Canadian Federalism: Past, Present and Future ed. by Michael Burgess (review)

REVIEWS arbitrary reading of the events but ignorea fundamental principle in historical explanation. LikeBuckher, heprefers toseek explanations notin causal relationships butin terms ofintellectual history. The reviewof well-known factsby the various authorssucceeds wellin •wing thatadifferent perspective isnotmerely possible butlong overdue. Involved in thisprocess is the needto incorporate AtlanticCanadaasan integral element intheConfederation saga rather than asanappendage. It is particularly invigorating thataftersome twenty years ofwidespread neglect, the subject of Confederation mayagain become anactive subject of debate. What isnotable isthatthishasbeencarried outby scholars fromAtlantic Canada in conjunction with scholars from GreatBritain. I{•'••YKE University of Windsor ,•ian Federalism: Past,Present andFuture. Editedby MICHAEL BURGESS. Studies inFederalism. Leicester: Leicester University Press 1990.Pp.x, 212 InSeptember 1988agroupofBritish andCanadian political scientists metat Enghnd's LeicesterUniversityfor a conference on 'CanadianFederalism: F'•st, Present andFuture,'funded bytheCanadian department of External Affairs. It'stobehoped thatthevisiting academics enjoyed themselves. (Nice phceLeicester:Norman casfie,fifteenth-century Guildhall, three-star restaurant a fewmiles south of town.)Perhaps theinformal interchanges among these scholars madethe government of Canada's investment worth- •hile,but,judgingbythesepublished proceedings of theconference, not much ofgreatintellectual importtookplace. Theninechapters contain essays ontheConfederation debates; judicial •nterpretation of the BritishNorthAmerica Act;the ImperialFederation movement; western Canadian alienation; recent relations between Ottawa and Quebec City; Atlantic Canada's dependency onthefederal government; the parliamentary system and federalism; the Macdonald Commission and the Meech Lake Accord (still alive when theessay was written, ofcourse.) Most of the papers areup-m-date summaries of thesecondary literature on these subjects anddon't addgreatly towhat isalready known. Whois intended to readthisbook? Obviously Leicester University's Centre for Federal Studies considers it sufficiently valuable to addto its previous volumes of essays on federalism and nationalism and modern German federalism. Perhaps Canadian undergraduates writing essays on ratious topics orscholars infaraway federations seeking abrief summary of recent literature oncertain Canadian problems mayfindit useful. Butit •."ems doubtful that publication ofthese papers inabook isreally justified. Publishing conference proceedings is,afterall,a business fraught with zertain risks. Some of themost stimulating anduseful contributions to 294 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW scholarship firstseethelightaspapers delivered tolearnedaudiences, butas everyhardened½onfdremier knows suchintellectual beauties starttheirlives among much thatismundane, evanescent, ordownright ugly.To date,C, ana. dianstudies havebeensufficiently staidfor nobody in that field to produce thepyrotechnic equivalent of'Jane Austin andtheMasturbating Girl,'which excited somuchattention attheModernLanguages Association a fewyear• ago.Perhaps it wouldbebest topropose a moratorium onreproducing conference proceedings in times whenresources areshortandpublications dear. CHRISTOPHER ARMSTRONG York University A Sovereigrn Idea:Essays onCanada asa Democratic Communi•. KEG WHITAKEIL Montreal:McGill-Queen's University Press 1992.Pp.xiv, 338. $44.95cloth, $19.95 paper McGill-Queen's University Press is to be congratulated on publishing this collectionof Reg Whitaker'swriting. Canadianpoliticallife is often dis. paraged foritslackofphilosophical content, butWhitaker's workstands asa strongcounterpoint to that allegation. In CanadatodayWhitakerhasfe• peersin connecting our political experience to the fundamental theme• La Westernpoliticalthought. Nineofthetenessays inthisvolume havepreviously appeared injourn• and collections. Bringingthemtogetherin an essentially chronological order enables usto appreciate theevolution of Whitaker's thought.The brief,selfreflective notes thatintroduce eachessay giveusWhitaker's ownunderstand. ing of that evolution.The tenth and final essaywritten spedallyfor the volumeisa powerful,panoramic overview of Canada's constitutional travail• up to the aftermathof MeechLake. Whitaker is clearlya man of the left - a socialdemocrat.But hi• application ofsocial democracy toCanadian history ismuchmorephilosophicalthanideological . Mostof the time,Whitakerisfreeof the cantorjargon of a particular school. He candrawasfruiffullyfrom thethoughtof Mad'•m or Calhoun as from Marxist sources. This collection of his work shows an admirable capacity for intellectual growthandtrueoriginality. One appreciates thesequalitiesof Whitaker'swork all the moreafter readingthefirstessay in thecollection on 'Imagesof the Statein Canada.' Here the standardneo-Marxist categories are clunkedout to explain Canadianpoliticsas a conspiracy betweencapitalists and politicians to accumulate capital andlegitimate theiroppression oftheworkers. Thisessay originallyappearedin a volumeWhitakerdescribes as 'a landmarkin abe emergence of the new school of politicaleconomyin Canada.'The essay demonstrates whythatschool isdestined to havea shortshelflife. At•er thisunt•rtunate start,Whitaker and the volumetake off. He isatI• ...