In this op-ed, Eric M. Adams writes that federalism has returned to the center of Canadian constitutional politics, in the form of environmental issues (such as the Trans Mountain pipeline dispute) and the Supreme Court’s recent decision affirming New Brunswick’s ban on the movement of liquor across provincial borders. Adams suggests that although such disputes arise because of the federal structure created by the Constitution, federalism also offers “a solution that makes this country possible.” In a related commentary, Keith Baldrey predicts that legal wrangling over the Trans Mountain pipeline presents a federalism issue that, if ultimately ruled on by the Supreme Court, will leave the federal government either “stronger than ever, or forever weakened.”
