Deferential Federalism: The Politics and Policy Implications of ‘Collaborative’ Federalism Since 1994

Abstract

The topic of this essay is Canada’s evolving federalism. It will examine the development of "collaborative federalism"1 in Canada since the mid-1990s, analysing the politics operating behind it in order to i) detail the stances taken by recent federal governments in their dealings with the provinces and ii) show the consequences of these stances on national policy objectives and social programs. It is this author’s contention that federal governments over the last two decades have intermittently engaged in convenient deference toward their provincial counterparts and that, when this has been done, it has been detrimental to pan-Canadian policy objectives generally and social programs in particular. First of all, the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) of 1994 showcases the weaknesses of framework-oriented policy initiatives that characterize collaborative arrangements. Next, the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) created in the 1995 federal budget highlights how easily the federal government can defer greater authority onto the provinces and what this means for social programs [...]