(This is a two-part assignment. The first part is the only part I want completed which is the annotated bibliography prior to writing my final essay. If you read further down, my professor states that not every source has to be annotated only some as she is able to tell if it will help me further in my next essay writing. I need reliable sources chosen to best help me with the research and completion of the final essay. In the assignment instructions I will provide both the annotated bibliography assignment instructions and main essay instructions that way you can read and see how both assignments are intertwined. This is important because good sources will help me complete the main essay portion. It is a lot of reading and instructions but I’m providing all of this because it will help guide you to what the professor exactly wants).
This is the requirements for the annotated bibliography:
You are required to submit a bibliography for the Intergovernmental Relations and Federalism Written Assignment This bibliography should be divided into 5 sections that correspond to the 5 sections of this assignment due in week 10. (Sections are provided right under this paragraph). Please include the sources you have found – both academic in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters written by specific authors in edited books – and the 20 media articles you plan to use. You may also find relevant information on the websites of online semi-academic news sources (eg. The Conversation; The Walrus; The Hub, Policy Options) or Think tanks (eg. Canada West Foundation; Generation Squeeze, CD Howe Institute). You can also use government press releases. A more fullsome list and links to all of these kinds of sources are found in my announcement dated October 15)
The five sections:
Section 1: Jurisdiction
Section 2: Government Perspectives
Section 3: Analysis of Positions
Section 4: Analysis of Strategy
Section 5: Reflection
Below is the Rubric for grading this assignment. It will be graded out of 15. (It is in the files).
(This is an important announcement that my professor provided that will help answer any questions about the assignment of the bibliography):
As a reminder, the topics of the Intergovernmental and Federalism Written Assignment that you can choose from are:
1.Are you interested in the housing shortage in Canada? Then choose: The Housing Accelerator Fund
2.Are you interested in the quality of health care in Canada? Then choose: The 2023 10 year Federal Health Care Funding Agreement
3.Are you interested in the Environment? Then choose: The Carbon Tax
*(You can choose any one of these 3 topics above^ if you have good knowledge in any of them and I can base my final essay off of it, I just chose the quality of healthcare since it is most interesting to me)*
I’m excited for you because in doing this assignment you are seeing intergovernmental relations play out in real time about real issues!
Remember, the bibliography should be divided into five sections that correspond to the five sections of the written assignment on intergovernmental relations that you will submit in week 10. Owing to the contemporary nature of these issues, you will need to use newspaper articles as a key source for completing the assignment. You must have at least 20. Then you will also want to use academic analysis including chapters from ebooks available in the library and peer-reviewed academic journal articles on the library website.
I have spoken to many of you who have contacted me about the assignment, and here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions:
Can I can use other forms of online analysis, other than newspaper articles? YES! But you must have 20 newspaper articles, and there is some really good analysis in traditional e-books and journal articles available through the library website that you will also want to utilize.
What other kind of online analysis is acceptable? Things like articles in online news magazines that are quasi-academic like The Walrus: https://thewalrus.ca/; The Hub: https://thehub.ca/; Policy Options: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/; The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/ca;
Are there any other kinds of sources I might find useful? YES! There are some great think tanks that have publications you can utilize. Some think tanks are specific to a policy area; others are general and have publications on many specific issues. You might want to take a gander at: The MacDonald-Laurier Institute: https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/ Generation Squeeze: https://www.gensqueeze.ca/ The Canada West Foundation: https://cwf.ca/; The David Suzuki Foundation: https://davidsuzuki.org/; the Canadian Climate Institute: https://climateinstitute.ca/; The C.D. Howe Institute: https://www.cdhowe.org/
Anything else I should consider as sources? YES! Be sure to visit the Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat to find out the latest press releases and meetings of ministers on your policy issue: https://www.scics.ca/. Also, check out the Council of the Federation website for the Premiers’ collective point of view: https://www.canadaspremiers.ca/.
How do I find newspaper articles? You go to Canadian Newsstream through the library website, and then enter search terms. Beside each document on the left will be a newspaper icon if it is a newspaper. (see image below)
Do I need to include the ProQuest URLs in my bibliography for my newspaper articles? PLEASE NO. Just the citation for the article itself, including page numbers.
What does a newspaper page number look like? Something like A4 or B2 will come at the end of the article because this means it’s in section A of the newspaper, on page 4 of section B of the newspaper on page 2 etc. See the image below, where the page number is A12.
Do I have to have the same number of sources for each section? NO!
Can I repeat sources – in other words, use one source in one of the five sections of the assignment and use it again in another section? YES! but you must have a reason to do so – don’t just repeat the same sources for all five sections!
Is this an annotated bibliography? NO! You don’t need to explain what is in every source. BUT, because I am familiar with publications on these issues, I will know whether yours are going to actually help you write that section of the written assignment.
This is the requirements for the Final essay: (Do not complete final essay just bibliography portion above). (I posted it to help guide you with answering what is needed for the next step of the essay portion and what should be required in the annotated bibliography)
Overview
Provinces and the Federal government are always engaged in intergovernmental relations. (See chapter Chapter 7 of Bakvis and Skogstad). These relations take place outside of any elected legislature and take the form of multilateral meetings among executives (cabinet ministers, or premiers and the prime minister); bilateral negotiations conducted privately between the federal government and each jurisdiction; and multilaterally, bilaterally, and indirectly through the media. Governments talk to each other through the media to signal where they stand on issues; and governments talk to Canadians through the media to gain public sympathy for their position.
This assignment asks you to explore these intergovernmental dynamics in one of several current policy areas garnering the attention of federal and provincial governments. These policy areas will be identified by your instructor in the first week of the class, under “announcements”. The goal of the assginment is to understand how federalism affects the development of policy solutions in Canada, and how it shapes the strategies of the federal and provincial governments to achieve desired solutions. It also is intended for you to dive into an issue that is currently or has recently garnered the attention of politicians, the media and Canadians alike.
Submission
Please review the submission instructions provided in the Course Specific Standard Statements section of the Outline. It is your responsibility to verify if the submission was successful. Be sure to keep a backup copy of all of your assignments in the event that they are lost in transition.
Structure and Layout
Your assignment should be no more than 15 pages, excluding bibliography.
Suggested Page Distribution
Section 1: Jurisdiction – 2-3 pages
Section 2: Government Perspectives– 3 pages
Section 3: Analysis of Positions – 3 pages
Section 4: Analysis of Strategy – 2 pages
Section 5: Reflection 4-5 pages
Executive Summary
Section I – Jurisdiction
Please outline the jurisdiction of the federal and provincial governments in this policy area. Make reference to the Constitution Act of 1867 and discuss how the interpretation of this jurisdiction has evolved over time. For instance, if the topic were “child care” (which is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution Act of 1867), how do the provinces claim authority in this area? How does the federal government become involved in this sphere? Which parts of the Constitution do they cite? Overall, what are the methods they use to intervene? Do they primarily use tools of fiscal federalism (such as conditional and unconditional intergovernmental grants) or do they intervene directly through legislation? In this section, you should also refer to chapter 2 of Bakvis and Skogstad, which discusses self-rule vs. shared-rule.
Section 2 – Government Perspectives
Identify the position of the federal government on this specific issue. What actions or proposals has it made to address the problem, and what methods is it utilizing? Are these actions primarily through use of its spending power or regulation? If it involves the spending power, who are the recipients of the funds – individuals, provincial governments, institutions, or other governments? Are the funds targeted or broad in scope? Are they a one shot infusion of funds or long-term in nature? What mechanisms are in place for accountability – do the provinces have to report to the public or to the federal government on how the funds are utilized?
Identify the position of two of the provincial governments in this area. You must choose at least one of the following: Alberta, Ontario, Quebec. You can choose only one of the following: Saskatchewan, British Columbia Manitoba. You can choose only one of the following: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador. For example, you could choose both Alberta and Quebec. You could choose Ontario and British Columbia. You could choose Alberta and Nova Scotia.
Section 3 – Analysis of Positions
Analysis (3 pages)
Identify the public rationale behind the position of each government. Here you will want to reference quotations from the elected politicians from the jurisdictions on which you are focusing.
What is the private rationale behind the position of each government?
Here you want to infer from academic analysis and media commentary why each of the three governments has taken the approach they have. In developing your inferences you will want to consider the jurisdictional backdrop which informs the stance of your jurisdiction. For each province, what is the economic and demographic weight of the province in the federation? Does this make them a leader or follower? What is the nature of the economy in each province and at the federal level? Are they contributors to the federation or a takers (have or have not province)? How popular is each of the current governments? Do they have a strong mandate to legitimately speak on behalf of their jurisdiction or are they deeply unpopular currently? When is each jurisdiction facing an election next? Do they need to deliver an “intergovernmental win” in the short term, or are they at the beginning of their mandate and can afford to walk away from an intergovernmental deal that isn’t quite right? Is each government’s budget balanced? Can they afford to walk away from a deal on the intergovernmental table? What are the current policy issues that are receiving the most media/government attention in the jurisdictions you are considering (federal, and each of the two provinces you chose)? Is the topic you’re focusing on one of the major policy issues receiving a lot of media attention?
Section 4 – Analysis of Strategy
Please carefully consider the approach used by each of the three jurisdictions in your issue. Are they using a multilateral, bilateral, or no-negotiation approach? Is the approach hierarchical (where one government is saying “take it or leave it” to others) or collaborative with the governments working together and listening to each other to come up with a joint plan? Does the strategy of any of the governments involve other institutions such as the courts? Why do you think the governments are utilizing these specific strategies?
Section 5 – Reflection
Which of the positions of the three governments you have considered do you agree with and why?
In answering this question, you should think about:
a. whether the positions of the government go against the spirit of federalism (refer to the readings from the first Unit).
b. whether the proposed or agreed-to policy outcomes are going to adequately address the policy problem at hand.
Does Canada benefit from federalism in this policy area, or is federalism an obstacle? Explain your argument.
To answer this question, you’ll again find it helpful to review some of the rationale for federalism in the required readings for week.
Sources and Format
To finish this assignment, you need to locate academic sources related to your topic. The library offers numerous journal articles and ebooks focusing on Canadian federalism, intergovernmental relations, and specific policy areas, which will be helpful. Additionally, you should review at least 20 newspaper articles using Canadian Newsstream, a database of newspaper coverage, to understand the stances of various governments. You may reference any of the required readings for the course as well! Please double space your paper, using Ariel or Times New Roman font and use MLA to format references.