Week 3- Federalism

What is Federalism?

  • Sovereignty 

    • Who has the supreme or ultimate authority within a defined territory

    • Whoever is sovereign usually has a monopolization

  • Federalism: a political system defined by a division of sovereignty between two (or more) levels of government 

    • Usually territorially based, national level and subnational level, ex. Provincial- Ontario, vs. Canada- Federal

    • How we divide power is protected and enforced by the constitution

    • The constitution typically gives national power over bigger issues such as military, and provincial has more local issues such as courts

    • Sub-governments also have policymaking power

    • Power is equally dispersed between national and provincial governments

    • Ex. canada has ½, ontario has ¼, alberta has ¼, etc.

  • What states in the world are federal?

    • We got federalism from the US


If not Federal?

Federal States are distinct from:

  • Unitary

    • National Gov’t have all the power, if provinces are delegated/ have power it’s because the national govt gave it to them (they can take it away)

    • National Gov’t is sovereign

    • Ex. China

  • Confederal

    • National gov’t was created by the provinces, and they have all the power over the national gov’t

    • They only exercise power that was delegated to them

    • No modern countries that are currently conferral, but an ex. Is the european union, a bunch of european countries decided to come together and have a common currency, common set of laws, delegated from all of the countries (not actually a federal state, its a supranational organization)


Canadian Federalism

  • Sovereignty divided between the federal and provincial governments 

  • Territorial governments 

    • Are like a province, so they have powers that are similar to what the provinces have, however this is not in the constitution, so it is delegated by the federal gov’t

    • Federal gov’t is sovereign

  •  Local governments 

    • Cities only exist because of the provinces

    • Ex. ontario is sovereign over toronto, they could abolish them if they want

  • Aboriginal governments

    • In the constitution act of 1867, the federal gov’t is explicitly assigned authority over “indians and lands reserved for indians”

    • Today, they are treated more like municipalities, but this is patchy and not the same over all of canada

    • Not in the constitution


Essential Elements of Federalism

  1. Constitutionally entrenched division of powers 

  2.  Neutral arbiter of jurisdictional disputes (Supreme Court) 

  • Like a referee when provinces disagree

  • (ex. Supreme court in things like quebec succession, look at this for the paper)

  1. Sub-national representation at the national level (Senate, Cabinet) 

  • Makes sure that all municipalities are represented, ex. Chris Bittle goes to the senate and speaks for st. catharines

  1. A process of intergovernmental relations (executive federalism)

    • The premiers and PM sit down and talk about how they are going to solved a situation


The Division of Powers

  • Entrenched in the Constitution Act, 1867 

  • Primarily found in sections 91-95 

  • Initially created a very centralized federal state

    • The federal government TECHNICALLY could veto provincial powers, we don’t use this)

  • Canada has become increasingly decentralized since; it is now one of the most decentralized federations in the world 

    • Power is more dispersed to the provinces by the supreme court (PAPER)


Federal Power- S.91

  • The residual power: “Peace, order and good government” 

    • Anything that is not explicitly delegated to the provinces in the constitution is given to the federal gov’t

  • The nation-building powers:

    • Currency

    • Postal service 

    • Military 

    • Navigation and Shipping 

    • Trade and Commerce 

    • Fisheries 

    • Banking


Provincial Powers- S.92

  • The ‘housekeeping’ powers: 

    • Local governments 

    •  Hospitals and insane asylums 

    • Solemnization of marriage 

    • “Property and civil rights”

Unilateralism, Bilateralism, and Multilateralism

  • Unilateralism: any instance when an individual government, more or less decides to make decisions for themselves. Decisions made particularialy by a provincial govt.

    • Could have unintended consequences- going beyond one of the bud-states (provinces)

    • Provinces as “laboratories of democracy” 

      • Give a certain amount of power to experiment with policy dependant on location (one of the “happy incidents”)

      • Although, it allows for creativity and experimentation within policymaking

    • Policy diffusion:if a policy proves good and or actually works; this gives other provinces the ability to implement, try, and or reshape how said policy works within other provinces.

    • “Province-building” - Exercise in building province based capacity; the Quebec government implementing what they want in their province, within their own interest (sovreignty)

    • “Races to the bottom” - if everyone acts within their own interest, its a race to the bottom 

      • acting independently; every province is racing to push each others policies further down

  • Bilateralism and Multilateralism

    • Work with other provinces or the government; on the basis of province size (usually smaller ones, ex. PEI)

    • Bilateralism: Two governemnts working together

    • Multilateralism: multiple governments working together on something, ex. Climate change.

    • Executive federalism


Executive Federalism

  • Executive Federalism: “…the relations between elected and appointed officials of the two levels of government in federalprovincial interactions and among the executives of the provinces in interprovincial interactions…” (Smiley). 

    • The federal government portions that sit down together who go over decisions (higher- higher- higher- ups)

  • A major feature of Canadian federalism since the 1930s, becomes more prominent in 1960s 

    • Now is a central portion of the Canadian govt’

    • Fundamental issues: health care, education, etc.

  • The prevalence of executive federalism depends, in part, on the PM’s decision-making style


Case study Climate Policy

  • Vancouver agrees to an intergovernmental agreement (vancouver declaration of clean growth and climate change)

  • Pricing carbon, fighting climate change

  • 2 years later, no plans happen yet “no answer yet”

Executive Federalism and Public Policy

  • Executive federalism is prevalent in almost every policy area in Canada 

  • Many important policy decisions are made in intergovernmental negotiations, not in the elected legislatures 

  • The ‘democratic deficit’ of intergovernmental negotiations 

  • Why are intergovernmental negotiations so secretive?


Why is Executive Federalism so Prevalent?

Reasons for pursuing intergovernmental cooperation:

  1. Some areas of jurisdiction are shared 

  2.  Some policy issues touch multiple areas of jurisdiction

  3. Some policy issues have extra-territorial effects 

  4. Some policy issues involve fiscal transfers



Intergovernmental Agreements

  • Intergovernmental agreements 

  • They have become a form of public policy in Canada

  • Legal status of intergovernmental agreements 

  • Asymmetrical federalism 

    • Pros/Cons