Getting It Right

Getting It Right is the first 'insider's' account of this period of regional development in Canada. Harley McGee draws on his experience with the government at senior regional and departmental levels, and on primary and secondary sources, to examine the evolution of federal regional development policies and the structures developed between 1970 and 1991 to implement them. He dispels some of the myths and challenges some of the perceptions about the manner in which regional development has been tackled by governments in Canada. He explores the federal-provincial dimensions of regional development, as well as the difficulty of reconciling the perceived dichotomy between national and regional policies. McGee argues that the 1982 move away from the DREE model of regional development was a mistake, and suggests that the predilection of governments for reorganising existing instruments of regional development policy and creating new ones has been detrimental to regional economies. Mindful of the new realities of the global economy within which Canada and its regions must compete, and of the promise/threat of rapidly changing technology, McGee identifies the need for a new order of priorities with which governments can meet these challenges and opportunities.