Overview
The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 What happens when crucial public issues are decided the people themselves? Canadians answered ""Yes"" or ""No"" to prohibiting alcohol, conscripting soldiers, and revamping our constitution. Forcing such crucial choices at the ballot box is high-stakes democracy, both here and overseas - as witnessed with Britain's transformative 2016 ""Brexit"" referendum. Forcing Choice dissects Canada's extensive use of ballot questions at all levels of government, and weighs the benefits of citizens making fundamental decisions for the nation. Holding referendums is tricky, and getting it wrong carries a high price. This hard-hitting book draws on Boyer's deep research on direct democracy and his experience advising governments about referendums, writing books, drafting and introducing the Canada Referendum Act, monitoring foreign referendums, and campaigning in Canadian ones.
Full Product Details
Author: J. Patrick Boyer
Publisher: Dundurn Group Ltd
Imprint: Dundurn Group Ltd
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 22.80cm
Weight: 0.625kg
ISBN: 9781459739123
ISBN 10: 1459739124
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 28 December 2017
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
Patrick Boyer is Canada's resident expert on referendums and plebiscites. - John Godfrey, The Financial Post
In Canada no one has given quite so much thought to that now-popular democratic instrument as former MP Patrick Boyer, who has written about referendums for a half century. * Jim Coyle, Toronto Star * A passionate defence of referenda ... meticulously researched * Blacklock's Reporter * How Patrick Boyer finds the time and energy to be an active parliamentarian, an amateur historian, and a political theorist all at once escapes my understanding, but I am glad he does so. * Patrick Watson, CBC broadcaster and author of The Struggle for Democracy * Patrick Boyer is without doubt the doyen of referendum scholars in Canada. * Professor Peter Russell, University of Toronto * Canadians involved in the working of democracy - and many beyond Canada - have reason to be grateful to Mr. Boyer. * Professor David Butler, Oxford University * Mr. Boyer has been carrying on his campaign to modernize our political system at a time when most of his colleagues, their consultants, and large chunks of our academic and media communities, were still imprisoned by the orthodoxies of the old politics. * Professor Michael Bliss, University of Toronto * Patrick Boyer is Canada's resident expert on referendums and plebiscites. * John Godfrey, Financial Post * Patrick Boyer has earned a reputation as one of the most thoughtful members of the House of Commons. * Maclean's *
Patrick Boyer is Canada s resident expert on referendums and plebiscites. - John Godfrey, The Financial Post
Author Information
J. Patrick Boyer served as Canada's Parliamentary Secretary for External Affairs, and works for democratic development overseas. He is the author of twenty-three books on Canadian history, law, politics, and governance. Patrick lives in Muskoka and Toronto.
