The motives of any government are always open to speculation. In Canada a variety of political objectives and ideological -- conservative, liberal, and socialist -- have shaped the public policies of successive governments. But there is a discernible pattern of evolution. It emerges in this historical analysis of how Canadian governments have used public power to promote economic development, relieve poverty, regulate markets, control crime, build school systems, and protect human rights.

Manzer identifies three stages in Canadian political thinking; each reflects broad changes in the priorities of policy-making. During the French and English colonial regimes social order was considered the main objective and deterrent power the primary means of achieving it. Colonial governments made an important contribution to economic development, but social policies were limited to modest grants for volunteer efforts.

In the nineteenth century, these principles were altered, first in a system of criminal justice based on retribution, and later in a strategy of economic development based on capital accumulation. Industrialization and urbanization created new kinds of poverty and new pressures on markets, but policies for income redistribution and market regulation remained weak until the 1930s.

From the economic misery of the depression and the political idealism of the second world war grew a much broader conception of the role of the state in satisfying individual needs. State intervention was extended in economic policy and social welfare; educational systems were reformed; human rights policies were expanded.

Manzer concludes that Canadian principles of policy-making have been drawn overwhelmingly from the tenets of liberalism. Conservative and socialist ideologies have had some influence, but the predominant pattern has been the joint heritage of American and British liberal traditions. In identifying the evolution of that pattern, he is able to show the challenge for Canada's future political development.