Essay on Canada's Federal System: Power Divided Among Provincial Governments

Introduction

The structure of Canada's federal system is designed in such a way that it divides the authority of the administration between the federal government, which is the central government and other ten provincial governments of Canada. The ten provincial governments have their independent politics. The provincial government plays a pivotal role in ensuring justice prevails within the provinces. They have a duty of providing public schooling to the citizens as well as ensuring that health and social services are provided within the territories. The provincial government shares responsibilities with the federal government in serving the local government. The distinct provincial governments have the liberty to determine and manage their degree of public services. Thus, the different provinces have made significant economic and cultural decisions based on the interests of its citizens. The province of Ontario situated on east-central Canada is one of the 10 Canadian provinces. The province borders the United States and the Great Lakes. The paper examines the provincial politics in Canada drawing close references to the recent events in political arena under the leadership of Wynne's Liberal government and Ford's Conservative government.

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Ever since the inception of provincial governments into the constitution, provincial governments have been instrumental in the regional economic and social development. The provincial governments are close to the citizens giving them an advantage of the implementation of the policy. They make public investment in infrastructure and transportation development. They ensure a steady evolution of the general education structures. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the provincial governments enhanced the expansion of economic and public education systems. They also played a crucial role in the development of social services and health programs. The growth and development of service delivery through the provincial government transformed the initial formation and widened the range of provincial administration.

The constitution defines the scope of the powers of the provincial government. It states that the provincial governments are concerned with general affairs of local or private nature within the provincial range. The constitution also specifies the laws governing property and civil rights, the procedures and processes of the sale of provincial public properties, health institutions, municipal institutions and regional jobs and undertakings. According to the constitution, the provincial government establishes provincial courts and judicial systems that have the power to impose civil and criminal law. Section 93 of the constitution points out that education is the responsibility of the provincial government. Article 95 stipulates the laws governing agriculture and immigration issues. It provides the provincial government with powers to regulate agriculture and immigration with the approval of the federal government. In other words, the provincial government can handle these issues. However, if the issues affect different provinces, then the federal government intervene. The constitution outlines legal aspects concerning public lands as well as the scope of ownership of provincial natural resources. The law protects the infringement of the provincial government by the federal government.

Taxation is another essential element of provincial politics in Canada. Tax helps any government to run its affairs as well as performing its responsibility and extending services to the people. According to the constitution, the provincial governments have the powers to direct taxation of activities within the province. Thus, the provincial governments can only tax personal and corporate incomes, consumers and specific properties found within the region. The provincial governments have the power to obtain taxes from non-income tax revenues. The 1982 amendment of the constitution introduced section (92A) that awards the provincial government unlimited tax powers of natural resources located within the province (Cullingworth, 2017). The amendment was made with a sole purpose of solving the difficulties that arose due to the indirect tax fields such as the non-renewable resources, forestry economic resources and electrical power.

Provincial premiers are the head of the provincial government. They are equivalent to the prime ministers looking at the federal cabinet. The provincial premiers serve as presidents of the Executive Council of the provincial governments (Dunn, 2016). The provincial assemblies have a responsibility towards the adequate performance of their ministries. They make policies that run the departments. These ministries include the health, education, advanced learning and education programs, career and highways and transportation, among others.

The Provincial Legislative Assemblies serves as an essential component of Canadian democracy. They play a pivotal role in the making of provincial laws. These laws require that the various provincial governments pass bills that would be exposed to the first reading, followed by the second reading, then detailed analysis when presented to the committee stage. The laws are then passed to a final reading after which it receives permission from the lieutenant-governor. The legislature also plays a critical role in the approval of the budgetary process. They annually approve or reject the money required to fund projects and programs within the provincial government. Therefore, the Legislative Assembly has the authority to approve expenditures of the provincial government.

The provincial politics in Canada express one peculiar aspect. The governments, in most cases, have been formed and dominated by a single party for an extended period. A good example is the Alberta Conservative Party which has been in leadership since 1971. The Nova Scotia Liberal Party has formed the administration in the provincial politics of Nova Scotia between 1882 and 1925 (Cullingworth, 2017). The two register the most extended provincial administration in the history of provincial politics in Canada. However, the Ontario Liberal governments have formed a minority government between 1985-87 and 2011-14. It ranks third in creating government after the Alberta Conservative Party and Nova Scotia Liberal Party.

The Wynne's Liberal Government

Kathleen Wynne was the 25th Premier of the province of Ontario from 2013 to 2018. She was also the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Wynne holds the record of being the first female Premier of the province of Ontario. She took the leadership of Ontario from McGuinty after winning the Liberal leadership. However, she led the Liberal Party to lose the 2018 provincial race registering the worst loss in the history of the party. As a result, she resigned from the leadership of the party in June 2018.

Wynne's premiership faced several challenges, including the gas plant scandal, strikes in the education sector, the hydro one, education and economy. Wynne found herself in the scandal surrounding the construction of the gas plant in Mississauga and Northeastern part of Oakville. His opponents accused her of being behind the cancellation of the costly project of the development of the gas plant. According to the opposition, Wynne was in league with her predecessor on the gas plant scandal. However, Wynne appeared in 2013 in the trial to testify against her involvement in the cancellation of the gas plant that led to over $11 billion loss of the taxpayers' money.

One significant achievement of Wynne was the introduction of the Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014. The act was designed to enhance the accountability and transparency of the public servants. The law required the civil servants and the opposition leaders, together with their staffs to make the expenses public by posting them online. The act was instrumental in improving the authority of the Integrity Commissioner and Ontario Ombudsman. It also implemented $5,000 fine imposed on anyone who willfully destroys government records.

In 2016, Wynne sold 30 per cent of the Hydro One to private owners giving them authority to increase prices as well as selling shares amounting to 60 per cent of the company. She then used part of the money obtained from the sale of Hydro One to pay off government debts and improve transport infrastructure. However, Wynne made a political suicide by selling Hydro One since approximately 70 per cent of the citizens in Ontario were against the move. As a result, her approval rating collapsed to 14 per cent, the lowest in the history of all the premiers of Ontario.

Wynne's administration encountered several strikes from teachers and educational stakeholders following her participation in the supervision of grade school and post-secondary education. Her administration also introduced several amendments to the sex education program in public schools. The changes received harsh treatments from parents, the opposition and majority of the conservative. As a result, some parents blocked their children from attending schools as a way of boycotting the changes in the sex education program.

In 2014, Wynne's administration was facing a lot of pressure from the public following high living standards. As a result, she introduced an increase from $10.25 to $11 in the minimum wage. She also announced that she had implemented legislation that would ensure future expansion in the minimum wage to maintain the Consumer Price Index. Nevertheless, she announced that her administration was partnering with Cisco Canada in a move to over 1,700 jobs to reduce the high rate of unemployment in the province. Wynne's administration increased job opportunities through cooperation with China. For instance, Honda established three plants in the area following the trade relations with her administration. Wynne's administration effectively reduced the rate of unemployment towards to end of 2015. The economy of the province was the second strongest in terms of growth during that period.

The Ford Conservative Government

Doug Ford was the 26th premier of Ontario. He was elected into office following lose by the former premier Kathleen Wynne. Ford is in his second year of office in the province of Ontario as its premier. Several events in his leadership are worth examining. The election of Ford to be the next premier of the province of Ontario served as a signal of the realignment of the political inclination of not only Ontario but Canada as a whole. However, it has only been a year since his election yet his approval ratings are well below his predecessor, the Liberal premier, Kathleen Wynne. The approval ratings are an indication of dissatisfaction of his administration. According to political analysts and opinion polls, Ford would lose by a significant margin if he would compete against Mayor John Tory leading the Liberal Party.

The citizens of Ontario elected Ford believing that he was going to introduce tax cuts as well as reduce hydro rates. They had hoped that his administration would improve efficiency in the operation of his administration contrary to the laying off of public servants in education and health sectors as proposed by his opponents. However, this is not the case with Ford's administration. His current administration seems to affect negatively approximately all areas ranging from public health, energy, education, climate change to flood and other forms of hazard protection. Economies suggest that the recent cuts in Ford's budget favoured the future economics of the province, especially Information Technology. Ford's administration seems to concentrate on the reduction of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. His cuts are also evident...