The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism

The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism reveals the commission’s impact on the high politics of federal-provincial relations and its legacy for Canadian federalism today.

Robert Wardhaugh is a professor in the History Department at Western University. He is the author of Mackenzie King and the Prairie West and Behind the Scenes: The Life and Work of William Clifford Clark. With Barry Ferguson, he is also a co-editor of Manitoba’s Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Barry Ferguson has just retired as professor in the History Department and the Duff Roblin Chair in the Political Studies Department at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of Remaking Liberalism: The Intellectual Legacy of Adam Shortt, O.D. Skelton, W.C. Clark, and W.A. Mackintosh, 1890–1925.

The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism reveals a great deal about the state of the federation (not so good) during the 1930s and helps us make ­better sense of a sometimes unfathomable nation today. It reminds us that the very real problems of governing this land are not new and that the struggle between the federal government and the provinces is and always has been at the heart of the body politic and our constitution.

Mary Janigan:

...in this superb analysis, historians Robert Wardhaugh and Barry Ferguson argue persuasively that the [Rowell Sirois Commission] was immensely significant.

Christopher Moore, renowned Canadian historian:

For quite a long time, I might have said that a Venn diagram would show no overlap whatsoever between "Christopher Moore's Historical Interests" and "the Royell-Sirois Royal Commission on Dominion Provincial Relations"....Now my Venn boundaries are shifting...I'm finding Wardlaugh and Ferguson's The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism pretty interesting.

T.M. Bateman, St. Thomas University:
...this book on the Rowell -Sirois Commission (1938-40) and fiscal federalism in Canada achieves the nearly impossible: it is an interesting account of the personalities, politics, economics, and constitutional issues affecting Depression-era Canada and its federal order.

lsbeth Heaman, professor of history and classical studies, McGill University:

The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism is an invaluable study of Canadian federalism, past and present: history, political science, public policy, and economics. There’s an enormous amount of new material here that illuminates the precipitation and fallout of the Rowell-Sirois Commission.

Stephen Henderson, associate professor of history and classics, Acadia University:

The Rowell-Sirois Commission and the Remaking of Canadian Federalism is a thoughtful and well-written analysis of one of the most important royal commissions in Canadian history. Collecting a very impressive body of primary research, Wardhaugh and Ferguson provide evidence from the key players in politics, academia, the bureaucracy, and especially the commissioners and support staff.