ABSTRACT
Federalism is a defining feature of Canada both as a political system and a community of peoples. This chapter first paints the picture of the health and socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian federation. It then details the role played by the two orders of government in the response to the virus and analyzes how a combination of structural and circumstantial factors helped keep intergovernmental conflict low. The discourse among political leaders was also generally positive through the first wave of the pandemic, though it remains unclear if such agreeable relations will remain in place subsequently. Finally, the chapter explains how the pandemic has increased, probably temporarily, the frequency of intergovernmental contacts, which have occurred along the lines of pre-existing structures and practices unlikely to be fundamentally transformed by the fight against the virus.
