CANS 200 Lecture : Policy Making in Canada

• School: McGill University
• Department: Canadian Studies
• Course: CANS 200
• Professor: Elsbeth Anne Heaman

Document Summary

Public policy doesn"t stop the day governments sign a bill into law. Emergence: policies emerge as problems become identified as public priorities. Priority-setting which problem to act on now: agenda-setting: identification of a problem as a political issue to be addressed by public authorities has to focus attention for a public response. Coupling of problem with political context elevates a problem to a priority. Health care reform in canada good example of how policies emerge in the phas of public policy making process: sense of crisis and loss of confidence, salient political issue in several elections, lightening rod for federal-provincial conflict. Those that are available, feasible, desirable: involves policy entrepreneurs stakeholders who have interests in solutions and how they are formulated. Formal legitimation: details hammered out, when, where, how, who: presentation to minister, to cabinet for discussions, to caucus for approval, formal process of passge through parliament how a bill becomes a law.