Introduction:
 
A cornerstone of the Canadian economy, the auto sector employs over half a million Canadians and is the eight largest in the world, while the automobile's use profoundly affects the very social, geographic environmental and economic landscape of Canada. As a major force in Canadian society, the automobile has an impact upon national employment, government policy, standards and regulations, labour relations and international trade.
 
Since the 1960s government intervention has affected the automobile and its industry in myriad ways. From the integrating 1965 Canada-US Auto Pact and other trade measures, to safety and emissions regulation, training and innovation programs, to subsidies to industry, federal and provincial policies have shaped the sector, both on the supply and demand side. More recently, the Canadian auto sector and Canadians' use of the automobile have come under intense scrutiny. From plant closures to environmental concerns related to fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions, the automobile and its industry have been challenged in a multitude of ways in recent years.
 
The purpose of this special issue is to bring together researchers, practitioners, and those responsible for the design and implementation of automobile-related policy, both from Canada and abroad, to discuss challenges to the auto sector and the use of the car, and to identify possible directions for consideration. We seek contributions investigating the effectiveness of current policy, the development/proposal of better policies, and even studies investigating whether government intervention is warranted at all on some of these dimensions.
 
Invitation:
 
In order to bring together research in this important policy area, the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence^* is sponsoring a special print and electronic issue of Canadian Public Policy. We are interested in papers that advance the analysis of the auto industry and the public policy implications of automobile use.
 
The possible topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• The Automobile Sector
• Canadian Assembly Operations in a North American and Global Context
• Challenges for the Canadian Parts Sector in a Global Industry
• Organized Labour in the Canadian and North American Sector
• New Technological Directions for the Automobile
• Automotive Trade under NAFTA and the WTO
• Fiscal Incentives/Disincentives and Public Policy toward Investment
• The Public Policy Implications of Automobile Use
• The Environmental Impact of the Automobile and Policy Response
• Automobile Safety Regulation
• The Regulation of Fuel Economy and Taxation
• Societal Impacts of the Automobile from Road Rage to Road Construction

Papers should be submitted to the Editorial office of Canadian Public Policy, following the usual submission guidelines, with a statement that they are intended for this special issue. They will be subject to the normal peer-review process. To be considered for the special issue, papers must be received no later than October 15, 2008.

* AUTO21 is a multi-disciplinary research program funded by SSHRC / NSERC / CIHR and private enterprise. It is headquartered at the University of Windsor and brings together more than 265 researchers from 42 universities and 120 companies, government laboratories and other organizations in the fields of engineering, nursing, economics, labour studies, occupational therapy, science, business and other disciplines across Canada.

© 2010 Canadian Public Policy (URL: http://cpp.economics.ca/, E-mail: cpp.adp@gmail.com). The CPP web pages are maintained by Olivier Lebert (Université de Montréal) and Werner Antweiler (UBC). Earlier versions of the documents on this site were created by Elaine Constant (Queen's University) and Maureen Church (University of Calgary).