Third Sector and the Co-Construction of Canadian Public Policy

Canada does not have a unitary political system, as Sweden, France and Chile do. ¹ It has a federal political system, like Germany and Brazil. This is not without implications for public policy development. In the Canadian federalist system, public policy is designed not only by one central national state, but also by thirteen provincial and territorial states. This remark is important for correctly interpreting the meaning of the expression “Canadian public policy” used in the title of this chapter. At first glance, one could conclude that it refers mainly or solely to public policy initiatives carried out by the federal state. But such an interpretation would be incorrect. Indeed, if we use the expression correctly, we should understand that Canadian public policy refers both to the public policy initiatives implemented by the federal state and to the initiatives carried out by thirteen provincial/territorial states (the Quebec state among them) and thousands of local governments across Canada.