Canada: The State of the Federation 1990

Nobuaki Suyama is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the
University of Alberta.

The Canadian federation has embarked on a new phase with the death of
the Meech Lake Accord. This edition of the Institute’s annual book on
federalism is dedicated to Donald Smiley, a leading scholar on the
question, who unfortunately did not outlive the Accord. This is a
welcome addition to the literature on Canadian federalism, as were the
four previous volumes. On the whole, the chapters contained in this
issue are of high quality, although some are better than others. The
same format was followed as in the previous editions: in one section,
three articles focus on the issues (constitutional, minoritarianism, the
public’s view, and fiscal federalism) and three papers in another
section focus on the provinces (Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland).
A third section, prepared especially for this volume, aims to interpret
the Meech Lake fiasco with the benefit of hindsight.

Simeon, an English-Canadian, and Fournier, a French-Canadian, analyze
the demise of the Accord, with the reader’s expectation that the two
different viewpoints would lead to an interesting contrast. However,
both develop strikingly similar arguments: that changes in society in
English Canada and Quebec brought about miscalculation on the part of
politicians. English-Canadians increasingly insecure about their
identity and French-Canadians in search of a comfortable definition of
their existence did not meet and stay at the same point with the
“distinct society” clause. This fundamental divergence between the
two parties lay deeply below all sorts of other “ifs” and
“buts.” Cairns presents us with a unique view of the Constitution
that explores an inadequately tilled field in Canadian political
science. He argues that the Charter has significantly influenced
Canadian constitutional culture and that Meech Lake was based on a
profound underestimation of “Chartered” Canadians. His
article—with its stress on the minorities, such as women, aboriginals,
and third-force ethnic Canadians—is essential reading for any serious
student of Canadian politics. Bird, a well-known expert on
federal-provincial fiscal relations, writes a neat, comprehensive essay
that both specialists and novices will find useful. Bonin’s chapter on
the immigration problem of Quebec is quite good in the scope covered and
in the materials used. It is absolutely invaluable for examining the
essence of the matter, which is most likely to remain on the agenda in
the Ottawa-Quebec relationship for many years to come.

The chapters mentioned above are strongly recommended for selective
reading, although energetic readers are encouraged to complete the
entire book. Finally, readers will find a convenient bibliography on the
Meech Lake Accord in the appendix.