Continuity and Change in Canadian Politics: Essays in Honour of David E Smith

Graeme S. Mount is a professor of history at Laurentian University. He
is the author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable
Kingdom, Chile and the Nazis, and The Diplomacy of War: The Case of
Korea.

From 1964 until 2004, Professor David E. Smith taught at the University
of Saskatchewan. He was also a leading authority on constitutional
governance in Canada and a prolific writer. To honour him, editors Hans
J. Michelmann and Cristine de Clercy and 11 distinguished scholars have
contributed essays to this fine work examining contemporary Canadian
politics and government.

Five of the essays deal with federalism. Peter H. Russell (University
of Toronto) summarizes constitutional developments since the defeat of
the Charlottetown Accord in 1992. Thomas J. Courchene (Queen’s
University) argues that since NAFTA’s inception, Canadians trade more
with adjacent states and less with other provinces than in the past, and
that border closures like that on 9/11 could devastate the Canadian
economy. Donald J. Savoie (Université de Moncton) notes that Ontario
and Quebec provide a disproportionate number of federal civil servants.
Йric Montpetit (Université de Montréal) says that government suffers
because increasing numbers of Canadians now regard Canada as a
convenience rather than as their homeland. Brooke Jeffrey (Concordia
University) makes a similar point; Ottawa and the provinces confront
each other, and Canadians pay the price for the lack of co-operation.

The remaining five essays are eclectic. In the only co-authored work,
Greg Poelzer and Ken Coates (University of Saskatchewan) favour greater
self-government for First Nations peoples. Gregory P. Marchildon
(University of Regina) discusses coalition governments in the four
provinces that have had them—Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and
British Columbia. Joseph Garcea (University of Regina) examines recent
unsuccessful attempts to revise the Citizenship Act. Grace Skogstad
(University of Toronto) thinks that the federal Liberals deserve more
support than they have received from prairie farmers. Roger Gibbins
(president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation) reviews (and usually
admires) what Smith has written about Western Canadian politics;
however, the two disagree on the desirability of Senate Reform.

In her conclusions, de Clercy awards a grade of 84 percent to the
writers. It is hard to disagree.