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The Concept of Province-Building: A Critique*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

R. A. Young
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
Philippe Faucher
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
André Blais
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal

Abstract

In the discourse of Canadian political science, the term “province-building” has gained wide currency. Although not often defined explicitly, it denotes the recent evolution of more powerful and competent provincial administrations which aim to manage socioeconomic change in their territories and which are in essential conflict with the central government. In this analysis, the generalizations which constitute province-building are examined and most are found not to be adequately supported by the evidence now available. Some lines of research are indicated and it is suggested that this emotive and misleading concept be abandoned.

Résumé

Dans la science politique au Canada, le concept de « province-building » est mainteriant courant. Le concept est rarement défini clairement mais il renvoie essentiellement à la constitution de gouvernements provinciaux compétents et puissants, qui cherchent à gérer le développement économique à l'intérieur de leurs frontières et qui entrent en conflit avec le gouvernement fédéral. Le texte réexamine les propositions qui constituent la thèse du « province-building ». La plupart de ces propositions ne sont pas confirmées par les faits et donnees disponibles. On conclut que le concept devrait être tout simplement abandonné. Quelques pistes de recherche sont finalement suggérées.

Type
Field Analysis/Orientations De La Science Politique
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1984

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88 As Courchene has recognized, Ottawa can use any surplus generated through the removal of interprovincial trade barriers to attack regional disparities: “In effect it means that Ottawa will be able to do the very things that it wants to prevent the provinces from doing, namely to engage in policies that will alter relative prices across regions.” See his “Historical and Analytical Perspectives Relating to the Canadian Economic Union,” paper delivered at the Workshop on Federalism and the Canadian Economic Union, London, Ontario, December 1981, 48.

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