Is there a crisis in Canadian leadership? In the past decade, certainly, Canadians have become increasingly cynical about their political leaders. Yet most of us pay close attention to those leaders only when we are in the process of changing them. Part of the problem may stem from the mystery that surrounds leadership - a mystery that this book seeks to dispel.
Unlike party conventions or general elections, leadership is a continual process, and politicians are not the only ones who engage in it: members of the judiciary, senior bureaucrats, and aboriginal chiefs also play important leadership roles. Leaders and Leadership in Canada examines the functions of decision-makers, both elected and appointed, at the federal, provincial, municipal, and community levels of government. At the same time, it focuses attention on the constraints and challenges associated with each stage of a career in public life: recruitment, or gaining entry to the leadership pool; the actual exercise of a leadership role; and retirement - sometimes voluntary, but often not - to return to private life.