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"The NDP and the balance of power," interview with Jack Layton NDP leader Jack Layton now has the balance of power in the minority House. How comfortable is his coalition of convenience with the Conservatives? What is he looking for, on climate change and in the March 19 budget, as the price for his support? In his Parliament Hill office last month, Layton discussed these and other issues with Policy Options Editor L. Ian MacDonald. "L'union sociale revisitée" by Alain Noël [summary not available] "Federalism in the 21st century: defining the common economic space" by Roger Gibbins Roger Gibbins writes that Canada needs “a new national policy,” under which Ottawa re-engages in the management of “our common economic space” while “disengaging itself from from the management of social space” best left to the provinces. This is the best way, he writes, for Canada to be competitive in a globalized economy. “What sets federal states apart from other national communities,” he writes, “is not their values but a number of institutional design principles that include a division of legislative authority between two orders of government.” But he also acknowledges that the division of powers in the Constitution “has been blown away by the federal government’s spending power (the unfettered ability to spend in any area of responsibility) and by dated constitutional text that understandably fails to capture contemporary responsibilities and policy interdependencies” in areas such as the environment and funding of university research. "A short history of equalization" by Thomas J. Courchene Energy prices have had a profound and pervasive impact on the political economy of Canada, running the gamut from the constitutional dossier, to Canada-US relations, to federal-provincial relations and, of course, to equalization payments. Finance Minister Flaherty’s challenge on the equalization front is to find a stable, formula-based and equitable framework that will allow all provinces to work together again in our nationbuilding project. Daunting as this task will be, it will not be the end of the energy challenges: the controversial environment-energy nexus is already waiting in the wings. "Federalism and the spending power: section 94 to the rescue" by Marc-Antoine Adam A lot of attention has been devoted lately to fiscal federalism and Canada’s social union. There is a widespread perception that while the system might have been working in the 1960s and 1970s, it is now broken. Criticisms are numerous: lack of transparency, accountability and collaboration; constant political tension; and conflicts over jurisdiction. As work to fix the fiscal imbalance is underway, Marc- Antoine Adam argues there is a fundamental flaw in Canada’s social union, connected with its legal foundation, and that is the federal spending power. In its place, he suggests we should revive a provision of the 1867 Constitution, section 94, originally meant to allow greater integration among English speaking provinces. "Taking fiscal federalism to the people" by Judith Maxwell, Mary Pat MacKinnon and Judy Watling Citizens can bring a lot of wisdom to the fractious debate about sharing public funds between governments. The citizens’ dialogue undertaken by Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) for the Premiers’ Advisory Panel on Fiscal Imbalance revealed participants’ strong conviction: the approaches used to share public funds across the country must reflect the values and principles that ultimately express our citizenship — how we define ourselves, what we want to be and how we ensure that all Canadians’ basic needs for health, education and economic opportunity are met. CPRN founding director Judith Maxwell and her colleagues point to shortcomings in intergovernmental practices and recommend ways to transform executive federalism to better meet the needs and expectations of citizens. "Le déséquilibre fiscal à l'heure du fédéralisme d'ouverture" by Éric Montpetit Since Stephen Harper’s December 2005 speech in Quebec City, there has been much debate about his promise to address the fiscal imbalance and practice open federalism. However, given the difficulties surrounding the exact measurement of fiscal imbalances, Éric Montpetit wonders how citizens can determine whether the Prime Minister has kept his promise. In his view, three instruments may provide an indication in that regard: an increase in federal transfer payments; a new method for calculating equalization; and a transfer of tax points. The author looks at each in turn and concludes that the third option is the most promising. “However,” he adds, “if some provincial governments prefer federal interventions in their jurisdictional domains to tax points tranfers, Ottawa will have to accept an asymmetrical solution if it is serious about open federalism.” "Harper's 'open federalism': from the fiscal imbalance to 'effective collaborative management' of the federation" by Graham Fox Despite English-language media references to it as a “Quebec grievance,” the fiscal imbalance is a pan-Canadian issue with implications right across the country. With the Harper government about to unveil its proposal for a permanent resolution to the imbalance, Graham Fox looks at the genesis of the Conservative Party’s commitment to resolve the fiscal imbalance after a decade of federal denial. While it is too early to know what the monetary value of the proposal will be, Fox examines the Harper government’s five guiding principles and speculates on the longer-term impact of the proposal on the future of federal-provincial relations in Canada. "Rétablir l'équilibre fiscal : au-delà de l'argent, des principes" by Luc Godbout Fiscal relations are a central element of any federal system. However, for fiscal relations to function properly, according to Luc Godbout, professor in the Chair in Taxation and of Public Finance Research at Université de Sherbrooke, a number of principles must be followed. These include the nonsubordination of each level of government and an adequate fiscal capacity. He believes it is because we moved away from these basic principles that fiscal imbalances have emerged in Canada. “Before deciding how much money will be spent on rectifying fiscal imbalances, we need to step back and determine, first of all, what the goals of federal transfers should be.” Here he looks at five principles that would help to find a lasting solution to this problem. "Péréquation et déséquilibre fiscal : d'argent, de politique, de technicité…" by Vincent Defraiteur Equalization, fiscal imbalance, federal transfers, dividing the tax pie, fields of jurisdiction: intergovernmental relations include complex and often technical issues. They frequently make the headlines, especially during an election, but people also often misunderstand them. As voters in Quebec get ready to go to the polls, and as the federal government prepares to make public its solutions to the fiscal imbalance, Vincent Defraiteur dissects the equalization program and suggests that the program could serve to contain the imbalance. In spite of the criticisms levelled at it, “equalization could work to limit the gap between provincial governments’ revenues and expenses; in other words, to fill the coffers the provinces cannot fill themselves because of the fiscal imbalance.” "The notwithstanding clause: sword of Damocles or paper tiger?" by Thomas S. Axworthy Twenty-five years after its inclusion in the Charter of Rights, the notwithstanding clause has never been invoked by the federal government and risks, like the power of disallowance, falling into disuse. Tom Axworthy, who was principal secretary to Prime Minister Trudeau, acknowledges that it was “one of the key components of the 1981 political compromise that led to the Charter and amended the Constitution,” and writes that it should be retained, rather “like giving Odysseus a dagger so he can cut his ropes when the sirens sing loudest. Better to keep the dagger.” Axworthy also takes us behind the scenes at the First Ministers’ Conference of November 1981, and describes the making of the deal that became an historic Canadian compromise. "National security governance after Arar" by Jeffrey Roy In the aftermath of Maher Arar’s ordeal, this article critically examines Justice O’Connor’s recommended reforms as well some of the wider implications for the governance of national security. The author argues that a key lesson from the Arar Inquiry is the manner by which excessive secrecy corrodes both the perception and performance of government. What is required, beyond O’Connor’s call for a new RCMP review body of eminent Canadians, is meaningful and direct public oversight by parliamentarians, as well as public engagement in order to collectively determine how best to safeguard democratic freedoms in an uncertain and complex world. The post-9/11 expansion of the security and intelligence apparatus both within the RCMP and across the public sector must be brought out of the shadows. "Health care: funding, facts and future" by Glenda Yeates “Canada’s health system has become a vital part of our economy,” writes Glenda Yeates, president of the Canadian Institute for Health information (CIHI). “One-tenth of our economic output — $148 billion — goes to health care.” Even adjusted for inflation, health care spending has increased by more than 1000 percent in the last 30 years. Only the United States and Switzerland, among OECD countries, spend a larger percentage of GDP than Canada does on health care. While Americans most frequently cite the cost of health insurance as a barrier to treatment, 32 percent of Canadians cite waiting times within the universally insured system. The Canadian clientele is growing with the greying of the boomers, as well as living longer. “It remains true,” she writes, “that health care needs usually grow as people get older.” "À propos des lucides et des nouveaux clergés" by Claudette Carbonneau [summary not available] Book Excerpt: A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign Policy by Donald E. Abelson “Even before the clouds of debris above ground zero had dissipated,” writes University of Western Ontario’s Donald Abelson, “policy experts began staking out positions on what President Bush had to do at home and abroad to defeat terrorism.” In this excerpt from his book A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign Policy, Abelson writes of a war of ideas among Washington think tanks contending for the attention of the Bush White House. One that stood out was a small and previously obscure neo-conservative think tank, the Project for the New American Century. Book Review: Desmond Morton reviews Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World by Margaret McMillan [summary not available] "Great scenery, economic uncertainty" by Todd Hirsch [summary not available] |
