The Evolution of Canadian Federalism: and beyond The Evolution of Canadian Federalism: and beyond Douglas Brown Political Science

The Evolution of Canadian Federalism, Forces of Change in the Federal System The Imperial federal government, Rise of Provincial Rights The era of classical federalism: Centralization and the welfare state: The rise of executive federalism

Forces of Change in the Federal System 1 – exogenous Geopolitical: rise and fall of British empire, increasing econ and social integration with USA Economic: patterns of booms and recessions, depressions, industrialization Social: population growth, waves of immigration, westward expansion, urbanization Political culture: increasing democracy, participation, rights and entitlements

Forces of Change in the Federal System 2 – institutional evolution Formal constitutional amendment Judicial review -- Supreme Court of Canada, Judicial Committee of Privy Council (UK) “Organic” statutes -- e.g. Supreme Court Informal political conventions – e.g. abeyance of disallowance and reservation powers

The Imperial Era – Macdonald in power – follows as much as he can the original plan Macdonald in power – follows as much as he can the original plan Provinces treated as junior partners Provinces treated as junior partners National Policy, railways and territorial expansion National Policy, railways and territorial expansion Gradual reaction to over-centralization Gradual reaction to over-centralization The fate of French outside Quebec, Louis Riel and the erosion of bicultural consensus The fate of French outside Quebec, Louis Riel and the erosion of bicultural consensus

Provincial Rights Role of partisan politics: centralists vs. provincialists Ontario and Quebec governments push back Role of JCPC to define and strengthen provincial powers: Parsons 1881 Parsons 1881 Maritime Bank 1892 Maritime Bank 1892 Labour Conventions 1937 Labour Conventions 1937

Era of “Classical” Federalism, Federal and provincial governments seen as legal equals Laurier government supports federal principles Resource economies lead to growth in provincial revenues Henri Bourassa: concept of English-French duality

Wartime and the rise of Central Power Effects of the Great Depression: rise of left- central critique Rowell-Sirois report: long-term blueprint for cooperative federalism World War II fiscal and economic centralization The effect of the Keynesian economic model and building the welfare state Modernization and the apparent obsolescence of federalism

Post-war Cooperative Federalism Tax rental agreements and gradual decentralizationTax rental agreements and gradual decentralization Federal spending powerFederal spending power Cost-shared programsCost-shared programs Quebec opposition: Duplessis and the Tremblay ReportQuebec opposition: Duplessis and the Tremblay Report

Post Federalism The Trudeau era: Competitive federalism Competitive federalism “Province-Building” “Province-Building” Rising Quebec nationalism Rising Quebec nationalism Constitutional Politics Constitutional Politics Mulroney –Chrétien Constitutional crisis Constitutional crisis Fiscal crisis Fiscal crisis Free trade and globalization Free trade and globalization

Executive Federalism Response to interdependence in federal system Executive dominance comes from “Westminster” form of government Bigger role due to poor degree of regional representation in central institutions Growing importance over time

Changing role of Executive Federalism Early inter-provincial conferences Dominion-Provincial conferences Post war fiscal federalism Growth of functional ministerial conferences First Ministers and their increasing role of regional representation Reaching Limits: Constitutional Reform

Constraints on effectiveness of Intergovernmental Relations (Executive federalism) Strong provincial autonomy Competitive political culture Lack of institutionalization, no constitutional status Ad-hoc working rules Democratic deficits

The Smiley critique Undue secrecy Low citizen participation Weakened accountability Freezing out some issues and interests Contributes to the growth of government Continuous and unresolved conflict