Abstract
Dans la panoplie de mécanismes de l’appareil gouvernemental moderne, aucune relation n’est plus semée d’embûches que celle qui existe entre le gouvernement et la société qu’il faut protéger à la fois des menaces extérieures et des troubles internes. La différenciation horizontale et verticale de diverses valeurs collectives, préférences et intérêts a donné lieu à une décentralisation asymétrique qui est le propre de la gouvernance multiniveau des mesures de sécurité, de protection civile et d’urgence au Canada. Cet article trace l’évolution constitutionnelle du système à travers les trois ordres de gouvernement et illustre son fonctionnement à l’aide de deux études de cas. L’effet de décentralisation et d’asymétrie et le désalignement constitutionnel entre les premiers intervenants aux niveaux municipal et provincial par rapport à la capacité d’intervention du fédéral rendent indispensable la collaboration entre les divers paliers.
Across the full array of the machinery of modern democratic government, no relationship is more fraught with difficulty than that between government and the society it needs to protect from both external threat and internal disorder. Horizontal and vertical differentiation of diverse territorial and non-territorial community values, preferences, interests and values has given rise to the asymmetric decentralization that is the hallmark of the administration of multi-level security governance in Canada. This article maps the system’s historical and constitutional roots across three levels of government. It also uses two case studies to illustrate the workings of this system from the angles of: 1) the compound effect of decentralization and asymmetry ; and 2) the constitutional misalignment involving, on the one hand, the first responders working at the municipal and provincial levels and, on the other hand, the surge capacity brought to bear by a federal government largely deprived of a constitutional toolkit that would allow it to constrain rather autonomous provinces. Viewed as a whole, this situation compels adopting an intergovernmental approach whose hallmark is multi-level governance.
Across the full array of the machinery of modern democratic government, no relationship is more fraught with difficulty than that between government and the society it needs to protect from both external threat and internal disorder. Horizontal and vertical differentiation of diverse territorial and non-territorial community values, preferences, interests and values has given rise to the asymmetric decentralization that is the hallmark of the administration of multi-level security governance in Canada. This article maps the system’s historical and constitutional roots across three levels of government. It also uses two case studies to illustrate the workings of this system from the angles of: 1) the compound effect of decentralization and asymmetry ; and 2) the constitutional misalignment involving, on the one hand, the first responders working at the municipal and provincial levels and, on the other hand, the surge capacity brought to bear by a federal government largely deprived of a constitutional toolkit that would allow it to constrain rather autonomous provinces. Viewed as a whole, this situation compels adopting an intergovernmental approach whose hallmark is multi-level governance.
Translated title of the contribution | Security, civil security and emergency measures within the Canadian system of multilevel governance |
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Original language | French |
Pages (from-to) | 176-193 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Télescope |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Jul 2013 |