Political Science: Canada’s Decentralized Federal System

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Introduction

Canada has long been criticized for its federal system of government, as well as, some of the policies that the state embraces in relation to politics and political. Evidently, Canada has embraced regionalism as part of its political system, which has in turn encouraged sovereignty of provinces (Bickerton, 2009). Accordingly, Canada’s political authority is divided into two distinct jurisdictions including the federal government and the provincial governments. As Dyck explains in his book, Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches, Canada consists of ten provinces including Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island (Dyck, 2011). Each of these provinces has been granted individual, political authority, and they are allowed to formulate and implement laws that are specific to the individual provinces. In essence, provincial authority is seen as a way of facilitating growth and development from a provincial level, which in turn promotes national growth and development.

This paper examines Canada’s decentralized federal system. The paper explains why the decentralized federal system in Canada is beneficial to the state.

Benefits of Canada’s Decentralized Federal System

As previously mentioned, Canada’s decentralized federal system favors the endowment of power to provinces because of the impact of this power allocation on the state as a whole. Powerful provinces are considered a way of facilitating national growth and development as they allow more control over resources on the provincial level. This concept is illustrated by French Canada and Quebec, as they have both demonstrated the ability to utilize provincial power for their own benefit (Dyck, 2011). Researchers have identified provincial power and authority as beneficial to the state for various reasons. At the outset, provincial power allows each province, as well as, citizens in each of the provinces to preserve and fortify their distinct nature and capacities. For example, Canadian western provinces are granted the power to control their energy reserves, whereas their counterparts in central Canada gain control over all manufacturing activities (Dyck, 2011). In addition to strengthening provincial capabilities, a decentralized federal system also assures that state of a continued economic empowerment across all provinces. This is because provincial power allows the different provinces to empower themselves economically, hence economic growth. Because not all provinces have the ability to sanction themselves economically, others will be left behind and for that reason, may be poorer than their counterparts.

A decentralized federal government allows the sharing of resources between richer and poorer provinces. This, in turn, allows all provinces to enjoy similar resources such as education, and healthcare hence, allowing the provinces to grow at a comparable pace. Regionalism demands that economically empowered provinces pay taxes that will be sequentially used to assist the poorer provinces in their economic development (Wiseman, 2007). By doing this, Canada, as a state, enjoys the benefits of growth and development as this is assured from the provincial or regional level. The decentralized federal system in Canada has particularly been a positive influence on Quebecers and French Canadians because it has allowed these people to enjoy growth and vitality (Keddy, 2006). Conclusively, Canada’s decentralized federal system allows the federal government to represent the state at the world stage both on the provincial level, as well as, the national level. Through decentralization, the needs of every province are identified and attended to accordingly (Davie, 2007).

References

Bickerton, J. (2009). Canadian Politics. USA: University of Toronto Press.

Davie, M. B. (2007). Canada Decentralized: Can our nation Survive? Retrieved from:

http://www.manor-house.biz/books/canadadec.htm

Dyck, R. (2011). Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches. United Kingdom: Cengage Learning.

Keddy, G. (2006). Gerald Keddy: Speech on the qualities of the decentralized Canadian federal

system that allows Quebecers to flourish. Retrieved from: http://www.geraldkeddy.ca/?section_id=4734&section_copy_id=49993

Wiseman, N. (2007). In Search of Canadian Political Culture. USA: British Columbia Press.