All things Canadian are now regional

Journal of Canadian Studies, Spring 2000 by Donald J. Savoie

Recognition of the regional factor in Ottawa's policy-making process has been the responsibility of the federal Cabinet. Indeed, in this respect, historically, the Cabinet has been expected to play the role which, according to "in the United States is performed, in the Federal sense by the Senate" (Bakvis). But the Cabinet was much better at it in the days when government was smaller, policy and programmes issues could be more easily understood, and regional ministers mattered. Alan Cairns writes, for example, that

Early Cabinets were collections of regional notables with independent bases of their own who powerfully asserted the needs of their provinces at the highest political level in the land .... Now, however, regional spokesmen of such power and authenticity are only memories, although the regional basis of Cabinet appointment continues. (6)

Moreover, Canadian prime ministers since the 1970s have, for a host of reasons, "governed from the centre" (Savoie). That is, political power in Ottawa is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the prime ministers and a few advisers. One of the reasons for this, ironically, has been the regional factor, combined with national unity concerns. But in their attempts to manage developments on this front, they have made matters worse. That is, concentrating political power in the hands of a few people has greatly inhibited the ability of national political institutions to understand regional forces, let alone accommodate them in policy- and decisionmaking.

Thus, regional economic differences and disaffection become more and more pronounced on the ground while, within the federal government, political power is increasingly concentrated at the centre. Why, one may ask, have economic forces not had a more direct impact on national political institutions?

There are several reasons. As is well-known, Keynesian economics held sway in Ottawa from the immediate post-war years until well into the 1980s. With Keynesian economics came the notion of balance in the national economy with limited interest in things regional. The neo-conservative model, which came in fashion during the Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney years and which remains dominant today, has little interest in things regional. The neo-conservatives maintain that the solution to regional problems is quite straightforward: unleash the invisible hand of the market to restore economic equilibrium and, in time, all will be well. The role of government is to stay out of the way after first cutting spending, eliminating programmes or regulations which inhibit the free flow of capital, and making decisions as quickly as do large private firms to capture emerging economic opportunities. All this calls for the concentration of political power. Added to this is the fact that our national political institutions have not been very effective in checking the concentration of political power at the centre or to voice regional concerns. The result is that national policy making has made Ontario and Quebec interests its principal focus.