Federalism, Regional Representation, and Parliamentary Government

• Author: Kathy L. Brock/Geoffrey Hale
• Pages: 71-82

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 

Federalism, Regional Representation,

and Parliamentary Government

Introduction

Canadian federalism is a unique hybrid of British- and Amer-

ican-inf‌luenced constitutional systems. Its British-inf‌luenced ele-

ments combine unwritten “conventions” with major, long-lasting

legislative measures of constitutional or quasi-constitutional sig-

nif‌icance. Its US-inf‌luenced elements combine written constitu-

tional documents with periodic formal amendments discussed in

Chapter , whose ambiguities may be tested through judicial review,

as discussed in Chapter .

However, these categories are neither mutually exhaustive nor

exclusive — they overlap with and inf‌luence one another. Various

legal and political principles associated with Canada’s federal char-

acter may be formally constitutionalized through specif‌ic constitu-

tional amendments. Others evolve as a matter of practice — although

sometimes with anomalies that ref‌lect trade-os between dierent

principles, especially in dealing with issues of political representation.

Constitutional conventions may also evolve from principles

articulated as part of judicial rulings. A series of nineteenth cen-

tury court decisions rejected a hierarchical, “quasi-imperial” view of

federalism in which Canada’s federal government claimed a relation