The structural problem of Canadian federalism

Abstract. A federal system must attempt to deal with diversities which are territorially based. It can do this through two procedures: (i) conferring the power over some of these most pervasive diversities on the states or provinces; (ii) giving the constituent regional units a permanent voice in the central government. It is the argument of this paper that Canadian federalism has come to rely too exclusively on the first method to the neglect of the second. Thus from time to time important geographically-based attitudes and interests find they have little influence in the federal government and turn to the provinces instead. Thus the price of the survival of Canadian federalism may be the radical restructuring of the central government to make it more effectively representative of these territorially-based diversities. Several tentative suggestions are made to this end - measures to decrease the dominance of the Prime Minister over Parliament, a federal bureaucracy based deliberately on representative lines, the reorganization of the cabinet and several of the departments of government to make them more representative of geographically-based interests, reforms in the electoral system. In general, the survival of Canadian federalism requires some method to obstruct the growing power of the provinces and this method may well be that central institutions come to act in terms of Calhoun's rule of concurrent majorities. Sommaire. Tout systène fédéral doit essayer de s'occuper des situations diverses dont la base est géographique. Cela peut se faire de deux façons: (i) endonnant aux états ou aux provinces le pouvoir de traiter de certaines des particularités les plus courantes; (ii) en donnent aux groupes représentant les régions une voix permanente au sein du gouvernement central. Cette communication soutient que le fédéralisme canadien en est arrivéà utiliser presque exclusivement la premiere méthode au détriment de la seconde. De temps à autre, des attitudes et intérêts d'inspiration géographique se trouvent exercer peu d'influence dans le gouvernement fédéral et tendent à sa manifester au niveau provincial. Ainsi le prix de la survive du fédéralisme canadien pourrait être la restructuration radicale du gouvernement central pour qu'il représente mieux les diversités à base territoriale. On a offert différentes suggestions à cette fin - des mesures pour diminuer l'emprise du premier ministre sur le parlement, une bureaucratie fédérate établie de facon délibérée d'après le principe de la représentation, la réorganisation du cabinet et de plusieurs ministères du gouvernement pour qu'ils représentent mieux les intérêts géographiques, des réformes du système électoral. D'une façon générale, la survie du fédéralisme canadien dépend d'une méthode permettant d'enrayer le pouvoir croissant des provinces et il se pourrait que cette méthode demande que les institutions centrales se conforment à la règie de Calhoun des majorités coexistantes.     

Black Petes & Black Crooks? Racial stereotyping and offending in the Netherlands

In the popular Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, the caricature of his helper ‘Zwarte Piet’ [Black Pete] is often of a black-faced white person. The representation of this character has been surrounded by controversy in Europe and abroad. The following paper discusses these recent controversial media stories in the Netherlands and Western Europe along with the historical context of this character. We also make an argument about how the pervasive imagery in news, television, and theatre of people of color in the Netherlands may be influencing crime statistics by creating and encouraging negative views of ‘the other’. In the Netherlands, Dutch Caribbean and Surinamese first-generation immigrants compared to white, native Dutch are over-represented in official arrest and prison statistics. We theorize that the reasons for this noticeable overrepresentation in crime statistic is it at least in part due to a societal stigma of ‘the other’ and racial profiling of black ethnic minorities.     

Public Sector Politics, Modernization, and Federalism: The Canadian and American Experiences

The focus of this analysis is an attempt to compare Canadianand American federalism in terms of Samuel Beer's modernizationtheory. In Canada, it is argued that modernization had led tothe enhancement of provincial power rather than the centralizationof the federal system. The Westminster model of parliamentarygovernment contributed to these developments, although the wayin which power is organized in government has been even moreimportant in determining the directions taken by Canadian federalism.     

Meech Lake and free trade: studies in Canadian federalism

Canada: Its Framework, Its Foibles, Its Future. By Allan E. Blakeney . 1988 Kenneth R. MacGregor Lecture. Navigating Meech Lake. Edited by Clive Thomson . Federal Leadership in Social and Economic Policy. By Peter M. Leslie . National Citizenships and Provincial Communities: A Review of Canadian Fiscal Federalism and Ethnonationalism in a Federal State: The Case of Canada. By Peter M. Leslie . Research Papers 23 and 24. Canada: The State of the Federation 1987–88. Edited by Peter M. Leslie and Ronald L. Watts .     

Water Availability and Reliability in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s water landscape is unjust, inequitable, and uneven. Water rationing and electricity outages affect water availability alongside an overall shortfall in water supply. Using household surveys and interviews, this paper shows that a majority of respondents lack a consistently reliable source of water. To cope with poor access, households alter their daily routines, consume less water, and identify and use back-up sources of water. It is crucial to understand the problems of water availability in the city in order to make more informed policy decisions and more justly provide water access.