POLI 204 Lecture 2: Canadian Politics Notes 2.docx
28 Apr 2015
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Where parliament was characterized by concentrated power, the federal system in canada represents divided power and divided loyalties. Federalism is the division of powers between central and regional governments, with neither government subordinate to the other. Municipal governments are not part of the official federal system. Riker"s continuum of the degree of centralization of authority/power. Centralized: two levels of authority central gov"t dominates. Peripheralized: two levels of authority regional gov"t dominates. Confederation: one level of authority alliance of co-equal states. Federalism in canada can be symmetrical or asymmetrical, depending on whether the provinces are treated equally or not. Nevertheless, asymmetrical federalism has been (and remains) an exception rather than the norm in canada. The confederation settlement ,part of the british north america act, 1867, involved five principal components: In the us system, all residual power is reserved for states. In canada, all residual power was reserved for ottawa.
