Dilemmas of Solidarity: Rethinking Redistribution in the Canadian Federation.

Graeme S. Mount is a history professor at Laurentian University and
author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable Kingdom.

As this review is being written, controversy rages over the Harper government’s plan to increase the number of Members of Parliament. Alberta and British Columbia will have additional members proportionate to their population growth. Ontario too will have more members, but not as many as the rep-by-pop formula would require. Premier Dalton McGuinty has protested, but counter-arguments are that (1) there is limited space for new M.P.s in the House of Commons; (2) others need additional M.P.s more than Ontarians do; (3) an increase in Ontario while Quebec retains its 75 would be bad for Canadian unity; (4) Ontarians are less likely than Albertans and British Columbians to vote Conservative (an argument not voiced aloud). The appearance of this book is timely.

The writers delivered these chapters as conference papers at the University of Toronto in February 2004. Richard Simeon of the University of Toronto argues that Canada needs a strong federal government. Sujit Choudhry, also from the University of Toronto, discusses the role of cities in Canada. He sees them as the nation’s economic and cultural engines. Alain Noël of the Université de Montréal says that the existence of a federal government makes it possible to share “on a large scale.” Paul and Catherine Booth, from the Universities of Alberta and British Columbia respectively, relate redistribution to personal income tax. David G. Duff of the University of Toronto also deals with taxation, as do Lorne Sossin, again from the University of Toronto, and François Vaillancourt of the Université de Montréal. Andrée Lajoie of the Université de Montréal notes the significance of federal spending power, while her colleague Daniel Weinstock handles a non-monetary issue, liberty. Peter Russell, a University of Toronto political scientist who specializes in constitutional matters, challenges Lajoie’s interpretation and suggests that political agreements are preferable to constitutional changes. Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens of the Université de Montréal emphasizes the importance of jurisdictional autonomy.

This book enriches the present debate. Politicians, pundits, and letters to the editor have provided the skeleton. The professors, from four universities in Canada’s four largest provinces, have added the meat.