Douglas Macdonald

Senior Lecturer and Associate Member of graduate faculty, Centre for Environment.

Office: Centre for Environment, Room 1049B (5 Bancroft Ave. entrance);
tel: 416-978-1558; fax: 416-978-3884; email: douglas.macdonald@utoronto.ca.

Hon. B.A., M.A., Toronto; Ph.D. (Environmental Studies), York.

Curriculum Vitae

2011-12 Centre for Environment Courses:
Instructor of:
ENV320H: National Environmental Policy
ENV322H: International Environmental Policy
ENV 451H Current Environmental Debates
ENV 1002H Environmental Policy.


Research Interests: 
Politics of Canadian environmental policy making; waste and pollution policy; the business firm and trade association as environmental policy actors, Canadian national, federal-provincial climate-change policy; environmental legitimacy as a source of political power.

Featured Research Projects: 
(See Research Projects Page for more details on the following research projects.)

Allocating Canadian Greenhouse Emission Reductions Amongst Sources and Provinces: Learning from the EU and Germany (SSHRC, 2009-12, with Dr. Jochen Monstadt, Technische Universistät Darmstadt and Dr. Kristine Kern, Wageningen University).  The subject of this project is the failure of the Canadian federal government and provinces to reach agreement on one effective, coherent national climate change policy which explicitly states what portion of the over-all cost of action will be borne by each province. Two other federated systems, Germany and the EU, have managed to negotiate such explicit agreements. The project has researched these three cases in detail, using primary documents and a total of about 50 interviews, and draft recommendations for Canadian governments will be discussed at workshops in Edmonton (Sept. 2, 2011); Ottawa (Sept. 6, 2011) and Halifax (Sept. 8, 2011). The final project report will be released in spring, 2012. 
 
The Oil and Gas Industry and Government of Canada Climate-Change Policy: Objectives, Legitimacy and Organization (SSHRC, 2009-10).  This research attempts to understand the sources of the political power of the oil and gas industry as it has lobbied to influence Government of Canada climate-change policy during the past twenty years. Political power is assumed to include both agency power (overt action by the firm which influences policy) and structural power (firm influence on policy absent overt action, stemming from such things as economic importance of the sector). The method used is a comparison of industry "wins" (eg, adoption of voluntarism instead of regulation in the 1995 climate program) and "losses" (eg, failure to prevent Canadian ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 2002). Since many factors are common, it is hoped identification of factors which differ will lead to increased understanding of the sources of the industry's agency and structural power.  

Industry Power to Influence Cimate-Change Policy (SSHRC, 2007-10; with two PhD students, Gabriel Eidelman and David Houle, of Political Science and Centre for Environment).  This is a study of why the aluminium industry was more successful in influencing Quebec climate-change policy than was the electricity industry in Massachusetts.  

Governance Innovation and the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy (Carbon Management Canada, 2010-12; with James Meadowcroft and Glen Toner, Carleton University, and graduate students from both universities; research started December, 2010.   This project is concerned with innovation in governance practices to address climate change and accelerate the transition towards a low carbon Canada. It takes two basic approaches to explore institutional reforms that could strengthen climate governance in Canada. First, it addresses the particular issue of distributional conflicts. The focus will be on three dimensions of climate-related political conflict related in Canada: regional/intergovernmental; industrial; and social. This analysis will be supplemented by: a) historical case studies of political conflict associated with other major policy initiatives in Canada (the National Energy Plan and Free Trade): and b) an analysis of experiences managing low carbon transition conflicts outside Canada. Second, the project examines the systems for climate governance established by five jurisdictions with particularly active climate policy (eg, Germany, Denmark, UK)  in order to understand a) how these systems operate as a whole and b) to identify specific institutional innovations that hold wider promise. The two approaches will allow the project to draw lessons about innovations to governance practices to encourage the transition to a low carbon Canada, and these conclusions will be shared with political decision makers and other interested stakeholders. 

Policy Instrument Choices Influencing Sustainable Transportation in the City of Toronto (SSHRC, 2010-11; Principle Investigator Professor Jean Mercier, Université Laval).  Toronto case study research led by Douglas Macdonald, researchers Scott Sams (PhD candidate U of T Political Science) and Amir Ganjavie (PhD candidate, U of T Geography). The project examines the use of instruments such as government organization (eg, creation of Metro Toronto or more recently Metrolinx), subway capital cost funding and zoning intensity to encourage a shift from the private motor vehicle to other modes of transport. Research is intended to identify the factors which influenced such decisions, in order to assist cities and senior-level governments in development of sustainable transportation policy. The Toronto research is focused on original subway construction from the 1950s to late 1970s; defunding by the Harris government in the mid-1990s; and current Ontario and Toronto policy decisions made since election of Mayor Ford.  


Forthcoming and Recent Publications:
Macdonald, D. Forthcoming, 2011. Harper Energy and Climate Policy: failing to Address the Key Challenges." G. Bruce Doern and Christopher Stoney, eds. How Ottawa Spends 2011-12. Kingston-Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Macdonald, D. 2007. Business and Environmental Politics in Canada.  Broadview Press, Peterborough, Ontario. 240 pages.  (Winner of the Donald Smiley Prize.)

Macdonald, D. 2010. Charles Caccia and the construction of environmental legitimacy. Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, 22, 41-58.

Macdonald, D. 2007. Business and Environmental Politics in Canada.  Broadview Press, Peterborough, Ontario. 240 pages.  (Winner of the Donald Smiley Prize.)

One extra if space allows: