Canadian federalism poses unique challenges for the development of a national food policy. Under the Constitution Act, 1867, the federal government and the provinces are granted powers to govern exclusively in certain areas and to share jurisdiction in others. Where one level of government has exclusive jurisdiction, the other level of government is not permitted to interfere. However, good food system governance requires addressing policy coherence and coordination horizontally, across sectors such as agriculture, trade, health, finance, environment, immigration, fisheries, social protection, and vertically between the federal government, the provinces, and international and transnational actors. The development of a national food policy for Canada offers an opportunity to harmonize law and policymaking, and clarify the key roles that all levels of government play in the development and governance of food systems. This will require identifying sites of conflict and overlap, but also spaces for collaboration, coordination, and innovation. A national food policy will necessarily have to work within the constraints of Canadian constitutional law, but federalism and the division of powers can be harnessed to create a more just, equitable, democratic and sustainable food system.  

Les chercheurs doivent citer ce travail comme suit :

• Richardson, S. B., Lambek, N., (2025), "Federalism and fragmentation: Addressing the possibilities of a food policy for Canada", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.281)

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1. democratic experimentalism
2. divisions of power
3. federalism
4. food law and policy
5. fragmentation
6. national food policy

Original publication: Richardson, Sarah Berger; Lambek, Nadia. "Federalism and fragmentation: Addressing the possibilities of a food policy for Canada." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 5, no. 3, 2018, pp. 28-48. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.281. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation. Copyright © the author(s). Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/.