Nationalism versus continentalism, ideology in the mirror of the Macdonald Royal Commission

grantor: University of TorontoThis dissertation examines political ideology in Canada in the period preceding continental free trade. Using a theoretical framework derived from the French regulation school, it focuses on the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Canada's Development Prospects (the 1985 Macdonald Royal Commission) whose signature recommendation prompted the Canadian government to enter into a comprehensive free trade arrangement with the United States. This study analyzes the ideological role of this Commission in an historical perspective by explaining the significance of royal commissions in Canadian politics. And it places the free trade recommendation in context by assessing Canadian economic development strategies. The Macdonald Commission served as a mirror which reflected ideology in action. This is revealed by an examination of its four major components through content analysis, interviews, a survey of relevant literature and archival research. First, the ideological content of submissions by major organized interests--namely, business, labour and popular sector groups--which presented competing ideological visions of the Canadian political economy to the Commission is examined. Second, the ideological nature of the Commission's massive research program is analyzed in the context of social science knowledge utilization. Third, the internal politics of the Commission is assessed by exposing the ideological role of a select oligarchy within the bureaucracy of the Commission in shaping its final report. And fourth, the evolution of the Commission chairperson's ideological beliefs and dominant role in the recommendation for free trade is revealed. The premise of the study is that contending economic development strategies have long vied for primacy in Canadian politics. The nationalist ideology advocates state intervention to foster Canada's development as an autonomous nation-state, and has been based since the Second World War on a left-Keynesian theory. The continentalist ideology seeks greater economic integration with the United States and is based on free market, non-interventionist principles. The Macdonald Commission offered a forum for these two contending ideologies and brought their intellectual rationales into sharp relief. It clearly reflects the ideological bases of nationalism and continentalism, and the importance of these ideologies in understanding the trajectory of the Canadian political economy.Ph.D