How 'bad' public policy happens and what makes for bad public policy are the subject of this report. It identifies five inherent vices of policy – unpreparedness, non-learning, uncertainty, maliciousness, and non-compliance – and outlines a set of management practices that can help inform policy design and curb the worst excesses of bad policy.

This book analyses what is distinctive about introducing and implementing successful public policies in Canada - one of the world’s wealthiest economies, and one of its most politically decentralised and regionally diverse federations.