The Politics of ‘Economic Inclusion’ in Canada: Past, Present, Prospects

Abstract

This article examines Canada’s relative success in restoring ‘economic inclusion’ and ‘inclusive growth’ between the political and economic disruptions of the 1990s and the mid-2010s. Noting competing views of the concept of ‘inclusion’, it explores four major factors which contributed to reducing domestic tensions during this period. These include the intentional accommodation of diverse regional interests through increased decentralization of Canadian federalism, the use of international trade policies to facilitate largely complementary regional economic policies, the restoration of fiscal sustainability in federal economic policies and to varying degrees across provinces, and the cultivation of cross-partisan consensus on immigration policies to avoid the social polarization experienced in other industrial countries. It concludes by noting areas of political vulnerability with the potential to disrupt this consensus.