Canadian Federalism Analysis

Canadian Federalism

• The Canadian political system can no longer be taken for granted in its second century
• Major institutional change, potentially including fragmentation, is a possibility
• The impact of government on society requires more attention in Canadian politics study
• Focus will be on senior governments within the federalism framework
• Analysis, criticism, and defence of federalism have been the main concern of political scientists
• Rising political expectations in Quebec, highlighted by the Parti québécois victory in 1976, prompt further examination of the federal condition
• Ability to make wise choices for the future is limited by understanding of the political system
• Unexpected transformations of Canadian federalism consistently surprise students
• Federal reality often disconfirms predictions made by political scientists

Federalism Analysis

• Task is to identify shortcomings in approaches to federalism analysis and propose alternative perspective
• Reaction against traditional political science emphasizes formal, legal aspects of the polity
• W. S. Livingston asserted in 1956 that "Federalism is a function not of constitutions but of societies."
• Dynamic of the system should be found in society rather than government
• Political systems are seen as superstructures lacking autonomy and independent power
• Literature viewed the central government as the beneficiary and provincial governments as victims of socioeconomic forces
• Technological interdependence and the evolution of a national market were argued

Governments and Societies in Canadian Federalism

• This article emphasizes the impact of provincial and federal governments
• Governments have created support by employing Canadians, gaining party support, and structuring networks with societies
• The federal system is best understood as a system of governments
• Governments have developed interdependence models and seek to maintain control over their societies
• Contemporary governments' integration and planning complicate intergovernmental agreement
• This makes the federal system an ineffective version of the American system
• The study of Canadian politics has suffered from sociological reductionism
• Not enough attention has been paid to government autonomy and its ability to shape society. Centralized leadership became necessary for planning and diminished sociological basis for survival
• Provincial governments seemed to lack resources to resist execution
• The centralization predicted in the 1930s seemed in place in the 40s and 50s
• Professor J. A. Corry explained it as a product of technological necessity in 1957
• The growth of "giant corporations, national trade associations, and national trade unions" caused a nationalizing of sentiment among elites

Political Centralization

• Corry's prediction of nationalization of politics and centralization proved premature
• John Porter saw the federal system as a pious fraud sustained by academics and elites happy to place federal roadblocks in the way of class politics
• Conditions of modern industrial society made it essential for the central government to acquire power from provincial governments
• Canada was relatively exempt from this trend due to its exaggerated obsession with national unity
• Porter's position was that the class cleavage was the true cleavage, while regional cleavages were artificial

Shortcomings on Federalism Analysis

• Aims to highlight relative failure to perceive the degree of autonomy possessed by governments
• The federal system has an ongoing capacity to manufacture conditions for its survival
• Livingston's plea to search for the determinants of federalism in society was not needed in Canada
• The weakness of understanding lies in a failure to treat government with appropriate seriousness
• Federalism is a function not of societies but of the constitution and governments
• The survival and growth of provincial governments in English Canada has been a mystery for students
• Sociologically-focused inquiries have looked for vital provincial societies
• The sociological perspective pays inadequate attention to the possibility that support for provincial governments is a product of the political system
• It is created by government elites employing the policy-making apparatus of their jurisdictions
• The search for an underlying sociological base deflects us from considering how much support is necessary

Provincial Governments

• Passivity, indifference, or absence of strong opposition may be all that provincial governments need
• The significant question is the survival of provincial governments, not of provincial societies
• Their sources of survival may lie within themselves and their capacity to mould their environment
• Much has been made of the extent to which today's parties represent the historic residue of yesterday's cleavages
• The freezing of party alternatives fades compared with the freezing of constitutionally distinct governments
• Stability of these governments contrasts sharply with the fluctuating fortunes of parties
• Governments constitute the permanent elements of the Canadian polity which have ridden out storms of social, economic, and political change
• The decision to establish a federal system in 1867 created competitive political and bureaucratic elites at two levels of government
• They are endowed with jurisdictional, financial, administrative, and political resources

Federal Elites

• Canadian federalism is the record of the efforts of governing elites to pyramid their resources
• The governments have endowed the cleavages between provinces with a comprehensive political meaning
• The prerequisites for provincial survival have been the preservation of jurisdictional competence and territorial integrity
• Explicit change in constitutional responsibilities has been minimal
• The division of powers has been altered to federal advantage only three times with unanimous provincial consent
• Provincial pressure has ensured the de facto acceptance of the principle that concurrence is necessary
• Provincial governments resisted efforts to accord explicit constitutional recognition to a more flexible amendment procedure
• They preserved their basic bargaining power for the future
• The Victoria Charter of 1971 was rejected by Quebec
• The paucity of amendments reveal an entrenched governmental conservatism
• Equally indicative is the integrity of provincial boundaries, Labrador 1927
• Quebec's claim to Labrador remains a live issue

Territorial Tensions

• Disputed cases illustrate the vigour with which provincial positions are defended
• Provinces have consistently manifested a revolution of rising expectations
• The boundaries of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba contained only a small portion of the land masses they now control
• Interprovincial controversy over disputed territory has produced mini border conflicts as in Manitoba and Ontario in 1912
• The Maritime provinces have been tenacious in not giving up political control
• Provincial protection of, and search for Lebensraum is a relatively unexamined aspect
• The protection of jurisdictional authority and expansion of provincial territory have been accompanied by provincial legislative competence
• Expansion of personnel and no less aggressive exploration displayed by the federal government
• It would be a mistake to view these governmental mountains as molehills
• The growth of governments has produced large complexes of institutions and personnel
• Total provincial government personnel reached 519,000 in September 1976
• Federal government sustains 557,000 persons with armed forces, nearly one out of every nine Canadia

Government Influence

• Those directly tied to government are an immense component of Canadian society
• We live in a period of convulsive change in government-society relations
• The energizing, proselytizing, and entrepreneurial role increasingly rests with civil servants and politicians
• Sheer large numbers are directly dependent on government
• The minimum desire of the departments is for a steady level of activity
• If the environment offers new opportunities they will compete with other bureaucracies
• If major challenges are made to their cohesions they will fight back
• they will scan for new justifications for continued existence
• They have impressive capacities to get their own way and bend their political superiors to their will
• Their basic strength resides in their expertise, and in the support of the external interests
• They represent a permanent, expansive aspect of government
• They are the necessary instruments of an administered society
• The presence of eleven governments helps explain the expansion of each level of government
• It is impossible to think clearly about Canadian federalism without the one million Canadians parcelled out
• Pyramids of bureaucratic power are capped by political authorities
• Eleven governments endow the incumbents with the primary task of defending and advancing basic interests.

Elite Influence

• Premiers has a history which influences the new person in the role
• Survival of the French-Canadian people is an obligation, an article of faith for Quebec governments
• Since 1871 the political leaders of British Columbia have consistently pressed economic claims on Ottawa
• Provinces have fairly durable and persisting interests which reflect unchanging factors of society
• Provincial political elites seek to further the long-range interests of their society
• They encounter Ottawa on the negotiating table, which has expansionist tendencies
• New recruits are inducted into prevailing definitions of the situation
• Representatives of French power will seek solutions to French-English problems that do not weaken the central government
• Such efforts are looked on with little favour by government elites in Quebec City
• Federal and provincial governments are not neutral containers, but aggressive actors
• Governing elites view their task as injecting meaning into society
• Each government's policies pull the affected interests into relations of dependence
• By implication of the British North America Act, and by extension The Constitution Act, 1867 gives the provinces authority.

Society and Governments

• Federal governments work towards a country-wide society and economy
• Federal policies are responses to nation-wide considerations
• Ottawa has not hesitated to interfere with provincial policies
• The mission of provincial political elites is more restricted, being territorially confined
• Governments elicit visions of futures to be pursued
• Lesage, Smallwood, Douglas, Bennett, and Manning had coherent purposes for the societies they governed
• The federal government constituted environmental uncertainties that governments managed or reduced
• As they pursue their specific goals federal and provincial elites serve increasing politicization
• From the workaday to private intimate worlds of sex and love, our conduct is affected
• Governmentalized societies, both federal and provincial, are interwoven
• The institutionalization of government automatically reduces the importance of nongovernment groups
• Members of the public are little more than spectators mobilized for electoral purposes
• Canada combines the British tradition of a strong executive with a relative freedom from mass pressure

Paradoxes

• Intergovernmental conflict may take place in the face of public indifference
• The institutionalization process acts as a barrier to public influence
• Canadian federalism is about governments with human and financial resources
• In the Lesage regime, most government activity was initiated by the government itself
• "Demands on government have been in large part self-created."
• Massive impact of government on society does not require prior massive impact on government

Quebec Differences

• Quebec elites respond is not simply the provincial segment of an English-speaking North American culture
• Quebec necessarily involves its government in a host of specific national questions
• Is not in the business of controlling the provincial segment of a larger society
• Is about fostering and stimulating a "full-blown society" infused with nationalistic fervour
• In which the organizations increasingly fall back on the Quebec government
• Singular importance of provincial government in contemporary Quebec is partly a delayed compensation for prior negative government
• The weakness generates pressure to employ the state to redress ethnic imbalance
• Political debate centers on the leading role to be played by government with government's role
• Growing intensity on the people and government of Quebec with the rest of Canada

Governments and Independence

• A sovereign Quebec government would create intense intensity and passion
• Commitment to hold a referendum involves the provincial population
• Differently different than the first sixty years of this century
• Levers of government power to persuade a majority to support independence
• Control the wording and the timing and effort
• Vanguard role of the governing Parti québécois shows that the managerial role is attributed to all governments
• Erosion of support for the federal regime involves extraordinary efforts
• Maximizing direct links with individuals
• The federal system divides quebecers
• Constitutional referendum involves competition to shift or stabilize that dividing line
• Thus this paper portrays the federal political process from the perspective of political and bureaucratic actors
• An examination of a change of direction, impacting citizens, parties, the effect of their political activity

Escalating Demands of Government

• The approach focuses disproportionately on the problems governments encounter due to the transition of society
• Society challenged by policies ranging from education, economy, welfare, meaning devotes resources responding to government
• Most visible at the level of the taxpayer who are compelled to finance well-conceived government ventures
• The taxpayer is burdened by the unplanned introduction of automobile insurance
• Conceptions of efficiency, economy, and rationality difficult to transfer from lecture notes to reality
• Acceptance had increased from 1.9 years in 1973 to 2.1 1974 and 2.3 in 1975.
• Regulatory power to go greatly increased with overhead protecting from industry trade labor interest
• Contemporary government viewed both a potential resource and threat
• Exploited, attacked, or evaded as self-interest and citizen duty
• Individuals and organized interests exit from different area the best thing for movement to be conducted
• Capital knows no loyalty.

Society and Taxes

• Is not the most burdensome and discriminating taxes or not,
• The social economic concerns Canadians in the seek advantages federal system relationship
• Powerful interest stemmed collecting in roads or freedom we can govern attempting regulate concern
• Trudeau served interested advantage door regardless institution
• Attempt to influence the federal division strength
• Group demands the Quebed confederation trade
• The pressure leadership adopting results in of demands

Pressures

• High level goverment
• Localization of industries
• Dominance communities
• Identifying prosperity in particular regions
• Induce at federal levels
• Success thwarting Ottawa client
• Increased provincial taxes royalties
• The overriding tendency is for such groups to structure their institutional life in accordance with authority.

Internal Contradictions

• Government eliciting proliferation struggles requirements
• The observation is cohesiveness of power
• Political system structure organized
• Most by both federal
• Jurisdiction is federated on their executives
• Those reflect provincial concerns
• Result and Ottawa policies
• Adequate and internal

Federalism Impact

• the workings of the party
• In federal regimes is that parties tend toward the government
• The organizational structure of parties tends to correspond
• One the to if adapt
• Structuring to the separation federal provincial manifests
• District career political
• Of public elections

Party Systems

• Reduces national
• Autonomous of reinforce
• Federal system contributes separation
• Federal ideological divergence strategy
• Exist is socioeconomic environments
• Elect separate jurisdictions
• Catalogue arena
• Reflict strategy
• Recognizes consideration

Agreements

• Governments is
• Point governments
• National supporting
• Cooperation
• The greater good agreements
• Government of that
• With interests

Canadian Politics

• Overcome biases
• Reductionism errors
• In enterprise
• Government relationship