Ottawa and the Outer Provinces: The Challenge of Regional Integration in Canada

Raymond B. Blake is director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount
Allison University and the author of Canadians at Last: Canada
Integrates Newfoundland as a Province.

Federal–provincial conflict has become a trademark of Canadian
federalism. Stephen Tomblin argues that as the federal government
reduces transfers to the provinces, and as market-based decisions come
to play a more important role, the necessity for regional integration
will increase. From his examination of Canada’s three “outer”
regions—Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, and British Columbia—Tomblin
concludes that the economic strength and growing populations of the four
westernmost provinces will make it extremely difficult for the federal
government to encourage and promote formal regional integration in that
part of the country. Atlantic Canada, on the other hand, will have
little alternative but to work toward regional cooperation as the
larger, wealthier provinces pursue their self-interests. Tomblin
recommends that the Atlantic premiers create new regional institutions
in order to facilitate a cooperative approach to policymaking.

It is not clear how another layer of bureaucrats will help any region
in times of dwindling revenues. Indeed, Tomblin’s discussion of
regional integration remains general throughout; the more controversial
issues surrounding this policy option are left for others to address.
Despite its occasional vagueness, however, this is a worthwhile book for
followers of Canada’s rapidly changing political scene.