Leading from the Middle: Manitoba’s Role in the Intergovernmental Arena

Abstract

This article uses the concepts of leadership, influence, political friendship and trust to examine the role and impacts of successive governments of Manitoba within Canada’s federal system. The place of regions – the West and the Atlantic provinces – is the focus of many studies. However, with the exception of Quebec and, to a lesser extent Ontario, there are not many case studies of how individual provinces approach and carry out their activities in federal-provincial and interprovincial forums across a variety of policy fields. In presenting a case study of the recent role of the province of Manitoba within various intergovernmental forums, this article hopes to encourage the development of a more province-specific approach to understanding the dynamics of intergovernmental relations based on the concepts of leadership, influences, political friendship and trust.