Canada: The State of the Federation 1996

Joseph Garcea is a professor of political Studies at the University of
Saskatchewan.

The articles in the 1996 edition of this valuable annual publication are
devoted to the evolution of Canadian federalism in the wake of the 1995
Quebec referendum.

The first section, titled “The Aftermath of the Referendum,”
contains articles that address a series of interesting and important
issues, including the long-term effect of the referendum on
Canada-Quebec relations, the activities of major citizens’ groups that
have been spawned by the politics of Canadian unity, and the thrust of
both federal-provincial relations and provincial public policy
undertaken by Lucien Bouchard in the first six months of his
premiership.

Articles in the second section, titled “Constitutional and
Non-Constitutional Change,” deal with a variety of developments having
to do with constitutional and various policy fields. The extent to which
the new federalism and new public management have shaped constitutional
and political reform proposals and initiatives in labor-market training,
health policy, and cultural policy is examined, along with Indian land
claims settlement policies and processes in British Columbia.

All of the articles are well written. The editors have done an
exceptional job of ensuring that a few of the major political events and
policy initiatives of 1996 are analyzed in depth. One cannot help
wondering if they have ever contemplated expanding this annual
publication to accommodate a greater number of the year’s major
developments.