Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the “Submit my answers” button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

Federalism is a legal term, and its existence is based on the ________.
a) vote
b) Charter of Rights and Freedoms
c) constitution
d) parliament
e) cabinet

Question 2:

A confederation is a form of government in which ________.
a) a considerable number of responsibilities are assigned to central institutions, but member-state governments retain the ultimate sovereignty
b) all responsibilities are assigned to central institutions, but member-state governments retain partial sovereignty
c) a considerable number of responsibilities are assigned to central institutions, and member-state governments retain partial sovereignty
d) all responsibilities are assigned to central institutions, and member-state governments retain partial sovereignty
e) none of the above

Question 3:

All federal states are based upon ________.
a) pressure from neighbouring states
b) common recognition of a dictator
c) domination by a few powerful regions
d) a consensus of regions
e) a single undifferentiated region

Question 4:

According to Pierre Trudeau, “federalism has all along been a product of ________.”
a) consensus
b) self-interest
c) compulsion
d) domination
e) reason in politics

Question 5:

Federal democracies originate in ________.
a) revolution
b) response to outside pressures
c) response to inside pressures
d) compromise
e) complete consensus

Question 6:

The likelihood that regional grievances may threaten the stability of federalism is greatest when those grievances are linked to ________.
a) economic instability
b) international terrorism
c) a nationalist movement
d) an invitation to join a neighbouring country
e) an unstable bureaucracy

Question 7:

The textbook does not list ________ as one of the factors contributing to the choice of federalism.
a) shared political values
b) the desire for political independence
c) similarity of social and political institutions
d) shared religious beliefs
e) a sense of cultural insecurity, real or imagined

Question 8:

The compact theory of federalism in the Canadian context maintains that Canadian federalism represents ________.
a) a contract among the provinces
b) an agreement between English and French Canada
c) a contract among all of the ethnic communities of Canada
d) an agreement between the First Nations and white settlers of Canada
e) a contract between the provinces and the territories

Question 9:

Section ________of the Constitution contains the list of enumerated powers that belong exclusively to Parliament.
a) 91
b) 92
c) 93
d) 94
e) 95

Question 10:

According to the federal division of powers under the Constitution acts, provinces do not have the power over ________.
a) management and sale of public lands
b) property and civil rights
c) hospitals
d) education
e) criminal law

Question 11:

The courts have interpreted Ottawa’s authority over the regulation of trade and commerce (section 91 [2]) to include ________.
a) any activity or transaction
b) international trade only
c) interprovincial and international trade only
d) intraprovincial and intermunicipal trade only
e) intraprovincial, interprovincial, and international trade only

Question 12:

The legacy of the Citizens’ Insurance Co. v. Parsons case concerning jurisdiction over the regulation of trade and commerce meant that Ottawa has authority over _______.
a) interprovincial trade
b) international trade
c) general trade affecting the whole of Canada
d) all of the above
e) none of the above

Question 13:

The following is not one of the three major tensions that have been at the root of intergovernmental conflict in Canada: _______.
a) Quebec’s unique role in Canadian federalism
b) province–territory relations
c) governments’ political and administrative needs
d) core–periphery relations
e) none of the above has been a cause of intergovernmental conflict

Question 14:

Quebec’s unique role in Canadian federalism is derived from _______.
a) its predominantly French-speaking character and its position on the St Lawrence river
b) its predominantly French-speaking character and its size
c) its predominantly French-speaking character and the fact that it shares a border with the United States
d) its relationship with France and its size
e) its relationship with France and its strategic position

Question 15:

Parti Québécois was created in 1968 under the leadership of _______.
a) Lucien Bouchard
b) Jacques Parizeau
c) Robert Bourassa
d) René Lévesque
e) Jean Lesage

Question 16:

The strategy adopted by the Bourassa Liberal government of Quebec for changing federalism was to ________.
a) negotiate with Ottawa on single issues
b) demand a major constitutional reform
c) hold a referendum on sovereignty-association
d) negotiate with officials from the United States to see if they would allow Quebec to adopt more powers if it were to join their federation
e) form coalitions with other provinces on key issues of shared concern

Question 17:

The term “asymmetrical federalism” refers to ________.
a) the constitutional recognition of the right to self-government for Aboriginal peoples
b) the amalgamation of the provinces within each region
c) the constitutional entrenchment of the principle of the equality of all provincial governments
d) the constitutional recognition of differences in the status and powers of provincial governments
e) the constitutional recognition of differences in the status of different federal powers

Question 18:

The reason for increases in support for the separatists halfway through the 1995 Quebec referendum was ______.
a) a change in campaign leadership from Parizeau to Bouchard
b) an uninspired federalist campaign
c) Bouchard’s personal charisma
d) all of the above
e) none of the above

Question 19:

In recent decades the list of grievances from “peripheral” provinces against Ottawa has included ________.
a) claims that Ottawa does little to support prairie grain farmers
b) claims that federal spending decisions unfairly favour Ontario and Quebec
c) political powerlessness in the face of central Canadian dominance
d) claims that Ottawa does little to support the east-coast fishery
e) all of the above

Question 20:

The statement that intergovernmental conflict is influenced by “institutional self-interest” suggests that the conflict is driven by ________.
a) politicians and bureaucrats
b) groups in society
c) nations
d) ethnic divides
e) the Prime Minister

Question 21:

Historically, province-building has been associated mainly with ________.
a) Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
b) Newfoundland and Quebec
c) Ontario and Quebec
d) Saskatchewan and British Columbia
e) Quebec and Alberta

Question 22:

The term “executive federalism” is sometimes used to describe the relations between________.
a) high-ranking provincial officials and business executives in the province
b) cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials of the two levels of government
c) cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister
d) the Prime Minister and premiers of provinces and territories
e) cabinet ministers and national-level business executives

Question 23:

The term “fiscal gap” refers to the gap between ________.
a) the amount contributed to equalization by the largest provinces and the amount contributed by the smallest
b) what each provinces pays into equalization and what it receives in services
c) the provinces’ legislative responsibilities and expenses and the expectations of the founders of the Confederation
d) the fiscal capacities of neighbouring provinces
e) the provincial and federal tax rates

Question 24:

Shared-cost programs are ________.
a) provincially administered programs whose costs are shared by all of the provinces
b) federally administered programs whose costs are shared by all of the participating provinces
c) provincially administered programs whose costs are shared between both the federal and provincial governments, as well as with participating citizens
d) provincially administered programs where Ottawa’s financial contribution is geared towards how much a province spends
e) federally administered programs in the territories, with the costs shared by all provinces

Question 25:

Equalization accounts for about ________ of all federal transfers to the provinces.
a) one-fifth
b) one-quarter
c) one-third
d) one-half
e) two-thirds

Question 26:

More than a third of the 193 member states of the United Nations have a federal system of government.
a) True
b) False

Question 27:

Belgium and Germany are examples of the unitary form of government.
a) True
b) False

Question 28:

Regional inequality is the most likely factor behind the escalation of regional divisions into independence movements.
a) True
b) False

Question 29:

George-Étienne Cartier was one of the Fathers of Confederation who favoured a centralized government.
a) True
b) False

Question 30:

Commercial interests, particularly railroad promoters, supported a unification of the British North American colonies because their ability to raise investment capital was linked to Canada’s creditworthiness.
a) True
b) False

Question 31:

The compact interpretation of Canadian federalism no longer carries any political weight.
a) True
b) False

Question 32:

Both the federal government and the provinces have the capacity to act in most of the major policy fields.
a) True
b) False

Question 33:

The courts have viewed Canada’s POGG clause as a power to be used only in times of national emergency.
a) True
b) False

Question 34:

On the whole, judicial decisions have limited the authority of the federal government over trade and commerce.
a) True
b) False

Question 35:

When the 11 governments of Canada entered constitutional negotiations in Victoria in 1971, Quebec’s demands were consistent with the other provinces’.
a) True
b) False

Question 36:

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, elected in 1984, shared Pierre Trudeau’s view that the provinces were already too powerful for the good of the national economy and political unity.
a) True
b) False

Question 37:

The Liberal model of federalism includes “asymmetrical federalism.”
a) True
b) False

Question 38:

In 1992, the Charlottetown proposals for constitutional reform were successfully approved in a national referendum.
a) True
b) False

Question 39:

The trio of reforms introduced by the federal Liberal government after the 1995 Quebec referendum changed the written Constitution.
a) True
b) False

Question 40:

Following the Quebec referendum of 1995, the federal government passed a motion identifying Quebec as a distinct society.
a) True
b) False

Higher Education

Canadian Democracy, Eighth Edition: Chapter 8