
Too Critical to Fail
How Canada Manages Threats to Critical Infrastructure
McGill-Queen's University Press
Will be published approx. on 30. November 2017
Book
Hardback
416 pages
978-0-7735-5160-2 (ISBN)
Description
In the summer of 2013, just as a small town in Quebec was decimated due to a train derailment, heavy rainfall prompted thirty Alberta communities to declare a state of emergency. Whereas a SWAT team surrounded train conductor Thomas Harding and brought him to court where he was charged with the deaths of forty-seven in Quebec, Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi emerged from the Alberta crisis as a folk hero. As the Lac-Megantic train derailment and the flood in Alberta demonstrate, political, economic, legal, and cultural climates influence the way disasters are received and managed. In Too Critical to Fail, Kevin Quigley, Ben Bisset, and Bryan Mills identify the social context that shapes the Canadian government's ability to prepare for and respond to emergencies. Using original research on natural disasters, pandemics, industrial failures, cyber-attacks, and terrorist threats, the authors evaluate the risk regulation regimes that monitor, interpret, and respond to failures in Canada's critical infrastructure to limit their possibilities and consequences. More broadly, this book identifies key vulnerabilities and regulatory challenges for both the government and the private sector in mitigating threats to safety and security. Too Critical to Fail applies an investigative lens to the multiple and competing risks that the government balances to secure assets that enable modern civilization. Raising questions about Canadians' ability to protect critical infrastructure and respond to threats, this book challenges the biases that determine who is held to account when the system fails.
Reviews / Votes
"This volume is a valuable addition to the very limited literature on Canadian critical infrastructure, the risks inherent to it and emerging from it, and provides a public response as well as a theoretical framework for analysis and further thinking." Andrew Graham, School of Public Policy, Queen's UniversityMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
25 tables, 26 diagrams
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
737 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7735-5160-2 (9780773551602)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Ben Bisset | Bryan Mills | Ken Quigley
Too Critical to Fail
How Canada Manages Threats to Critical Infrastructure
E-Book
11/2017
1st Edition
McGill-Queen's University Press
€40.49
Available for download
Persons
Kevin Quigley is professor of public administration and scholarly director of the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance at Dalhousie University.
Ben Bisset is a public policy and government administration professional, as well as a research analyst at the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance and the Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative at Dalhousie University.
Bryan Mills is a practising lawyer and research analyst at the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance at Dalhousie University.
Ben Bisset is a public policy and government administration professional, as well as a research analyst at the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance and the Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative at Dalhousie University.
Bryan Mills is a practising lawyer and research analyst at the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance at Dalhousie University.