The development of intergovernmental relations in the province of British Columbia

• Main Author: Howlett, Michael
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25020

This thesis examines the development of federal-provincial relations in British Columbia in the areas of fiscal federalism, the economy, and the constitution. From an historical survey of federal-provincial interactions in these areas provincial developments are found to correspond to key periods in the development of the structures of intergovernmental relations within other Canadian governments. As is the case with those other governments, the British Columbia developments are explained by the increasing impact economic and social development issues have had on essentially static federal-provincial constitutional jurisdictions. However, a gap is found to exist in the case of B.C. between the time such issues arose in the immediate post World War II period and the time the provincial government began addressing them on a systematic intergovernmental basis in the mid 1970's. In order to understand this gap the development of the internal organization of the provincial government is examined and the types of administrative agencies established to conduct its intergovernmental relations are discussed. From this analysis it emerges that such internal administrative factors as the tradition of a strong Premier and Cabinet have significantly influenced the conduct and effectiveness of the province's intergovernmental relations. === Arts, Faculty of === Political Science, Department of === Graduate