Canada vs Trump: The Canadian Federation in Peril from Within and Outside

Abstract: Canada’s sovereign existence is being challenged as questions of separatism re-emerge in both the West and Quebec amidst American economic and political pressure.  Using recent cases of institutional  reform, the talk explores how well-intentioned changes pitted provinces and regions against each other and undermined governing institutions, leaving Canada more vulnerable to Trumped-up threats. It argues that Canadian governments can achieve compromises and common allegiances upon an inclusive model of national unity with respect for jurisdictional differences. In sum, the most effective defence against threats to Canadian sovereignty may lie in finding a healthy balance of shared- and self-rule that halts the current trend in politics and society towards oppositional relations, intolerance and political polarization.

Dr. Kathy L. Brock is Professor Emerita, School of Policy Studies and Department of Political Studies, Queen’s University.

Co-author of Federalism in Canada: Evolving Constitutional, Political and Social Realities (2023), and co-editor of Managing Federalism Through Pandemic (2023), she has published widely on Canadian and comparative politics, federalism and constitutional matters, Indigenous governance and relations and public law. Her forthcoming book, Assessing Canadian Federalism: Change and Continuity Over Time, will be published by University of Toronto Press on January 5th, 2027.

Her academic work is grounded in her work as a non-partisan policy consultant to federal, provincial, Indigenous and territorial government on the constitution, rights, intergovernmental relations, sustainable natural resource policy, the voluntary sector, Senate and institutional reforms, and other public policy matters. A dedicated teacher, she received the national Pierre De Celles IPAC Teaching Excellence Award, the Queen’s Frank Knox Teaching Excellence Award, and (her personal favourite) the unofficial G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) teaching designation from the MPA class of 2025 upon her retirement.