ABSTRACT

Canadian Federalism and the Environment: The Literature

By William R. MacKay

The subject of federalism and environmental policy in Canada is the focus of a large body of academic literature. Yet, in the past, this literature has generally ignored the highly developed theories of Canadian intergovernmental relations. Recent academic literature, however, attempts to analyze environmental policy-making in Canada through an intergovernmental relations lens. Moreover, this literature attempts to broaden the scope of inquiry to include political and economic factors that contribute to given patterns of intergovernmental relations in the environment. The purpose of this paper is to, first, examine this literature and disseminate what it reveals about the role played by the federal and provincial governments in the environmental field and what factors can be identified that contribute to the increased legislative role of one level of government over another. Second, the paper will consider the literature’s conclusions concerning the dominant form of intergovernmental relations in the environmental field. Finally, this examination of the literature will focus on what legal scholars construe as the best model of intergovernmental relations for environmental governance.