Hamish Telford

In Talking Past Each Other, Hamish Telford provides an engaging account of the long-running dialogue between the governments of Quebec and Canada on the meaning and purpose of federalism. He argues that the government of Canada has adopted a theory of federalism that enables it to address most issues of "national" importance to the federation irrespective of the formal division of powers in the constitution. The theory of "majoritarian federalism," as he calls it, allows the government of Canada to promote "national" unity and the universality of citizenship. By contrast, Quebec’s theory of federalism, which he calls "difference federalism," stresses the importance of provincial autonomy, so as to allow each province, most especially Quebec, to preserve and promote its particularity. These definitions represent irreconcilable constitutional premises. The governments of Canada and Quebec have thus quite literally been "talking past each other" for the last 150 years. Talking Past Each Other is the first monograph in a generation to recount this story in its entirety.

The most extensive analysis of the institutions of executive federalism and intergovernmental relations since the Macdonald Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada.

The most extensive analysis of the institutions of executive federalism and intergovernmental relations since the Macdonald Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada.

Global and regional integration present special challenges to federal political systems around the world. The division of powers inherent in federal political systems complicates the impact of external pressures on the nation-state and confuses the possible responses to these pressures. In The Implications of Global and Regional Integration for the Future of Federal Political Systems each chapter analyzes the respective federation may look under a variety of future international scenarios. The broad conclusion of the study is that the specific impact of regional and global integration on each federation depends on the situational context and institutional structure of the federation. The study also concludes that global and regional integration has more impact on federal processes than institutional change. This reflects the fact that actors within institutions can respond to external pressures without necessarily reforming the institutions. The case studies consequently provide important lessons for students of comparative politics. The study makes clear that "globalization" is a multifaceted phenomenon, and it illustrates the wide range of institutional variations among federations. Policy makers in federal political systems will also appreciate the varied lessons to be learned from the differential impact of global and regional integration on federations around the world. The contributors to this volume are amongst the leading scholars of federalism in their respective countries. Contributors include Harvey Lazar, Hamish Telford, Richard Simeon (University of Toronto), John Kincaid (Lafayette College), Brian Galligan (University of Melbourne), Rudolf Hrbek (University of Tübingen), Liesbet Hooghe (University of North Carolina), Jürg Steiner (University of Bern and University of North Carolina), Nico Steytler (University of the Western Cape), and M. P. Singh (University of Delhi).

Arguably, political changes in Canada have been greater in the 1990s than in any other decade since Confederation, but do these changes signify a shift in Canadian political culture? Can we even speak of a Canadian political culture? What are the consequences of these changes for the federation? Are Canadians more or less united? Are federal-provincial relations better or worse? What does the future hold? The authors attempt to answer these questions through analyses of the federal party system, politics in the provinces and regions, and political dynamics in a number of issue areas, including Aboriginal politics, the Charter, multiculturalism, the rural-urban cleavage, and social policy. Contributors include Gordon Gibson (Fraser Institute), Hugh Segal (Institute for Research on Public Policy), Samuel LaSelva (University of British Columbia), Jennifer Smith (Dalhousie University), Alain-G. Gagnon (McGill University), Nelson Wiseman (University of Toronto), and Ian Stewart (Acadia University).