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Consult and Advise: A History of the National Joint Council of the Public Service of Canada 1944–1974, L. W. C. S. Barnes, Kingston: Industrial Relations Centre, Queen's University, 1975, pp. x, 209

by Parliament, the authors neglect to mention that on six occasions the "opposition days" end in a vote of nonconfidence (428). Theoretically these debates are related to spending, but in practice they deal with topical matters on which the government seems vulnerable. There are the usual typographical errors (21, 52, 71, 87, 116, 304, 444) and a number of significant gaps in the bibliography, even up to 1974. These are minor complaints, however. Professor Hockin's book combines a description of the main features of Canadian government with an interpretation of the growth of the state. The focus is primarily upon the internal dynamics of the government, not upon the environment, with some interesting speculation about the role of ideas as the basis for governmental expansion. The conclusion reached is that our institutions owe as little as possible to the force of ideas, being most often a pragmatic response to necessity. Portions of the book have appeared previously (the chapters on Canada in the world and on Parliament), but there are original chapters on federalism, the public service, and parties and leadership. The book makes the often neglected point that historically the concept of a strong initiating executive has been one of the organizing principles of the political system (6-7, 163), and this fact accounts for the relative weakness of the legislature and the immunity of the bureaucracy from direct legislative interference. The conservative tradition receives favourable treatment. Two streams of that tradition are identified: "distributive conservatism," which seeks to sustain regional identities; and "developmental conservatism," which aims for national integration and development (70). The main difficulty with these and other historical interpretations is to assess their significance for contemporary politics. One might quarrel with the relative emphasis given to various topics. Interest groups (84-91) and parties (200-27) receive limited attention compared, say, to Parliament (171 -99), which probably receives too great attention in terms of its relative importance in the policy process. The chapter on federalprovincial relations develops the theme that the provinces remain strong whereas a more appropriate theme would have been the growing autonomy of the provinces. It is suggested that "rationalism" in policy-making will not inhibit compromises in federal-provincial relations, but in fact it appears to have heightened conflict (162). The compressed provincial histories (36-46), inevitably involve distortion. Many Manitobans will be surprised to read, for example, that "the French and Ukrainian populations rival those of British extraction for power and influence" and that the party system represents a classical ideological confrontation (39). At other points the mass of detail overwhelms the reader and the need for additional subheadings seems obvious. The selective coverage of the book will not make it suitable as a textbook. Still, to write a short and readable introduction to Canadian government is an extremely difficult task and Professor Hockin has performed it quite successfully.