Since Confederation, the making of federal transportation policy has been a major factor in the development of the Canadian nation. Nevertheless, there is remarkably little public knowledge about the actual structure and process from which these policies emerge. In this book, Professor Langford succeeds in filling this gap by providing the student of Canadian public policy with an incisive and detailed examination of the reorganization of the federal transport portfolio, along the lines of a ministry system, that took place between 1968 and 1975. The author discusses the reorganization itself, the events that led up to it, and the policy-making structure that came into being. He explores the administrative reform level, including the operation of an investigative task force, the mechanics of securing cabinet approval, and the problems associated with implementation and communication of sanctioned reforms. He also analyses the ministry system model in the context of Prime Minister Trudeau's "rational policy making philosophy" and offers some conclusions with respect to the ability of this model to provide for responsive, innovative and effective policy making within a diversified portfolio containing a department and various satellite agencies.

John W. Langford is associate professor in the department of political science, York University.

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