Thinking Government examines the key roles and duties of the Canadian federal government and its public service, and the policy and program debates that revolve around these roles and duties.

The fifth edition of this textbook provides students with a core awareness of major issues shaping federal policies and programs – socio-economic policy options, French-English relations, regionalism and regional policy, Canadian-American relations, immigration, environmental policy, and Indigenous relations. This book takes a close look at how prime ministers and cabinet ministers interact and discusses issues in federal, financial, and human resources management, ethics and accountability, and leadership. The new edition is revised and updated throughout and addresses the 2021 federal election and the resulting Trudeau minority government as well as the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thinking Government helps its readers to be smart citizens and knowledgeable critics of what governments do well, what they could be doing better, and why they, at times, fail to deliver effective policies and programs.

David Johnson is a professor of political science at Cape Breton University.