Canadian Forest Policy: Adapting to Change

The forest sector, historically Canada’s largest industry and largest employer, remains today the source of most of Canada’s positive balance of trade on goods and commodities. Why, then, is there a dearth of policy literature devoted to exploring the industry as a nation-wide phenomenon?

Arguing that the complexity of policy-making in the forest sector has led many analysts to focus exclusively on specific sectoral activities or jurisdictions, this collection of essays offers a simplifying framework of analysis developed in comparative public policy studies to address the current status of Canadian forest policy nationwide. Using case studies of historical and contemporary federal and provincial forest policies, the essays examine the manner in which changes in resource management ideas, subsystem membership, industrial organization, policy processes, international affairs and intergovernmental initiatives have affected the sector.

Insightful and authoritative, this volume will be a helpful resource for senior students and scholars in the fields of political science, forestry, public administration, history, geography, and Canadian, environmental, and labour studies. It will also be of value to policy makers who must grapple with the complexity of policy-making in the sector on a day-to-day basis.