Big Government and the Constitution Crisis

Agar Adamson is the author of Letters of Agar Adamson, 1914–19 and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

Mackness, the Dean of Management at the University of Manitoba, has long
been a controversial economic commentator. This book continues the
Mackness tradition.

One may not agree with his assumption that Canada faces “fiscal
failure,” but one will agree that the Liberal government prior to 1984
drastically weakened our fiscal system, and that the Tories refused to
use their majority to “do something about the national finances.”

Mackness contends that “it is not subsidizing the poor which breaks
the bank, rather it is subsidizing the middle and upper income groups
which both corrupts the electoral system and wrecks the national
finances.” This idea will not be received with universal consent. Nor
will everyone agree that there must be devolution of power from Ottawa
to all of the provinces.

But the careful reader, one who approaches this work with an open mind,
will find that Mackness has presented some valuable
arguments—arguments that deserve to be widely debated. After all, the
status quo of big government with big deficits is unacceptable, yet no
political party has the desire to get to the roots of the mess. His
proposal of “devolution” may not be the universal answer, but it
would keep some of the provinces happy.