In a Spain devastated by an ongoing economic crisis since 2008, Catalonian nationalism seems to have found a new life.

There are so many Liberal leadership races going on across the country that sometimes we miss a few. I woke up in an arctic Montreal this morning eager to check one of the larger contests off my list.

It is often said that national borders are no longer a major economic factor and that, as a result of free trade agreements and market globalization, they do not represent a barrier to trade in goods and services.

The Canadian equalization program is intended to enable provincial governments to offer services of comparable quality while collecting revenues from their citizens that require approximately the same level of effort.

2014 will be an historic year for the Scots, as they will be called by their government to vote in a referendum on the political status of their community.

In a climate of global economic uncertainty 83% of Quebecers perceive Quebec’s membership in Canada as an advantage.

Sometimes, it is good to remember that we are privileged to be members of a federation that offers citizens the possibility to get away from decisions by their provincial governments that they find unacceptable.

There is little discussion of relations between the provinces in Canada. When the newspapers mention the topic, it is typically in terms of implausibility or dysfunctionality.

In the twentieth century, promoting trade between countries was focussed, for the most part, on tariffs and associated non-tariff barriers.

A limited version of federalism is a less miserable solution than the break-up of the euro. WHAT will become of the European Union?

For some time, there has been a chorus of calls to curb the number of immigrants admitted annually into Québec, in the name of protecting the French language.

The balance of power between the states and the American Federal Government shifted dramatically beginning in 1933 as the states became unable to deal with the devastation of the Great Depression.

Our voting system weakens Canada’s cohesion. It artificially amplifies the regional concentration of political party support at the federal level.

In July 2011, the foundation for a collaborative action plan by Canadian provinces on energy was built…

Breakfast get-together: Raymond Bachand, Philippe Couillard and Pierre Moreau field questions from André Pratte.

Since 1972, Hydro-Québec has received about 30 terawatt hours (TWh) per year of hydroelectricity from Labrador: enough to meet the electricity consumption of 45% of Québec households in 2012.

Among democratic federations, the Canadian Senate looks astonishing on more than one count. Its members are not elected, but appointed by the federal executive. Senators keep their seat until they turn 75.

Federalism in Africa does not have a positive image. Its record of success is patchy while its failures seem manifest. However, the evident paucity of successful contemporary federal systems must not be allowed to convey the impression that federalism in Africa is redundant.

Canada has been negotiating a comprehensive economic and commercial agreement with the European Union (EU) since 2009. CETA would be the first agreement of this type between rich countries, and would very likely serve as an international model.

Since the May 2, 2011, federal election there has been much talk about a merger between the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party of Canada.

The exercise, inaptly named “repatriation of the constitution”, consisted of adopting a constitutional amendment procedure, since such a procedure had not been adopted in 1931 when Canada became independent.

The absolute majority gained by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the Scottish elections of 2011 ensures that there will be a referendum on independence before 2015.

The question of the political unity of multinational federations arises in a context where the accommodation of ethno-cultural minorities or historically disadvantaged groups is considered not only a moral norm, but a good strategy.

For a large majority of Quebecers, repatriation of the Constitution was a good thing— federalism entails more advantages than disadvantages.

Since the federal elections on May 2 we have heard and read all sorts of explanations for the results of the Quebec vote. Unfortunately those explanations are not very convincing…

For the first time since 1993, Quebecers have elected a strong majority of MPs from federalist parties. Yet no one can claim that this was a victory for federalism.

Nationalist movements that call for independence or greater political autonomy for their communities are bearers of an essentially political scheme.

The Federal Idea just released a new study entitled Fiscal Federalism and Monetary Union – European Lessons for Quebec.

The Bloc Québécois might be near-extinct, but its philosophy is still very much alive in Quebec.

In the last parliament, Mr Salmond’s minority SNP administration was blocked by the opposition parties from holding a referendum, which would be indicative rather than legally binding.

The Federal Idea just released a new study entitled The Belgian “Example”. This study examines the main characteristics of Belgian federalism.

Federalists have always maintained that the European monetary union will remain fragile as long as it is not matched with a political union.

The Federal Idea today released a study illuminating many aspects of economic and fiscal relations between provinces within the federal system, Québec in particular.

The Court of Appeal of Alberta has judged that the federal proposal for a national securities regulator violates the Constitution of Canada

The Honourable Stéphane Dion delivered a speech on the occasion of the 8th Annual Michel Bastarache Conference.

When Meles Zenawi’s rebels closed in on Addis Ababa in the early months of 1991, their biggest threat did not come from Mengistu Haile Mariam’s army but from a potential breakup of Ethiopia.

The Federal Idea just released a new study entitled “Limitations on the right to secede: the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo and the stability of [...]

The 5th International Conference on Federalism (ICF) kicks off late on Monday in Addis Ababa where leaders from Rwanda, Sudan, and Somalia are attending.

Germany’s rejection of a proposal for “eurobonds” may doom it to picking up the largest share of the bill for future bailouts of other European governments – or else to membership in a considerably smaller euro zone.

Owing to the high degree of collaboration between the executive power of the federal government and that of each of the federated states (Länder), German federalism is often characterized as “executive federalism.”

For more than a decade now, a good number of people, in both political and academic circles, have been declaring that the ideas of the founding fathers of the European Union, especially the idea of a federal Europe, are outdated. Yet, the announcement of the establishment of the Spinelli Group, on September 15, by four Euro-MPs, including onetime May 68 leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit, would seem to be proving them wrong.

Et si le débat, intermittent et superficiel, sur la construction européenne n’était en réalité qu’un énorme dialogue de sourds à la recherche de son objet ! D’un côté, une désaffection, supposée croissante, de l’opinion pour l’Union européenne telle que la fabriquent les gouvernements à coups de traités successifs, de l’autre la « fatigue » institutionnelle de ces mêmes gouvernements pour qui il ne serait pas possible de rouvrir le chantier constitutionnel, faute de soutien populaire. Et un grand absent : une image parlante de l’unité.

Dans une atmosphère de repli nationaliste et de souverainisme décomplexé, les fédéralistes de tous horizons sortent du bois pour relancer la mécanique européenne. Leur étendard, un grand fédéraliste européen : Altiero Spinelli. Leur credo : la méthode communautaire. Leur humeur : être sans complexe.

More than ever, the challenges we face today are worldwide: climate change, resource exhaustion and environmental destruction, economic and financial regulation, nuclear threat and collective security, fairer trade, peace-building…

Ipsos pollster John Wright thinks the Liberals, the Conservatives and the NDP may all be wasting their time in Quebec these days. Given the Bloc Québécois’s enduring dominance of the province, he wonders why any of the other parties should bother with Quebec.

On s’en veut de plomber les vacances de ceux qui croient encore dans l’Europe mais les nouvelles du front sont mauvaises. Ce n’est pas seulement le dernier numéro du magazine américain Time (12 juillet), qui qualifie l’Europe de « continent perdu ». Ni la dernière livraison de Newsweek (12 juillet), qui juge les banques européennes dans un état « pire que Wall Street ».

The author, André Lecours from Ottawa University, clarifies four challenges that federal systems are facing today:
1. the management of diversity, whether ethnic, religious, linguistic or national;
2. the practice of democracy, particularly in highly complex societies in which it is not yet thoroughly rooted;
3. the equilibrium between the centre and federated entities, and between the adoption of symmetric or asymmetric policies;
4. the quest for stability and justice by way of territorial redistribution of wealth.

The author, America’s foremost expert on federalism, teaches at Lafayette College. This text is a summary of the presentation he gave on May 27 2010, in Montreal, to the members of the Federal Idea, a Quebec think tank on federalism. A Powerpoint presentation is also available.

Thirty years after the 1980 referendum and fifteen years after 1995, a 58% majority of Quebecers feels that the Quebec sovereignty debate is settled, while a 26% minority believes it is more relevant than ever. This is the main conclusion of a CROP poll of 1,000 respondents conducted via a WEB panel between April 15 and 22 under the auspices of The Federal Idea, a Quebec Think Tank on Federalism.

In this article, the authors underline the fact that «some Canadians may be willing to sacrifice efficiency in order to preserve or strenghthen local autonomy and identity».

Dans cet article publié dans la revue Administration publique du Canada, les auteurs défendent l’idée que «certains Canadiens pourraient être prêts à sacrifier l’efficience afin de préserver ou renforcer l’autonomie et l’identité locales.»

The first study of the Federal Idea is now available in french only. The english translation will soon be available as well.

At the invitation of The Federal Idea and CORIM, Mr. Dehaene will be in Montreal on Februrary 16th to give a conference about federalism in Belgium, in Europe and in the world.

The new designated president of the Europeen Council, Herman Van Rompuy says that he is a federalist, but not a «fundamentalist».

According to the French magazine L’Express, the choice of the European Community for its new President puts on hold the idea of a federal Europe.

Fewer than one in three people said they would vote yes in an independence referendum, with more than half saying they would vote no.

Moins d’un Écossais sur trois aurait voté oui dans le cadre d’un référendum sur l’indépendance, tandis que plus de la moitié aurait voté non.

La chronique politique de Philippe Walkowiak. Vendredi 13 novembre 2009.

Tuesday, October 27, The Federal Idea held it’s first breakfast conference in Montreal.

En réponse aux arguments de Brian Lee Crowley, l’Idée fédérale avait invité le professeur Gérard Bélanger, de l’Université Laval, au premier déjeuner causerie de L’Idée fédérale, le 27 octobre, à Montréal.

Brian Lee Crowley’s thesis in his book Fearful Symmetry: The Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values (excerpted in the Post on September 18 and 19) sets forth the proposition that Canada broke with its past from the 1960s onward.

L’économiste Brian Lee Crowley, auteur de Fearful Symmetry, a participé au premier déjeuner causerie de L’Idée fédérale, le 27 octobre, à Montréal.

Ten years ago this week delegates from some fifty countries gathered at Mont Tremblant for the first international conference on federalism.

Editorial by André Pratte – In Québec, the word “federalism” carries a negative connotation. Even though, as public-opinion surveys suggest, sixty percent of Quebecers would…

The Federal Idea, a new Québec think tank on federalism, launched its activities this morning by bringing fifty people together in Montreal and by unveiling the results of an exclusive opinion survey…

Press Release – The Federal Idea, a new Québec think tank on federalism, launched its activities this morning by bringing fifty people together in Montreal and by unveiling the results of an exclusive opinion survey…

Visit the The Federal Idea Facebook® page. It will enable you to keep up with the activities of the Québec think tank…

“Les perceptions des Québécois à l’égard du fédéralisme” (Quebecers’ perceptions with respect to federalism). Preliminary CROP-express report presented in April 2009.