In May 2004, the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations (IIGR) convened a conference to analyze: (1) developments in intergovernmental relations; (2) various democracy initiatives; and (3) the interaction between the democracy and federalism reform agendas.  The underlying assumption was that the democracy and federalism agendas might be structurally interdependent. For example, changes in executive-legislature relationship being proposed in several jurisdictions could diffuse effective authority from executive to legislature. This could influence the dynamics of intergovernmental relations with executives having to enter into the intergovernmental arena more constrained by their legislatures than has historically been the case.

Conversely, much strengthened relations among first ministers, doing business as usual, might be seen as reinforcing a system of governance that is weak in transparency, uneven in accountability and undermining the ability of legislatures to influence their executives. All of this would seem inconsistent with a democracy reform agenda.

The IIGR is making available most of the conference papers. Taken together, we believe they will help stimulate public debate on the interdependence of the democratic and federalism reform agendas.

Harvey Lazar
Director

Title	Author/Editor	Year
The Creation of the Council of the Federation	Marc-Antoine Adam	2005	Download
Speaking Notes	John Milloy	2005	Download
Turning Voters into Citizens: The Citizens’ Assembly and Reforming Democratic Politics	R. Kenneth Carty	2005	Download
Reform of Democratic Institutions: Quebec’s Comprehensive Plan	Andre Fortier	2005	Download
Democratic Reform: A Work in Progress	Kathy O’Hara	2005	Download
Democracy, Parliamentary Reform and Federalism	Herman Bakvis & Gerry Baier	2005	Download
The Supreme Court Appointments Process: Improved Federal-Provincial Relations vs. Democratic Renewal?	Sujit Choudhry	2005	Download
Combining the Agendas: Federalism and Democracy	Richard Simeon	2005	Download
Linking the Democratic and Intergovernmental Agendas: Legitimacy and Effectiveness	Grace Skogstad	2005	Download