A Sort of Equilibrium

Here’s an old chestnut that’s appeared in these pages before. Several people of different nationalities are asked to propose the title of a book about an elephant. The Brit replies with The Elephant’s Role in the British Empire. The French person suggests La vie amoureuse de l’éléphant. The American proposes The Elephant: An American Invention. The Canadian offers The Elephant: A Federal or Provincial Responsibility?

For 155 years, this country has been a federation, which means its legal and political powers are shared between two levels of government. Since Confederation, political arguments, court cases, crises large and small, moments of high drama and bathos, federal-provincial negotiations, and rearrangements of power have all been part of the warp and woof of public life.

Confederation did not sail easily into a safe harbour. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island sniffed at the possibility of joining but turned away. A...