Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 06

and Governance in Canada 44 / Canadian Government Executive // December 2018/January 2019 I n federal systems like Canada’s – where power, authority, and responsibility are divided and/or shared between multiple orders of government – it is typical for there to be an institution that represents the regions, states, or provinces within the national political infrastructure. Ronald Watts and Donald Smiley, eminent political scientists and scholars of federalism in Canada, called this intrastate fed- eralism. This concept acknowledges that provincial, state, and territo- rial governments are not the only legitimate voices for a coun- try’s regions: federal politicians have something to contribute to the discussion too (Lusztig 1989). Intrastate federalism provides an alternative – hopefully a complementary, but at least a si- multaneous one – to interstate federalism, which describes the negotiations between national and subnational governments (more on this later). Ostensibly, the mechanism for intrastate federalism in Canada is the Senate. This chamber is most often described as one of “so- ber second thought,” which suggests that it was not meant to be a source of policy in its own right but instead a reviewer of pro- posed legislation sent over from the elected House of Commons. Sir John A. Macdonald, who is largely responsible for Canada’s constitutional design, made no secret of his distrust for and lack of confidence in elected politicians. He trusted the unelected Senate to provide a voice of reason and to represent the needs and interests of Canada’s regions in the national legislative pro- cess. In light of this consideration, the Senate’s membership was divided among four regions with 24 seats each, plus one seat for each territory. In 1949, the addition of Newfoundland and Lab- rador came with an added six Senate seats for the new province, which means that the four most eastern provinces – commonly THE LAST WORD Inter- and Intrastate Politics By Lori Turnbull Ostensibly, the mechanism for intrastate federalism in Canada is the Senate. This chamber is most often described as one of “sober second thought,” which suggests that it was not meant to be a source of policy in its own right but instead a reviewer of proposed legislation sent over from the elected House of Commons. Prime Minister Trudeau speaks with the Teachers Institute on Parliamentary Democracy in the Sen- ate Chamber in Ottawa. November 8, 2018.