Partial asymmetry and federal construction: Accommodating diversity in the Canadian constitution

In a cursory overview of asymmetrical federations, the Canadian case stands out in several respects. First, although a strong secessionist movement exists in Quebec, there has been little recourse to violence that would necessitate international mediation. Second, a recent "pact" or settlement that addresses the secessionist movement has not been in-stituted - indeed, the most recent constitutional rounds ended in 1992 with the failure of the Charlottetown Accord, and the subsequent rejection of independence in the Quebec referendum closed the case. What remains is the persistent claim that the status quo contains within it the necessary institutional mechanisms to alleviate such pressures. Indeed, the recent history of intergovernmental relations and constitutionalism in Canada is marked by a curious measure of indifference for one of the most powerful secessionist movements in the world. Third, with regard to cultural and territorial autonomy, Canada is marked by "diversity of diversities" that often undercut one another in the country's attempt to find an agreement that satisfies all of its constituent partners. Nation building in Canada has thus been characterized in part by various attempts to recognize the country's politically salient identities, often resulting in clashing visions that are metaconstitutional in nature (Cairns 1992). Finally, with regard to the place of nation building activities and attempts to consolidate national identity as the basis for citizenship and representation, Canada is caught between formal procedural markers of identification that apply uniformly across the country and a constant challenge from Quebec, which has undertaken a coherent nationbuilding strategy of its own since the "Quiet Revolution" in the 1960s. Moreover, one is struck by the extent to which asymmetry in Canada is at once as viscerally rejected as it is embraced. This has resulted in a situation where theorists and scholars have for the most part vaunted its merits and its "inevitable" foray into Canada's institutional landscape, while at the same time garnering much negative reaction from federal legislators, in part due to a large body of literature documenting its unpopular status among the general population (Seidle and Bishop 2005). As such, in Canada there exists a curious relationship with asymmetry. Its capacity to accommodate diversity has produced a seemingly unending body of thought that includes considerations about: its role in structuring relations between constituent units in the country's history as a well-acknowledged "fact" (see Milne 1991; Watts 1999); the fact that it has over time nourished debates that range from attempts to shed light on the country's actual founding principles to a novel way forward in a global world (see, for example, Kelly and Laforest 2004); its status as the most likely candidate to address Canada's persistent constitutional impasse;1 as the best way forward in addressing the policy interdependence between federal and provincial governments, particularly in terms of fiscal arrangements; as the logical consequence of deep-seated sociological differences in relation to the existence of Quebec (McRoberts 1997; Webber 1994), with a majority Francophone population, as well as in the case of Aboriginal peoples;2 and generally, as a vehicle for infusing Canadian federalism with a measure of flexibility that allows for constant adaptation to changing international and domestic circumstances. Indeed, Canada is something of a beacon for discourses on asymmetry, challenging singular understandings of political community and producing what some have called a "Canadian school" over questions of diversity, or a unique "Canadian conversation" (Kernerman