Congratulations to Dr. Kathy Brock whose latest book, "Managing Federalism Through Pandemic," was recognized by The Hill Times as one of the 100 Best Books of 2023! Professor Brock, who is cross-appointed to the School of Policy Studies, was co-editor (with Geoffrey Hale) and a contributor to this book. POLS professor Kyle Hanniman also contributed, with a chapter titled "Pandemic Fiscal Federalism and Future Prospects."
Managing Federalism through Pandemic summarizes and analyses multiple policy dimensions of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and related policy issues from the perspective of Canadian federalism. Contributors address the relative effectiveness of intergovernmental cooperation at the summit level and in policy fields including emergency management, public health, national security, Indigenous Peoples and governments, border governance, crisis communications, fiscal federalism, income security policies (CERB), supply chain resilience, and interacting energy and climate policies.
Despite serious policy failures of individual governments, repeated fluctuations in the overall effectiveness of pandemic management, and growing public frustration across provinces and regions, contributors show how processes for intergovernmental cooperation adapted reasonably well to the pandemic’s unprecedented stresses, particularly at the outset. The book concludes that, despite individual policy failures, Canada’s decentralized approach to policy management often enabled regional adaptation to varied conditions, helped to contain serious policy failures, and contributed to various degrees of policy learning across governments. Managing Federalism through Pandemic reveals how the pandemic exposed structural policy weaknesses which transcend federalism but have significant implications for how governments work together (or don’t) to promote the well-being of citizens.