Rodney Haddow

Can sub-units within a capitalist democracy, even a relatively decentralized one like Canada, pursue fundamentally different social and economic policies? Is their ability to do so less now than it was before the advent of globalization? In Comparing Quebec and Ontario, Rodney Haddow brings these questions and the tools of comparative political economy to bear on the growing public policy divide between Ontario and Quebec. Combining narrative case studies with rigorous quantitative analysis, Haddow analyses how budgeting, economic development, social assistance, and child care policies differ between the two provinces. The cause of the divide, he argues, are underlying differences between their political and economic institutions. An important contribution to ongoing debates about globalization’s “golden straightjacket,” Comparing Quebec and Ontario is an essential resource for understanding Canadian political economy.

Can sub-units within a capitalist democracy, even a relatively decentralized one like Canada, pursue fundamentally different social and economic policies? Is their ability to do so less now than it was before the advent of globalization? In Comparing Quebec and Ontario, Rodney Haddow brings these questions and the tools of comparative political economy to bear on the growing public policy divide between Ontario and Quebec. Combining narrative case studies with rigorous quantitative analysis, Haddow analyses how budgeting, economic development, social assistance, and child care policies differ between the two provinces. The cause of the divide, he argues, are underlying differences between their political and economic institutions. An important contribution to ongoing debates about globalization’s “golden straightjacket,” Comparing Quebec and Ontario is an essential resource for understanding Canadian political economy.

Globalization is widely believed to have restricted the freedom of policy makers - many fear that the forces of a global economy prevent different political parties from making substantially distinctive policy choices. In Partisanship, Globalization, and Canadian Labour Market Policy, Rodney Haddow and Thomas Klassen explore this contentious issue by comparing labour market policy in Canada's most populous provinces, Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta, between 1990 and 2003.Using the most up-to-date theoretical approaches available, Haddow and Klassen examine industrial relations, workers' compensation, occupational health, employment standards, training, and social assistance, measuring the impact of partisanship and globalization on policy-making in these areas. They situate Canada in relation to recent international scholarship on the comparative political economy of developed democracies, and explore the role that institutions play in conditioning labour market policy.Partisanship, Globalization, and Canadian Labour Market Policy will not only be of interest to experts working in the field of labour market policy, but also to students and teachers of comparative political economy, partisanship, and governance in Canada.