Can Canadian Federalism Be Relevant?

• Author: Lorne Sossin
• Pages: 101-108

• 101

chap ter 7

Can Canadian Federalism

Be Relevant?

Lorne Sossin

A. Introduction

In this brief comment, I argue that the Supreme Court of Can-

ada’s decision in the Reference Re Securities Act1 is mired in

jurisdictional abstraction and fails to articulate an approach

to Canadian federalism that is relevant to the realities of the

  

decision appears to be to revive the historic role of the Court as a



its effect may well be to set back that very project. What we need

in settings such as national securities regulation, I suggest, is a

focus on the public interest and a new commitment to “purposive

federalism.”

When I teach Canadian federalism, I begin by asking stu-

dents about a trip to the emergency room of a hospital. The care

they will receive turns on a host of legal and policy questions,

from the balance between public and private services to the fund-

ing of facilities, from the regulation of nurses and physicians to

the availability of appropriate technology and medication. I ask

the students whether it matters which level of government is per-

forming those functions and funding those services. No one puts

up a hand. “What matters is patient care,” one student responds,

1 Reference Re Securities Act, 2011 SCC 66 [Securities R eference].