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The history of the October Crisis has often been analyzed through the lens of Quebec. This article wishes to broaden understanding of the repercussions of this crisis outside the borders of the francophone province by looking at the events that shook academic institutions in the Canadian Prairies and the reactions of the student youth that drove them. Based on analysis of student newspapers from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, it attests to the turmoil on university campuses in the months following the implementation of the War Measures Act, when demonstrations, petitions, teach-ins, and intellectual exchanges followed one another. This analysis sheds light on a certain dichotomy of opinions in the West. While Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau was strongly criticized for his official language policy and his economic centralism by the people and governments, a lull occurred with the October events, whose management by the federal government was welcomed. Student newspapers offered another perspective, that of an engaged youth sensitive to the issues of Quebec, trying to show the perverse effects of this War Measures Act, deemed liberticidal, hostile to radical discourse, and affecting the entire country. In revisiting this era, this article also explores the student journalistic style of the era-- a style that sought to be on the fringes of mainstream media, seen as biased in its treatment of Quebec and of separatist movements. In the eyes of certain students, the liberation of Quebec could lead only to the liberation of Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the resistance strategies adopted by French-Canadian traditionalist intellectuals towards the Canadian welfare state project from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. The article traces the political, legal, and media strategies put forward by François-Albert Angers (1909–2003) in his fight against the Canadian federal government. An economist by training, an academic, and an influential leader of Quebec's nationalist networks, Angers notably fought a legal battle with Canada's Department of National Revenue for nearly a decade (1947–57). Through this saga based on the constitutionality of family allowances, the analysis focuses on central themes of traditionalist discourse, not only in relation to issues of federalism and respect for civil rights, but also in relation to the place of Catholicism within Canadian society. This study thus aims to shed light on the ways in which conservative thinkers in Quebec reacted to the advent of a modern, interventionist Canadian state in the aftermath of the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I argue that the dialogue debate has obscured a much richer story that can be told about Halpern v Canada, same-sex marriage, and the complex relationship between courts and legislatures. The federal government was deeply divided on same-sex marriage. Parliament, the Liberal government, the federal Cabinet, and the liberal caucus were all deeply divided. From the outside, it may have appeared as a 'courts versus government' battle, with the federal government defending the opposite-sex definition of marriage right up until the Ontario Court of Appeal struck it down as unconstitutional in Halpern. But a closer look shows that the federal government's about-face after Halpern had been in the making for years, with supporters trying to use court decisions as well as changing public opinion to wedge open the marriage issue. The same-sex marriage case study can be retold as a story not of dialogue between courts and Parliament but, rather, as a contestation within government. I argue that this story – of conflict and contestation within government and the use of court decisions by proponents of same-sex marriage – can provide a richer account of the evolution of the federal government and the adoption of the Civil Marriage Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes two initiatives for artificial intelligence (AI) underway in the Canadian public service: public consultation and collaboration in compiling an algorithmic impact assessment, and a symposium on AI and human rights held by Global Affairs Canada. The findings contextualize the national consultations on digital and data transformation and future steps for more inclusive AI governance in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, water systems failed in both Walkerton, Ontario, and Pikangikum First Nation. After deaths in Walkerton, the Ontario provincial government responded with an inquiry and increased regulation. Although the Walkerton Inquiry was tasked only with reviewing provincial water regulation, it none the less exposed longstanding systemic problems with the provision of safe drinking water on reserves in Northern Ontario. This led the federal government to develop a series of new protocols for the management of water on reserves. These protocols have failed abjectly, however, a fact illustrated by events in Pikangikum, where the water problem, 17 years later, remains unsolved. The diff erence in the standard of care provided in Walkerton and Pikangikum reflects colonialism, racism, and a fundamental failure of the federal government to live up to its constitutional responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops the concept of jurisdictional framing: describing a policy field as properly belonging to one particular level of government. It applies this concept to explain how federalism frustrated Canadian attempts to create national assisted reproductive technology policy. Canada's failed policy can be traced to how the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies and the federal government failed to align their substantive framing strategies with the procedural requirements of the Canadian Constitution. Future policy studies should focus on the interaction between substantive and jurisdictional framing, as policy failure can stem from the language used to justify legislative authority in unforeseen ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maintenance of Canadian federalism, and Canada itself, depends on workable relationships between its constituent parts that are able to secure political agreement through accommodation. This argument is developed by examining the dispute between Newfoundland and Ottawa over the control of offshore oil and gas from the late 1950s to 1985, which also became a subtext for the pursuit of economic security, justice, and equality for the province. Energy policy, including the offshore, was often a key issue in the fractious intergovernmental relations in Canada in this period, and this article argues for the inclusion of political actors as an important force in shaping politics and political decisions. While it does not ignore partisan divisions and issues of constitutionalism, the article makes the case that political stability in Canada also depends on relationships. As such, the article offers a unique opportunity to reframe our understanding of interstate federalism and redirect the discussion of politics and federalism away from constitutionalism and judicial review to the role of politicians and personal relations in federal-provincial governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the expected impact of the new Canada Health Transfer (CHT) on the capacity of Canadian provinces to provide universal Medicare coverage. We found the new CHT formula, recently redesigned by the federal government, fails to address the differing capacity of provinces to provide Medicare coverage due to the unavoidably higher costs imposed by the population's age structure and geographical dispersion. We propose a modified capitation formula that adjusts for these 'unavoidable' cost factors. The redistributive impact on the provinces is examined as well as the extent to which the proposed CHT fits with other federal transfer, especially Equalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the public indebtedness of the Canadian provinces and the US states (including a share of the federal debt) over the 2000–2007 period. It presents rankings of the most indebted subnational jurisdictions based on five public debt concepts. Among the provinces, Quebec (with the lowest average rank) and Alberta (with the highest average rank) display the most stable position across the rankings. All other provinces show important fluctuations in their position in the rankings. Hence, allocating the federal debt to subnational states and the specific debt concept being considered significantly influence the rankings, quite spectacularly in some instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Province of Alberta seems an unlikely early advocate of multiculturalism; yet, several months before the federal government unveiled its official policy on this issue, it was an Alberta premier, Harry Strom, who demanded that multiculturalism be a condition for constitutional reform during the 1971 Victoria Constitutional Conference. What explains this puzzle? Using William Riker's concept of heresthetics and the literature on Alberta politics, Western alienation, and Canadian federalism, the authors argue that Strom introduced multiculturalism at the conference as a strategic manoeuvre to bolster and defend Alberta's compact perspective on federalism and to block any constitutional change that would prevent Alberta from recognizing itself as an equal and autonomous partner in the Canadian federation. The authors' findings suggest that Riker's concept of heresthetics may be useful for analyzing other instances of intergovernmental relations in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-depth interviews with government officials are a critical research method for the study of government. Historical and institutional factors, and particularly the informal internal dynamics that influence policy, require a depth of understanding that is often best investigated through such interview methods. At the federal level in Canada we see many trends that point to the increasing centralization and control of government information. There has been political interference in Access to Information Requests; the outcomes of scientific research have been suppressed; and media access to politicians has become highly constrained. This led us to ask whether tightening controls on information have also affected access to research interviews with government officials. This paper explores this issue by interviewing both academics and public servants in the Canadian federal government. We ask is there evidence of a tightening grip on access to governmental research interviews and, if so, is this affecting how and what we research? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the prospects for US state and Canadian provincial climate policy innovation and diffusion are limited in several respects. Subnational climate leaders tend already to be the cleanest states and provinces, and even they have been strategic in the sectors they regulate and the instruments they employ. In some cases, this selectivity appears to be motivated by opportunities to shift compliance costs to other states. Efforts to pool risks through state and provincial collaboration also are flagging in the wake of the Canadian and US federal governments' failure to adopt nation-wide policies to level the playing field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fewer Politicians Act (FPA), 1999 (Ontario) led to the creation of identical national and provincial electoral constituencies in the province. While the bill was intended by the provincial Conservative government to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the FPA has also had substantial unanticipated consequences for political party organizations in Ontario. I first review the introduction of the FPA and, second, draw on 60 interviews with party constituency association officials, including seven long-term participants with experience prior to the introduction of the FPA, and make a comparison of associations in Ontario and New Brunswick (where boundaries are not identical) to demonstrate that congruent boundaries facilitate integration and cooperation between national and provincial political parties in the constituencies. Congruent riding boundaries do so by merging the geographic and ecological contexts that both national and provincial party organizations structure themselves in response to, and by reducing the number of actors participating in national-provincial cooperation. The FPA can therefore be understood as a case study of legislation containing important unanticipated consequences, and I conclude the article by evaluating the FPA from this perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite not having explicit authority to legislate on matters local in nature, in 2000 the federal government launched the National Homelessness Initiative (NHI). I argue that this federal program, in many critical aspects, mirrors a governance model developed in the European Union called the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), a model developed in an institutional context whereby the European Commission has no formal authority to coerce member states into coordinating social policy, but nonetheless uses “soft” or voluntary mechanisms to work toward this goal. Vancouver and Toronto are examined more closely to demonstrate how the flexibility of the OMC-style model manifests itself in practice, and the implications for governance, accountability, and effectiveness. I conclude that while the issue of homelessness is principally plagued by insufficient and unstable funding, further application of principles in the OMC model—uniquely applied to the Canadian context—holds promise for improving governance, coordination, and effectiveness of the public policy response to homelessness. Application of the OMC model thus calls for more attention from Canadian federalism scholars and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thesis that Canada's original major political parties were also the principal entities that bound the federation together is a well-explored subject. Over the last four decades, the disappearance of any political party in Canada that can convincingly claim to perform that function arguably throws into doubt the utility of the thesis. In the present article, and focussing once again on the political evolution of Saskatchewan and Alberta, the author re-examines the case he earlier advanced for the pre-eminence of political parties as fundamental institutions for the maintenance of Canada's unity. He argues that this analysis gave inadequate attention to the structures and practices of federalism, an oversight that has grown more evident in light of the strains that have accompanied recent developments in federal-provincial relations, in particular between the centre and the "twin" provinces created by Parliament in 1905. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social policy innovation in Canada remains stunted despite recent attempts at social policy renewal via intergovernmental agreements. The fusion of accountability and policy learning is typically blamed, yet this ignores other potential factors. This article examines the Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities to highlight impediments to social program expansion and reform within governments as well as between governments, and how the design of recent agreements serves to reinforce those impediments. We find that the linkage of accountability and policy learning means that learning gets caught up in long-standing federal-provincial disputes over jurisdiction, and leads to a perverse form of learning. We also find significant barriers to innovation in the nature of federal government funding, which provides neither incentives for “have provinces” to expand their programming nor sufficient funds for “have not” provinces to successfully transform their programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that while asymmetrical arrangements among the units of any federation are necessary and even desirable, federal encroachments on provincial jurisdiction in Canada over the past few decades have triggered a protective impulse in the provinces that has resulted in a multiplication of deals recognizing provincial differences. The nature and variety of such arrangements are undermining the sense of federal comity, goodwill, and understanding so critical to national unity. To avoid heading further down this trajectory and attenuating the bonds that hold the nation together, the federal government should reconsider its role in the federation. While the current Conservative government policy of open federalism begins this reconceptualization of federal and provincial roles and responsibilities, more constructive and principled action is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]