Urban Policy Issues: Canadian Perspectives. 2nd ed.

Paul G. Thomas is the Duff Roblin Professor of Government at the
University of Manitoba, the author of Parliamentary Reform Through
Political Parties, and the coauthor of Canadian Public Administration:
Problematical Perspectives.

Cities and city regions are prominent on the public-policy agenda
because they are the places that are the building blocks of the
21st-century economy and where more than 80 percent of Canadians live.
The second edition of this valuable book contains 15 original articles
written by some of Canada’s leading academics on urban issues. The
chapters cover urban demographics, the financing of cities, regional
government, homelessness and housing, social assistance, transportation,
the environment and the concept of sustainable cities, recreation and
cultural policies, growth management and sprawl, the infrastructure
deficit, public health, and education. The editors contribute a useful
introduction that identifies a range of factors that shape the substance
of policy in various fields.

Two topics missing from the collection are an in-depth discussion of
competitive regionalism and the economic development activities of
cities, and the role of city bureaucracies, especially their senior
managers, within the policy process. Now that the Canadian government is
about to embark on its own set of urban policy initiatives, this book
takes on additional value.