Risky Business (eBook)

The essays in this volume ask what risks Canadians might be exposed to as fiscal pressures strain the capacity of regulators in areas such as food, drugs, pesticides, fisheries, and the environment.

DoernG. Bruce:

G. Bruce Doern is Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University and an emeritus professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter.

ReedTed:

Ted Reed is a Research Fellow in the Carleton Research Unit on Innovation, Science and Environment (CRUISE) at Carleton University and is also a Lecturer with the Department of Environmental Studies and Geography at Carleton.

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Risky Business is a comprehensive look at Canada's science-based policy and regulatory regime. It asks what risks Canadians might be exposed to as fiscal pressures strain the capacity of regulators in areas such as food, drugs, pesticides, fisheries, and the environment. The first part of this book focuses the reader's attention on diverse and major themes and issues that pervade science-based regulatory regimes today. The second part suggests a framework for analysis and endeavours to present both sympathetic and critical perspectives on the inner-workings of regulatory departments and agencies in the area of the protection of human and environmental health and safety.Covering such topics as the organizational evolution of regulatory agencies, regulatory bodies' changing sources and levels of funding, a review of the independence of science, and the increased potential for realization of risk, these essays point to the need for these regulators to operate with openness and accessibility in order to maintain public confidence. Indeed, the contributors argue that this openness is crucial to both democratic governance and the development of innovative knowledge economies.