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Sep 28, 2021 · Most Canadians continue to be comfortable with the decentralized nature of their federation, with relatively few seeing the need to transfer powers from their provincial or territorial government to Ottawa (figure 2). More significantly, there has been relatively little change since 2019, including in the year after the onset of the pandemic (i.e. between 2020 and 2021).
- Andrew Parkin
Canadians sharply more dissatisfied with direction of...
- Andrew Parkin
Our latest Confederation of Tomorrow survey of Canadians finds that, despite the scale of the emergency, there has been more continuity than change in Canadian attitudes about the federation. Most importantly, the experience has not upended Canadians’ longstanding preference for a decentralized federation with strong provincial governments.
- Abstract
- Methodology
- Creating A Centralized Federation: The Compromise of 1867
- Dynamic De/Centralization
- Contemporary Static De/Centralization
- Conclusion
There is much debate about de/centralization in the Canadian federation. The main narrative is that Canada has evolved from being centralized at its birth to being one of the world’s most decentralized federations (Bakvis and Skogstad 2002, 4). Writing in 1951, constitutional expert F.R. Scott stated: “Since 1867 the jurisdiction of the central gov...
This article provides a panoramic view of dynamic de/centralization in Canada by assessing twenty-two policy fields (on both legislative and administrative authority) and five fiscal categories on a seven-point scale for every decade between 1870 and 2010. For the policy assessment, on this scale, one represents a field where authority is exclusive...
The creation of the Canadian federation in 1867 was the product of a compromise. Although the formation of a new state from the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada (Canada East and Canada West since the 1840 Act of Union) offered potential security and market benefits to political and economic elites (as well ...
In 1986, Richard Simeon spoke about Canada’s “exceptionalism” when it came to de/centralization. Whereas mainstream thinking held that “[M]odernization and centralization went hand in hand,” Simeon found that Canada experienced decentralization beginning in the 1960s (Simeon 1986, 449). There is much truth to Simeon’s assertion, although decentrali...
The process of dynamic de/centralization discussed below has produced a federation with a more equal balance between federal and provincial authority than originally existed. Provinces now have exclusive, almost exclusive or predominant power in seven policy fields while for the federal parliament it is nine. The federal and provincial parliaments ...
This research provides partial validation for the main narrative on the evolution of federalism in Canada. Overall, the path has been a decentralist one but, contrary to that narrative, decentralization has been slight. Indeed, the extent of the historical decentralization of the Canadian federation may be exaggerated in the literature (Stevenson 2...
- André Lecours
- 2019
Sep 12, 2024 · Pooling four waves of the Confederation of Tomorrow surveys, we find strong public support for decentralization in Canada, already a highly decentralized federation. Survey results indicate Canadians’ are generally satisfied with the status quo power-sharing relationship.
Jul 4, 2019 · Canada is normally considered to be one of the more decentralized federations although the Constitution Act, 1867 had elements of centralization. For example, the federal government has the power to disallow provincial legislation (see Reservation and Disallowance), a power actively used in the first decades of our federal history but now totally in disuse, and the power to appoint the members ...
Feb 7, 2006 · Last Edited December 16, 2013. Decentralization, in federal countries, occurs when there is a substantial sharing of power, authority, financial resources and political support among federal, provincial and local GOVERNMENTS. The less concentrated these resources are in the central government, the more decentralized the system.
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Horizontal Equity: Canada as a ‘Sharing Community’ As in other federations, Canadian provinces vary widely in their wealth and per capita income, and hence in their capacity to raise the revenues necessary to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities. This could be a dangerous problem in a federation as fiscally decentralized as Canada.
