| This thesis examines the Canadian state's role in securing the conditions required for stable capital accumulation in an emergent post-Fordist knowledge-based economy. Specifically, it charts the appearance of an "innovation policy paradigm" at the level of the federal government since the early-mid 1990s, and considers its role in shaping development policy. At the heart of this paradigm is the conviction that firms must become continuously innovative in order to remain competitive, and that states have a role to play in fostering the conditions required to stimulate innovation. However, this thesis argues that the version of the paradigm adopted thus far has been undermined by various structural features of the Canadian political economy, many of which have resulted from Canada's historic patterns of economic development, as well as certain contradictions of the paradigm itself. The federal government's recent "Innovation Strategy" points in the right direction, but is insufficient. |
