ABSTRACT
At a time when most political systems appear to be subject to reevaluation and supra-state processes such as globalisation command our attention, it would be comforting for citizen and academic specialist alike to be able to fall back on the old certainties of tried and tested political formulas. Like Switzerland, Canada has long been heralded as a model federal system which has been tested less by the baptism of fire than by the patience of successive Royal Commissions. But contemporary Canada is once again facing a challenge to its unity, from a reinvigorated Québécois opposition. The Canadian federal experience offers some fascinating insights into the manner in which political forces accommodate a wide variety of diverse interests and claims which periodically call into question the whole political edifice built upon consociational federalism. It could be argued that Canada’s national sport is not professional ice hockey, but rather professional constitutional restructuring. Quintessentially moderate, liberal, outward-looking and progressive, Canadian federalism has enjoyed an enviable reputation in the pantheon of political experiments. Yet, in lemming-like fashion, it periodically gives the impression of willing dissolution upon itself, despite, not because of, its political success. We are currently entering one of these dissolution phases, but as this time ‘Canada’s peril could be mortal’ (Walker, 1993), should we be composing a requiem mass?
