canada- the fractured federation

7/27/2019 Canada- The Fractured Federation

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THEFRACTURED

FEDERATION:

SOURCESOFUNITYANDDISUNITYINCANADA

ProfDrMichaelBurgess

ThislectureissupportedbyfundingfromtheFoundationforCanadianStudiesintheUK


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Structure IntroducingCanada

TheRoots

of

Federalism

QuebecinCanada

FederalProvincialDiplomacy

DivisionofCompetences

PoliticalEconomy:FiscalFederalism

Sourcesof

Unity

and

Disunity


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IntroducingCanada

1. TerritorialSizeandGeographicalFeatures

2. PopulationSize

and

distribution

3. ImmigrationintheNewWorld

4. CentralCanada

5. TheMaritimesandAtlanticCanada

6. TheWest[PrairieProvinces+BC]

7. The NorthWestTerritories+Yukon

8. Nunavut[1999]

Aboriginal

PoliticsofIdentity

9. TheFirstParliamentary

Federation(BNA

Act,1867)

10. TheCanadaAct(1982)=CharterofRightsandFreedoms

11. CanadaUSRelations+NAFTA[Mexico]

12. CanadianForeignPolicy:amiddle

power?


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TheRootsofFederalism

TheSevenYearsWar,17561763

TheQuebec

Act,

1774

Britishimperialhistory:Representativeand

ResponsibleGovernment,

1840s

BritishNorthAmerica(BNAAct,1867):first

parliamentaryfederation

TheCanadaAct(1982):CharterofRights&

Freedoms


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Quebecin

Canada

a)Quebec:itsownparallelhistorytoCanada:differentdatesforcelebrations,heroesandvillains,nationalflag,media,literature,poetry=

distinctculture

b)Quebec:unilingual=predominantlyFrenchspeaking(83%);AnglophonesminorityEnglishspeaking(10%); Allophones(78%)immigrants

c)Quebec:NationalAssembly,separatepartysystem;

BlocQuebecois(federal)&Parti Quebecois(provincial);representationinfederalHouseofCommonsandtheSenate+SupremeCourt[3of9nine

judges]

d)Quebec:seesitselfasadistinctnationwithinalargerCanadianpoliticalnation [multinational?binational?orstatenation?].=nation,

province,region,

distinct

society?


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FederalGovernment

+10

Provincial

Governments,

Territorial

Governments&1AboriginalTerritorial Government[Nunavut]

14separateexecutiveentities:regularmeetingsinaverticalhierarchical

dimension

+meetings

in

ahorizontal

dimension

[interprovincial]+manyotherforumseg.Maritimepremiersmeetings

MeetingsbetweenFederalPM&provincialpremiers;betweenprovincialpremiers;betweenfederalandprovincialministers;betweenfederalandprovincialcivilservants/bureaucrats;MLAs intheprovincialassemblies=ExecutiveFederalism!

2005creationoftheCounciloftheFederation(CF):designedtoprovideastrongerstructuralframeworktofederalprovincialdiplomacy.Regularmeetings?UnderthecurrentPM,Harper,the

CF

has

been

inactive.

FederalProvincialDiplomacy


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Divisionof

Competences

I

Sections91and92specifiedtheseintheBNA[nowCanadaAct,1867]&intheCanadaAct[1982]

TheearlyroleoftheJudicialCommitteeofthePrivyCouncil(JCPC):JudgesHaldane&Watson,1880s 1890sdecisions

favoured

provincial

powers

and

competences.

Canadabeginsitslifeasintheorya centralisedOttawabasedparliamentaryfederation(roleofSirJohnA.McDonald)

with

clearly

defined

federal

powers

in

the

BNA

Act(OttawareplacedLondonasHMsimperialpoliticalauthority),buttheJCPCcreatedatrajectoryof

decentralisation[compare

with

the

USA]


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DivisionofCompetencesII

Oneresult/legacyhasbeentheconsolidationofstrongprovinceswithsignificantpolicycompetencesincludingeducationandhealth,andconspicuousactivityin

cooperativefederalism workingaspartnerswiththeFederalGovernment.[competitive, collaborative andnowopenfederalism]

CanadaAct

(1982)

introduced

the

Charter

of

Rights

&

FreedomsmovingCanadaclosertotheUSFederalModelintermsofarightsbasedpoliticalculture=litigationandamoreprominentroleforbothlawyers,courts+theSupreme

Court

Judges.

This

has

led

to

some

public

concernaboutthejudicialisation ofpoliticsorthepoliticisationofthejudiciary?+theideaofCharterFederalismversusLegislativeFederalism.Thereisablendof

both

working

together


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PoliticalEconomyI

Therelationship

between

economics

&

politics

but

more

specifically

howthestructureofthenationaleconomyinteractswiththepoliticalsystemtoproducenewinsightsandexplanationsintopoliticalperceptionsandbehaviour.

Canadasnationalpoliticaleconomyishighlyfragmentedintoregionalstructures=CentralCanada[Ontario&Quebec]withlargestpopulations,wealthy,industrialdevelopment&politicalinfluence

WesternCanada=largelyresourcebasedeconomiesespeciallyoilinAlberta,prairiesinSaskatchewanandManitoba[wheat+diversification],andfishing,coalmining,tourism,ChineseimmigrantdestinationinBC

HugewealthinAlbertafromoilrevenues,butTheWesthasonlyarelativelysmallpopulation=limitedpoliticalrepresentationinthefederalinstitutions


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PoliticalEconomyII The

Maritimes

&

Newfoundland

=Atlantic

Canada

with

the

poorestprovinces,weakeconomies,smallpopulations,longtermstructuraleconomicdecline

Howdoes

Quebec

see

this?

The

Federal

Spending

Power

construedasthemostinsidious[largelyAnglophone]federalpowerinvadingitsFrancophoneeconomicandculturalspace.Federalprojectsalwayssubjecttoclosescrutiny=policy

preferencesneed

to

be

implemented

at

provincial

level.

Whatdoesallofthismeanforfiscalfederalism:theideaoffederal&provincialtaxationandrevenuetransfers?Fiscal

federalequalisation

explicit

in

the

language

of

Article

36(2)

CanadaAct:EqualisationandRegionalDisparities=reasonablycomparablelevelsofpublicservicesatreasonablycomparablelevelsoftaxation.ComparetoUSA!


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Conclusion:SourcesofUnityandDisunity

Distinguishbetween

old

fractures

that

reappear

in

acyclical

fashion

and

newsourcesofdisunitythathaverecentlyappeared

OLD

QuebecinCanada=constitutionalreform.WhatdoesQuebecwant?

Roleof

the

PQ

and

future

uses

of

the

provincial

referendum

(1980,

1995)

Prioritiesof

the

West?

=senate

reform

(Triple

ESenate),

electoral

reform,fiscalfederalism,problemofeconomicpowerbutrelatively

weakpoliticalrepresentation,

Maritimes/AtlanticCanada?

=need

for

enterprise,

new

investment

but

annualfederalspending&governmenteconomicsubsidies/supportfor

weakeconomies.Searchfornewsourcesofrevenuehasrecentlymade

NewfoundlandprospectivelyoneoftherichestprovincesinCanada!


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Conclusion:Sources

of

Unity

and

Disunity

NEW

Theroleofprovincialreferenda[Alberta,BC]

Theimplicationsofthefuturefiscalregimeinthelightofhugeoilresource discoveryinNewfoundland

Canadain

the

global

political

economy:

relatively

speaking

the

futureislookinggood=soundfinances

Whatwillbethefutureoffederalismafterthe

Harper(Conservative)Government?

+the

role

of

the

NDP?

Canada:thesecondmostdecentralisedfederationintheworldwiththebeststandardoflivingintheOECD?


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Thankyou

very

much!

Anyquestionsorcomments?

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