Canada The State Of The Federation 1995

After the Quiet Revolution policies in Quebec society were driven by a discourse of sovereignty and Quebec nation-building that fundamentally challenged the legitimacy and integrity of the Canadian federation. Since the 1995 referendum a different set of priorities has come to the fore in Quebec society - health care, education, employment and economic development, security, and the environment. These are the same issues that dominate the public agenda across the country. Canada: The State of the Federation 2005 explores the significance of this shift - is it a temporary period of calm or an essential realignment of Quebec's relationships with Canada and the rest of the world? Can the abatement of overt nationalist sentiment be attributed to the success of nationalist policies themselves, particularly those relating to the French language? Authors in this volume examine the political economy of Quebec nationalism, the impact of regional and global integration, the rise of new social movements, political party dynamics, the increasingly multicultural character of urban Quebec, and the shifting intergovernmental dynamics in the federation.

Courts are key players in the dynamics of federal countries since their rulings have a direct impact on the ability of governments to centralize and decentralize power. Courts in Federal Countries examines the role high courts play in thirteen countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Nigeria, Spain, and the United States. The volume’s contributors analyse the centralizing or decentralizing forces at play following a court’s ruling on issues such as individual rights, economic affairs, social issues, and other matters. The thirteen substantive chapters have been written to facilitate comparability between the countries. Each chapter outlines a country’s federal system, explains the constitutional and institutional status of the court system, and discusses the high court’s jurisprudence in light of these features. Courts in Federal Countries offers insightful explanations of judicial behaviour in the world’s leading federations.

First published in French in 2006, Le fédéralisme canadien contemporain was immediately recognised as the most comprehensive collection of reflections on Canadian federalism by leading Québécois scholars. This remarkable translation of a range of Québécois voices makes their insightful and underrepresented perspectives available to English-language audiences. Offering alternative views of the Canadian federal model's realities by covering its foundations, traditions, and institutions, Contemporary Canadian Federalism considers the ways in which federalism relates to issues such as regionalism, multiculturalism, rights and freedoms, financial distribution, and public policy. Filled with stimulating work that bridges the gap between distinctive traditions in English- and French-Canadian scholarship on federalism, this important volume is required reading for understanding provincial-federal relations and Canadian governance.

In October 2015, the federal Liberals came to power with sweeping plans to revamp Canada's democratic and federal institutions - a modernizing agenda intended to revitalize Canada's democratic architecture. The centrepiece of the agenda was the replacement of Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system, but they also promised to revitalize relations with the provinces, bring Indigenous Peoples into the intergovernmental fold, and to change the ways in which senators and Supreme Court justices are appointed. How has the reform agenda faired? Has it resulted in a more effective and democratic set of political and federal institutions? Or has it largely failed to deliver on these objectives? What, more broadly, is the state of Canada's democratic and federal institutions? The Queen's Institute of Intergovernmental Relations used the occasion of Canada's 150th birthday to examine these pressing issues. The 2017 volume in the State of the Federation series focuses on enduring questions about the functioning of federalism and intergovernmental relations in Canada, including how we should evaluate the quality of Canada's institutions and practices in light of our federal structure, and how current institutional arrangements and their possible alternatives fare according to these criteria.

The prospect of Quebec secession remains a threat to the integrity of the Canadian state and the well-being of Canadians. This was demonstrated by the defeat of the sovereignist force in the Quebec referendum of 1995. This book looks at the questions and circumstances surrounding this province.

Renewing and expanding national infrastructure is critical to the wellbeing and productivity of Canadians and is one of the foremost challenges confronting our federal, provincial and municipal governments. Not only are the required investments dauntingly large for all three levels of government, but so too is the required level of intergovernmental cooperation if our goals are to be realized. The 2015 State of the Federation volume advances our understanding of these infrastructure challenges and identifies how best to resolve them. The contributors to the volume provide historical or international comparative perspectives and utilize legal, economic, or administrative approaches to examine the nature and magnitude of the so-called infrastructure deficit and the question of how best to finance the necessary investments. The possible roles played by deficits and debt are considered, together with options such as public-private partnerships and asset recycling, and a possible Aboriginal resource tax to finance the on-reserve infrastructure needs of First Nations. Considerable attention is also paid to pricing the use of infrastructure both to achieve efficiency in use and to avoid excess demand and an exaggerated perception of the required level of investment. Other contributors examine the infrastructure-investment-decision processes at the federal and provincial levels and consider the optimal allocation of responsibility for infrastructure investments among the different levels of government, and the related issue of the role of intergovernmental transfers to underwrite this allocation.

In this edition of Canada: State of the Federation, contributors consider whether and to what degree the relationship between the central government and the provincial and territorial governments has changed in the past decade. The authors address three overarching questions. First, is the power base changing in Canada? If so, how are governments responding? Second, what are the implications of the changing environment for the relationships between governments? And third, are there underlying forces – such as economic or technological change, or demands for citizen engagement – that are pushing some provinces and regions to become more assertive in the global environment? The papers are organized into four categories: those that identify and analyze the changing federal environment; those concerned with the implications of the 2011 federal election; those that deal with health policy and economic federalism; and those that explore the growing importance of the North and the changing dynamics among the provinces and the federal government. Among the topics discussed are the impact of a majority government based on a West-Ontario coalition, with Quebec represented primarily by the Opposition, the implications of the trade-off between health care spending and the public financing of other essential public goods, and second-generation trade agreements, such as the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Trade Agreement.