Chapter 8 Review Questions

For Brooks, federalism is a property of constitutions, not of societies. He says that if federalism is a product of societies and not constitutions, then relatively few countries would not be federal, since most societies have politically significant ethnic or linguistic minorities, often concentrated in a particular region of the country. Secondly, Brooks says that a federal constitution institutionalizes regional divisions by associating them with different governments. The political significance of regional differences is elevated because they are associated with different political jurisdictions and governments. Political leaders will often stress the differences that exist between their regions and others for political purposes.

Nationalism is accompanied by territorial claims that can range from demands for independence to more moderate demands for more autonomy for the region. Nationalism makes its demands on behalf of both territory and an ethnic or linguistic community. This is more difficult to accommodate than regionalism’s complaints of unfair treatment.

Most of the Anglophone founders favoured a unitary form of government. However, the Quebec delegates strongly supported a federal union. The Maritime delegates also preferred a federal union. Commercial interests, particularly the railroads, wanted unification because it would make it easier to raise capital. A larger union would also be better able to assist the railroads. The financial institutions also wanted unification. Commercial interests also supported a federalism with a strong central government, as did John A. Macdonald. Delegates from Quebec and the Maritimes wanted a federalism that provided them with adequate powers to protect their cultures. Control over education was a key Quebec demand.

The federal powers of reservation and disallowance; the federal government can declare a “public work” to be in the national interest and therefore coming under federal jurisdiction; the federal government can legislate in the area of education if a provincial law abrogates the education rights of denominational minorities that they held when the province entered confederation.

According to Brooks, such a reading ignores the reality that some policy areas were unimagined at Confederation and in other cases there what were minor responsibilities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have assumed greater importance as a result of economic and societal changes, and of changes in the state itself.

These impacts include the effects on the evolution of the Canadian Constitution in order to accommodate Quebec’s uniqueness while recognizing the equality of provinces and the financial and administrative practices of federalism.

It consisted of these main elements: a proposed arrangement with Canada that provided for continued association; a referendum on its proposed sovereignty-association formula; a focus on providing Quebecers with good government; and continued cooperation with Canada in order to get its fair share of financial resources and to acquire as many additional powers as possible (e.g., powers over immigration).

Trudeau believed that the provinces, including Quebec, were already too powerful and he was totally opposed to special constitutional status for Quebec. Mulroney had no problem with enlarging provincial power and a decentralized federalism and he was accepting of asymmetrical federalism including special constitutional status for Quebec.

It may be argued that the effect of both motions confer a de facto special status on Quebec in matters of constitutional reform. It is important to note that neither declaration included any increase or change in the powers of Quebec within the federation. They also mark a return to a tradition of flexibility in Canadian federalism that, Brooks says, predates Pierre Trudeau. It is a tradition whereby constitutional change is not the result of formal amendments but of developments in policy and practice whose status is greater than that of ordinary laws but not quite that of constitutional reform.

The federal principle of regional representation is embodied in the Canadian Senate, in which Ontario, Quebec, and the western provinces each have 24 Senators, and the four Atlantic provinces have 30, despite very significant differences in the populations of these regions.

Many Fathers of Confederation in Canada were skeptical of federalism as a result of observing the American experience with federalism. As a young state, the US had experienced the secession of the Confederacy and a devastating civil war between 1861 and 1863; Brooks notes that this “did not inspire much confidence in the American model” of federalism in Canada.

Examples include Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which were widely accepted as part of the Soviet Union’s federal structure following World War II, but had not actually given their consent to enter this structure. As modern-day examples, Brooks lists both Mexico and Russia, where central government interference into the affairs of their regional government’s undermines those countries’ federal systems.

Authority over water in Canada has been decentralized and divided between the federal and provincial governments. The federal government’s jurisdiction includes criminal law as it pertains to water policy, while the provinces are responsible for property and civil rights, municipal institutions, etc. At the time of the Constitution Act, 1867, the three main concerns surrounding water were navigation, fishing, and farming. However, over time, this list of concerns has expanded vastly to include such issues as water pollution and hydroelectricity, which largely did not exist decades earlier.

Some of the areas of overlapping jurisdiction that Brooks describes in the textbook are water, taxes (personal and corporate income, payroll, sales, etc.), and most major policy fields. He explains that even fields that seem entirely in the purview of the federal government, such as defence and monetary policy, often receives input from the provinces (ie. the location of military bases). Conversely, issues typically seen at the jurisdiction of the provinces, including snow removal and refuse collection, can be impacted by the amount of federal transfers received by the provinces and, in turn, municipal governments.

Conditional grants are when the federal government transfers funds to the provinces with conditions about how that money must be spent. Examples include the Canada Health Transfer, which must be spent on health care, and the Canada Social Transfer, which must be spent on post-secondary education and social services.

You can begin by explaining the term “federalism” and how the issue of power is related to the concept. You can then note that centralization means the bulk of the constitutional power is in the hands of the federal government and decentralization means that the bulk of the power is in the hands of the sub-national units (the provinces). You can also discuss how centralization and decentralization can also mean administrative centralization or administrative decentralization. This refers to a government’s distribution of decision-making authority to various regional entities that are still part of the same government. You should also discuss the benefits and drawbacks of these different configurations.

Begin by researching the constitutions of the US and Australia. The work of Canadian comparative federalism scholar Ronald Watts would be very useful here. You will want to make a general comment regarding federalism in the US and Australia; that is, are they generally more centralized or decentralized than Canada? You can then look at some specific powers (e.g., the federal international affairs power) in the three countries, the trade and commerce power, and the taxation powers of the three countries.

The unitary model, found in places such as Turkey, France, and Japan, has a single central government. Federal systems, including Canada, the US, Australia, and Belgium, spread sovereignty between a central government and regional governments. A confederal system involves the allocation of responsibility to institutions or agencies, while sovereignty remains with the central government. The pre-eminent example of this is the European Union. Economic or military associations, such as NATO, APEC, etc. has participating states with their own governments but is not a government in and of itself. You may find various similarities and differences between these systems; support your responses with evidence from the textbook and/or your own prior knowledge.

Equalization is when federal grants are paid to provincial governments using a formula negotiated between the federal government and the provinces, when those provinces’ per capita tax revenue is below the average of the two most affluent provinces. Proponents of equalization, including Howard Pawley, say argue that Canadians shouldn’t have their life chances determined by geography, and that equalization alleviates this dilemma. He goes on to say that, with equalization, Canada operates much like a family, and with responsibility for each other. Other proponents have also said that equalization ‘blunts’ the desire for Québec independence. Polls also show that a majority in each province support equalization. On the other hand, opponents like Marcelin Joanis say that equalization is a political tool and that there is often correlation between the way a province votes and the amount of federal transfers it receives, with provinces voting for the victorious political party receiving more transfers. Your response will vary based on which argument you find the most compelling; ensure you support your response with evidence and examples from the textbook and/or your own prior knowledge.

Answers will vary based on the three factors you select from Table 8.1. In describing how these factors impacted the decision to implement federalism instead of a unitary system in Canada, as well as how these factors have changed over time, you should use evidence from the textbook, or you may also wish to conduct research on these topics or use your own prior knowledge of the subject. For example, many concerns surrounding nationalism, religion, traditions, customs, and language in French Canada were considered when the Fathers of Confederation were debating between a federal or unitary system, however, these concerns remain present, especially in Québec but also elsewhere today. Conversely, concerns of geographical proximity may have shifted over time as a result of a number of factors, including the entry of new provinces into Confederation since 1867, and the significantly diminished threat of American or other outside incursion into Canada that existed at the time.