ipl-logo

Advantages Of The Centralization Of Canadian Federation

1128 Words5 Pages

The level of centralization in the Canadian federation has greatly fluctuated since its formation in 1867 with the enactment of the British North America Act (*). At its beginning, the level of centralization and the amount of power in the hands of the federal government raised questions on whether or not Canada could even be considered a federation (*). Over time, a tendency towards decentralization emerged and changes to the application of the Constitution lead to more powers being shared across the provincial governments (*). Nowadays, it is widely believed that the Canadian federation is one of the most decentralized federations in the world. (https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/senatoreugeneforsey/book/chapter_4-e.html). However, …show more content…

To be able to understand this concept, it important to understand the roles of the Canadian Constitution. On the one hand, it distributes the powers across the two levels of government (Hubbard & Paquet, 2011). On the other hand, it lays out how judicial interpretation should be applied at the federal level in regards to power distribution and decisions related to the application of the Constitution (Hubbard & Paquet, 2011). The very process places provincial governments in a position of subordinate since they are subject to the interpretation of the Constitution by federal judges of the Supreme Court of Canada (Hubbard & Paquet, 2011). Centralization occurs as a result of the constitutional distribution of powers enabling judicial decisions to be taken at the federal level (Hubbard & Paquet, 2011). It is noteworthy to mention that this phenomenon does not appear to result directly from the original text of the Constitution; the responsibility is on governmental practices that have developed from judicial interpretations of the division of powers (Hubbard & Paquet, 2011). Such judicial decisions are believed to shape the applications of the Constitution and the constitutional order in ways that lead to higher centralization and that put Canadian federalism at stake (Hubbard & Paquet,

Show More
Related

  • 1763: Constitutional Act Lower And Upper Canada

    466 Words  | 2 Pages

    The constitutional act in 1791 got divided into upper and lower canada by britain. This made changes to the quebec act. It affected people in lower canada and lower canada. The people in lower and upper canada payed money to the church. This is the cause of two separate systems because there was a lieutenant for upper and lower canada.

    Read More

  • Craig Markham Analysis

    1276 Words  | 6 Pages

    This method of legal governance was created based upon the common law system that is used in England and in some areas of Scotland. This organizational hierarchy is considered bi-jurisdictional, which is a result of the public and private laws being separated into the jurisdictions of the Parliament and the individual Provinces. Regardless of which unit is governing, each legal system is responsible for upholding the laws written in the Canadian Constitution. The Canadian Parliament has sole control over the transportation and energy infrastructures of the country, no matter which Province they reside

    Read More

  • Examples Of How The Constitution Blocks Tyranny

    1041 Words  | 5 Pages

    “James Madison’s idea of the division of power between central and state governments is known as federalism.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788) The state governments have the power to make local decisions such as establishing schools, passing marriage and divorce laws, and to hold elections. Whereas the central government has the power to make decisions that affect the country such as, to provide an army and navy, set up post offices, and regulate trade. As James Madison said, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.”

    Read More

  • Essay On April Accord

    1182 Words  | 5 Pages

    The tension between provincial and federal government is a continual struggle for power in Canadian politics. On April 16th, 1981, the highly debated April Accord was signed by the Gang of 8 and proposed to Trudeau as an amending formula for the Constitution. On the surface, it appeared to demonstrate a united front within the provinces in the Gang of 8. However, there is much controversy over whether the accord was an authentic solution to the amending formula or a way to stall negotiations since Trudeau would not approve it. Thus, the April Accord represents the political tension between the Gang of 8 and Prime Minister Trudeau.

    Read More

  • Constitutional Convention Vs Federalism Dbq

    734 Words  | 3 Pages

    Federalism is the division of power between central and State Goverments. Document A states " The power surrendered by the people is first divided by two distinct Goverments and the portion alotted to each subdivided between distinct and separate departments". The powers that are given

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Monarchy In Canada

    564 Words  | 3 Pages

    The founding fathers of Canada when they put down the agreement of the Confederation did not envisage many cases such as the power of controlling the water sources. There are many differences over the ruling power between the federal government and the provinces, which makes the role of the queen critical in ruling between them (Salter & Hebert, 2014). The second role of the Queen in Canada is leading the crown institutions whose job does not depend on the parties at power, the RCMP, and the Central Bank of Canada are examples of these institutions that are supervised by the Queen and their leaders are nominated by

    Read More

  • Pierre Trudeau Federalism

    1515 Words  | 7 Pages

    316). Rocher draws upon the same historical timeline as Trudeau when he alludes to the period of modernization in Quebec after WWII, however he focuses on the distribution of autonomy and responsibility to provinces for managing their own institutions separate from the central government (p. 316). The transfer of health care, education, social services, and economic development was representative of the pragmatism of the constitution and the sharing of jurisdictions between regional and central governments (p. 316). Although there is no mention of the role of nationalism by Rocher, he thoroughly mentions the role the central government plays in ensuring national unity, he describes the position of the federal government as “having to consult, coordinate and, inevitably, compromise in the face of mounting federal-provincial conflict”, this is connected to the discussion of compromise between the central and regional governments described by Trudeau (p.

    Read More

  • Why Is Entdeckungland Be Considered An Asymmetric Federalism?

    1187 Words  | 5 Pages

    Clearly, asymmetric federalism can help the provinces to work together by filling in gaps of what is needed with some government

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The Ba Act

    772 Words  | 4 Pages

    The British North America Act created an enduring federation that matured into a peaceful, prosperous and well governed state, while challenging successive governments to alter its amending formula and distribution of powers to meet the needs of its inhabitants, except the British North American Act didn’t take many groups of people like the First Nation, Acadians, and Irish into consideration . The B.N.A Act created the dominion of Canada, established powers of the federal government and provincial government from the dominion of Canada. It set out rules of how the government of Canada work. Although not everyone was satisfied with the outcome of the B.N.A Act. Even though the 1867 constitution did establish a workable system of government, it did not prevent disputes over the division of powers in overlapping areas of authority such as taxation and in new areas

    Read More

  • John A. Macdonald: Responsible Government

    950 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Let us be French, let us be english, but most importantly let us be Canadian.” This is a quote by John A. Macdonald from about 150 years ago and he was the first Prime Minister of Canada and had a political career which spanned for almost half a century. He also set a legacy that keeps our country together and united. One of the major events that happened that I will discuss is responsible government because it was a big part of history, was important to the people and it was an executive or Cabinet that would be dependent on the support of an elected assembly. But even before responsible government was created there was a lot of conflict between the British and the French which led to a few important events.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Under New Federalism

    2361 Words  | 10 Pages

    A president is truly affective when he is able to get his policy agenda through Congress. For him to do this, it is paramount that he has the support from the majority of the public. When a president is unpopular, members of Congress will have little incentive to pass his preferred legislation, since doing so will potentially have negative consequences for them (i.e. not winning reelection). It is also important that the president be a competent negotiator if he is to get his agenda passed. It is unrealistic for a president to expect that he will get all aspects of a particular agenda item passed without making his concessions.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Dual Federalism

    1106 Words  | 5 Pages

    Interactions amid the provinces and the federal government, from constitutional issues to the most irresistible topics bang up-to-date in the country, are indemnified beneath the umbrella of “Federalism”. Authorities are shared so that on some matters, the state governments are decision-holders, whereas on the other matters, national government grasps the autonomy. In last twenty-five years, the upsurge of federal fiats on both governments, local and state, has shifted the power amongst state and national governments. Now, the national government is beginning to have more governance over the state’s engagements.

    Read More

  • Essay On Canadian Constitution Vs Us Constitution

    521 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two constitution I am gonna compare are the United States of America constitution, and the Canadian constitution. Like the U.S constitution, the Canadian constitution is mostly the same since it got many of its laws from the U.S constitution. Both constitution have many provinces that they are divided into since the place is too big, as well as to divide power, as well as that they both have an executive power since they need someway to be able to divide the power. Unlike the U.S, Canada has a Queen that controls the executive government. Canada has its own version of the Bill Of Rights called Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the end of its constitution.

    Read More

  • Political Issues In The Handmaid's Tale

    988 Words  | 4 Pages

    However,

    Read More

  • Advantages Of Federation

    117 Words  | 1 Pages

    years supporters of federation for Australia have grown larger. Each colony sent representatives to conventions, to organize how federation will form. Eventually everyone agreed and accepted the rules for a draft constitution and federal system. There were a number of referendums to accept the new Australian constitution and federation. The Constitution established a federal Parliament, which could make laws on behalf of the new Australian nation.

    Read More

More about Advantages Of The Centralization Of Canadian Federation

Open Document