Region and Regionalism

Pols 322Atlantic Canada

http://www.stfx.ca/academic/political-science/BROWN/

PSCI322.htm

Region and Regionalism

• Regionalism: the identity and organization of society/politics around region– Where is it strongest in Canada and why?– What sustains it…or weakens it, over time and why?– Do provincial politics trump regional politics?

• Region as a flexible, contested and often inexact concept– Compare: Maritimes/ Atlantic/ “East coast”– Northeast region– sub-regions such as Labrador, ‘Acadie’, Cape Breton

Geography, Economy and Society

• Canada is composed of distinct ecological regions, some of which shared with USA

• Canadian economy is regionalized:– By predominance of resource staples– By position within metropolitan-hinterland

patterns– By effect of power elite decisions in politics

• Social patterns, networks, and unique cultures emerge within specific regional identities

Institutions• Federalism: organizes the state into provinces and

territories• Senate and other central representative institutions

use region as an organizing device• Cabinet: the rise and fall of regional chieftains• Constitutional amending formula employs regional

concept• Regional intergovernmental relations (eg Council of

Atlantic Premiers)• Party system –sometimes regionally based (e.g.

Reform, Bloc québécois)• …Why no Atlantic or Maritime Party?

Regional Political Culture

Differentiation by region of values, beliefs, behaviours;Distinct regional patterns of support for specific parties.

Two contested generalizations:1. People in the Atlantic Provinces are less trusting, more cynical, more tied to clientalist politics.2. Michael Bliss: old Canada vs. new Canada: myth or reality?

Regionalism in National Politics..1

• Macdonald’s National Policy (1878) and the regional politics of post-Confederation integration– Creating the east-west economy: winners and losers– Issue of economic allocation and disparities causes

regional protest and accommodation• Post WWII: the politics of regional redistribution– Issue of compensation for effects of national policy: the

“equity bargain”– Fiscal federalism, including equalization; Regional

development programs

Regionalism in National Politics…2

• Province-building and regional consciousness, especially after 1970– Provincial governments shape their own economies– Huge fed-prov tension: economic intervention in bitter

dispute

• Globalization and the redefinition of region and regionalism– National policy that is not free trade is not feasible?– Regionalism not contained by national borders