Locating federalism: Non-financial assets and public policy in Canada

Abstract

Scholars who study centralization and decentralization in Canada usually rely on the distribution of authority and financial/human resources to identify transfers of “power to” and “power over” among different levels of government. We argue that patterns of non-financial asset ownership are a useful yet frequently overlooked measure of “power to.” We demonstrate that Canadian municipal policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were shaped in part by the physical assets owned by municipal and provincial governments. These patterns of non-financial asset ownership reveal Canadian municipalities to be more important policy actors than typically assumed. A full understanding of the distribution of power within the Canadian federation requires attention to government ownership of physical assets.