Saturday, December 09, 2006

Out of curiosity

Since I first saw Stephane Dion's Wikipedia entry shortly after his selection as leader of the Libs, I've been curious about the implications of the following passage:
Dion has often been described as a Trudeau centralist due to his strong defence of Canadian federalism, most particularly in his "open letters" to former premier of Quebec Lucien Bouchard. However, his position on federalism is far more nuanced. It would be most accurate to describe him as a federal autonomist. While Dion supports cooperation, flexibility, and interdependence in the Canadian federation, he unequivocally argues against jurisdictional intrusion by stating that "the Constitution must be respected. We must do away with the all-too-convenient excuse that a given governmental initiative responds to a need that is too urgent to be stymied by issues of 'jurisdiction.' Infringement of jurisdiction creates confusion which damages the quality of public policy." Dion's position on provincial rights is not only the result of respect for the Constitution of Canada, but also to prevent the "joint decision trap" in which the capacity of a government's ability to act is restricted by the need for approval from the other constituent governments.
Since nothing I saw on Dion's own website seemed to explicitly confirm or deny such a position, a couple of questions for those more familiar with his views than I. Is the above passage an accurate depiction of Dion's past or present view of federalism? And if so, would Dion support PMS' desire to constitutionally prohibit new federal programs in areas of provincial jurisdiction, or oppose such a measure only based on the politics of opening constitutional issues rather than on its merits?

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