Working Together on Climate Change: Policy Transfer and Convergence in Four Canadian Provinces

Brendan Boyd

Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 2017, vol. 47, issue 4, 546-571

Abstract: Sub-federal governments have played a prominent role in the development of climate change policies in North America. In Canada, four provinces in particular, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, worked with each other and U.S. states, and engaged at the international level, when choosing policy instruments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. How did interjurisdictional dynamics influence the instruments these provinces selected and has there been convergence in their policy responses? The article finds that policy transfer, information sharing, and emulation among jurisdictions, was more likely to overcome competitiveness concerns and lead to policy adoption when it was driven by technical learning or the desire to conform to external norms, than when jurisdictions compared themselves to others or attempted to influence broader policies through political benchmarking and bandwagoning. Despite continued variation in some areas, there has been limited convergence on some provincial instruments.

Date: 2017
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