2010 STATE OF THE FEDERATION CONFERENCE:

ONTARIO AND THE FEDERATION

Agenda and Paper Themes

The Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto

1 Devonshire Place
Toronto, Ontario

November 19 – 20, 2010

PREAMBLE

Canada’s policy architecture evolved over the 20th century. It built a protected national
internal market, a strong manufacturing base centred in southwestern Ontario and a set of
redistributive policies that supported less prosperous individuals and regions.

But Canada and the world are transforming rapidly. The country faces a set of important
new realities:

• Canadian prosperity is more evenly distributed across Canada’s regions.

• Services and natural resources have emerged as the primary drivers of aggregate
national growth and of regional inequality.
• Globalization and free trade mean that Canada is, more than ever, competing with
countries around the world for investment, human capital, and markets for our goods
and services.
• The recent global recession also means that governments across the federation are
facing deficits, some of which are structural.
• Demographic changes, including an aging population, will compound the enormous
fiscal pressure on many national and provincial programs.

During most of the 20th century, Ontario was unique amongst Canadian regions in its lack of
a strong regional identity, moderating and complicating conflicts over the role of the federal
government. Ontarians’ stronger support for the federal government during this period was
a defining characteristic of many of Canada’s political and constitutional debates. It is
possible that this feature of Canadian political life is evolving.

To what extent is current public policy capable of addressing these realities? What changes
are required to ensure that Canada is positioned to retain and build upon its competitive
advantage in the global economy while ensuring the adequacy of programs that its citizens
rely upon? To what extent does the policy architecture of the 20th century, including
regional redistribution, need to be modified to reflect recent economic and demographic
shifts within the federation? What are the signs and implications of the evolving attitudes to
the federation among Ontarians and other Canadians?

The Institute for Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University will partner with the
Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto to
host the annual State of the Federation Conference, which will respond to these and other
questions and assess the implications for Canada and federalism

NOVEMBER 19

WELCOME REMARKS

PANEL: Fiscal Sustainability

• Relative position of federal government and provinces
• Ontario compared to other provinces

PANEL: The New Ontario

• The “Laurentian Thesis” Revisited
• The changing face of Ontario
• The “New Regionalism” Revisited
• Ontario’s emerging regional alliances

LUNCH PLENARY 1: Positioning Canada and Ontario Higher on the Value Chain

PANEL: Roles and Responsibilities for a 21st Century Economy

• Quebec’s Model of Federalism: Lessons for Ontario?

• The future of national standards
• Will rationalizing roles and responsibilities be the next big intergovernmental
dialogue?
• Province-building versus Country-building: Is there a trade-off?

NOVEMBER 20

PANEL: Ontario’s Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda

• A new model for economic development
• Funding innovation – a new model for the Ontario economy
• Whither manufacturing?

PANEL: Renewing Fiscal Federalism

• Re-negotiating Intergovernmental Transfers
• Pricing Carbon and the implications for inter-regional transfers
• Strategies to mitigate the impact of provincial ownership of natural resources -
International Lessons
• New equalization and realigning federal-provincial taxation
LUNCH PLENARY 2: Regional Perspectives on the New Ontario (i.e. perspectives from
Canada’s other regions)

PANEL: Social Contract in the Federation: An Ontario Perspective

• The future of the welfare state in Ontario and Canada
• Citizen federalism
• Canada's Broken Social Contract: Ontario's Evolving Place in the Federation

CLOSING REMARKS