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All things Canadian are now regional
Journal of Canadian Studies, Spring 2000 by Donald J. Savoie
The process of national integration in Canada, it seems, is being brought to a halt. At a time when the economic consequences of globalization and neo-conservative policies are redefining how Canadian regions relate to one another, national political institutions are in a state of disrepair and are no longer in a position to promote national political integration. This will serve to weaken the central or federal government in the years ahead. Moreover, it will no longer be able to rely on its traditional supporters, notably the four Atlantic provinces, to claim a strong role for itself in the federation. The question to be addressed is that of how Canada can continue to function as a national union, as we come to terms with the fact that all things Canadian will increasingly become regional.
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II semble qu'au Canada, le processus visant une integration nationale se soit arrete. Au moment ou les consequences economiques de la mondialisation et les politiques neo-conservatrices redefinissent les relations entre les regions canadiennes, les institutions politiques nationales sont en piteux etat et ne sont plus en mesure de promouvoir une integration politique nationale. Cela ne peut qu'affaiblir le gouvernement central ou federal dans les annes a venir. Pire, il ne sera plus en mesure de compter sur ses partisans, notamment les quatre provinces atlantiques, pour demander qu'il joue un role fort au sein de la federation. La question A laquelle iI faut repondre, c'est comment le Canada peut-il continuer de fonctionner en tant qu'union nationale alors que nous sommes confrontes au fait que tout ce qui est canadien devient de plus en plus regional.
One of Canada's leading historians, J.M.S. Careless, wrote prophetically over 30 years ago that "the experience of regionalism remains prominent and distinctive in Canadian history - time has tended less to erode it than to develop it" (3). Today, the forces of regionalism in Canada are more complex, take on many forms, and are more powerful than ever. The process of national integration, it seems, has been brought to a halt; things national are either no more, or in a serious state of disrepair.
Few political actors and observers believe that Canada in the twenty-first century will closely resemble the Canada of the twentieth. The optimist will argue that Canada will survive well into the next century and probably beyond, but that it will become a vastly different country; economic forces, if nothing else, will see to that. The pessimists, meanwhile, will point to a growing body of literature predicting the weakening, if not the demise, of our country. Many make this case, not only because of Quebec's continuing uncertainty about its place in Canada, but also because of the economic consequences of globalization. Tom Courchene and C. Telmer argue, for example, that Ontario is moving from being the heartland of Canada to a North American region state. Serge Coulombe concludes in his C.D. Howe study on Economic Growth and Provincial Disparity, that "in the future the regional distributions of Canada's economy will be affected by the ... continuing development of north-south patterns of trade in place of more traditional east-west patterns."
If economic forces determine public policy outcomes, and if they no longer contribute to national economic integration, then Canada will need to rely more and more on its political institutions to promote national integration. But, there is no reason to be optimistic on this front either, given that our national political institutions are currently in a serious state of disrepair.
The purpose of this paper is, first, to take stock of the changing sense of regionalism in Canada and, second, to speculate on its future direction. The emphasis is on the role of political institutions in accommodating or integrating the forces of regionalism. The argument is that the forces currently at play will weaken the central or the federal government even further in the years ahead and that the central government will no longer be able to count on its traditional supporters (e.g. the four Atlantic provinces) to claim a strong role for itself in the Canadian federation.
Canadian Regionalism: Where We Have Been
The forces fuelling Canadian regionalism have, of course, been well-known and documented for some time. We know, for example, that Canada's sheer size, its population and settlement patterns, years of province-building efforts, and the relative isolation of regions from one another are all important factors. But linguistic identity remains one of the most potent forces for regionalism. If political integration means uniting distinct groups or communities into a viable political organization, then the politics of language in Canada have seriously inhibited its development over the years. And recently, there have been some far-reaching changes in our politics of language that serve to complicate the situation still further.
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, combined with the election of the Trudeau government in 1968, constituted a turning point, a defining moment in English-French relations in Canada. Pierre Trudeau summed up the task at hand and the resulting benefits if fully implemented when he declared that "once francophone language rights across Canada are constitutionally entrenched, the French Canadian nation will stretch from coast to coast.... Nobody will be able to say [in Quebec], I need more power because I speak for the French-Canadian nation" (The Globe and Mail, 20 October 19 70). For Trudeau and others of like mind, the challenge was, and remains, la survivance: to ensure a strong future for the French-Canadian community which extends beyond the Quebec borders. But no sooner had Trudeau secured francophone language rights that the challenge took on different forms. While francophones outside Quebec still define it as one of "la survivance," for many French-speaking Quebecers, the phrase "l'epanouissement national" now better reflects their purpose. That is, they wish to develop their society to its full potential and, in doing so, to have a free hand in shaping their political and cultural institutions.
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