The Historical and Legal Origins of Asymmetrical Federalism in Canada's Founding Debates: A Brief Interpretive Note

Abstract

“Asymmetrical federalism” is a horrible expression, typical of the jargon of political science, belonging to the same family as, say, “consociational democracy”. With good reason, neither expression really sells on the streets. An informed discussion can be made easier by the use of synonyms: asymmetrical federalism means lack of uniform treatment for the various federated units within the political community. Canada has had various experiences with such absence of uniformity since 1867. Asymmetrical federalism is also a way to convey the idea of distinct or special status for federated units, particularly for Quebec. This brief interpretive note will be essentially concerned with the latter layer of meaning. I shall argue that Canada’s constitutional founders were explicitly conscious that the Resolutions which were adopted at the Quebec Conference in 1864 and substantially reproduced in the British North America Act of 1867 (The Constitution Act, 1867, in contemporary parlance) granted the newly re-established Province of Quebec a significant form of distinct or special status. They contributed to the establishment of what we, historians and political scientists of the twenty-first century, call an asymmetrical federation, although obviously they did not use the expression.