CANADIAN DOMINION-PROVINCIAL RELATIONS.

The article discusses the need for a revision of the relations between the Canadian Dominion and the provinces. In the twentieth century the provinces found that the governmental duties which were growing in importance belonged to them: education, local works, social services, all fell within the scope of "property and civil rights," one of the exclusive provincial powers. And provincial expenditure grew at a faster rate than federal, although both were growing rapidly. Thus the provincial governments needed more revenue, and slowly they entered into the field of direct taxation by levy of succession duties and corporation taxes. The Dominion government, which hitherto had relied upon customs and excises, entered with apologies into the field of direct taxation, and the balance of fiscal superiority swung definitely to it. With the peace in 1919 the fiscal needs of the Dominion gradually eased, while the fiscal needs of the provinces grew enormously. The feeling spread that the provincial governments had too many duties and too few revenues from which to finance them.