The Constitutional Future of the Prairie and Atlantic Regions of Canada

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.

In the fall of 1991, scholars representing the two “forgotten
regions” of Canada met in Regina to commence a two-part study of
various issues common and uncommon to the two regions; the second half
of the study took place in Halifax in September 1992.

This book, which comprises papers presented at the study, is divided
into four sections: issues of regionalism; economic problems and
prospects; social, political and cultural issues; and constitutional
issues. The authors, with one exception, are academics at either
Atlantic or Prairie universities, and they cover the intellectual
spectrum from conservative to Marxist. Though topics are wide-ranging,
issues concerning the First Nations and other minorities are given less
than adequate coverage.

What is perhaps the most significant aspect of this work is that it
concentrates on the two Canadian “hinterlands” that are so often
overlooked by scholars, public servants, politicians, and the media.
While the events of October 26, 1992, diminish the relevance of some of
these papers, Wade MacLauchlan’s “A Constitutional Commitment to
Survival on the Margins” and the two papers on regionalism by Gerald
Friesen and Margaret Conrad are examples of strong scholarship and will
prove useful to students of Canadiana.

One hopes that this publication, and the one that will follow, will not
be the last attempt to explain the “handicap” of the hinterland to
those who live in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. As Thérиse
Arseneau states, “What is crucial is the complaint which lies at the
heart of the grievances of the two regions—lack of political voice in
the central government.” Those who do not live “on the periphery”
must hear this message. And that is the importance of this book, for in
different ways and with different voices, it gives the reader the same
message: the periphery wants in.