The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism
The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism
The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism investigates the groundbreaking inquiry launched to reconstruct the federal system – revealing its impact on the high politics of federal-provincial relations and its legacy for Canadian federalism today.
In 1937, the Canadian confederation was broken. As the Depression ground on, the economic crisis highlighted a fundamental dilemma: the provinces faced increasing obligations but limited funds, while the dominion had fewer responsibilities but lucrative revenue sources. A public inquiry was struck to review the system. But the process was soon beset by conflicts between Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia and hampered by problems within the commission itself. The breakthrough was a plan for a bold new form of federalism based on the national collection of major tax revenues and unconditional transfers of these revenues to provinces based on fiscal need.
Robert Wardhaugh and Barry Ferguson dig through the evidence and counter misconceptions to demonstrate that even though the report was at first rejected, it provided a storehouse of innovative ideas that redefined the nature of federal government and shaped policy – and thinking – about federalism for decades.
This book will be indispensable reading for students and scholars of Canadian history, political science, and public policy, as well as for politicians, public affairs writers, researchers, and politically engaged Canadians.
...this book on the Rowell -Sirois Commission (1938-40) and fiscal federalism in Canada achieves the nearly impossible: it is an interesting account of the personalities, politics, economics, and constitutional issues affecting Depression-era Canada and its federal order.
For quite a long time, I might have said that a Venn diagram would show no overlap whatsoever between 'Christopher Moore's Historical Interests' and 'the Royell-Sirois Royal Commission on Dominion Provincial Relations'....Now my Venn boundaries are shifting...I'm finding Wardlaugh and Ferguson's The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism pretty interesting.
...in this superb analysis, historians Robert Wardhaugh and Barry Ferguson argue persuasively that the [Rowell Sirois Commission] was immensely significant.
The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism reveals a great deal about the state of the federation (not so good) during the 1930s and helps us make better sense of a sometimes unfathomable nation today. It reminds us that the very real problems of governing this land are not new and that the struggle between the federal government and the provinces is and always has been at the heart of the body politic and our constitution.
The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism is a thoughtful and well-written analysis of one of the most important royal commissions in Canadian history. Collecting a very impressive body of primary research, Wardhaugh and Ferguson provide evidence from the key players in politics, academia, the bureaucracy, and especially the commissioners and support staff.
The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism is an invaluable study of Canadian federalism, past and present: history, political science, public policy, and economics. There’s an enormous amount of new material here that illuminates the precipitation and fallout of the Rowell-Sirois Commission.
Robert Wardhaugh is a professor in the History Department at Western University. He is the author of Mackenzie King and the Prairie West and Behind the Scenes: The Life and Work of William Clifford Clark. With Barry Ferguson, he is also a co-editor of Manitoba’s Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Barry Ferguson has just retired as professor in the History Department and the Duff Roblin Chair in the Political Studies Department at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of Remaking Liberalism: The Intellectual Legacy of Adam Shortt, O.D. Skelton, W.C. Clark, and W.A. Mackintosh, 1890–1925.
Foreword / Robert Bothwell and John English
Introduction
1 A Federation Turned Upside Down
2 Towards a Royal Commission
3 Organizing a Commission: Summer 1937
4 Setbacks and Recovery: Autumn 1937
5 Winter of Discontent: January–March 1938
6 Stormy Spring: April–June 1938
7 Hard Seasons: Summer and Fall 1938
8 Toil and Trouble: 1939 and 1940
9 Reinterpreting Canadian Federalism: May 1940
10 Dark Days: 1940–41
11 The Aftermath: 1941–46
Conclusion
Notes; Index
Breaking Barriers, Shaping Worlds
Canadian Women and the Search for Global Order
Edited by Jill Campbell-Miller, Greg Donaghy, and Stacey Barker
