senate, the monarchy and governor general, the courts and the public service provides a concise survey of the practice of democracy in Canada. Winner of the 1949 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction. 1989.