Synopses & Reviews
Despite the fact that environmental policy has become increasingly
important in Ontario politics since the end of the Second World War,
very little scholarship has been devoted to exploring either the
development of that policy or the pivotal relationship between the
environment and the province's wider political economy. In
Blue-Green Province, Mark Winfield provides the first
comprehensive study of environmental policy in Ontario.
A recognized authority in the field, Winfield masterfully explains
the formulation and implementation of environmental policy in
Canada's most populous province, tracing its development through
the Progressive Conservative dynasty that ruled Ontario politics from
the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s, to the dramatically different
governments of Premiers Peterson, Rae, Harris, Eves, and McGuinty. He
offers particularly trenchant coverage of the little-studied period
following the Harris's Common Sense Revolution, examining the
implications of the 1999, 2003, and 2007 elections and their subsequent
governments for Ontario's environment and politics.
Blue-Green Province is a timely, original analysis of one of
the most crucial issues in Ontario politics today. It will be welcomed
by students, scholars, and practitioners of environmental policy,
political science, economics, history, as well as anyone with an
interest in Ontario's environmental and economic future. With the
provinces playing increasingly dominant roles in Canadian environmental
policy, it will be compelling reading for those following the interplay
of environmental policy, politics and economic development across
Canada as well.
Mark S. Winfield is an assistant professor in the
Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. He was policy and
program director with the Pembina Institute from 2001 to 2007, and
director of research at the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law
and Policy from 1992 to 2001. He has written numerous articles on
environmental law and policy, and testified at the Walkerton Inquiry as
an expert witness on Ontario environmental law and policy affecting
drinking water quality.
Review
The first full-length scholarly analysis of its kind for Ontario. The focus on the environment and the comprehensive manner in which the author links environment policy to broader currents in the political economy of the province make this study stand apart ... A very important piece of work that deserves wide dissemination.
- Gregory J. Inwood, professor of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
Synopsis
In
Blue-Green Province, Mark Winfield takes a long overdue
look at the crucial relationship between Ontario's environmental
policy and its politics and economy. Covering the period from the
Progressive Conservative "dynasty" that dominated Ontario
politics from the mid-1940s to the mid-1980s, through the subsequent
Peterson, Rae, Harris, Eves, and McGuinty governments, Winfield offers
a trenchant analysis of the effects on Ontario's environment and
politics of these administrations' dramatically different
ideologies. Timely and original, Blue-Green Province is the
first comprehensive study of environmental policy in Ontario. It will
be welcomed by anyone with an interest in Ontario's environmental
and economic future.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 The Environment and the Dynasty
3 The Environment and Ontario's Quiet Revolution
4 Sustainable Development, Restructuring, and Recession
5 The Environment and the Common Sense Revolution
6 From Walkerton to McGuinty
7 The Dynasty Redux?
8 Conclusions
Epilogue: The October 2011 Election and Its Implications for
Ontario's Environment and Economy
Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Index